Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Slow Down!
Completed:
Bed + night-stands
Couch
Living room chair and ottoman
Three bar chairs
Two bookcases
Two end tables
Coffee table
TV table
This morning we completed Alec's desk, and right now he's happily setting up his many CPUs. I'm drinking coffee and looking over our itinerary for this morning, which involves Pike's Place Market for some used books and produce.
We left the furniture in "Beta", our name for the spare room, for last, but we did the desk this morning and are planning on doing the Visiting Parents Futon this afternoon.
The walk to Swedish is as unintimidating as expected - four safe blocks up the hill. I've decided that a bicycle here is not as big a priority as it was in Charleston. I am going to start my running routine again, though - I've planned out one, two, and three mile routes. These hills are killer.
We'll post another video of our sweet digs tonight.
Bed + night-stands
Couch
Living room chair and ottoman
Three bar chairs
Two bookcases
Two end tables
Coffee table
TV table
This morning we completed Alec's desk, and right now he's happily setting up his many CPUs. I'm drinking coffee and looking over our itinerary for this morning, which involves Pike's Place Market for some used books and produce.
We left the furniture in "Beta", our name for the spare room, for last, but we did the desk this morning and are planning on doing the Visiting Parents Futon this afternoon.
The walk to Swedish is as unintimidating as expected - four safe blocks up the hill. I've decided that a bicycle here is not as big a priority as it was in Charleston. I am going to start my running routine again, though - I've planned out one, two, and three mile routes. These hills are killer.
We'll post another video of our sweet digs tonight.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
IKEA update and Plans
Thanks to all who were concerned, I'm feeling 95% now. I think fatigue played a major part, but ceasing the eight servings of McDonalds a week diet is also largely to thank.
To follow up Elizabeth's post: Everything we expected appears to have arrived intact from IKEA. The bed frame is assembled and usable, but we bought these nifty nightstand attachments which require screwing a mounting bracket from underneath. It would have been useful to know that before the 27th step. :-/
Elizabeth ended up getting bored watching me insert #101350 wooden dowel connectors and started working on the couch, which looked to be almost all done. After opening the package all sorts of couch innards spilled on the floor as if she'd eviscerated it. Fearlessly, she pressed on and it's starting to resemble a living room sofa.
To do: nightstands, sofa, living room chair, living room ottoman, living room TV stand, two living room bookshelves, three bar chairs, office computer desk, office futon, and closet shelving for clothes storage.
We're going today at noon to meet Elizabeth's surgery program coordinator, Sandi Pettit. She's apparently one of the sweetest people and has learned a great deal about me from Elizabeth from times even before we were engaged.
WA state requires two items with your address and name to prove residency, and three items with your name and birthdate to prove identity. We went in with just our lease agreement which is in the "unacceptable" documents category and is worth exactly diddly. Through a stroke of luck, I actually have an out-of-state drivers license, birth certificate and social security card. I've set up a Comcast bill in my name, which with any luck will establish residency for me. Elizabeth, poor girl, doesn't have any of this. We're hoping Sandi can provide her with some advice this afternoon.
To follow up Elizabeth's post: Everything we expected appears to have arrived intact from IKEA. The bed frame is assembled and usable, but we bought these nifty nightstand attachments which require screwing a mounting bracket from underneath. It would have been useful to know that before the 27th step. :-/
Elizabeth ended up getting bored watching me insert #101350 wooden dowel connectors and started working on the couch, which looked to be almost all done. After opening the package all sorts of couch innards spilled on the floor as if she'd eviscerated it. Fearlessly, she pressed on and it's starting to resemble a living room sofa.
To do: nightstands, sofa, living room chair, living room ottoman, living room TV stand, two living room bookshelves, three bar chairs, office computer desk, office futon, and closet shelving for clothes storage.
We're going today at noon to meet Elizabeth's surgery program coordinator, Sandi Pettit. She's apparently one of the sweetest people and has learned a great deal about me from Elizabeth from times even before we were engaged.
WA state requires two items with your address and name to prove residency, and three items with your name and birthdate to prove identity. We went in with just our lease agreement which is in the "unacceptable" documents category and is worth exactly diddly. Through a stroke of luck, I actually have an out-of-state drivers license, birth certificate and social security card. I've set up a Comcast bill in my name, which with any luck will establish residency for me. Elizabeth, poor girl, doesn't have any of this. We're hoping Sandi can provide her with some advice this afternoon.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
To IKEA and Back Again
An extremely frustrating little voyage today. Actually, two frustrating voyages. The first was to get valid driver's licenses from the apparently hard-nosed state of Washington. We realized that, in addition to bringing our entire bank vault into the DMV, we'd need to wait about thirty days 'til we got a utility bill. Awesome.
