Thursday, March 31, 2005

No New Job

I got sick of waiting for the guy to call me, so I called him about the possibility of me getting a job from them. When he got on the phone he was kind of curt with me and told the position had been filled. I am glad he finally decided to let me know what was going on since it had been a week and I had not heard anything. Oh well, I guess I will just keep looking for another job, eventually one will come along.

In other news, Ben, Kristi, and I went into San Fransisco today. The weather was wonderful and I got some really cool pictures. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge and China Town. A lot of walking to be had but a lot of fun as well. In a bit, we are going to go eat at a Thai place that Ben likes so that should be cool. Afterwards, we are going to a comedy club. It will have been a pretty busy day by the time everything ends tonight.

I think I will be finally going home on Saturday. I have enjoyed my break from life and am ready to face reality again. I just wish that I did not have to so soon. If my money situation is good, I may go on another vacation at the end of August. I have always wanted to see the South and New Orleans so I think I may go there. We shall see. Anywho, I need to get ready for dinner. I will post tomorrow if anything cool happens. Oh yeah, Terri Schiavo died this morning and honestly, I am happy for her. She is in a better place and now people can stop bugging her and her family. I think the whole ordeal with her got blown way out of proportion but what do you do, the media is looking for any story that will get them ratings and her story definitely achieved that. Anywho, I will post again later.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Pins and Needles

Today has been a fun day. Ben and Kristi and I went to a Japanese style garden in Saratoga. I took some cool pictures of the very relaxing environment. I need a Japanese garden in my backyard.

The one thing that is driving me nuts is the fact that the job that I interviewed at last week was supposed to call today and they haven't. I hate waiting for stuff like this; I just want him to call me and tell me whether or not I got the job. It will suck if I do not get the job but at this point in time, I just want to know. I will update as soon as the guy calls.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Nerd Day

Today, Ben and I are meeting some of his friends at one of their favorite lunchtime dining spots, Neto's. It is a sausage factory that on Tuesdays, sells deli style sandwiches made from the product that put them on the map, sausages. I have seen pictures of pasty Neto's visits and the sandwiches look excellent so I am excited.

After Neto's, we are going to be heading to a couple of computer stores that Ben holds in high regard. Last night, we went to Fry's Electronics; I love that place. They are basically, the Costco of electronics stores. They are huge buildings that sell everything and I mean everything that has to do with electronics. It rocks. I picked up a Belkin FM transmitter for my iPod there last night. I may end up getting a couple of harddrives from them as well. I am running out of space and Mushi is too so this would be a good time to rectify the problem.

I think later on today, I may format this system and put a dual boot installation of Linux and Windows XP on here just for fun. I need to become more familiar with Linux and vacations are always a good time to do this.

In other news, right before I left for vacation, my fan on my X800 video card died. My card would start to overheat after a couple of minutes and this was worrying me. None of the computer stores in Boise carry the size of VGA cooler that I need to fix the card but fortunately, I am not in Boise right now. I found a place last night that carries the Silencer 5 VGA cooler for X800s so I will probably pick one of those up while I am here too.

I am having fun here and am glad I went on vacation. It has been very refreshing for me to ger away from Boise. I will hopefully get a call tomorrow about the job I interviewed for before I started my vacation. I really hope they will hire me, I could use the change. Anywho, I am going to go find something for breakfast now.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Area 51

When the government decided that they needed a secluded place to test out top secret aircraft, they could not have made a better choice for the location of Area 51. If you are ever in Nevada and have free time and feel the need to drive out into the middle of nowhere, visiting Area 51 may be an interesting activity.

My journey starts in Alamo, Nevada. Alamo is a small hole of a town that consists of one gas station/grocery store/fast food place, a couple of churches, and a couple of hotels. I stayed in a place called the Alamo Auto Motel and was quite pleased with my lodgings. It is a small hotel that has not been renovated since the mid-Seventies judging by the decor but it was clean and quiet. They did have a very noisy security camera that I am pretty sure was fake. It was motion sensing but did not kick in until I was almost out the door. If that was a real camera, they need a new one.

