Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Can't you Hear the Whistle Blowing?

I love trains.  I really love trains.  Just imagining the power of those engines, feeling the rumbling vibrations through your body as they roar past, tugging car after 50 ton car in an endless tail behind them.

I love hearing the warning horn of the diesels approaching a grade crossing, the two longs, one short, and one long.  Even when I'm not nearby, the horn in the distance evokes the same feelings inside.

That is, until Sunday.

On Sunday, I rode Amtrak's Capitol Corridor passenger train from Sacramento to Fremont, California, about a three hour ride.  I was in the second car from the engine, in a four car consist.



(Not my picture - it was dark when I got to the train.)

I don't know if it was possible to get far enough away from the engine, but car two was not it, because every single grade crossing for three hours I heard that damned horn.  AAAARRRGH!!!

I hope eventually my love for the feelings I get hearing train whistles and horns will return, but for now, give me some earplugs, please!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Anatomy of a Really Bad Day

It seems stupid to write about everything going wrong, but I'm hoping that getting all this off my chest will help me calm down, and also that some time in the future we will be able to laugh at all this. Not yet though.



Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

To start with I had to mail a package. I looked up the post office hours, and one of them opened at 8am. I could get there, get my box sent, then get to work not too late. However, when I got there, it turned out that it opened at 9am instead. Stupid post office.

Then, driving up San Tomas Expressway, a six lane road, I watched a squirrel attempt to make it across. He managed three lanes, the median, and my lane, and then got smashed by the car next to me. Why does this bug me so much? They're just hairy rats, right? Stupid squirrel. :(

Then, we had a quarterly event at work, which was an off-site lunch and bocce ball game. First, someone called me right before I left, and wanted to look at some layout, because she thought it was wrong. It wasn't. I knew it wasn't. I told her it wasn't. She insisted on discussing it a while. Finally, I was able to leave, but I was very late. Stupid co-worker.

Then, Google Maps was WRONG. It's the strangest thing. I got the address directly from the Campo di Bocce website, but Google Maps steared me to a DIFFERENT bocce ball court, on the same road. The spot on the map was absolutely perfect, for the wrong court. Considering the scarcity of bocce ball courts (I only know of two), the chances of this happening must be miniscule. Anyway, I called a friend and he guided me to the right place. Late, of course. Stupid Google Maps.

Oh and I found that I totally suck at bocce ball. Stupid bocce ball.

After the team-building event, I stopped at another post office to send my package. The postage was $25!!! WTF? For a small box??? That was way more than the stuff inside was even worth! I could have sent $25 and told the other person to just buy the things where they lived and keep the change! Stupid post office.

It was only 3pm, but it would be wasteful to drive all the way back to work and then back home again, so I came home and started working. However, apparantly when I'm at home, it means I'm supposed to help with homework and music and everything else. Excuse me for being on the clock.

Kira and Jordan had a Christmas concert to sing and play at that night, and Kira had a violin lesson beforehand. So, Sue took Kira to her lesson and then directly to the concert. I was to take Jordan. I left dinner on the counter for Alex and then left with Jordan.

Of course, as soon as I left, Kona, our chocolate labrador, went after the big bucket of soup and dumped it all over the floor. Alex cleaned up most of it, but I had to do the rest when I got home. Two meals worth of soup, gone. Stupid dog.

I was pretty sure the concert was at Vallco Mall at 5:45, so I took Jordan there and arrived about 5:35. We couldn't find anyone, though. We walked the entire length (maybe a quarter mile?) of the mall SIX times. I found a friend Christmas shopping, but never found any singers. I called Sue a million times, but no answer. Finally, at 6:00, I was getting very worried that it was really supposed to be Valley Fair Mall (Vallco, Valley Fair.. why do they name malls so similar?). So, we left and drove across town to the other mall. This mall is a compete maze, but we walked almost the whole thing, but didn't hear any singing. Keep in mind that this was the Christmas shopping season so the malls were totally packed, and it was at rush hour, so the roads were totally packed. Finally, I get the idea I should have had long ago and call home to ask Alex if Sue had written anything on the calendar. "Vallco Mall, outside JC Penny". Well, I was right the first time! But we never saw anyone! And now we're across town... So, I drive back there even though it’s a lost cause now, and walk every square foot of JC Penny inside and out. Nothing. Finally, I gave up and let Jordan check out some RC racing tracks in one of the stores. Later, as we leave, he thought he saw someone from his singing group. Wha..? So we look around some more and find the group packing up, BEHIND A DIVIDING WALL BY THE FOOD COURT. WTF? Who sings BEHIND a wall?