We walked away from the DMV empty-handed, and headed off to IKEA to furnish our barren little apartment. They deliver same-day if you buy everything by 3p, so that was our goal. We arrived at the store at 11:15, so we figured we'd have a leisurely, fun shopping trip.
It was chaos - too many people, too much stuff, too many rooms. I felt the haze of shopping almost immediately. Thank God that Alec was feeling super-duper patient.
We were there from 11:15 - 3:05, and we were completely done shopping at 12:56. The delay of our departure was due exclusively to the unhelpful and frankly lazy-ass employees.
To top it off, we discovered that a) we were charged for an extra chair and b) a lamp shade had been stolen from a box.
Arg.
Alec is putting together the TV that we bought (a really, really nice plasma screen) while I alternate between tidying clothes and wishing I could find a SuperCutz for a cheap haircut. Copper, of course, is napping on the newly mated duvet and pillow set.
We walked away from the DMV empty-handed, and headed off to IKEA to furnish our barren little apartment. They deliver same-day if you buy everything by 3p, so that was our goal. We arrived at the store at 11:15, so we figured we'd have a leisurely, fun shopping trip.
It was chaos - too many people, too much stuff, too many rooms. I felt the haze of shopping almost immediately. Thank God that Alec was feeling super-duper patient.
We were there from 11:15 - 3:05, and we were completely done shopping at 12:56. The delay of our departure was due exclusively to the unhelpful and frankly lazy-ass employees.
To top it off, we discovered that a) we were charged for an extra chair and b) a lamp shade had been stolen from a box.
Arg.
Alec is putting together the TV that we bought (a really, really nice plasma screen) while I alternate between tidying clothes and wishing I could find a SuperCutz for a cheap haircut. Copper, of course, is napping on the newly mated duvet and pillow set.
Possible Ways to Repurpose http://longasstrip.blogspot.com
Long Ass Trip:
1) Epic Failure While Descending Stairs
2) Schematics of Really Large Circuit Breakers
3) Descriptions of Recreational LSD Use
4) Tales of a Newly Married Couple in a Brand New City
Cast your votes now!
1) Epic Failure While Descending Stairs
2) Schematics of Really Large Circuit Breakers
3) Descriptions of Recreational LSD Use
4) Tales of a Newly Married Couple in a Brand New City
Cast your votes now!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
We Made It!
Copper and I are sitting outside of Peet's Coffee and Tea in Fremont, while E is inside getting us three some coffee. She drove five of the seven hours we had to do today, and I know she is really interested in finding a place to sleep.
Since we arrived early, we're a day before our apartment will be ready. We're both a little disappointed, but know it's only a temporary set back. The apartment manager did agree to let us temporarily store our stuff in a storage unit for free, which is pretty awesome. We got to see the place, which is bigger and nicer than I expected.
The view out of the window is sadly just another building's roof, but the decks have really nice skyline views. The neighborhood appears to be awesome. The street is very quiet and so, so close to downtown. When the camera and SD card are unpacked, expect a ton of photos.
In the meantime:
Not Noisy in Boise
As far as I am aware, I have had the privilege of being Elizabeth McKeown, M.D.'s very first patient. I awoke at midnight here with serious stomach pains. After some quick palpations and very friendly bedside chat, she concluded that I've had a nearly zero-fiber diet since before graduation, and it's finally catching up to me. She then ran to a Wal-greens about a mile away, bought Tylenol, fiber supplement, and laxative and delivered it back to me. When I was done medicating, she gave me the most gentle kiss. This must be the future of concierge medicine.
Like usual, Elizabeth has the first shift today. I feel much better, but still a little frazzled. I didn't sleep very much and I still feel achy. I hope my bowels don't prevent us from arriving at our destination today, but we'll stop in the forests of Oregon for the night if I am not up to driving my part.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Boise or Bust
We're in Campbell, ID, a suburb on the far side of Boise, ID. Our tripometer reads 2511 miles. Seattle tomorrow.
We're going to eat dinner now. More when we get back.
Cheyenne, WY
This is a cold, windswept, treeless, desolate land. "It ain't flat from here on," warned the hotel clerk, who spoke with a drawl that rivaled a Cajun's for incomprehensibility.
Our room was cheap and comfortable and there's another continental breakfast, so I can't complain about this La Quinta. I can complain about Wyoming, though. I feel cheated; for some reason I pictured a constant sunset, with young, handsome horse-back riders more populous than cars. Instead we find hard, unhappy men and no horses.
Our room was cheap and comfortable and there's another continental breakfast, so I can't complain about this La Quinta. I can complain about Wyoming, though. I feel cheated; for some reason I pictured a constant sunset, with young, handsome horse-back riders more populous than cars. Instead we find hard, unhappy men and no horses.