Anywho, I left Alamo and drove fifty-three miles to Rachel, Nevada. If Alamo was a small town, Rachel was nothing more than a trailer park. In all actuality, that description is fairly accurate. Basically, Rachel exists because Area 51 exists. There is a gas station, and the Little A'Le'Inn. If you go to Area 51, you must go to the Little A'Le'Inn. It is a restaurant/bar/gift shop that resides in a small kind of dumpy building but the people that run it are extremely nice and helpful. There are all sorts of Area 51 merchandise and doodads to be had. I had to play tourist and buy a couple of shirts and a shot glass. When I travel to new places, I like to get shot glasses and post cards. While there, I had lunch which consisted of the yummy Alien Burger. It was a cheeseburger with special sauce on a hoagie bun.

After snapping some pictures and asking for directions, I left Rachel and headed for Groom Lake Road. Finding Groom Lake Road is kind of a challenge if you do not know what you are looking for. The road itself is indistinguishable from the other dirt roads around the area save for one fact, it is wide enough to allow for a fully loaded semi to travel on it. There are no signs indicating the name of the road, just a stop sign. Happy that I was able to locate the road, I headed on the final leg of my journey to Area 51. The road is made of pretty loose gravel and you kick up a ton of dust when going down it; I think this was purposeful because that way they can see that they are going to have visitors. The road goes on for about fifteen miles and during the drive, I have never felt more like I was being watched, which I was.

The security around Area 51 is creepy. First off, there are motion sensors built into the ground. If you look hard enough you can see their antennae sticking out of the ground. They sense vibrations and sound I think. Secondly, as you go up the straight dirt road, you are able to see the glint of metal on a hill. The object producing this glare is a black Ford F150 truck with a security guard armed with high powered binoculars watching your every move.

At the end of the road, or as close to the end as any civilians can get, is a cluster of signs. The signs basically state that you are approaching a military installation and that photography of the area is prohibited. Oh yeah, you are also warned that if you go past the gate, security personnel are authorized to kill you. So being the law abiding guy I am, I whipped out my camera and began snapping pictures. The security staff very seldom bothers the nerdy tourists that approach their gate and don't really mind people snapping off a couple of pictures here and there. The only other thing of note is the fact that when you approach the gate, a security camera in the sage brush on top of a nearby hill turns to watch you as well. There is also a wide area of antennae and other electronics taking note of your visit. It is kind of unsettling.

After that, I left and went back to Alamo where I watched TV for the rest of the night. All in all, it was a fun adventure but a tad creepy. There is not a lot to see so if you go, do not expect to be dazzled by the showmanship of the area.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

And The Vacation Begins!

I am typing this entry from my grandma's house in Twin Falls. As soon as I got off work tonight, I jumped in my car and started down the highway. I made extremely good time, making the trip in just under an hour and a half. Tomorrow will be a big leg of the trip. I will leave here around 7am and start toward Alamo, Nevada. It will probably take me close to eight hours to drive it but I am cool with that. I will hit Area 51 tomorrow and take pictures. It should be a blast.

I think this trip will be good for me. I am so worn out right now, I am going nuts. I almost left my ATM card in the machine tonight on my way out of town I was so excited to get started. I just feel weird. I feel used up in just about every way possible. This whole divorce thing has taken a toll on me that I think I am just now starting to grasp. Last night I was getting supplies for the trek and it hit me that I was just buying the travel sizes of stuff for me and not Mushi as well. Everytime we take a trip I buy us travel sized aspirin, Q-Tip holders, toothpastes, etc, and this time I just bought that stuff for me. That really hit me for some reason. It wasn't bad at first but then I started to dwell on it and by the time I was in the McDonald's drive-thru, I had to try really hard to not start crying while talking to the person taking my order. By the time I pulled out of McDonalds I was inconsolable. I was bawling and driving at the same time and I had this overwhelming tide of loneliness sweep over me. I needed a hug in a bad way. Thankfully, Mushi was home and we talked for a bit. I have never felt like I needed a hug so bad in my life. I do not know what I would have done had Mushi not been there. All of this was brought on because of a dumb trip to Walmart. The thing is, this isn't the first time I have done this. Odd thoughts or activities will trigger it and I have cried myself to sleep on several occasions. I think I have issues. :)

The part of it all that I find worrisome is the fact that I am having a harder and harder time controlling these random extreme emotions. I think this is because I am so tired and stressed out. Between the divorce, living with Dylan and being in a new place, and my job, I am totally drained emotionally and mentally. The other part that bothers me is that Mushi will not be there everytime this happens to me. I do not think I would ever do anything stupid to myself, I just do not think it is safe to freak out and drive at the same time.

