Monthly Archives: November 2007

Recovering from my drive back from Washington. 

Oregon is much nicer when it’s not raining and there is sun light. 

Made the trip in 15 hours. Got home @ 1am in the morning.  Started the day @ 9am.

Did get home early enough to watch the repeat of Battlestar Galattica: Razor.  Good Stuff!  Can believe that I have to wait until March for Season 4 to begin.

Redding is a weird town, layout-wise

There is a Sonic Drive-in in Redding and Woodland.  Still too far away for me to drive too on a regular basis.  But if I am in Davis or Sacramento…

Looking at the presents I bought and wish that I would have stuck with gift cards instead.  Not that the gifts aren’t great gifts, but for the few people that are left, I have to hunt for that perfect gift within the budget.  And that means that I have to go to the mall.

I want soup, but I have to go to the mall

I have to exchange one of my presents, but that means going to the mall

**sigh** I am going to have to go to the mall

It’s 4am the day after Thanksgiving @ I am sitting in my brother’s car waiting for Old Navy to open so that we can get a free MP3 player with our purchase. We waited out in the cold with at least 1000-2000 people at midnight to shop at the mall. I was able to get most of my xmas shopping done, but still. They (mall management) made it seem like it was new years or something, but let’s face it, this is just sickening capitalism at it’s worse. I can promise one thing; I am never doing this again

* I am thankful for the health of my parents and my brother * I am thankful for the fact that I am doing alright. I have my job, my car, my health. * I am thankful for the fact that my friend Mew is back in my life. It has been a long time, but I am ready to rebuild the bridges of friendship that I let go of. I feel like that I should thankful for more, but I can’t think of anything. Does that make me a bad person

On the ferry on my way to Bellingham via Seattle. Unlike Portland, a city that I am somewhat afraid of, I could learn to live in the Seattle/Tacoma area. I could get used to taking the ferry into town for work , drinking copious amounts of coffee, and wearing flannel shirts. Come to think of it, I don’t think that I’ve seen anyone with flannel on. Anyway, no signs of seasickness, so I think that I will stay out here on the deck awhile.

the other thing that has happened to me is that I have somehow sprained my left arm. I don’t know what I did, but it has been bothering me since Monday. Hoping it will go away by tomorrow; if not, maybe I can stop by a hospital on the way home and have it checked out. I wonder if it will cost more since it is an out of state hospital? For some reason I have it in my mind that it could either be diabetes, meningitis, or that flesh eating disease. Don’t know how they all popped in my head.

So started my vacation on Sunday by leaving the fog of the city at 11am.  First stop was Vacaville, of course.  I had to visit all of my ghosts from my pass.  The plan was to take pictures of places of my childhood teenagehood since I have none.  And I started to take pictures of some of the places when I started to realize that they really didn’t have the meaning that I thought that they would or have.  I think that I will go back and finish taking the pictures if I drive back into Vacaville during the day, but it’s not that important anymore.
Anyway the drive through California to the Oregon border was eventful in the fact that I didn’t get a ticket this time (every time before that I have driven to Oregon I have received a speeding ticket.).  It seemed like it was a quicker drive thru the Shasta’s; maybe because I have a car that actually has some power compared to the Focus or the Metro.  Anyway, made it to Ashland/Medford in good time; took a break and call the parents, then headed thru Oregon.
Does it just rain and rain in Oregon?  I swear that’s all it does.  Anyway, the plan was to drive all the way to Washington, has my GPS in my car said that I could make it by 11pm.  I guess my car didn’t take into consideration the weather and the fact that I would have to drive 120+ mph to make it to my parents in that time.  After I figured that out, the plan was to get to Portland so that I could stay at this hotel that I had heard about.  But the hard rain and all of the 18-wheelers on the highway got the best of my nerves and I had to pull over in Salem for the night.  Stayed in a decent hotel, and while it didn’t have a hot tub room for me to soak in, the room was way better than the room I stayed in at the Disneyland hotel.  Free wi-fi in the room sealed the deal, but I fell asleep even before I could get a chance to use it.
Monday, I headed out from Salem to Washington.  Portland is an interesting city, that I would like to visit and explore more if I have time on my way back.  They have a cable car that I want to ride.  However, I don’t think that I could stay in a city that has so many rusted bridges in it.  I know that I would be on one of them when an earthquake hit.  Otherwise, uneventful drive to Port Orchard and my parent’s house.  The parents have a new child in the name of the new dog, Elvis.  Elvis is cute in his own way, a little more active than Charlie, the other dog in the house.  Dad FINALLY got DSL in the house.  Now I just need to get him a wi-fi adapter so I can connect with my laptop.  Mom has learned to use the internet and shops on HSN and QVC websites now.  All I have been doing is eating, watching TV, and sleeping.  Haven’t picked up any of the work that I brought nor have I checked my work  email.  Going to resist doing anything for work on this vacation.  Tomorrow, I kind of want to drive up to Bellingham to go to Western WA University where Amber started to get her a sweatshirt or something for Christmas.  It is a long drive though and there will be traffic because of the holidays.  I’m still mulling it over, but I’m thinking that I will do it.  If nothing else, I can crash at Eric’s tomorrow night and then drive back here with him and Maria for Thanksgiving.  Dad hasn’t said anything about a turkey, so I’m hoping that we will have a turkey free Thanksgiving and just make it all Korean.  We’ll see.

Can’t sleep with the roommates talking and laughing outside.  Luckily, this is a weekend night so I don’t really care too much.  However, they have done this on week nights before and I have been at the point of almost killing them before they finally went to sleep