Road Trip: On The Road Day Three

Today was all highway driving. We had planned on making it as far as Salt Lake City (799.14 miles) but Utah turned out being so pleasant (honest-- No snark!) that we drove all the way to Wendover, UT (919.93 miles) and we sit, walking distance from the Nevada boarder, happily held up in another Motel 6.

Now, I'm off to try to convince Mike to take me to a casino. But first, here's what we did today:

Day Three:
6:40am 74 Degrees: Departed from Grand Island, NE Elevation 1,800 ft
7:11am: Passed under the Great Platte River Road Monument
8:29am 73 degrees: Breakfast; Burger King $12.13 (PEED)
8:50am: On the road again
8:13am: (9:13am)L Crossed into mountain time 1,711.9 miles traveled thus far
10:10am: Entered Wyoming; Switched Drivers (PEED)
10:22am 71 degrees: On the road again; Pine Bluffs WY Elevation 5,049 ft
10:40am: Hilldale, WY First spotted the Rocky Mountains
10:58am: Gas Stop; Cheyenne 15.1 gallons (39.70)
1:04pm Crossed continental divide Elevation 7,000 ft
1:55pm: Stopped at a rest area; (PEED)
2:00pm: On the road again
2:40pm: Lunch; Arby's $15.18; switched drivers (PEED)
2:59pm 61 degrees: on the road again
3:11pm 58 degrees: We went through a tunnel-- it was pretty cool.
3:28pm: Passed Little America, WY Advertised for over 200 miles-- not that cool.
3:59pm 53 degrees: Gas Stop $40.99
4:31pm 57 degrees: Welcome to Utah-- Life Elevated
4:54pm: Utah Welcome Center (27 miles into Utah) (PEED)
5:03pm: On the road again 2307.9 miles thus far
7:01pm: Salt Flats, UT
7:20pm 68 degrees: Wendover UT Motel 6
Total driving time thus far: 2,480.9

Road Trip: On the Road Day Two

Today was much longer than yesterday, we went from Toledo Ohio to Grand Island, Nebraska. Interesting side note: Grand Island is neither Grand, nor an Island.

Day 2:
6:45am: Depart from Toledo
7:35am: Toll $3.75
7:38am: Indiana
803:am 69 degrees: Breakfast, Hardy's $11.18 (PEED)
8:35am: Gas, $42.32
8:57am (central time, actually 9:57am) 80 degrees: Portage IN Toll $7.30
9:18am 82 degrees: Illinois Welcome Center (PEED)
9:26am: On the road again
11:51am: Iowa Welcome Center (PEED)
12:05pm: On the road again
1:35pm 90 degrees: Picnic Lunch of Spam and Pickle, and Egg Salad, Gas, $37.19

1:47pm: On the road again
4:30pm: Entered Nebraska
4:52pm: Rest Stop, Switched drivers (PEED)
5:02pm 91 degrees: On the road again
6:41pm 87 degrees: Motel 6, Grand Island, NE
View from our second story window (thats GreyCat):
Total Miles so far: 1,543.6

Road Trip: On the Road Day One

Here is a ticker of what we did. I'll fill it in with some yummy details when I don't feel like death.

Saturday August 28, 2010
7:27am 52 degrees: Departed Springfield Vermont
Here is a picture of GreyCat, she was VERY excited to get moving:

8:46am: Crossed into New York
9:26am 64 degrees: Breakfast, Dunkin Donuts $10.13 (PEED)
9:45am: I90W
10:02am 69 degrees: Dialed Mommie
10:52am 71 degrees: Service Area, Switched drivers (PEED)
1:58pm: Buffalo toll $12.85
2:28pm 81 degrees: Picnic Lunch, Gas stop $44.81 407.2 miles (PEED)
2:50pm: On the road again
3:27pm: Toll 3.15
3:30pm 81 degrees: Crossed into PA, switched drivers (PEED)
4:23pm: Ohio Welcome Center (PEED)
7:03pm: Motel 6 Toledo OH
Total Miles so far: 696
Heres a picture of the dinner we had at Bob Evans. Mike got the meatloaf, and if you can't tell, I got something called the deep dish chicken noodle, which was noodles and chicken in gravy, over mashed potatoes and biscuits. With a side of buttery dinner rolls. And a heart attack for dessert.