The bottom line is that I need this vacation in a bad way. I need to be alone and out of my element for a bit. I need time to sit alone in a car with myself in the middle of nowhere and come to grips with the fact that for the foreseeable future I will indeed be alone in the world. Yes, I have friends, but that is different. I do not have a companion anymore. I need to have time to myself to relax and accept the opportunities and challenges that come with being in the mode that I am in. I need to get to liking being single again.

This vacation will be good for me.

I do not know the next time I will post, but I am going to bet it is not going to be while I am near Area 51. When the government decided to find an out of the way spot to develope all sorts of weird top-secret stuff, they did a good job at it. Alamo and Rachel, Nevada are about as out of the way as you can get without falling of the edge of the Earth. When thinking about this, I can not help but to think about Native American coming of age rituals. How the teenagers would go into the desert by themselves with no food or water and commune with themselves and find out who they truly were. Spirit Quests. I am beginning to think that this trip is going to be my spirit quest.....minus the peyote.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

The Interview

I finally got my interview for the job this morning. Overall, I think it went really well. He was impressed that I personally delivered my resume to him and I think that will be a plus. We talked about computers for a bit and he showed me the areas and departments around the business. I think I have a good shot at getting this position. So far, the only downside is the fact that they do not have a 401k program. I guess if it comes down to it, I can just roll my 401k into an IRA or something. I would have medical and dental benefits but no vision. This is no biggie for me seeing that I do not have any vision problems for the most part. He did not give me a definite answer as to what the job pays because the owners of the company have not figured it out yet. I am hoping it is at least close to what I make now if not more. Here's to hoping. I am pretty happy with how things went this morning.

Now comes the hard part, waiting. He said I would probably hear back from him on Wednesday. The upside is that I will be on vacation so I won't really have time to dwell on it too much.

As far as vacation is concerned, I will be staying in Twin Falls tomorrow night and getting up early the next morning to start my drive through Nevada. I could not get a room at the Little A'Le'Inn but I did get one in the next closest town, Alamo. It is about fifty miles away from Rachel, NV so that is not too bad. I am hoping I make good enough time to make it to Alamo and then to Rachel and Area 51 all on Saturday. We will see, it is going to be a long drive but a doable one and I am thinking if I leave Twin Falls around 7am I should make it to my destination by 4pm. I guess it will just depend on the weather and the traffic. On Sunday, it is off to San Jose. I am debating about the route that I am going to take to get there. I am tempted to go up the coastline and get an ocean view for most of the trip. This is not the quickest route but I think it would make for a nice drive. The other way is to go long ways up the center of California and go through a lot of towns and cities. I dunno what I will do. I will consult Mapquest some more I think.

Right now, I am cleaning my room and washing my clothes for the trip. I want to come back to an organized room instead of the pit of despair I have let it become over the past couple of weeks. Anywho, I should probably get back to preparing; I will post later tonight if something noteworthy comes up. Oh BTW, I stopped wearing my wedding band today....odd...very odd indeed.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

My New Toy

I received a Kodak digital camera for Christmas from my parents a couple of months ago and it was a nice little camera for just pointing and shooting. Over the past couple of months, I have come to want something with a little better zoom than the standard 3x optical that most of the consumer grade cameras have. When I came to work recently, I found the camera I wanted sitting happily on the shelf before me, the Kodak Z740.

This little guy has everything that I have come to desire in a digital camera but have not been able to get on mine. It sports a nifty 10x optical zoom, its 5 megapixels, can take other lenses that go over the existing one, takes burst shots, has a quick shutter, and more manual functions. So yesterday, I returned my other camera and paid the diffence to get this one. I like this camera. I also figured that if I were to be going to Area 51 and taking pictures, I would need a better zoom than my old one and the Z740 fits the bill perfectly.

