center of the universe.” That’s a quote from the musical Rent. I had to travel to DC and stop off there before heading to NYC, so I could still get reimbursed for the travel to DC. The flight to NY was a stand-by buddy pass. Don’t fly stand-by if you can help it. TSA is not very quick to respond. I waited in this glass room while the guard was calling “Need male assist, no alarm, stat” for over 15 minutes before someone could check me out. My laptop sat on the conveyor belt like a ripe plumb to a thief.

It was a lot of fun. Since it was my second time in Manhattan, I had the hang of jaywalking and riding the sub. I was able to visit Central Park, Coney Island, SoHo, Chinatown, and Times Square.

The decade of my life in California makes me drawn to the beach like a moth to flame. The Atlantic by New York isn’t quite the same. It may be that Coney Island is on the north side of the bay. Anyway, it’s still beautiful and there were tons of people on the beach. You can see a few of my pictures on the shore and in front of the world-famous Cyclone. It was really fun and got super fast. There were lots of tummy-losing drops and quick turns.

Trago and family were in town my last week and he took me skim boarding. It’s kind of like surfing on the shore, if that makes any sense. There’s a video of some people who are way better at it than me.

It was my first time, and after learning to keep my self low, stepping on the board with my back foot first, getting the right orientation, testing my speed,… I actually got the hang of it! Too bad they don’t skim board in Virginia.

June 26 was my last day in California. I’ll miss the palm trees, lack of humidity, and relatively small insects. Virginia likes to sport the woods with wild trees growing all over the place as well as flies and ants so big one could assume they’re hold backs from the Mesozoic era. Getting off the plane in DC was rough. The jetway had to be about 90°F and 80% humidity… not so pleasant. I’m glad that was the exception. Days have been hot, but not as bad as my first day here.

The moving guys came and were great about the whole thing. In a few hours, my room was so clean, I almost didn’t recognize it, which is strange, because I’d lived there for 3 years. That’s the longest I’ve ever spent in one place in California. Hope the new guy likes it!

Ok, so maybe I’m not homeless in the traditional sense of the word, but I no longer have a home. The movers came in ad got busy quick. It took them only a few hours to move everything. My flight to DC and NY leaves tomorrow at 8am. I’m all packed and ready to go. Hope things are spetacular there (ie, not raining).

The other day at Nordstroms, I saw a realy cool T-shirt that brought back more than a few memories. Mr. Happy. There was no way that I was going to pay that price. But it’s cool to browse.

It’s all a mess. I’m not kidding. There’s a lot of crap that one (i.e., me) can collect in three years’ time. Argh. Decisions. Decisions. Sweat. Some tears. Lots of expensive boxes. Some tape. Hope this is over soon.

BT Express Auto. They’re supposed to move my car. When I filled out their quote request form, I saw the following section:

I put Jun 25 2008 as my estimated ship date, because I fly out the 26th. Doesn’t that make sense? A few days ago, I called them to make sure that everything is good to go, and found out that I can’t read.

Apparently “Estimated Ship Date” means 

**This vehicle is first available 06/25/08, and will not be picked up prior to that date. The first available pick up date is not a guaranteed date of service unless you have purchased hotshot service.** 

as described in the confirmation email. Hmmm. Interesting. It could take 5-7 days from the 25th for them to start researching which trucks are in the area for them to schedule my car. Then it takes up to 21 days to deliver my car. I fly Jun 26. A month car-less?

And on top of that, they equate “estimated ship date” and “first date available”. Huh? On what planet do those two phrases mean the same thing? They deserve the Douche Bag Award for misrepresenting their service. On the phone, I asked my first available to be set to Monday that week instead and will have Ray take care of it until the bums come to get it. Argh.

When you’re watching your food intake, things like this can seem like a delicious treat, but they are quite literally lethal. Take the Baskin Robbins Heath Shake Large as a case in point. Delicious? Sure looks that way. Nutritious? For a great black bear that is planning on going into hibernation for 6 months, yeah it’s probably okay. For a normal person, not so much.

Caloric intake? 2310 Calories. That’s kilocalories (1000 calories=1 Calorie). There’s no typo there: two thousand three hundred ten calories. Here’s how you make it: Start out with 108 g animal lard, and mix in 266 grams of sugar, add 35 g of meat protein, sprinkle some vitamins A & C, and add a dash of iron.

So, I was curious how many Weight Watchers (R) Points (R) there are in this sucker. I found out, turning to my friend ipointswatcher.com (it looks better on an iPhone), that it has about 55 points. I’m allowed 33 points on WW. So, that one delicious drink will cost me eating for the next two days. Maybe I should learn how to fast!

I just got back from San Francisco. What a city to visit. I’m not sure I’d like to live there, though. Maybe it’s the anything goes mentality.

I think I’m addicted to Jollibee. It’s a Filipino fast food joint that serves amazing spaghetti. It sounds weird, but the sauce is sweet with sausage and beef. Sooo delicious. 

In other culinary news, Fisherman’s Wharf smells like crabs. Everywhere you go, it’s crab cakes, crab chowder, whole crabs, half crabs, crab legs, crab withering on the chef’s table next to you on the sidewalk… The smell overwhelms you until you’re staggering like a drunkard at closing time.

I’m clearly not the clubbing type. Engineer. Swimmer. Middle of the day kind of guy. Loves the Jesus. It struck me kind of crazy that parties started at 11p, drinks stopped flowing at 1:30a, and the parties kept going til 11a. That means the prize DJs don’t come on til 7a and everyone’s sober! Wow! I’m toast at midnight, but I did my best to survive 2a the two times we went clubbing. Not likely to reoccur IMHO.

For as much as SF touts its MUNI, BART, and many other forms of public transit, they’re clearly not all that and a bag of potato chips. It seemed like OCTA, but runs twice as fast. That’s nothing to sneeze at, because if you miss an OCTA bus, you’re stuck there between 40 and 90 minutes. SF was about 20 minute’s wait. I kind of wished that all the forms of transit were unified. BARTs are different than the MUNIs, with different fairs and tickets and everything. I am kind of in love with the MUNI logo, though. It’s so psychedelic. So 1960s. So hard to read.

Union Square was a lot of fun. Sucked all the cash out of my pocket, though. A 5 story Macy’s Men’s store!!! What the heck? I was surprised to find that among all the couture men’s fashion was a lot of athletic clothing. I mean a lot. Like tons.

The random art shows in the park were also entertaining. As were the people watching. Much more wholesome than, say, taking a walk down Folsom Street, which I found quite startling.

All in all, it was a super much fun trip (with a tip of the hat to Ray).

I’m mentally all ready to go. In fact, I wish my start date was Monday. It’s not.

While I’ve been ready to go for some time, it seems to be taking the emotions a little bit longer to catch up. Maybe it’s that I have to discuss the moving details so often that I’m on auto pilot when talking, so that I’m actually considering what those words mean. 

I’ve done well for myself here. I’ve got amazing friends, great roommates, and just a really satisfying life.

Anyway, I’m feeling a little heavy at the moment. It’s going to be a great transition, even if it’s a little tough.