Pacific Beach

Ever wondered how the shower turns on when you pull up the little thing on the tub faucet? I hadn't either, but I know now. Thursday morning, I woke up at 6am in order to shower and leave my hotel in Pacific Beach to get to an interview at the San Diego VA hospital. I turned on the water, and everything was fine. I went to pull up on the lever to turn on the shower, and apparently this just blocks the faucet to force the water backwards, up to the shower head. However, when the tub faucet is not securely connected to the wall, the forced water instead just shoots the faucet across the tub. This is what happened to me. I reattached the faucet again, and the same thing happened.

So I called the front desk, explained the situation. Remember that is is 6am. The front desk man informed me that maintenance comes at 8am, so could I just wait until then to shower. I think to myself, "who wakes up to shower at 6am, if they could really be sleeping until 8?" Um, no, actually, I can't wait until 8am to shower. I have to leave by 7am. So he ended up giving me the key to another (much nicer) room.

On the good side, I did wake up to ocean sounds and this view.

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...