Speaking of Area 51 and my trip, I just tried calling the Little A'Le'Inn a few minutes ago to make reservations and she told me to call back in fifteen minutes because she just had a party of 35 people walk in the door and she needed to help them. I found this to be somewhat amusing because in a bigger town..hell...any other town that had more than four businesses in it, they would never do that to prospective customers. The joys of being the best and biggest a town has to offer by default.

Anywho, I have my interview tomorrow so long as he doesn't push it back again. :) I am hopeful that it will go well. I guess I will just have to wait and see. In preparation for it though, I have been tinkering with Adobe Acrobat Pro and making pdf files. That is a neat little program and extremely easy to use. But now, I must go to work.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Delayed

I forgot to mention in my last post that my interview I was supposed to have this morning got delayed until Thursday. I really wish it could have been today but he had something important pop up and needed to push it back. Whatever works, I just hope I get a job out of it. Just for the occasion, I went out and blew two hundred bucks on a pair of black dress shoes, a new belt, a nice grey shirt, and a new tie. I hate clothes shopping but I do like the clothes that I bought, I just wish that the best looking and most comfortable shoes were not always the most expensive. I think the shoes alone cost me about $120.00 but they rock so that makes everything better...right....right? Anywho, I will update you all about the interview on Thursday when i get done with it.

Sick of Hearing About Terri Schiavo

Over the past few days, all I have heard on the radio and tv is Terri Schiavo this and Terri Schiavo that. I am getting sick of it. I usually don't talk too much about current events but I am going to rant for a moment so I hope you can bear with me.

First off, I am for her right to die and her husband's right to make that choice for her. Yes, her husband may be a sleazy guy with another girlfriend and two kids but is he supposed to put his life on pause for more than a decade while his wife sits in a bed starring into a void. He says that Terri once told him she would never want to live like she is now and neither would I. Some people have said he has alterior motives for wanting Terri gone and I hope that is not the case. The bottom line is: WE WILL NEVER KNOW AND LEGALLY, IT IS HIS DECISION.

Secondly, why do Terri Schiavo's parents want her to be kept alive so much? What is in it for them? I understand that they say that she does indeed respond to them and their words, but doctors who are much more qualified to judge the responsiveness of a person in Terri's state, say that she is not responsive at all beyond the bounds of the average person in a permanent vegitative state. I take this to believe that there is nobody behind the wheel in the vehicle that was Terri Schiavo. I think her parents, like all parents, love their child. But I also think that it is time for them to let go and let nature and the legal system take its course, whatever it may be.

Lastly, and this one really pisses me off: THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD STAY OUT OF THIS! This is an issue between private citizens and the legal system. The legal system has worked for more than two hundred years and it is working now. It may be flawed but it is what it is. The courts have already said that legally, Terri Schiavo's husband is the one that gets to choose her fate. If they had kids, they would be the next in line, and then her parents would be third. It is pretty cut and dry and I am totally against the government interferring with the process. When the government starts to get into affairs like this, it opens the door for them to muddle with other things as well and I am not fond of that idea. Also, what does it say of a government that can take months to get a bill passed into law when the bill really does not effect them but when they want to get off their butts and actually get something done, they can do it in a day? This bothers me. We pay them to pass legislation and they drag their feet through it but we now know that they can work at a much faster pace. Maybe they should work this quickly all of the time and get a years worth of work done in a month or two instead of five or six. That would definitely save some money somewhere.

Anywho, that is my take on the whole thing. I am sick of hearing about it and I dread the fact that when Terri Schiavo does die, they will produce a Lifetime Made for TV Movie out of the whole debacle for lonely housewifes to watch and weep over for a day or two. I can see it now, "Terri's Story: One Woman's Struggle for Life". Beh.

Monday, March 21, 2005

A Busy Weekend

This weekend has been pretty good but busy as well. I had to dogsit for my parents which correlates into watching a bunch of movies and just hanging out basically. Not too difficult.

I also had to work this weekend which sucked as usual except for the fact that I made a lady scream at me and call me a jackass. My cusomter service is the pinnacle that all salespeople should strive for but so few ever do. I am a customer service god and the customers feel my wrath. On the upside, they may not have to feel my wrath for much longer.

