Florida to Minnesota to California

So I realized that I haven’t written in a while.  I’ve tried.  Really, I have.  The past few months have left me pretty uninspired to write, which is weird, because there was a lot going on.  I’ll quickly recap, and then get to the guts of some good, long-winded “Stef-style” writing.  Hold on to your butts!

I have this thing about internet research.  Doesn’t matter what I’m buying, I have to research it.  The days of impulse buying have come and gone for me...well, mostly.  I can still drop a hundred or two at the mall on a whim, but I’ve gotten better about that as well.  I guess I’ve realized that with my lifestyle and the limited space it requires at any given moment, I can’t have multiples of everything like I used to, and it’s better to buy things that are higher quality and will last through trip after trip across the country.  So in essence, I’m probably spending about the same, but I’m buying things that won’t need to be replaced as often.  The goal is to rid myself of things that need to be replaced.  If that ever happens, I’ll let you know.  There are times that the internet research gets a little out of hand though.  For instance, I researched for DAYS to find the perfect pet beds for my dogs (nevermind the fact that they were completely content to lie on a blanket on the floor).  To be honest, I thought that if I found them the perfect beds, it would keep them off the couches and the bed.  Sadly, it didn’t.  But all those days weren’t wasted, as I found some pet beds that come without any stuffing; the idea is that you stuff them with old bedding, pillows, clothing, etc.  So now rather than keeping something slightly ratty around just because it’s still somewhat useful, I just throw it in the pet bed.  Cuts down on trash, the whole thing is reusable and washable, and it’s thick and soft for the pups...they happen to be getting up there in years, so it’s nice to have something comfy for them.  Unfortunately, they still prefer the couches and human bed.

In the same breath about spending more on less things, I recently kicked my Aveda habit.  Yes, I know it’s sustainably grown and the ingredients are fair-traded...I understand all that, and I really support that business model.  I just don’t think my hair really cares if I’m using $20 shampoo or $2 shampoo...my bank account surely does though.  So now I’m back to using drugstore shampoo, and I really can’t tell the difference.  In all honesty, the drugstore brands lather more, and whether that’s a good, bad, or indifferent thing, I like lots of lather.  I feel like I’m cleaner, even if I might not be.  

There were some things going on with the government a few months back...something about a shut down.  No idea what that’s about.  I don’t know what was going on in Libya, and I vaguely remember seeing something on TV about Osama being killed (or was he?).  I’m out of the loop as to what’s going on here at home and abroad.  I kinda like it that way...gives me less things that are beyond my control to be angry about.  The last thing I remember seeing on the news was something about a spillway being opened in Louisiana, flooding out about 25,000 people to save the swampy dumpster that is New Orleans.  I think New Orleans and all of the Mississippi delta should just be returned to the river and be done with it.  Honestly.  I was so upset by that spillway stuff that I decided to quit watching the news.  And now I don’t have a TV, so I really have no choice in the matter.  I know that bad things are happening to good people everyday, all over the world...I don’t need some talking head from CBS to give me the gist of it.  The scope of badness is so big that I can’t even wrap my head around it, so I’ve given up trying.  Maybe that makes me irresponsible, selfish, and ignorant, I guess I don‘t really know.  

In March some friends and I went on a shortie cruise from Miami to the Bahamas.  I figured that the days of drunken nudity, peeing in random places, and sexual adventures with other people in the room were behind me.  Well...they’re not.  Or they weren’t then.  I honestly thought I was just too old for that behavior.  It’s kind of refreshing to know that I’m not.  It’s also kind of refreshing to know that that kind of behavior only happens once in a blue moon (thank goodness!).  Another great thing about the cruise (besides the fruity drinks) was that I didn’t get seasick.  Not once!  I get motion sickness just from riding in the back seat of a car...put me on a boat and it’s usually a recipe for profuse vomiting and Dramamine overdose.  Apparently being on a boat over 800 feet long is the key to a vomit-free vacation.  I did have an unfortunate seasickness episode about a month later when Simon and I went snorkeling in the Keys.  A lot of people questioned my logic in not taking Dramamine beforehand, as did I...a little bit.  For one, I was a little cocky about my motion sickness, given the success of the cruise.  For two, I’m not a strong swimmer, and even though Dramamine has a non-drowsy formula, it still makes me groggy, and I didn’t feel like being out in the ocean in 35 feet of water with fish and sharks everywhere was the greatest place to be groggy.  So I went in the water for about 10 minutes.  Got nauseated, got back on the boat and puked for the next 2 hours.  My friend Carmen told me to keep eating because if you’re going to puke, it feels better when you have something to puke up.  I thought she was nuts and figured the vomiting would stop once my stomach was empty.  It didn’t.  The nausea is independent of the stomach contents, and continues long after the stomach is empty.  And let me tell you, puking up undigested pieces of watermelon feels and tastes a whole lot better than violently heaving up small amounts of bile.  

