Sun Moon Stars Girl )-(

Welcome to my little place to vent…

Meridain, MS to Arlington, TX

Today was the first day that I drove. Kris didn’t want me to on Monday because it was snowy and icy. Yesterday I was still a little nervous about taking the wheel, and Kris doesn’t seem to mind the long hours in the car. I had a little trouble, downshifting into 2nd instead of 4th, and a bit of trouble with the seat. It doesn’t go forward quite as far as I’d like it to, so I shove it as far foward as possible. For some reason, it refused to lock in place, and I accidentally shoved the seat back when I meant to just shift myself. I had to scoot forward while Kris held the wheel so I could reach the gas, and while Kris moved the seat forward again. It’s one of those “you have to be there” things to see how hilarious it is, but it’s not actually funny, because you know at any moment you could drive off the road.
Kris took over once we neared the big cities of Texas - Dallas and Fort Worth. I found a hotel which boasted it’s proximity to the park (right across the street!) and high-speed internet. We chose the place so we could post some stuff, and enjoy the rest of our early day. We actually arrived in Arlington early enough that we could have gone into SFOT if we wanted to. Well, there was no high-speed internet jack, and despite what the AAA book said, the clerk at the front desk reassured us that they had never had high-speed internet. We tried to get some sort of compensation for the room, but had no luck. We just turned in early since we’re both still feeling run-down.

Fayetteville, NC to Meridian, MS

Up early once again, tried to use the car wash to no avail. Got back on the highway. We’d started to see signs for the crazy tourist trap, “South of the Border” last night, but they were easier to see in the daylight. Our favorite was on that said, “Too mouch tequila!” upside-down. I wish we’d gotten some pictures of them, because the place is hilarious. I can’t believe it’s actually established itself as a place worthy to be on both our AAA maps, AND our GPS! Kris got some shots of the actual area itself as we drove by, and into South Carolina.
Our day was mostly uneventful. It was still cold for our journey through Georgia, and only started to warm up once we hit Alabama. We drove through all the big cities - Atlanta, Birmingham - and even saw SF over Georgia near Atlanta. It’s too bad we don’t really have a lot of time to stop and sightsee like we did in the summer.
Our most interesting part of the day was trying to find “Dreamland Barbeque” in Alabama. GPS had no idea how to get there, and we were about to give up (after having driven in circles for about 20 minutes) when we finally saw a sign for the place - if we’d blinked, we would have missed it. When we found the resturant, Kris thought it looked too sketchy to eat in, but he took a look inside and we decided since we’d taken the time to find the damn place, we might as well eat there. I was in the mood for bbq since the disappointment of Porky’s yesterday.
Well, the place seemed pretty quaint - only like 2 items on the menu - a full rack of ribs, or a half-rack. But it was also yummy. And apparently not lying in the “famous” department. We noticed we were seated at a booth next to a signed “To Dreamland BBQ” picture of Penn and Teller.
We finished up, and headed out to our stop, racing to catch this week of “The Amazing Race.” Well, the same stupid thing happened where we almost missed it, again, like in the summer. But it was this “summing it up” episode - which was totally stupid. We were like, why the heck did we race here for this???
The most interesting part of the day happened when we went out to the car to bring our stuff in for the night. Another guest of the hotel came out and said howdy. He asked if we were following him - because he had seen us at a rest stop in Alabama. Kris had had the hood of the car open, trying to see where the heck this annoying oil leak had come from, and the man was going to come over and see if we were ok. We were fine, and left before he did come over, but then we all ended up at the same hotel together. He said we’d see them on the road tomorrow, because they were headed home to Texas, which is where we were going too.
We’re both still stuffy and sick feeling. I hope we can get over this before we get to spend time in Six Flags over Texas.