Which leads me to the next cool thing of the weekend...err..week since it happened today. I got a call back from the one place I applied at and I have an interview with them tomorrow at 9am. Go me! Hopefully, I will be working there soon. I also hope that they will be cool with my vacation that I have coming up this weekend. I would hate to have to ditch my vacation for this job but I will if need be. I spoke to him before about it and he seemed ok with it so hopefully that won't be an issue. I love to go to interviews but I get nervous right before them. Hopefuuly, all will go well and I will know whether I have a new job to come back to when I return from vacation. My current boss wants me to stay on for another couple weeks even if I get the job just so he can get someone else over there to replace me. We will see...I do not really want to stay there too much longer because the idea of a twelve hour work day kind of sucks, as does the idea of dealing with people when I don't really have to. It may come down where I just make up some weird excuse to tell my boss I can't stick around. I think the one I will use if I actually get this job will be something about how they are flying me to their main office in Salt Lake to train me for a week or something. It is cheesy but I dare you to ask me how much I really give a damn. On top of that, if they think my customer service rocks now, just wait and see what happens when that job becomes expendable to me. Hehehehehehhehehehehehehehe. Oops...got carried away there.

Anywho, I am off to go running and then play some poker in a tourney my brother is hosting at my parents' house. Wish me luck for the interview and I will update tomorrow on how the whole thing went. Later.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Another Pretty Good Day

So I am thinking I must be on a roll because this is two pretty good days in a row. It is wierd. The only irksome thing about today is the fact that no matter what I try, I cannot get my damned pic of Gizmo to show on this blog. It is starting to tick me off. Other than that, good day.

The first and foremost of the cool things that happened today is the fact that I took my resume into that job that I talked about in my last post. It talked to the guy that was doing the hiring for the position I was looking into and he and I got along pretty well. He is kind of a nerd too so we talked about Linux and networking and other stuff. I think it went well. He had me fill out an official job app right there and then told me to expect an interview sometime early next week. I am stoked. If I can get it out of them as to whether or not they plan on hiring me before the end of next week then I will hopefully able to tell my boss right now that I will not be returning from my vacation. That would be sweet....so very very sweet. I am excited, though I am trying not to get my hopes up but I would be a shoe in for this job. I must wait and see how stuff plays out.

Work was okay today. I got a free twelve pack of Amber Bock from a lady I work with. I messed around with her computer last week so she felt the need to repay me. Free beer is a good way to do that. I am not usually a huge beer fan but Amber Bock is okay and free Amber Bock is especially welcome.

After work, I went to the bar across the street with a guy from work. That was okay; seeing that it was St. Patty's day I had to drink something. What would the wee green people think of me if I let them down on the only day sanctioned by the wee people to drink. We all know the elves got screwed out of Christmas as being the official wee people drinking holiday so when St. Patty's comes around, I feel like I owe it to them. :) As a tribute to all of the joy and peace that is Ireland, I had an Irish Car Bomb. Sinn Fein would be proud.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Not A Bad Day

As the title suggests, today was not too bad of a day. I worked out, helped thwart a shoplifter, and found a new job I am interested in. I am coming to grips with the divorce thing a little better and am in a reletively good mood today.

Tomorrow does not look bad either. I tried to submit my resume online to this company but the way it formats even my plaintext resume looks crappy so I think I will just take it into them tomorrow. I have a name to ask for there so maybe if they are not too busy, I will get a chance to speak to them. We will see. It is a litigation document copying company and they need a technical assistant. It seems like pretty easy work and they want A+ certification so maybe they would pay for the tests. I have been studying for them and just have not had the $250.00 laying around to spend on them. It sounds like they are just looking for a nerd to problem solve for them and do some minor IT work for them. I can do that.

Anywho, just figured that I would update since I haven't in a day or two. I wish I could say there is more going on than that but alas, my life is kind of boring right now. Maybe I will have more to report tomorrow.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Time to Deal

This is a post I have been dreading but in the back of my mind, I have known I would probably write it sooner or later. Mushi and I are going to get a divorce. Since we seperated, I had a pretty good idea this is probably how things were going to end up but really didn't want to think about it. This is just the way it is.

