Thursday, July 10, 02003
Here's another post all my astute readers probably saw coming from a mile away:
I got back to my apartment, and there was no joy in getting back to my apartment. No joy at all. A distinct lack of joy instead. Dread even. I hate my apartment, and I hate Arlington. I need to move somewhere else. Not up to Vermont, since I'm sure I wouldn't make it through a winter up there, but defintely someplace where they don't have an urban bow hunting season. Sigh.
(BTW, add "Insight's gas cap" to the list of things that almost got lost on the trip. I drove off without putting it on after filling the tank, and the "screw your gas cap on tighter" hazard light came on. When I pulled over to tighten it, I saw there was no cap to be screwed, and had to go back to the gas station to pick it up. Doh.)
Posted at 08:10 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
I've stopped off at my parent's place on the way back to Virginia, so I didn't have to pull another mega drive. Turns out my parents are all stressed out by their jobs. My mom is being forced to try and sell credit cards and bank loans to her senior citizen, sub-poverty-line, substance-abusing customers at the teller line, and my dad's being forced into early retirement. All the "f*^$%^#@#ck capitalism" talk I was during the Vermont visit, I got from my folks instead. Go figure.
And to top things off, my folks had redrawn their wills earlier in the day, so that lead to the "don't sell my stuff to strangers when I'm dead" conversation. They were so stressed out about their jobs though, that I cut short the conversation before it led to the normal "big ol' bonfire in the backyard" climax.
The vacation is now offically over.
Posted at 11:24 AM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Tuesday, July 8, 02003
I've seen as many Insights in Vermont in the last two days as I have in the Arlington area in the past year. After picking up my ATM card, and visiting Hunger Mountain, I started driving down route 12 to the Woodstock area for a day of hiking. This road has hardly any traffic, but then at a fork in the road, another Insight gets behind me, and stays there for about 20 miles.
Yesterday also tied the "most hybrids in a day" record of seven from a while back, and I'm sure I would have blown by that if I had stopped for dinner at some outdoor cafe and watched the traffic, but I didn't think of that until I was back at the hotel. Oh well.
Maybe I'm a Vermonter in a Virginian's body. When I get back, I maybe I should start looking into some state change reassignment clinics.
Pictures of the hike to follow someday real soon now.
(It turns out I was the second of four people to leave their ATM cards in the machine yesterday, so I don't feel as bumbly as before.)
Posted at 08:48 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Monday, July 7, 02003
(This is a placeholder for the post where I describe how I can't think "at least I'm not designing those hand drying machines at rest stops" when working on a stupid engineering task, since I found a the hand dryer in Vermont that actually works. I almost congratulated the attendents, but figured that would be too weird. So I'll just post about it instead. Oh my, the post is getting too long to be placeholder. I must go vacate some more now. They used the Xlerator dryers. Oh my, there's a link. Now it's definitely not a placeholder. Oh well)
(One last 'placeholder' note: The Ben and Jerry's history presented during their tour does not mention Unilever at all, though they do make a lot of noise about being publicly traded, and offering their IPO to Vermont residents. I was waiting to see what happy spin would go with the takeover. It was dishonest to ignore it totally. The closest they came was to include Amsterdam in a list of places the ice cream was available worldwide. Pictures from the 'flavor graveyard' to follow.)
Posted at 07:20 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
I get to visit Montpelier twice since I left my ATM card in the ATM and I have to go back tomorrow to pick it up. I suppose everyone except me knew this was coming after the last post's bumblehead remark. I suppose by the end of the vacation I will have bonked myself on the head, and I'll lose all my memories. Then I'll have to rebuild my psyche by searching for my name on the Internet, and reading this blog from start to finish. That is one frightful thought, though I'm sure it would make for interesting posts.
E-mail me if you're interested in a short Montpelier State Capital Tour anecdote. The tour guide was nice, and I don't want to get him in trouble, so I don't want to publish it here, but it was definitely a "I don't think we're near D.C. anymore, Toto" moment.
Posted at 06:45 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Some short notes before I'm off for the day:
- Trying to drive from Arlington Virginia to Montpelier Vermont in one day is insane. Don't even try it. It took me 15 hours and 2 days as opposed to Mapquest's suggested 8 hour driving time. And I wasn't even that much of a slowpoke. What I was, was an idiot - I didn't question the route across the George Washington bridge until I was stuck in the middle of it for two hours in some sort of police check/holiday weekend/construction work tagteam combo action. Or rather nonaction. The car was getting a boggling 63 mpg at one point, but by the time I got into Connecticut it was down to 54 mpg. My, my, my what a long bullet.
- I was totally offline for around 78 hours. No computer usage at all. The only TV usage was to drown out the horrible noise of the air conditioning unit in the motel I stayed when stopped the 1-day drive folly.
- West Odd and the surrounding environment is beautiful, dispite, and all the Take Back Vermont posters. In a couple days, I will try taking Vermont back to Virginia with me. I think all the trees, good air, and nice people would be a welcome addition to Arlington. I will leave all the big-assed bugs here through. Alas, I have a small car and it's already overpacked, so that may not happen.
- I found that without stress I become a total absent-minded bumblehead. I lost my wallet, keys, and camera all in the period of 24 hours. I've misplaced the GPS unit now. I'm hoping it's in the car. The place I'm stay smartly has furniture that goes all the way down to the floor so it's impossible for things to fall under the bed or under the dresser. When I get back, the poor car's going to get a similar mod so it's more difficult for stuff to fall under the seats. Velcro, nylon, and superglue should do the trick. Oops another long tab. Keep me off the computer for a few days and I turn into a regular chatterbox.
- Vermont snowmobile trails are great for hiking, although apparently that's not allowed.
Off to vacate more now. Pictures,links, and more list items will be added later tonight. Pictures will be added to the extended section. Cheers.
Posted at 10:34 AM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
