Sun Moon Stars Girl )-(

Welcome to my little place to vent…

I was so nervous today. I had to get a lot done - fill out all my paperwork for school and “employment” as a graduate student, get my new license, sign up for a bank account, and go to the post office. The hardest, and longest thing during the day was the driver’s license.

California is good in the sense that people need to retake the test when you renew your license - keeps you on your toes with driving laws. But some things out here completely baffle me. We got everything set with the registration and the car yesterday. I thought for sure they would ask me for the proof of insurance, and the smog inspection paperwork. Of course they didn’t. I also thought for sure they would give me the “you have 10 days to get the car inspected” speech, which also didn’t happened. Confused as we left the DMV, Kris and I stopped a person in the parking lot to ask about it. Apparently as long as your car isn’t spewing smog all over the place, it’s cool to drive. Don’t worry if your brakes are failing, your lights are all out, or if you are driving on bald tires - it’s all cool with the state of California. I think you might get stopped by the police, and they deal with it, but I’m just so surprised you don’t have to go get checked out every year or so (like in all the other states I’ve dealt with) just to make sure you’re not going to kill yourself with something stupid wrong in your car. And they could combine it with the smog test - after all, that’s what they do in BOTH NJ and MA.

In any case, the license thing took FOR-EV-AR at the DMV today. The process is confusing too. In NJ, you take the test, then the eye test if you pass, and then pay and take your picture. Here it was all backwards. You pay (so if you fail you have to pay again?) and take the eye test. Then wait in line again, give a thumbprint, signature, and they take your picture (blinding you in the process). They give you the test, and make you sign it. Then, and only then, are you allowed to take it.

I had to deal with a screaming baby and a 3-yo that was running around while the mother(?) took her test. Blinded from the camera, I couldn’t even read the questions or answers for a few minutes. The test was hard. The NJ test was just common sense, but here there’s strange questions on the test like “when is it ok to park in the bike lane.” Or about the white curb, which is for unloading people, and mail trucks or some such nonsense. In any case, I did pass the test. But only after waiting in line yet again, for like half an hour for someone to grade the damn thing. And then for your instant gratification - you get to sign a flimsy piece of paper that now becomes your driver’s license. Thanks, now I have no photo ID until November. Sweet. I just hope if I go out I don’t get carded.

I feel bad Kris decided to both not get his license the same day, and come with me. He was waiting in line with me for SO LONG and will have to do it again when he gets his license.

Got a lot done today. We “redecorated” the bedroom - couldn’t stand the sterile off-white walls any longer. It looks great. We assembled some furniture we’d purchased at IKEA on Friday when we ran some errands. We also picked up some lumber to make a headboard from plans Kris drew up, and some other “home improvement” type items. We’ve unpacked *most* of our stuff - from the kitchen, bedroom, and “bar” in the living room. We’re still waiting for a couple boxes my parents sent us. And we have to get or build desks for the study, so barely anything has been unpacked in there. But the entertainment center and futon are all set up, the table is set up, we’ve even started decorating our patio! I’m so excited about our new place, it’s just so awesome. I love not having neighbors above or below, and having two floors, the patio, and a nice neighborhood.

We finally made it out to the beach today. Our new friends Ashleigh and Nate took us out with them for our first time together in the Pacific Ocean. We had a great time, soaking up the sun, splashing in the waves (wow, the Pacific is so much warmer than the Atlantic EVER was!), and just chatting. They also did a long move, but from Wisconsin, not all the way from the East Coast. Kris and Nate got along great, talking most of the day about cars and other “guy things.” Ashleigh and I had to laugh.

It was really nice of them to invite us out. I’m so glad we’ve been able to make some friends already, since we were worried about that. I still have yet to meet our neighbors. I wish people would just come over and say hi.

Anyway, the beach was awesome. Hopefully we’ll get to enjoy it a lot more than we did back east. And I know all you Californians and beach-lovers are jealous, but what can I say? You have an excuse to visit us in the winter. ; )

Today I am totally exhausted. I loathe these types of days - the ones were you sit around, do nothing, and are still totally worn out. We had two 3-hour sessions of seminars today, PLUS a “wine and cheese” reception for the new students and faculty. It was so we could meet the faculty who might not be speaking in the orientation, but would be interested in having students join their labs.