Mushi and I talked for a couple of hours yesterday and we came to the conclusion that this is probably this best possible course of action for both of us. She is happier with the way things are now. I am glad for this and figured that that is why we did this whole thing to begin with, so we could be happier. Am I hurt, yes, but what do you do? I am going to deal with the cards life has dealt me and in the end I think I will come out of this a stronger and better person. I have to.

I don't think the whole divorce in and of itself will be that difficult. Neither of us have bad feelings toward each other and neither of us want to shaft the other person. Mushi is going to keep the house and I am going to keep our fat-assed cat, Totoro. The other stuff will get divided as well but there is no need for me to go into detail about that here. It will all go down in a manner respectful to the two of us.

The part I am having a hard time with is the fact that I am losing half of my family. I love Mushi's parents and sister and enjoy being around them. They are great people and took me in from the start. I will miss them and the time spent with them greatly. Dale, Peggy, and Steph are some of the nicest, most warm hearted people I have ever met and I wish I could spend more time with them. They were all very fun to be around and liked me even when I was a goth kid that wore a trench coat even if I did creep them out a tad. Mushi is very lucky to have them as family.

The other thing that gets to me is that fact that I have so many fond memories of Mushi and I and I am sad that I won't get to make more of them with her. I was looking forward to getting old with her and having kids at some point. Its the first time I have ever actually been ok with the idea of growing old and making a family; I could visualize it. But, it was not meant to be. This is really hard for me but I think it will be worth it as long as Mushi is happy. I will get back to being happy again too....I am just not sure when that will be. I do know that I do not like crying and I will be glad when I can stop doing that on a regular basis. I have done a lot of it lately, I am doing it now. I've dedicated five years of my life to Mushi and I do not want it to end. It is hard to imagine being with anyone else right now, it is hard to imagine being alone again. But I will deal.

I am really looking forward to my vacation. I am tired both emotionally and physically and it will be good for me to get away for a bit. Mushi is going on a vacation with her sister too and I think that will be good for her as well. I am glad to have some kind of closure to the whole thing. I felt like I was in limbo while we were separated and now I know where I stand and what I need to do. I am ready to move on with my life and start a new chapter. I just wish the previous chapter had not been so short. That’s life.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Up Early

So I have been up since 4:30am. I went to bed sometime around 10:30 last night so that kind of explains it. It was not a great night last night and I don't expect today to be all too glorious either. This whole being seperated thing blows and I am to the point where I just really don't give a damned anymore. If Mushi and I are going to get back together then I want it to happen soon; if we are going to get a divorce then I would prefer it to be sooner than later as well. Oh, just in case your wondering which one you should put your money on should betting arise, I would go with divorce at this point in time. If you do bet and win with the information I have given you, I want half of the money.

As you have probably guessed, I am not very chipper at the moment. I am going to talk to Mushi when she gets off work and hopefully I can get some solid answers as to what in the world is going on. I know how I would like all of this to end but I doubt it will work out that way; at this point in time, I just want stuff to end regardless.

For those of you with girlfriends I have some advice. Get stuff figured out before you get married. Marriage will not solve problems within the relationship, if anything it makes them worse. Talk to each other honestly and openly and think really really hard before you decide to get married. I am all for marriage and still think it is a wonderful thing but seperation/divorce really sucks and I am not too much of an advocate for it. You do not want to do this, trust me.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Wiki Wiki

I have another odd obsession to add to my growing list, Wikipedia. I love that site and I think it is a very good idea. For those of you who have never gone to Wikipedia.org you should go there; it is basically an online encyclopedia written and editted by normal people. It is crazy how many entries there are and how much information you can gleam from them. I signed up the other day and have been editting various entries for Boise and Idaho in general. The site may not have much scholarly merit but it is a nice springboard to further your own research and knowledge on a subject. Bottom line: I like Wikipedia.

In other news, I went to another co-worker's house and work on she and her husband's computer. Easy stuff, just updated Windows and their anti-virus software. Easy work. I told them not to pay me but I suspect they will anyways, most people do.

I am going over to my parent's house tongight for dinner, chicken and rice. My mom makes very good chicken and rice but seldom does because my dad doesn't like it. But he is out of town tonight so chicken and rice it is. I haven't had it for ages and it sounds really really good.