Oh well, too late now, so we drove home. While I was driving, my phone buzzed for a message. It had been left by Sue before the concert, saying where it was. Stupid AT&T didn't get the message to me until it was too late.

Sue had called from someone else's phone, because she didn't have hers. Of course, when she saw Jordan didn't show up on time, she could have borrowed someone's phone, or gone to a pay phone. But noooooo.

So, Jordan didn't get to sing, and I missed seeing my daughter play her violin, only her second public performance of her life.  This kills me.

When Sue got home afterwards, she was furious at me for not bringing Jordan. Of course, I was furious with her for not calling me. So, that conversation didn't go well, to put it mildly.

I took the dog for a long walk just to get away for a while.

At 9:00, Alex tells me he needs a gift for Secret Santa the next day. Hello? I was just at TWO malls and passed about THREE HUNDRED stores, and NOW you tell me, and HOUR before bed, AFTER most stores are closed? No. Hell no.

Oh, and my Christmas cards still aren't done.

Stop the world, I want to get off. Life sucks.


Well, my story is done, but I don't think I'm any calmer than before.  I'm still stressed, angry and depressed all rolled into one.  Oh well, here's hoping that we can laugh about all this some day.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Avatars

Back in my day, we didn't have "avatars". There were no graphics; just text. So we didn't have a visual stand-in for our real life self. Instead we had "handles", a name we would use online. Mine was Radagast.

I don't do any online gaming, so I haven't ever had an avatar, or even pretty much ever used the word before. Two upcoming events have changed that, though:

Two "Avatar" movies are coming out soon. Both are completely unrelated to eachother. But both appear to be about a conflict/war, in a sci-fi/fantasy setting. Both look visually stunning. Watch and see:

Avatar:


(Go watch on YouTube in fullscreen HD.. it's much better!)

Avatar: The Last Airbender:


(Go watch on YouTube in fullscreen HD.. it's much better!)

I never watched the Nickelodean cartoon series that "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is based on, and I have no idea what the first "Avatar" movie above is based on, but both look like they could be amazing movies. I can't wait. :)

And just to continue the Avatar motif, here is a music video called, "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar":


(Go watch on YouTube fullscreen.. it's much better!)

Of course, that video is only funny if you've watched The Guild (http://www.watchtheguild.com/), a video series about a group of online gamers. The main character is also the main character in this video. I highly recommend watching the whole series.

How weird that "avatar", a word I've used less than 10 times my whole life, has become the word of the day.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving Trip Report

Hello everyone. I'm just back from Thanksgiving vacation. The grand plan was to drive to Joshua Tree National Park and do some rock climbing over the 5-day holiday. I had really high hopes for this trip, but that was not to be.

First of all, if you don't know what Joshua Trees are, see below.  They are Yucca plants, part of the lily family.  These exist only in the Mojave Desert area of the United States.


(Click to enlarge.)

The fun started when we were ready to leave Wednesday morning and the truck wouldn't start - battery was dead. I took it down to Kragen and they wanted to test it before giving me a pro-rated discount on the next battery (since the bad one was only 2 years old). I was already late, so waiting an hour to see if it will charge was frustrating. I explained this to the lady so she courteously checked it after only 5 minutes and declared it dead. I don't know if it was, but I only paid $40 (about half price) for the new battery, so I guess I don't care. So, after I installed the new battery, we were only an hour late or so.

The drive to Joshua Tree is about 9 hours. The only way to make it bearable is to have the kids watch videos on a portable DVD player. Unfortunately, we found that the cigarette lighter power cord no longer worked. So, we next made a trip to the local Radio Shack. Despite appearing to have every power cord known to man, they did NOT have a cigarette lighter power cord. However, they did have an insanely expensive power converter, which converts a cigarette lighter into a normal plug outlet. In the interest of getting moving, I shelled out $45 for that. However, the plug-in power cord for the DVD player was back at home, so we had to go back again to pick that up. Another half hour late. But, Sue and the kids were in the back watching movies and Kona and I in front, so all was well. "Dog is my copilot." (religious dyslexics' motto)


(Click to enlarge.)


On the trip down, we stopped about half way and found a cheap flea-bag hotel. Their sign said, "Rooms from $25.99." Our bill ended up being $45. I'm not sure how that worked, but was in no mood to argue.