Google Latitude Tracking Is Inaccurate
Please don't stress if you see us driving to Canada or Mexico or something equally crazy. I'm not sure why the location reported by my phone is so inaccurate, but if you think we're on the wrong interstate, we're probably not. Our Garmin, trusted by two trips to Colorado, is taking care of us. We still like getting phone calls, though, so you don't have to cut that out. :-)
Off to Idaho
At best, we'll make it to Boise, ID (738 mi, 11:26 h) today. We can be happy if we reach Salt Lake City, UT (439 mi, 6:53 h) or Twin Falls, ID (616 mi, 9:36 h).
If you're ever in Cheyenne, you could do worse than the La Quinta where we stayed. Their breakfast starts at 6:00am, which suits me a lot more than 7:00. We're not going to get the benefit of the time zone change to Pacific time today, so we should get in around 6:30pm after stops. The good news will be the 8 hour trip from Boise to Seattle tomorrow, which will give us an hour back. We'll be arriving around 2:00pm, which is only really, really exciting.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Buttes, LOL
We made it to Cheyenne (1758 mi total), which is about as crummy as a state capital could be. Three interstate exits, dozens of anti-meth ads, and zero trees. It's grim.
On the other hand, the drive has become quite beautiful. We saw the flat plains of Nebraska make way to the green tables of land revealing striations of rock.
Alec: What's been your favorite state to drive through so far?
E: Hmm. . . Surprisingly, I kind of liked Missouri because of the radio stations. (ed. note: Surprise!)
Alec: I liked last part of Nebraska. The approach to St. Louis and the arch was really pretty.
E: That was nice, I guess. I didn't care for the construction.
Alec: How about least favorite?
E: Cheyenne, and St. Louis.
Alec: Can you elaborate?
E: Cheyenne can be seen entirely from the interstate. Just hideous land. St. Louis was just super dirty.
Alec: Yeah, Cheyenne is a real shithole, but I like STL.
We're ahead of our plans by more than a day. The gleam of arriving in four days is starting to seem possible. We're planning to get to Boise tomorrow, leaving an eight hour trip to Seattle the day after. I cannot wait to arrive, and feel that this travel blog may end a good deal sooner than we anticipated.
50 Miles to Ogallala, NE
We're in the middle of Nebraska, approaching the Mountain Time zone change. Our two previous goals are a few hours behind us and we're well on our way to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mile 1550 of our trip means we're over halfway to Seattle, but have yet to reach the Rocky Mountains-sized hump of the trip, I'm afraid. We think we might have dropped a day, which is pretty encouraging, though.
We're getting confident in our driving abilities and have yet to get sick of each other or our respective radio choices. E's fishing around the radio stations like mad but is only finding church services anad country. What she wouldn't do to get some Jason Durullo I don't want to find out. I'm about halfway through Moneyball, by Michael Lewis. It's a book about baseball statistics that I read quite a while ago. It's still very interesting, but I mainly use it to ensure Elizabeth sleeps when she's not driving. We're also listening to Storm Front together. It's the first novel in the Dresden Files. As I was told, it is indeed pretty poorly written, but the concept isn't bad.
P.S. As I finished writing this we changed to MT. It's only 5:00pm now. A whole extra hour to drive!
Morning from St Louis!
It's a continental breakfast with free coffee! Come on!
Anyway, we had an okay night except for my neurotic paranoia, which led to me getting up a couple of times and checking on our sweet little filled-to-the-brim car. We had been considering a cheaper hotel, but after reading comments on the web that read as below, we decided against it:
"I was on a trip cross-country and stayed here because it was $46/night. My car was broken into and my life was stolen from me. DO NOT STAY HERE"
So, there you have it. I was terrified enough to consider driving all night in shifts to get the hell out of Missouri, but Alec's sanity prevailed.
We're setting out after eating some awesome free food, so we'll be one day closer soon. Our 'reach' goal is Cheyenne, and our sane goal is Grand Island, NE.
Anyway, we had an okay night except for my neurotic paranoia, which led to me getting up a couple of times and checking on our sweet little filled-to-the-brim car. We had been considering a cheaper hotel, but after reading comments on the web that read as below, we decided against it:
"I was on a trip cross-country and stayed here because it was $46/night. My car was broken into and my life was stolen from me. DO NOT STAY HERE"
So, there you have it. I was terrified enough to consider driving all night in shifts to get the hell out of Missouri, but Alec's sanity prevailed.
We're setting out after eating some awesome free food, so we'll be one day closer soon. Our 'reach' goal is Cheyenne, and our sane goal is Grand Island, NE.
Setting out on Day Two
I've been convinced to wait an hour to start driving to take advantage of our complimentary continental breakfast. We're due to set out again in about forty five minutes with a reassurance that a day spent driving isn't as bad as imagined.
