Home.

After a lovely weekend in Denver, with some of the kindest hosts, Kaden and Khenti, and sweetest dogs, Jack and Athena, I struck out for Salt Lake City. I opted to go through Wyoming, which was an easier and shorter drive, but just as exciting. I can say finally that I visited Wyoming. I stopped at the highest point on I-80, which has a convenient rest area. I marveled at the open plains and rolling hills. The terrain is just so different than what I've known before. In Salt Lake City, I ate a wonderful pumpkin mole at the Red Iguana. The only food that I know is similar is a curry. I'll have to try and make some moles for Brophey and Karwood.

Today started out fine. I saw the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats, though it was more like Salt Soup. I saw a sign at a rest stop warning me to watch out for snakes and scorpions. And then I crossed the border from Utah to Nevada, chuckling as a town of instant casinos sprung out of the desert. As I was climbing a hill out of the town, looking forward to driving about 60 miles of Nevada wasteland, my car downshifts and suddenly runs very rough.

Well, hell.

Luckily, I wasn't too far past the town, taking an exit to double back. After a quick call to a friend of mine, I tried a couple of things on my own. No luck. I found a local repair shop and brought my car in. Long story short, my harmonic balancer broke. And to be on the safe side, we're replacing the water pump (which needed to be replaced) and timing cover as well. He quoted me a price for parts, admittedly from a dealership, that made my blanch. My face paled some more when I was told it would take four days for the parts to get here. Mind you, Wendover is a fine little town. I'm not spending a week here.

With the help of friends who shall remain nameless lest you people start bugging them when your car dies, I have a price list from Summit Auto Parts that is much more reasonable, and the parts can be here on Friday.

So please, cross your fingers to make sure everything goes well this time. On the upside, this could have happened miles from any place close, say in the middle of the desert. So perhaps luck is actually with me.

I've been on the road for a week. It's strange. Right now, I'm in a hotel room in Mahwah, NJ enjoying some relative silence. I have a family reunion to go to today, but I'll be back in DC tonight. I'll compose an update on the ride home.

See you all then.

After a long night with friends that I won't see for a while, this line popped up.

I don't think there are many irresponsible gay whores on Star Trek.

So, I guess a pitcher full of fuzzy navels is out?

Any suggestions for the method?

So, the box count stands at
45 16x12x12 boxes
16 CD boxes
9 File boxes

This may come as a pleasant surprise to brophey and shadowolf, but I think I have too many books, even after shedding some last week. I'm not sure if I really need so many calculus books. However, the shelves from the living room are packed, stacked, and disassembled. That leaves my office at school, the kitchen, my clothes, and the one set of shelves in my bedroom. I wonder if I need one last round of boxes. Something to consider.

And now a comptuer question. I have 5 external hard drives. I've been a little paranoid about keeping things backed up. Each drive is going to be well padded and packed in small cardboard boxes. Which shipping option is better? 1. Carrying the drives in the trunk of my car where they will be for about 2 1/2 weeks as I drive around the country. 2. Ship them in the container with the rest of my stuff only to dig them out after we arrive at the new apartment. 3. FedEx/UPS/USPS them to Brophey and Karwood to minimize shipping time.

Thanks in advance for the advice. And now, I'm going to watch Doctor Who.

18 16x12x12 boxes: mostly books
10 Legal/Letter boxes: some papers, some professional journals
16 12x6x6: compact discs
Various Skandia components

At one point, I was worried about having too much for my ReloCube(tm). Now I'm wondering if I'll even fill it 1/2 or 3/4 full and if I need some more boxes. I have 27 boxes left to pack quite a few more books, a kitchen, my office, and clothes. I can always get more. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.



Anyone want to watch me pack this weekend? Woo.

EDIT: Using bad mathematics, I've calculated the ReloCube(tm) can hold 252 16x12x12 boxes. Even with my chair-and-a-half-that-brophey-won't-let-me-get-rid-of, I think I'm OK.

I have, well, had 1166 books. I've shed some so far, approximately 8.67% of them. That percentage will only increase when I shed some math books. I'm not sure if I can get rid of my secondary textbooks though. They're such good references for what I do. The about 95 books or so that will be donated (some are getting tossed) take up four boxers. I guess that's a start.

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