Scotch Plains, NJ to Fayetteville, NC

This means we drove through five states today. We left EARLY in the morning, since we left a day later than we told everyone. I appologize because I know I lied to everyone, but we just needed an extra day to get our stuff organized and packed after Christmas, and we just didn’t want to have to do that ON Christmas. Since we hadn’t made reservations for the Cape May (NJ) - Lewes (DE) ferry, we kept the schedule in mind and were able to make the 9:30 ferry. It was darn cold out, and it had snowed, but we made good time down the parkway. I brought my EZ-Pass with us on the plane so we wouldn’t have to stop to pay tolls. Our trip down the parkway was fun; it’s been a while since I made a trip all the way down to Cape May, and I forgot about most of the stuff down there. I remembered the bridge, and how the parkway becomes narrow, and then putters into just a two-lane road with stoplights. I forgot about the Egg Harbor nuclear power plant, which Kris noticed right away.
Since we didn’t have specific directions to the ferry, I was a little apprehensive we wouldn’t make it down there in time. Kris and I were both relieved when we saw the signs posted both along the parkway, and along the route. We did make it on time, and even had time to stop inside the “waiting area/gift shop.” It was totally different than I remembered it, it was even on a different side that I remembered. I also thought I’d be able to cash in the lottery scratch cards I’d gotten for Christmas, but no such luck. Wish I’d gotten a chance to do that yesterday.
The wind was so fierce we had trouble walking to and from the car. By the tme we’d loaded on to the ferry, it wasn’t any better. Once the ferry was past the jetty and breakers, there were huge waves, and the boat was tossed around quite a bit. At one point Kris said he could see only water on one side of the boat, and when he looked to the other side, all he saw was sky. There was one huge wave that caused everything in the ferry to move portside - all the tables, chairs, people, and…the giftshop. We heard a huge crashing, and a lot of stuff was destroyed in the giftshop. I guess this doesn’t usually happen, so it’s not a problem to have fragile items onboard, but the giftshop was closed for the remainder of the voyage after this wave.
Several interesting other things happened… After we took the opprotunity to eat our lunch (yummy turkey sanwiches, thanks Mommy!), one man commented us that he used to work on the ferry, and he’d never seen waves like these. I’m honestly surprised the unfavorable weather didn’t delay the ferry schedule, or shut it down. We almost thought it would. Also, I turned around, and saw a couple with their children. It looked like something had spilled on their table…or someone had puked. And just as I was commenting to Kris, “Did that little kid throw up?” his sister let go all over the father. “Go bring that poor man some napkins.”
Once the ferry got back into the breakers and jetties, the ride was a bit smoother. We drove into Delaware, and headed for the outlet mall nearby. I had researched this place because I know there’s no sales tax in DE, and Kris needed a new pair of sunglasses (which had been stolen by the ocean in September). We found it quickly, and Kris purchased a new, identical pair of sunglasses. Once again we were on our way.
We made quick work of both Delaware and Maryland, delayed only by the snow and wind blowing the snow across the road. We were also delayed by the drivers who lost control of their vehicles, thankfully not directly in front of us, but helped make the day fun. We’ll have pictures in the gallery soon. The wind was really crazy, and at one point blew a temporary construction sign across the road. I think it hit the car in front of us, but thankfully it didn’t hit ze-neon. I just wonder why the construction workers didn’t think to weigh the sign down with sandbags or something.
Once in Virginia, we stopped for gas. We paid the $12 toll, and crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It’s been expanded a bit since the last time I was on it - at least on the bridge parts. It used to be one lane, both directions, for the 10 miles it streches across the bay. We stopped twice, once to take some pics at the beginning, and once at the “rest area” to get a free Pepsi, and to hit the restrooms.
We got going again, and made it through Richmond during rush hour to I-95. “We’ll be on THIS for a while” - “Awesome.” It got dark quickly, and we found a place to stop for the night. “It’s got a free car wash, just what we need.” Unfortunately, the car wash was frozen when we tried to use it the following day.