Two reasons these receptions suck: 1) Along with a bunch of my classmates, I do not drink wine. Nor do I like beer. Which is all they have to drink at these things. Now, it may get whatever faculty that actually show up (see #2) loosened up, but it does nothing for me. 2) Hardly any faculty show up. We had, I think, a total of about 15 faculty members show up. Whoo. Out of over a hundred. And guess what! Most of them were the same people who’d already spoken, or who would be speaking at the seminars! Plus, absolutely none of the people I want to speak to have been around at all. So frustrating.

Additional reasons for me to complain - I got corned by a faculty member who was way too much of a close talker. Who backed me into a corner. I have personal space issues, so this was unpleasent. Two other faculty members I got roped into talking to - one is a virologist studying HIV (sorry, I want to concentrate on genetics, not HIV anymore), and one studying cancer, but who just kept talking without letting a word get in edge-wise so I could graciously excuse myself. I guess this is what happens when scientists get a couple glasses of wine in them. I know they were more excited about the wine than my classmates were.

Well, only a full week left of this to go…

Well, of orientation at least….

Yeah, I think it sucks that we’re treated like kindergardeners. We have to go to a billion different seminar-style sessions for each track of our program - so we learn what people in each one research and are interested in, and so we learn what is required in each track. We have to sign in to each one. We have to sit there, even though most of us probably have a pretty good idea which one, or two we are interested in joining. I feel like a four-year-old. Barg.

Kris took some “first day” pics. Woo! I met up with the girl I roomed with at the hotel for our interview weekend back in February, and another I’d talked to - this girl, poor thing, was sick the whole weekend, and unfortunately got me sick for my interview in North Carolina. Things you’ll always recall. I’m a little sad my pal from Jersey decided to go to a different school (shotout - Meryl, how are you doing there???), but hopefully we’ll continue to keep in touch.

I’m spoiled - Kris gave me a ride. I appreciate everything he does for me, like that, and for us. He got so much stuff unpacked and set up that by the time I got home (only three hours later) it looked almost like a whole different apartment. Well, we have a million things to continue to unpack, so I have to get on that. I’ll be super busy, so I’m going to try to post, but it might be infrequent, and post-dated. Just to let all you dedicated readers know what is going on - continue to check, because hopefully when you do you’ll be rewarded with a few new posts. Hope everyone is doing great!

The company called us at 7 this morning - way too early in my opinion, but at least that meant the containers would be there a large portion of the day for us to unpack. I was exhausted - from our trip, from unpacking the car on Friday, and from yesterday. We did go exploring - on the bikes - around campus, trying to find the best way for me to get to class, or for the time being, orientation. I haven’t gotten that much physical activity in a couple of weeks, having spent most of our time in the car. I’ll get used to it though, especially when Kris has the car all day at work.

So they have a lot of cool stuff for people around here, and one thing is dollies for you to borrow. I’d reserved one for today, thinking it’s a bit of a walk (though thankfully downhill) from the lot to our apartment. The place I reserved it from wasn’t open until 2. Bit of a quandary. If I’d reserved it for an earlier time, how the heck was I supposed to get it for my time if the place wasn’t open for 3 more hours? Well, we started the unpacking process with the smaller items from our two containers (which, by the way arrived pretty much untouched - a bit of residue from the wood and cardboard boxes on a few things, but otherwise undamaged. Of course, this isn’t considering that one of our locks was sheared off as they took the container out of storage earlier - oops….), taking our time until my reservation. We moved the boxes in, unpacked a few at a time, went back for more. Finally it was time. Thinking someone *might* be there since I’d made the reservation, I went to the place. Nobody there. Frustration abounded. We took a lunch break, and I took a nap.

During my nap, Kris was majorly productive, and unpacked most of both of the boxes. The place was finally about to open, so I made yet another trip. Got the cart no problem, except the girl there told me the girl the previous day *should* have told me to call a number so I could have someone meet me there earlier. And you think she would have because she was in the housing office when we arrived, AND asked if we were moving in or out. *le sigh* I don’t get people sometimes.