How to Travel Cross Country with a Cat

This post is dedicated to how we plan on traveling cross country with our adorable slightly crazed cat.

First of all, the vet was very clear in saying she does not recommend giving the cat medication to calm her down during the trip. So, no drugs for kitty.

We were given a Guinea Pig cage that fits perfectly in the back of the Camry. The cage is perfect because its much larger than a cat carrier, and its got enough space so she can move around, without the unnecessary height of a large dog crate. What it does not have room for, however, is a litter box. Now, seeing as she sleeps in one spot for eight hours at a time without needing to get up to pee, I'm pretty confident she'll be okay without the litter box until we can get to the hotel room at night, but just in case, I've lined the cage using an old felt table cloth, cut into strips. I lined it twice, and then covered the slippery cloth with an old sheet.
Here is the table cloth all cut up, before being put into the cage.
And here is the cage, all set up without it's lid:


We set the cage up a few days ago so she'd get use to it in the house, and she loves it, she eats all the food in the cage before going to eat her other food, she sleeps in it. Even goes in the little Hidie Hole.
Unfortunately, this is just what the cage looks like without it's cover. With the cover on, she wont go near the thing. Its like the difference between a nice home made just for her, and Soviet Russia.


Cat Prison.

Give Life

Yesterday I gave blood. Giving blood is like a mini check-up, so if you don't have health insurance, its great. Oh, and the whole blah blah blah, your civic duty thing is good too. My iron is normally low, so when I passed the iron test with flying colors without the aid of iron supplements, the assistant congratulated me and wanted to know what I'd done different. I told her I'd kicked up my fruit and vegetable intake.

I didn't mention that the entirety of my 'fruit and vegetable intake' comes from vodka/orange juice.

The Master Plan

Over the next couple of days I will be sharing the details of our cross-country move to Davis California. But first, let's talk cash:

For the 2,955 mile trip, we've estimated spending 400 dollars on gasoline for our 2006 Toyota Camry, roughly 180 dollars on fast food, and 150 dollars on (pet friendly) lodging. Our family has given us 150 dollars for the move, which will be used for hotel stays. We also have $50 worth of gas cards. And along with nuts and gummybears, we will be taking mommy-made sandwiches with us.

Our pre-trip 'game' was to collect all the loose change we could, and then exchange it into cash, and then see how far we can get only buying food with that money. To date, we have $154.26 in food money. We'll see how far we can get; I plan on saying "In your FACE, Rachel Ray!!" At least fourteen times a day.

Moving: Day One

So, we're not actually leaving Vermont until August 28th, but I think our move started today. As promised, the moving truck showed up, between the hours of ten and five. All of our worldly belongings fit into a 4 foot, by 8 foot, by ten foot space, with room to spare. With the help of some super strong friends, it only took 40 minutes. We'll see how well Mike and I do on our own once we get out there.

Sexiest Men (Not) Alive

People magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" comes out in November, but I'm going to go ahead and make my projections early: Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, David Beckham. yawn.

Truth be told though, I never found rating living people by their sexiness very interesting. I'm much more interested in how we perceive celebrities once they're dead. Because just like the perception of 'sexy' changes over the years (Mel Gibson won 'sexiest man' in 1985, the first year People ran the issue-- gross), our public perception of the dead changes with time. People adored Elvis Presley, I imagine in 1977 he probably would have won a 'sexiest man (not) alive' competition, but now he's just kind of a fat joke. So, here it is, I opted against a rating system in favor of superlatives, subject to change:

Kimberly's 2010 Dead Sexy List:

James Dean - Taken-before-his-time Sexy
Frank Sinatra - Taken-way-after-his-time Sexy
Marlon Brando - I-didn't-even-know-that-guy-was-dead Sexy
Patrick Swayze - Too soon? Sexy
Cary Grant - Classic movie Sexy
Johnny Cash - Hot-Mess Sexy
And the wild card:
Michael Jackson - Let's-only-remember-the-good-times Sexy

I would have made a Lady List-- but women really loss their appeal once they start lossing their teeth. But, Betty White, you're just waiting in the wing to accept that award, and you know it.