Seems I had nothing to worry about concerning our ride to the airport this morning. Vadim picked us up promptly at 6AM. I had to laugh a little, since he was bundled up in full winter gear - puffy coat and all - but it was a bit chilly. Not so much so that Kris or I were wearing more than the extra sweatshirt layer, but the temperature definately dropped a good 25 degrees last night. Nothing compared to the cold we’d encounter as we left the airport this evening, but still brisk.
Well, it seems I’ve wandered somewhat off the topic I’d chosen for this post. Yes, it was chilly, yes we had no problems getting to the airport, but thank someone we got there as early as we did.
No problems getting ticketed, but for some reason the John Wayne International Airport, which is not even bigger than the airport in Manchester, NH, for crying out loud, has EXTREMELY long lines for security. A word to the wise for anyone who may be flying out of there from someone in the know - it’s a small airport, but get there AT LEAST an HOUR early. I don’t know why, but the security lines at JW rival those in Boston. How is this possible for such a small airport?
Well, your wait will be unduely extended if you are lucky enough to be randomly selected for the Super Special Security Screen - or at least that’s what Kris and I took SSSS on our tickets to mean. As if the line could get any longer. Needless to say we were both displeased at being shuffled through a “dump out your bags” search, and having the pleasure of being felt up at 6:30 in the morning.
Argh. Because of the security screen, we almost missed our flight. Nearly everyone had already boarded, and we might have missed the flight if I hadn’t noticed someone going through the previously closed door which led down the ramp to our plane. Not a fun way to start off the morning.
Not much trouble with our connecting flight, except it left a bit late, and our pilot lied about making up time. So we got into cold Newark about half an hour late. My father picked us up, and I realized just how much crap (with the excuse of “terrorism”) the Bush Administration has put people through. There’s a bunch of covered parking spots which can no longer be utilized because some crazy loon might try to park a car-bomb there. Ironically, the place where my father had parked was literally only 50 feet away from this covered parking area. Wouldn’t it be just as easy to park a car THERE and do some damage? I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person who thinks about these things.
So to sum up our day, thank you “terrorism.” Seriously. I really enjoyed being felt up at the crack of dawn by a complete stranger, almost missing my flight, and having to walk out of a perfectly useful parking area to another, uncovered, weather-filled, parking lot.

I did it! The shuttle wasn’t running so I had to ride my bike over, but it’s done. Research report for this quarter handed in! I finished up our last bits of laundry and household cleaning so we can come back to a nice clean apartment in January.
I finished up packing, hopefully not forgetting anything for both our stay on the east coast, or for our second trip across the country. We leave tomorrow morning, and I’m a little apprehensive about our ride, since I haven’t heard from him in a couple days. I also know I’ll miss the nice California weather. It was definately beautiful today.
Bye CA! See you in Jan!

A while back Kris looked for stage rallies in our area of the country, and found this rally based out of Laughlin, NV. I was definately up for getting out of the house after classes and finals were over. Unfortunately I’m not quite done with one final paper I have to write before I leave, but I have two days to finish it up before we fly east. In any case, the rally was…mediocre. This is not to say I didn’t have a good time. I enjoyed what little of it we could actually spectate. Kris has already gone into some of the details of why this happened, but I’m going to sum it up with my own story.
(more…)

Argh. I must complain. I cannot believe that the final for the one and only class we had this quarter was so freaking hard. I’m afraid I won’t pass this class and will have to take it again next year. I’m bummed because although we’ve taken three tests already in the class, we’ve only gotten ONE of them back, and that wasn’t until this morning, just before the final. I almost had a heart attack because my test was completely out of order, somewhere in the middle of the stack instead of near the end. When I finally did find it, the grade indicated made me even more depressed - the very reason I’m scared of not passing the class. Now, sidenote, I’m not going to fail, but we have to maintain a certain grade to pass a class, and I’m scared I won’t get a good enough grade to pass. And this is because of the one test I got back today, and because the final was so hard. Three parts, two not bad, but the last was this was anal-retentive prof’s section, where we were asked too many detailed questions. I honestly cannot remember all that stuff for one test, but also a large part of my brain refuses to memorize most of that stuff anyway, when I know if I need it later, I can look it up. I had that problem as an undergrad too, and thought we’d be tested on more broad concepts as graduate students. Not the case, I see. Thank goodness it’s only one year of classes at this program.