Friday

Quick analogy, for you SAT whizzes: Starbucks is to Every Other City in America what ______ is to Beaverton.

The answer, of course, is ethnic grocers. No, really. They're on every corner. You expect the usual generic Asian markets, but here they've been broken down by country. ("Ooh, Korean!") The generic ones are mega-marts the size of your average big-box supermarket which carry such good-for-body-and-soul items such as sushi-grade fish.

Mediterranean. Halaal. Ethiopian. Kosher. I need a Mongolian grocer so I can find a good hot pot.

It's ironic -- Despite moving from the city to the suburbs, my ability to live a 100% walkable existence has increased dramatically. (Of course, I reserve the right to throw up my hands, say, "It's drizzling!" and drive the 150 yards between apartment and work, but somehow that seems doubtful.)

Nothing much happened today; coaching staff meeting over lunch, Kathryn got a sabre lesson, and we went to see Juno. Which fulfilled the high expectations we had for it.

Beaverton

First off, if you ask "How's Portland?", my response will be "60 degrees and sunny." You're welcome. An ex-co-worker who lives out here told me that she was amazed that spring comes 3 months earlier than in Rochester, and based on her n=2 years out here, this is normal. Nice.

Technically, my employment starts tomorrow, March 1st. Ri-ight. I've been in the fencing center all day Wed and all evening on Thu. I'm learning a bunch, and as thoughts get organized, they'll probably crop up here.

My phone/email was ringing off the hook from Previous Day Job; I'm doing consulting / emergency work for them, and they had a week's worth of emergencies that needed tending. Naturally, my laptop died. In a way that I can't quite diagnose. It may be a faulty hard drive, or it may be a fried processor, in which case Previous Computer Repair Place that Screwed Up a Fan Replacement should be paying for the privilege. Given that Previous Day Job shouldn't be forced to wait, I went out and bought a desktop.

I tentatively have an apartment; a 2BR / 2BA place about 150 yards from NWFC. It's a bit 70s-chic, but it's a ground-level corner apartment. The sliding door overlooks a little brook. Hopefully the background checks won't be an issue, but given the property manager's reaction ("Do you have any debt?" "No." "Like a car?" "I own my car." "How about credit cards?" "Pay them off every month." "Do you have any friends we can rent to?"), great success seems assured. Naturally, the apartment will be ready as soon as K leaves, so moving will be a solitary affair.

At some point, I realized that continuing the previous health insurance via COBRA wouldn't work, because the Preferred Care network doctors are all in New York. New insurance has a 90-day waiting period. I'd rather not be uninsured for 3 months, so I was scrambling to figure out what to do. Welcome to America, where every person can experience the joy of being their own health care administrator! (Ah, but unlike those Communists everywhere else, we have choice! As long as you choose somebody that's in-network, or pay out-of-pocket anyway.) Fortunately, Preferred Care seems to be taking care of business and is faxing me a new plan for perusal ... my doc calls them Deferred Care, but they've been pretty good.

It's off to lunch now! Stay in touch!

Arrival!

That was quick! We made Beaverton last night, and are very VERY happy to be out of the car. More to follow, but there's much to be done (read: K wants Internets. Darius is being bitten.)

Apologies

Sorry for the lack of updates; my laptop decided to die, which means that I didn't have the ability to write overnight, and I've been doing the lion's share of the driving, so no synopses from shotgun. Still. We're in Mountain Home, ID. We have pictures.

A few musings, to keep you jackals satisfied:

• Vail Pass is neat. You'd think 2" of ice on the road, and any acceleration making you go sideways more than forward would be kind of scary, but it's not really, because we had many distractions of the "How do you think that car got upside-down?" kind.
• Illinois, why do you hate us so? If the slippery descent into Grand Junction, CO can have a 75mph speed limit, why can't the long stretch of boring between such markers of civilization as Terre Haute and St Louis?
• The Blue Springs Cafe may or may not serve "Foot-high Pies." Kathryn was asleep, so we were not obliged to visit. The resulting lack of sugar-driven manic-depressiveness is the only thing keeping us alive so far.
• What, exactly, is "God's Oasis of Love"? And why does the sign for it display a dancing leprechaun? We were tempted to visit, but the sign was right before the exit. Apparently "God's Oasis of Love" is only for people with extremely fast reaction speeds.
• We can see why the COJCOLDS (Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints, you heathens!) is growing so quickly. They have a good sales pitch, really cool architecture, and COSMIC JESUS! I believe the decline of mainline Christianity is due to the lack of Cosmic Jesus.
• This Salt Lake City adventure has made me want to learn more about the COJCOLDS. We bought a Book of Mormon and, more importantly, the Book of Mormon Battles Card Game.

We'll be in Portland today. We have pictures, I promise.

Leaving

Charlotte was very good; Ben made finals in both Cdt and Jr. The Cdt was expected - the Jr was a reach, but he has those sorts of performances in him, he just needs to capitalize on more opportunities. Liz made top-32 in both, which is the cutoff for receiving points towards your national ranking. "Making points," in the parlance of US fencers, is a big deal.

On the way back from Charlotte, we had a 30 minute layover. Fortunately, the connection was delayed 30 minutes, but then our plane was about 40 minutes late. There were ten fencers on the plane, scattered throughout. The gate, naturally, was a train ride and then a quarter-mile run away. The three boys up front were told to run and hold the gates, and I'd stay behind and collect parents. While on the train, Ben called my cell phone -- "They say five minutes and they close the door." "Lay in the door if you have to. Or have health problems."

Amazingly, not only did we make it, but so did our bags! Good job, Detroit ground crew!

On Tuesday night, Jess and I went for one last garbage plate; mid dinner, our favorite counter-lady brought out candles, flowers, and a balloon, and pronounced, "Now THERE. That's romantic!"

Dear Daniel Snow,

During your time in Brussells, I have inadvertently taken
your girlfriend on the best date ever.  Please bring your
A-game when you come back to America.

Love,
Darius.

And then, on Wednesday morning, I said goodbye to the past 1/3 of my life.

roundabout trip

So here we go - I'm currently sitting in the Atlanta airport, en route to Rochester from Vienna. This is the segment of the season that alternates between Europe and the Deep South -- Atlanta GA, Germany, Austria, then Charlotte NC. Two North American Cups, two World Cups, all in five weeks.

T-minus three days. In that three days, I need to:
- Make my entire life fit (with the exceptions of cat, bike and fencing bag) into my Pontiac Vibe.
- Do a week's worth of work, and figure out a future of contract work with my employer.
- Attend two going-away parties, one of which is 2.5 hours away.

No sweat. And if that gets accomplished, I'll roadtrip back from Hamilton Ontario at 4am on Thursday, hop a plane to Charlotte, coach at the Junior Olympics. My plane arrives back in Rochester at 5pm on Tuesday. If I'm back in a timely fashion, all my worldly possessions go into the back of the car, and I'm off!

The timetable looks something like this:
- Drive until I can drive no longer; hopefully this means I get to Indianapolis on Wednesday morning.
- Spend Wed/Thu/Fri with parents and Indy friends.
- Leave Sat morning (early). Make it to Lawrence, KS by evening.
- Leave Sun morning (early). Make it to Denver, CO by evening.
- Get K from the Denver airport.
- Drive to Portland!

As previously mentioned - no sweat!

I suspect this segment of life will be heavily powered by Brawndo, and thank the intelligent designer that my caffeine tolerance should be way down at this point. The over-under on all-nighters this week is 2, but I can't see Vegas being willing to play -- after that "Super Bowl" debacle, I suspect the house's appetite for risk has to be way down.