Anyway, the flatbed cart made it SO much easier to bring everything else in, including our bed, big furniture, and heaviest boxes. We were finished with cart in two hours. It’ll be so nice to sleep in a real bed tonight! (Kris’s bed was always so comfy anyway!) We’re not completely unpacked from the boxes, but we made pretty good progress. And thankfully, I have orientation only during the morning *most* days, for two weeks. Gotta get back to unpacking now though.

Leg 10 - Final leg - LV, NV - brief stop in Primm, NV - finally in Irvine, CA!

We enjoyed our night in Vegas, but once more “played the elevators” as we checked out. Kris didn’t want to stop or go to the roller coasters, but I convinced him to stop in Primm so we could hit one of the three we would miss (also so we wouldn’t have to stop on another trip out to Vegas!). He was very negative when we arrived, both because originally we couldn’t find any info in the AAA books about Primm or the coaster (even though it wasn’t hard to stop even from the highway), but also because it didn’t seem to be running when we did get there.

We made sure to ask even before we entered the casino if the coaster was running (because we knew the entrance would be conveniently located at the very back of the casino!), and we were assured that it was. Apparently it was opening at 11 AM today, just 5 minutes after we arrived. So we had time to buy our tickets, take a quick potty break, and still be on the very first run of the morning!

Woo! Desperado was a great way to get an early morning adrenaline rush. It still stands as one of the world’s top 9 tallest coasters - as Kris informed me several days later. I wouldn’t have even known this great coaster existed - Thanks for the suggestion, Jenn!!! I’m really happy I was able to convince Kris to stop - and I know he didn’t mind it - the coaster was great, the price wasn’t too outrageous, and the timing was perfect. Check off another coaster on “Coaster Trip USA.”

Moving on - out through the desert, and the Rockies. We were stuck in a brief bit of traffic, but it was nothing compared to what we saw going the other way. Bumper-to-bumper from Barstow to Vegas! Yikes. We made a note to head to Vegas either EARLY Friday morning, or on Thursday night if we go for a weekend. The GPS made a pretty good route for us except that it took us on a couple toll roads, which like everything else in California, were ridiculously expensive. Unfortunately we had to take an exit early (I was over hydrated), and decided to re-map ourselves. The road we stopped on was one I recognized from my trip to visit UCI, so I told Kris to take it towards the campus.

We made it to UCI no problem, but had a little trouble finding the housing office. Eventually we were able to pick up our keys and get our parking permit, but only after going in through the out door. We’ve arrived! I love our new apartment, I can’t wait to furnish and decorate! I really like that we have two floors, only neighbors on either side, nobody underneath or over us. It’s a little smaller than I imagined, but it’s very open, and we get a lot of light. I’m really excited about starting our new life living together, in a place that’s totally new for both of us.

In the meantime, we’re going to unpack the car, get some food and some rest. We’ll explore maybe a little tomorrow, and await the Door-to-Door containers arriving on Sunday.

Leg 9 - Lake Havasu City, AZ - through Kingman again - stop at the Hoover Dam - a night in Las Vegas, NV

After a humid night in our “in the middle of renovations” soon to be Hampton Inn (where we only stayed because we could get an internet connection), we went to see the sights of the city. We both wanted to explore the area, but agreed it was just too darn hot. So we visited the London Bridge, took some pics, drove over it and back, and then got the heck out of the city.

We headed back north to I-40, and then exited to drive another part of Route 66 in Arizona - this time going east instead of west to Kingman. We headed through a couple ghost towns, just like the guide said they would be - didn’t actually stop though. Then the road wound up and through a mountain pass - one Kris had a lot of fun driving on (ie, scared the crap outta me). We ended up in Kingman, AZ, which we’d passed through yesterday also. After this we headed up the 93 to the Hoover Dam.

We stopped on the Arizona side thinking that was where we had to park to take the tour. After a couple pictures we realized everything was on the Nevada side and headed over. We also noticed the clocks on the intake towers - of course they are the same time right now because Arizona doesn’t do the daylight savings time thing.