Birthday Gaffe

At what age are people suppose to stop asking you how old you are? I mean, how old does a woman have to be for it to become impolite to ask her age? And when people stop asking me how old I am, should I be insulted? Wouldn't it suggest by not asking, I must be an age worth hiding? Or am I just a big ball of crazy?

And at what age do people start trying to impress you with how old they are? Where is the switch there, where for sixty years a woman denies her age and then suddenly shes waving it around like a big old flag.

I think its safe to assume that regardless of age, I will continue to make an ass out of myself for the rest of my life. Because if I haven't made any of the necessary steps towards growth by now, that train has left the station.

Last week was my birthday, and a family member asked me how old I was turning, and, because I don't know the proper protocol, I decided I would be safe, and not tell her, and her response is "Heck! I'm 40 years older than you are, it hardly matters!"

And this was the dangerous spot. I knew I was excepted, socially, to scoff, say no, you aren't, you look too young, that's impossible. But then, what if by scoffing, I'm patronizing her(mathematical, it makes sense for her to be 40 years older than I am, am I suppose to just ignore basic math?!). Wouldn't it more insulting to be patronized by a younger generation? But by this point, I'd been standing doe-eyed for about 20 seconds, and all that I could come up with was "I.. am not surprised by that." It was probably not the right thing to say.

Go West, little blonde girl

Let the count down begin! 14 days until we move from our small house in Vermont, to our not-so-small apartment in Davis, California. I've spent so much time grieving about moving away from my family and my friends, that I forgot to pack.

But I have a plan:

First: We pack. Here's my three step packing plan:
One: Label boxes. Every time I move, it starts with that key factor. So, the first three boxes are labeled, and then everything else is just crap crammed into anything random beer or liquor box we could find. But not this time. We've got real boxes this time.

Two: Spacebags. I might have mentioned this before, but spacebags are very important to me.

Three: Eat the food. We have rice noodles that have lived with my fiance longer than I have. They have followed us from his apartment in Boston, to our apartment in Boston, to the house in Spoonerville, to the house in Springfield, and that's where it end. We will eat those God damn noodles.

In the next few posts I will do my best to explain how we plan on spending our 2598.99 mile journey with our cat, which, by my calculations, will involve 90 rest area stops.

For Sale

I'm giving Ebay a second chance. And here's why:

The short answer is I need money, but nobody likes the short answer. Although, if you happened to like the short answer, you can stop reading now.

As it stands, its fair to equate my current financial situation to the point in BeJeweled2 where you're down to the end and you're about to lose, and the screen is flashing and you're feverishly clicking on the little jewels before time runs out, but it feels like no matter how many jewels you get rid of, you never get any more time. (In continuation of the how to waste time at work topic, Yahoo! Games has some great time wasters) So, that's part of the reason. Secondly, I remembered that story about the guy a few years back who sold all his worldly possessions, right down to his underwear, on Ebay. And I got inspired. I'm prone to being inspired by stories that end in underwear.

So, it just made sense. I'm going to sell as much of my worldly possessions as I can bare to part with, but I'm stopping at underwear. More of this later...

Sick girls are never funny

Its 90 degrees out and I've got a cold. I'm not suppose to get colds in the summer. I need hot soup, but all I've got is hotdogs. And I've learned that people lack empathy for the summertime cold sufferer. In the winter, you're given a little slack when you come into work and say you aren't feeling well. In the summer time if you say you're sick, people assume you're just hungover.

And as if being sick isn't pathetic enough. I'm too weak to open the little Comtrex safety sealed pill pockets and I have to sit down in the shower because the water pressure is too much for me to fight against.

The PC Line graph

In my head, this explained my theory on humor, but now that I'm looking at it, more than anything I think it really just explains how I failed the math portion of the CBEST practice test even though I was using a calculator.

Too soon?

We had a pregnant 15-year-old come in today after being elbowed in the eye playing basketball at the Special Olympics. It was like meeting all of Sarah Palin's kids at once.

Also, what sort of a retard plays basketball when they're pregnant?-- Oh.. right.