Thursday we continued our drive and made it to our hotel near Joshua Tree and unpacked. Kira decided to check out the pool, while Jordan and I went for a bike ride. There are a lot of dirt paths to ride around there, so we had a lot of fun. Until I got a flat, that is. One of the hazards of the desert is that every freaking plant is covered with spikes. I ended up with quite a few in my tires, one of which went through to the tube. I had been planning to ride the Geology Loop trail inside the park one day, but now that was dashed, unless I found a bike shop. I was in no mood to go shopping, though, so scratch that. Oh, and Kira reported that the pool water was ice cold, so she didn't have any fun either. At least Jordan had a blast riding his bike in the dirt.


(Click to enlarge.)


In the evening, our friends Karen, Lewis, and Lewis' daughter Georgia, who were camping inside the park, came to the hotel room for dinner, which we cooked out in the parking lot. We got some very strange looks from people coming out of the Sizzler next door. I gotta admit, I was pretty envious of them. But we had fun anyway. Lewis' wine may have helped.


(Click to enlarge.)


Georgia and Kira are about the same age, so of course they had to have a sleep-over that night. Poor Jordan got picked on all night (and the next day and the next...).

On Friday, we arranged to meet at a rock outcropping called Thin Wall. The name really fit.. it was seriously like someone erected a wall of rock, straight up on both sides. It was really cool. Unfortunately, it was about a quarter mile from the car. Normally, not a problem. But today, Sue woke up totally sick and couldn't move far from the car/bathroom, and also a ranger came around to enforce the rule that dogs are not allowed more that 100 feet from the road (which we knew about, but had never seen enforced before). While Lewis and Karen finished up their route on Thin Wall, the rest of us drove to Trash Can Rock, which had some decent climbing and was right next to a parking lot. Sue managed to put up a couple easy routes for the kids before collapsing on Kira's crash pad and going to sleep. The kids were having a blast scrambling over rocks, so weren't really interested in climbing. And the bees. There were hundreds of bees flying around freaking me out. They were even bothering Kona, who tried snapping at them with her mouth, thankfully always missing. Lewis and Karen eventually arrived after a couple hours trying to free a stuck rope and put up a couple more routes. I got three good climbs in, and everyone seemed to have a good time, except for Sue. But even she managed to get two climbs in. Even sickness won't keep her from climbing! We ended the day back at the hotel cooking dinner again, then heading to bed.

Saturday, we woke up to a light rain, and Sue still feeling sick. Hoping it would clear up, we met at another climbing area. There were some great rocks, but it was cold and a little wet. Sue, Lewis and Karen scouted out some good climbs, while the kids scrambled on the rocks, and found a cool cave.


(Click to enlarge.)


Kona and I went for a hike, exploring the area. She had a lot of fun, although a few times I had to pull cactus thorns out of her paws.


(Click to enlarge.)


It finally cleared up a little, so Lewis put up a route.


(Click to enlarge.)


Unfortunately, as he was finishing up, it began raining again. But Sue couldn't resist and had to try the route, while the rest of us stood in the rain.


(Click to enlarge.)


We figured we had to adjust the difficulty of this 5.10a route a bit due to (1) rain, (2) temperature below 50F, and (3) climbing while sick. Sue fell once, but kept going and managed to finish the route.


(Click to enlarge.)


Around noon we finally gave up, went into town for lunch at Santana's, and then explored the climbing and gift shops around there. Finally we went back to the hotel and spent some time at the nearby park. Dinner was leftovers and peanut butter tortillas. Uugh. Kira and Georgia had a sleepover party again.


(Click to enlarge.)


The plan for Sunday was to meet up at 8am and drive to New Jack City to climb for a while there before heading home. However, we woke up Sunday morning to rain again. Are we in a dang desert or not? I mean, come ON!! Since the rocks were too wet to climb, we decided to bail and just head home. Traffic was slow in places, but not bad. We decided to take 99 north, instead of 5. As an added bonus, 99 parallels railroad tracks, so there were a couple trains to keep me interested.


(Click to enlarge.)


As a final kicker for this disaster of a trip, the DVD player failed before heading home, so the kids had nothing to do for 9 hours. So, to break things up, we made a couple stops.

One stop I've been wanting to do for years was at the famous Tehachapi Loop where the railroad track makes a complete loop up and over itself.  Check it out on this map:


(Click to enlarge.)

Here is a train coming up hill, into the loop:


(Click to enlarge.)


Here it is exitting the top of the loop, where we were standing:


(Click to enlarge.)


And at a tourist-trap gift shop/restaurant/petting zoo:


(Click to enlarge.)



Despite all the above, the trip wasn't actually too bad. I didn't have anything I was dying to do, so I wasn't too disappointed. And we got to relax and hang out with good friends Lewis and Karen. Sue might have a different answer, being sick for 3 days, however. Maybe we'll try again at Christmas and hope for better weather and health.