So we took the Dam tour - as Kris said. You can read his blog for the lovely tour guides we had but my comment on them is thus: even the other older ladies in our group thought the woman “was a total witch.” She had this crazy buzz haircut, and packed us into the elevator like cattle. With the extra humidity in Nevada, the heat was almost unbearable even inside. I thought the Hoover Dam was pretty impressive too, and I think we definitely got a good enough tour that we won’t have to revisit it - like some of the other places we saw along the way.

You may have also read from Kris about the huge bridge they are constructing to divert some of the traffic from the Hoover Dam - my thoughts are also that they are probably going to close off all traffic from the Dam. So if you can, go now for a tour - who knows if they will still be giving them once the bridge is completed in 2008.

On to Las Vegas. Yet another arid desert state that as we drove and visited through, it rained. We decided to stay at the Mirage (where Siegfried and Roy are, but not because of them), where the elevators pay 2 to 1 - j/k. Anyway, as we checked in, it started to drizzle. It was muggy, and we knew we were going to go out and try to catch some of the evening outdoor shows, so we showered and freshened up. We were thinking of hitting the pool, but because of the rain, it was closed!

We went out. I was crazy - I had no idea the set up of Vegas was so nutty - I thought you could easily walk down the street from hotel to hotel - WRONG! If you’ve ever been to Vegas, and tried to leave the casinos, you know this is nearly impossible. I’m serious - to get to your room you have to walk through the casino. To get to the restaurants, you have to walk through the casino. To get to the shops, to the parking lot, to get outside - you have to walk through the casino. To get down the street, you have to go up and down from these crazy high crosswalks, but in some areas you can just cross. In others, you’re completely blocked off by barriers. In others, the sidewalk is diverted so you have to go up and into - you guessed it - their casino. And I read in my AAA book about some monorail that goes along most of the casino, but we didn’t see it at first so we didn’t believe it actually existed. I saw a sign for it, and realized it IS there, but at the back of the hotels - conveniently placed so you have to walk through not one, but two casinos to get anywhere.

So in addition to practically running everywhere, most everything was shut down due to the “inclement weather.” They did start things back up as the rain let off, but the two things I really wanted to do (coasters) were not open. The stratosphere was closed (for obvious reasons - yes there was lightning), and the Manhattan Express was down. We decided the gondola ride was too expensive (and they wouldn’t go outside because of the rain), and just tried to enjoy some of the outside shows. We caught the water show at the Bellagio, first. We tried to see a show at the Excalibur (that they don’t have anymore) and the Luxor (but you have to pay for it now - surprise) - no go, Dad. We did eventually catch the volcano erupting outside our very own hotel, and “The Sirens of TI” at Treasure Island - which was a VERY cheesy show. It was an “all out there” obvious advertisement for their casino - not sure how obvious that is to anyone else, but we thought it was dumb.

So much for the shows, and Vegas on a budget. Kris dragged me down to the slots saying, “We’re in Vegas, we have to gamble a little.” Gambling is just NOT my thing, and he almost literally dragged me down. We joked for a while in our room about going down in our pajamas, but thought we would probably be sent back upstairs for more “proper” attire. We thought probably not, in reality, but if anyone stopped us, we could say in a voice that was just a little too loud, “But these are my lucky pajamas!” and be ok.

Kris traded in $20 for quarters, and gave half to me. He played a couple slots, and told me to find one I wanted to play. They were all the same to me, but the ones I wanted to actually check out were the nickel machines. So we went to one and put in a dollar. I played the “Price is Right” and got a bonus game on my second spin. It was for the hill climber bonus game - which I made about 6 dollars on. Considering it’s a nickel machine, that’s a lot of money! We tried a couple other machines - a Dilbert one, a Wheel of Fortune one, and a video poker one, which Kris won a little on, and one more quarter machine Kris won on. We didn’t win much, but overall only lost 50 cents. That’s pretty good in my eyes for a night on the town.

We also joked about predicting which elevator would arrive first, and made up a game about placing bets on them. Hence - “The Mirage, where the elevators pay 2 to 1.” We were a little punchy at the time, but I still think it’s funny.

Overall - disappointed with the day. Too hot everywhere, a lame tour at the Dam, and Vegas both a nightmare to get around in, and a hard place to be without a lot of money. No coasters, and that was the big thing I wanted to do here. Next time - and my aunt and grandma are coming out here in November!

