Random Thoughts

I just went for a walk with my dog around my mom's suburban neighborhood and saw a potato at the curb of one of her neighbor's houses. Just one potato. All by itself. No trash around. No other food. It did not appear to have been cooked - just one raw potato hanging out by the curb. And that's all the excitement that happened on our walk.

In other news, I have been organizing and packing for a month long trip around the country where I will be (a) interviewing for internships, (b) visiting friends I have not seen in far too long, and (c) going to experience the inauguration festivities in D.C. I have no idea how to pack for this trip - especially when trying to fit everything into a suitcase that can easily travel on subways and trains. I have to have casual clothes, interview clothes, party clothes (for New Year's Eve parties in Chicago), shoes to go with all of those clothes, and the usual traveling necessities like books and an iPod. And my computer since I am both addicted to the internet and attempting to get some dissertation work done while traveling. Grr. Maybe I need some Space Bags.

And I just realized the other day how much I'm going to miss my dog. I know this is pathetic, but the longest I have left her is 6 days, so 4 weeks of not seeing her is rough. I know, I know. She's a dog. But still...

More Thoughts on the Weather

I have lived in a number of cities in various regions of the United States. Hartford, Kansas City, Nashville, Austin, Eugene... I have known people in each of those cities who have lived in cities/regions where I have not lived. In each of these cities, the ones in which I have lived or the ones where I have known people from, the weather can change dramatically in a matter of a single day. For example, this past week in Kansas City, it went from below freezing temperatures, with snow and ice on the ground, on Christmas, to 68 degrees the day after. Everyone responded with the typical, "gotta love Kansas City weather. it can change on you in no time at all." But the thing is - it is not at all specific to Kansas City. A friend who is home in Ohio right now said the same thing this past week about Cincinnati. My favorite movie of all time, Waiting For Guffman, describes the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri, as a town where, "...if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes..." Everyone thinks that quickly changing weather is something specific to their city/town/state, but it's not. It happens all over.

Winter Driving

I just spent the last three days on various interstate highways in the western half of the United States. I-5, I-84, I-80, I-29, I-435. For a while I-84 and I-15 were the same road, but I'm not sure that I will really count driving on I-15... This post will basically be the highlights of my trip - highlights or just random events that have stuck in my head.

• After putting on chains in the snowy dark on the way to Black Butte a couple of years ago and again at some other point in time, this daylight chain-up was pretty simple.  All went well.  I was glad I had them, as I-84 in northern Oregon was covered in snow.  Well, covered for a while, at least.  Then I was debating about whether to pull over to take them off due to a sudden drop in snow level on the road, when one of the chains made the decision for me.  It came off somehow, so I pulled over to remove the remaining chain.  Because I was unsure whether we would hit more snowy roads where I would wish I had chains again, we stopped in Pendleton, Ore. to buy new ones.  Of course, the Les Schwab and the auto parts store were both sold out of my tire size.  So on to LeGrande.  Fortunately the Les Schwab there had my size.  We purchased new chains, but then returned to the store to see if they could recycle the chain we had left from the old set.  Turns out that Les Schwab chains are guaranteed for life, and since the old ones were Les Schwab (although ancient and not actually purchased by me in the first place), they gave us a full refund on the set we had just purchased.  And - I didn't have to use them again.
• Once we hit Idaho, the roads were completely clear.  No ice.  No snow.  Same thing through Utah and Wyoming. Well, as far as the roads are concerned.  The stretch of I-80 between Laramie and Cheyenne is approximately 40 miles, and I spent most of it traveling at 25 miles per hour.  But the road was no slick...  Instead, the 45+ mph winds were blowing the powdery snow that was along the edge of the road - so much so that I had no visibility.  Nor did anyone else.  Everyone was driving with hazard lights on, as the only way to see another car was if their lights were flashing.  I followed the curves of the road, not by seeing the lines on the road or even the mile-marker posts, but rather by listening for the groove in the pavement on the right side that tell you when you are going off-road.  I basically drove along those grooves until I found a semi-truck whose lights I could follow.  I think every muscle in my body was tense - much more so than driving on the snow and ice in Oregon.
• Speaking of tense muscles. I hold all of my tension in my shoulders and back.  I had a full-body hour massage on Tuesday before I left Oregon.  That was probably a mistake.  I should have saved it and gotten it this week, as my muscles took a beating over the last few days.
• Suncor Energy in Cheyenne, Wyo. smells like burning trash.  It was perhaps the most disgusting smell I have smelled in a long time. (I really wanted to write smelt instead of smelled...)  I just tried Googling Suncor Energy Cheyenne smell, and nothing really came up.  I'm surprised more people haven't written about or discussed the stench that that place is creating. It made me cry.  And I was driving.  So really, it is sort of dangerous.
• Wyoming in general seemed like a pretty pointless state.  Except there was an amazing grouping of wind energy windmills under construction.  They were so awesome. We would have missed them except that they decided to shut down I-80 from this one random city up until Laramie, so we had to take a bypass instead.
• Nebraska is also a pretty pointless state, but roads were clear and skies were sunny for the entire drive across the state, so I sort of don't care what else is in the state.  Also, we drove through downtown Lincoln, where my parents lived for one semester when my dad went to the University of Nebraska.  I had never been there before, so it was kinda nice to hear stories from my mom.
• Ava had her first hotel experience.  She was pretty good, but got scared when the hotel staff slid the receipts under the door.  I mean, really, if you had no idea about hotel receipts, you'd probably be scared too...

Snow Days

You know you live in a town where it rarely snows when you see someone outside in their shorts and t-shirt scraping their car windows with a plastic hanger. That and the fact that every road is a giant sheet of ice because the town does not own salt trucks. Maybe they own one, but I haven't seen it.

My dog, though, thinks that it is a delicious treat waiting for her every time she goes outside.

Update: I saw the salt/sand truck! So perhaps our city owns at least one.

Spam

Subject line of some spam email I just got: Tap her hole and drill her. Surprisingly (or not), I'm just not really into that...

Also, I don't really smell when I sweat. I know that seems random to you, readers, but that is because you do not see me in front of my computer all sweaty, having just finished working out.

Deadlines and Waiting

Dear internship sites,

There are 8 business days left before December 15, the magical date by which you all said you would tell me about interviews. I have heard from 3 of you, but have 11 left. It would be nice to spread this out and get one notice per day until the 15th, rather than having this uncomfortable silence until the very last moment. I'm sure you have heard of stress and anxiety before, since you specialize in treating these things. My January schedule and, well, specific details of my life sort of hinge on this. So yeah, I'm nervous.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.