During our last month in Florida, Ellen, Fred, Simon and I made the obligatory trek to Universal Studios.  What a nightmare.  Honestly, I was appalled by the place and will not be going back.  Ever.  I was under the impression that Universal Studios (US from here on out) was a theme park, a place to take the kiddos so they could go on rides.  I would have to say with almost complete certainty that the gift shops outnumbered the rides 6:1.  How fun is a gift shop?  And some of the rides actually exited into gift shops, offering all sorts of cheap trinkets for kids to scream about when they get off the rides.  Oh, and some rides had height restrictions.  But if you were with a child, you could go on them.  What’s up with that??  I wanted to throw a fit like a spoiled child because I was told I was too tall to go on the Jurassic Park pterodactyl ride, when there were clearly adults taller than me soaring over my head on it, the obligatory child sitting next to them squealing with delight.  I wanted to be squealing with delight, without having to have first pushed a child out of my uterus.  We also saw a few kids playing Nintendo DS while they were there.  One would think that a theme park would offer enough entertainment that the DS would be unnecessary.  Perhaps the kids got the memo that there really aren’t all that many rides at US...or that there is a 45 minute wait (at least!) for each ride.  Or maybe it’s because our society is rapidly disintegrating into a race of people that are in need of constant stimulation, where even a theme park isn’t enough entertainment (don’t get me started on that one, we’ll be here all day).  The food stands smelled like vomit, although no vomit was actually seen.  The only vomit that almost made an appearance was my own after riding one of the rides at Harry Potter.  Yes, I had 75 minutes of waiting in line and passing multiple signs warning riders with motion sickness not to ride.  But dammit, I was going on that ride.  And I did.  And had I eaten anything before going on the ride, I would have been wearing it afterwards.  Don’t get me wrong, the ride was amazing and so well done...I would recommend it to anyone.  I honestly think it would have been worth the vomit.  Despite the waiting in line, Harry Potter was pretty cool to see.  The lines for the gift shops were ridiculous, so unfortunately we didn’t make it in.  The butter beer and pumpkin juice were really gross...and expensive.  When you think about it, US is a well-oiled machine...you pay $80 to get in, $80 for the optional express-pass allowing you to sneak to the head of the lines for most of the rides (not even worth going on rides if you don’t have the pass...take it from me after getting out of lines multiple times...no Dr. Seuss ride is worth a 45 minute wait, I don’t care how fast it goes), gift shops galore, and food and drinks all over $6 a piece.  And you know, we only saw one screaming child the whole time we were there.  Simon and I were probably the surliest people in the whole park, which surprised me to no end.  How child after child endured line after line after line with no meltdown is beyond me, because I was mere seconds from meltdown multiple times that day.  One good thing that came out of going was the spotting of the elusive FUPA pack.  It’s a fanny pack worn in the front.  Most of the women and some of the men were wearing them at US.  Sometimes it was hard to tell if people were wearing FUPA packs or not...particularly if they were a bit girthy around the middle.

I love crunchy peanut butter.  I feel like crunchy peanut butter should be in a bigger jar but cost the same as creamy peanut butter because you go through it faster.  Those nuts take up a lot of space, and I didn’t take that into account when buying the smaller sized jar of it.  So now I have the big jar, and life is good.

So when I mentioned earlier about buying more expensive things but buying less of them, I didn’t really attach that logic to glasses.  While in Florida, I bought three more pair of glasses.  That puts the count up to 16 pairs of glasses.  Not all of them are in circulation, of course...my prescription has changed, I broke a pair, got tired of another, some are scratched, etc.  And really, Target’s in-store specials on glasses are just too good to pass up.  And really, I don’t accessorize any other way than with glasses and the occasional hat, so if I think about how much money I could be spending on jewelry and spend it on glasses instead, I’m probably still coming out ahead.  Right?  Maybe?  Let’s not think about that one for too long...

I bought a digital SLR camera off a buddy of mine who was upgrading, and after two classes and a lot of under/over exposed pictures, I think I’ve finally got the hang of it.  Mostly.  I’m not good with portraits of people during sunset.  I don’t know what it is, either they’re under-exposed or over-exposed.  I have a book titled Understanding Exposures that probably outlines exactly what to do with sunset portraits, but I have yet to flip through it.  I can see it right now on the coffee table, begging to be read.  I’ll get around to it one of these days.  I’m enjoying the camera a lot though.  It takes some really good pictures (when I have the settings right).  It’s nice to be able to fall back on a trusty point-and-shoot now and then though.