Leg 8 - Sedona, AZ - stop at the Grand Canyon - back down to Route 66 through Williams, Segilman, Peach Springs, Valentine, Hackberry, and Kingman, AZ - stop in Lake Havasu, AZ

Up fairly early, after enjoying another delicious breakfast at the Graham Inn (I’m sad we had to leave), we drove up to the Grand Canyon, but on the south rim. We were planning on going to the North Rim, but after some debate we agreed to spend the extra time in Sedona, and make another trip at a later date out to the North Rim - since it would have just taken way too much time to get out there, and we wanted to continue on Route 66.

The Grand Canyon…maybe it’s just me, but not so grand. The views were spectacular, but it just wasn’t my favorite part of the trip at all. Perhaps we were not able to enjoy the full grandeur of the national park because we had less time to spend there (since we stayed in Sedona) and also because we weren’t able to take any of the tours (bus, railroad, burro, plane, etc. - both due to time and money). I’m guessing that if we had been able to do one of those things there would have been more of a personal enjoyment / thrill for me, but for the time being there wasn’t. Now that we live a lot closer, we can make an extended weekend trip out again, perhaps camp, go to the North Rim, perhaps take a tour. I’m looking forward to that for the future.

There’s a great old part of 66 still left in Arizona, so we make the extra loop through it, but first stopped for lunch. It was another Rt. 66 haunt, in Williams, AZ called “Rod’s Steak House.” It was great, but very quiet. I guess it makes sense, since it was the middle of the day on a Wednesday afternoon.

Driving on through the “blink and you’ll miss ‘em” towns along 66, we got the best gas mileage I think I’ve ever gotten in my car. Over 300 miles before the gas light came on, and filled her up - we got somewhere between 25-26 mpg. Awesome, compared to what we got in Texas. I think there’s something wrong with the gas there. Ironic thinking about all the oil rigs/towers we passed there.

We rejoined the main highway, I-40, and drove southward though a storm to Lake Havasu. The wind buffeted along on the highway, and the rain gave the car a nice wash (no more buggies on the window!). It was definitely scary, but weird that we’ve seen rain in both New Mexico and Arizona. We were going to camp in the state park down here, but I hope this explains why we didn’t. It’s also hot and muggy - ugh! - what are we, back out on the East Coast??? It’s muggy high 80’s - would not have been able to sleep outside tonight. It’s also nice that we were able to get the internet, so we could post a ton of stuff from the past couple days.

We’re going to enjoy the town tomorrow morning, and then move on to Vegas!

Day 10 - some time in Sedona

We decided (on my parents’ suggestion) to take a Pink Jeep Tour. It sounded fun - and was. We took the Diamondback Gulch and Ancient Ruins combo tour, since my parents had been on both and liked each one for different reasons, but also because it was the only morning tour with open spots left. The Gulch part was kind of scary - wondering if the jeep is really going to make it up the hill or not. The Ruins part included an up-close walking tour - we were close enough to touch the actual ruins, but didn’t - as with most old things trying to be preserved, the oils in your hands will destroy them.

After the Jeep tour, we had a quick lunch, and took a shower to get all the red dirt off of us. I feel kind of bad that our nice fluffy white towels at our place are red now. Speaking of our place, it’s this fabulous Bed and Breakfast called The Graham Inn. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice place after all the mediocre motels and camping - sort of like a vacation within our vacation. I can’t describe how wonderful this place is.

And Arizona - although hot (you’re going to hate me for this!), it’s dry too, so it doesn’t seem like it’s 97 degrees (at 5pm yesterday). The land is beautiful (after the boring plains and dry uncolored parts of Texas and New Mexico especially). It gets nice and comfortably cool at night. I think it’s definitely going to warrant further visits (since we will be close).

We’ll take some time tomorrow to enjoy the Grand Canyon, and continue our trip, but I’m really happy we took some time to relax and enjoy ourselves here in Sedona. We made up new lyrics for the Route 66 song, too - instead of “Don’t forget Winona” it should now be “Don’t forget Sedona.”

PS - Ask us about Schnebly…