Other than that, not a whole lot else is going on. I am enjoying my voluteer experience at the historical society and I feel like I am actually helping a cause I feel strongly about. I don't know what time I will be home tonight but if I feel like it, I may post again later on.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Making Plans

Toward the end of this month, I will be heading to California to see a friend of mine and hang out with him for about a week. As I sat planning which route I would take to get to San Jose, it dawned on me that since I would be travelling alone I could go to some out of the way places to see stuff that I would not normally stop and look at but may be interested in. As I started think about this I reallized that in order to get there I was going to have to head South at some point in time. I thought about staying a night in Reno, NV and maybe do a little gambling and then leaving the next day. This was logical because it was a close half way point between Idaho and San Jose.

Then I got a wild hair and decided to see how far away Roswell, New Mexico was. Roswell, is the sight of the famous UFO crash that ocurred in 1947 supposedly. I did a MapQuest and found that it was way to far out of my way to go there, almost 20 hours for each leg of driving. No way. It then hit me that Area 51 was in Nevada so I did a Mapquest to see how far away Rachel, NV was. This was a much more acceptable 10.5 hours to get there, 9.5 hours to get to San Jose. Not really a half way point, seeing that San Jose is roughly 11.5 hours away but still, it is closer than Roswell. So I think I have come to the conclusion that I am going to visit Area 51 on my way to San Jose. To some, this may seem stupid and part of me agrees with you. But, I have always had a thing for UFOs and Area 51. I like conspiracy theory stuff but am sane enough not to believe about 98% of it. Either way, this odd fascination still exists and I have always wanted to visit these places.

If Mushi were coming with me there is no way that I would ever go to Area 51/Rachel, NV and stay for a night; Rachel is not a big town. When I say that it is a small town, I mean that nicely. They finally purchased a fire truck for the town in August of 2002. If you go to the town's website, there are only four businesses in the town, one thrift store, one gas station/trailer park, one farm of some sort, and the Little A'Le'Inn. The latter is where I will be staying for the night. The Little A'Le'Inn is also the only restaurant in town and it also has a trailer park. Basically, the town has tourism written all over it.

So that will be my wild Spring Break adventure. I am getting excited for it...only three weeks to go.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Tatanka

I don't know if it is spelled correctly, but that is the native American word for buffalo. I learned this from Dances With Wolves. Tonight, I went to the Buffalo Club. Sweet Jesus....it is basically a place where hicks go to score with other hicks. I have to say that I was not a big fan of the place but it has tremendous people watching opportunities.

It was this guy I work with's birthday so I was compelled to go along for the ride and I must say, a club like this can only exist in Idaho. It looked like a taxidermy shop collided with a bar and had a kid. There were stuffed things everywhere...EVERYWHERE! I counted one stuffed rabbit, two stuffed mountain goats, one elk, one moose, a couple of ducks, a pheasant, and various other creatures unlucky enough to get in front of the business end of some inbred's gun. It was crazy.

The only thing nuttier than the bar's decor were the people. There was this one lady I see come into my work all of the time and she is crazy. When I say "crazy" I mean it, she belongs in an institution somewhere. She has issues and one of those issues includes looking like a crazy skank and dancing with guys in coyboy hats and belt buckles bigger than their IQ's. The guys I went with basically go there to get laid and I figured out why they are so successful in doing so; the women there will jump on anyone not wearing a cowboy hat. They are almost all wasted, desperate, and horny. Any straight man can go into that bar and rest assured he will leave with a woman if he so chooses. It is like going into a Mormon church and being the only guy there that does not want to go on a mission. The chicks flock to you. I am not Mormon, nor have I ever sauntered into a temple, but that is what I imagine it would be like. The fine Mormon ladies would look at you and think to themselves that you are such a rebel and want to jump you. Anywho, I have strayed off topic.

I will probably go to the Buffalo Club again. Tonight, was too entertaining to only experience it once. I have never seen so many people with such...such...stereotypical Idahoan behavior. I am a city boy and therefore, do not fit in in places like the Buffalo Club but hey, I like to people watch and there is plenty of that to be had there.