So that brings me to now.  Here I sit in Palo Alto, California, set to start my new job at Stanford this week.  I’m excited!  After a month of heartache over not getting a job in Boston, I finally came to grips with working in California.  I know, I know...as if California was such a horrible back-up.  I had really good reasons for wanting to go to Boston initially, and once I get set on something, I get a little obsessed with it (see internet research paragraph above).  After a lot of reassurance by Simon and my eternally patient recruiter, Michelle, I finally got it into my head that California would be great.  And so far it is.  Palo Alto is a beautiful city...it’s so green and there are blooming plants everywhere.  It’s been a bit of an adjustment for the old sinuses, but other than that, I’m really enjoying the scenery.  Simon and I begged and pleaded, cajoled and harassed to get the apartment that we wanted, which is only a short 3 mile commute to work.  We’ll probably be able to bike or scoot pretty much everyday to work, which is awesome.  We’ve never lived this close to work before.  The apartment and the complex itself is very small and quaint.  It was a bit of an adjustment going from a 3 bed/3 bath townhouse to a 1 bed/1 bath apartment with only 750 sq feet, but it’s cozy...and it’s a lot less to clean...for Simon.  I’m a picker-upper, he’s a cleaner.  One of the best features of the apartment is that it’s right across the street from a Starbucks.  I know.  I’m in heaven.  There’s also a Target and a Trader Joe’s within minutes of the apartment, so most of my creature comforts are within walking distance.  We tooled around downtown Palo Alto over the weekend and it’s such a neat area...lots of shops and restaurants and things to do and see.  The people watching is also pretty good.  I’ve noticed that a fair amount of women here wear yoga clothing when they’re out and about.  Other than that, people all look pretty different.  It’s easy to blend in and to wear whatever...I feel like no one would be surprised by anything anyone else happened to be wearing.  The houses around town are really cute and seem to be very kept up.  I happened across a real estate paper and found out that you pretty much can’t get a house in Palo Alto for under a million dollars.  I about soiled myself, because a lot of the homes don’t look like what I would expect a million dollar home to look like.  Even the townhouses and condos are above and beyond what I could ever hope to afford.  So the apartments are expensive, the houses are expensive...where do the people who work at Starbucks and Burger King live?  In a one-bedroom apartment with 8 other people?  Craziness, I tell you!  I’m also excited to work for what I hope is a top-notch health system.  After 6 months of disarray in Florida, it’ll be nice to work in a place that has all its ducks in a row.  I hope so anyway...probably shouldn’t be too eager to put Stanford on a pedestal until I actually get in there and experience it for myself. 

The drive to California was a LONG one, but we broke it up by taking a little detour through Phoenix to visit my brother Chris and his wife Darna, their current roommate Adam...and of course my little nephew Jett.  :)  He is the cutest, if I do say so myself.  He’s at a fun age where he’s crawling around and exploring.  He’s so smiley and happy...just an all-around fun little guy to be around.  He’s growing so fast!  I hate to miss all the milestones, and it’s sad to think that he’ll be walking and probably talking by the next time that I see him.  Well, it’s not sad...it’s great that he’ll be doing those things, just sad that I won’t be around to see him going through all those changes from baby to toddler and whatnot.  I took some photos during our trip, and as soon as I have consistent internet (our neighbors are too smart to have unsecured internet access for us to steal), I’ll put ‘em up!

Missing out on things has got to be one of the hardest parts of this job.  I know that it’s fun and I get to see a lot of the country and have new experiences and make new friends all the time, but I can’t help but think about what I’m missing back home.  I suppose that’s normal.  I joke about how I’ll move back home when my parents get too old to take care of themselves, but the thought of that makes me sad.  I want to enjoy them while they’re still active and healthy and able to get around on their own.  I don’t want to miss their best years (that’s why they need to retire and come visit!!  Hahaha!).  It’s hard to be away when friends and family are getting married and having babies, going on camping trips and celebrating birthdays and holidays.  Too often when I’m home I have to pick and choose who I’m going to visit, and who’s going to have to wait until next time.  It’s hard and it’s draining and sometimes it’s a heavy weight that I carry around.  I know that this is my life and I need to make it what I want it to be, and for the most part I’m very happy with the path I’ve taken.  Honestly, I can’t beat living in Florida in the winter, northern California in the summer, and wherever-the-heck else I want to live any other time of the year.  Apart from there being no Target in Vermont and Trader Joe’s in Florida, I’ve been living pretty good.  Sometimes I just miss having my people with me.  Although, with “my people” being in multiple states, I can’t very well take them all with me.  :)  Don’t think I haven’t tried!  Must be having one of those homesick moments.  Good thing I’m starting work this week, it’ll keep me occupied!   

That’s all for now!