Originally, we wanted to take photos of the signs of each of the states we entered. When NC, TN, and KY snuck up on us, we decided to give it up. We packed E's camera about a month ago, but we're vowing to take more today. Wish us luck!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
St Louis, MO
Writing you, my friends, from a decent hotel room in the flat, bland city of St Louis. At least this side of it is, any way.
I'm road-weary and scared about the next few days, so I'll sign out.
Coming tomorrow: continental breakfast report and the Copper Pic of the Day.
Here's the one from today!
Took the Car Out of Clarksville
We found today that we arrived at Clarksville well before we were ready to quit driving. As the Mariners have been winning recently, we want to hurry up and get in before they start choking again. In a revision to our plan, I suggested we pick three targets that we could shoot for depending on our mood. We're significantly ahead of schedule and the thought of shaving a day off our trip sounds super appealing. We'll see how we feel after tomorrow.
Our goals for 5/22:
St. Louis - >
a) Lincoln, NE - 7:31 hours, 446miles
b) Grand Island, NE - 9:04 hours, 539 miles
c) Cheyenne, WY - 14:16, 885 miles
West Frankfort, Illinois
Day One, Hour Twelve:
Communications are broken, and hostiles are apparent in the mists around us...
Just kidding! We're having a great time here in the McDonald's in Illinois. We're mainly here for the free WiFi. Across from our table sits the oldest, most dessicated of the billions served. Actually, it's not clear she's a customer, she just sits playing a Tiger Electronics Tetris clone playing the same monophonic 15 second loop of Type A music. There is no one with her, and no meal before her. One of the various Road Mysteries we've encountered.
We've made one unexpected stop at a Sherlock's Book Emporium in Lebanon, TN, which turned out to have neither a large selection nor a hint of class.
We're on our second tank of gas and Alec assures me we're making excellent time. I just keep seeing yellow dashed lines and straight white lines.
Copper continues to be an ideal lap dog; he has woken up exactly three times, at each of our three stops.
We will continue to update from our expected stop at St Louis, Missouri. We'll arrive at about 9 pm EST.
Communications are broken, and hostiles are apparent in the mists around us...
Just kidding! We're having a great time here in the McDonald's in Illinois. We're mainly here for the free WiFi. Across from our table sits the oldest, most dessicated of the billions served. Actually, it's not clear she's a customer, she just sits playing a Tiger Electronics Tetris clone playing the same monophonic 15 second loop of Type A music. There is no one with her, and no meal before her. One of the various Road Mysteries we've encountered.
We've made one unexpected stop at a Sherlock's Book Emporium in Lebanon, TN, which turned out to have neither a large selection nor a hint of class.
We're on our second tank of gas and Alec assures me we're making excellent time. I just keep seeing yellow dashed lines and straight white lines.
Copper continues to be an ideal lap dog; he has woken up exactly three times, at each of our three stops.
We will continue to update from our expected stop at St Louis, Missouri. We'll arrive at about 9 pm EST.
On the Road
Charleston is behind us. Elizabeth, caffeinated to the gills, is at the wheel. And I'm on the computer. This is the natural order.
The alarm woke us at 5:30a. I remember groggily asking E, "Is this it?" Of course, it was. Our friend Saye called and asked if he could take us to breakfast. This was a greatly welcomed act of kindness for what was expected to be a hug-free departure.
It's about 9:30a now, and we are forty miles from NC and TN shortly afterward. E thinks it's sad that we'll not take the well-worn I-26 to Rock Hill or Simpsonville anymore. Copper and I say good riddance.
Copper is in heaven. He hasn't gotten this much lap time since the couches were sold what feels like years ago. E will be at the wheel until noon when we'll trade off. We're due to arrive in Clarksville, TN at 3:18PM (that's after one time zone change). Check back, my friend, to see how far we can get today.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Our Trip
We are going on an adventure from Atlantic to Pacific, from East to West, from sweet tea to coffee.
The travelers are:
Elizabeth, a cocky morning driver and exceptionally grumpy evening driver;
Alec, a sincere but foggy morning driver and competent evening driver;
and Copper, a dog who sits and (hopefully) sleeps constantly throughout both morning and evening.
We will travel across thirteen states, over 3060 miles, in six days. We have nothing but the clothes on our backs and a little computer equipment to get us set up in Seattle.
This is our story.
The travelers are:
Elizabeth, a cocky morning driver and exceptionally grumpy evening driver;
Alec, a sincere but foggy morning driver and competent evening driver;
and Copper, a dog who sits and (hopefully) sleeps constantly throughout both morning and evening.
We will travel across thirteen states, over 3060 miles, in six days. We have nothing but the clothes on our backs and a little computer equipment to get us set up in Seattle.
This is our story.
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