Top 5 costume ideas for me and R this year

5) Sprockets - Easy, cheap, and just the right amount of obscurity in a pop culture reference. This makes a good costume, but, alas, we used it last year.



4) Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox - Distinctly midwestern but perhaps too much so. Californians might be confused. Plus, we're trying to avoid blue body paint.



3) Brandon and Brenda Walsh - Being Minnesotans recently relocated to California sounds appropriate for us, and I think I could pull off the pompadour and 90s clothing style, but the siblings factor may be too incestuous for a married couple.



2) Each other - This just kind of happened partially by accident one day a while ago, and we found it incredibly funny. I think it would make a good costume, as long as we're seen together the whole night. Maybe next year.



1) Wait for it - I don't want to spoil the surprise, so check back here sometime after Halloween for a photo of what we decided on.

Californified

That has to be the cutest fake mug shot I've ever seen. (I'm not sure if it's okay to display your plate number on the web, so I pixelated it just in case.) R and I received our CA driver's licenses and new plates after taking a surprisingly challenging written test the week before last. Here's a sample question:

To avoid last minute moves, you should be looking down the road to where your vehicle will be in about ________.

A) 5 to 10 seconds
B) 10 to 15 seconds
C) 15 to 20 seconds

What the heck? There were 36 questions like that. I passed, but just barely. R, being the over-achiever she is, aced the thing.

The DMV also requires a smog test when you register your car. Of course they don't do this on-site and can't even give you the name of a convenient place to have it done. You have to find your own automotive shop and spend another $50 and half an hour... in my case, it took just long enough so I couldn't make it back to the DMV on the same day, making the process a two-day affair. But let's focus on the positive: we are now officially California residents. I, for one, am proud to call myself one!

By the way, the correct answer was B.

New look

It may not be the Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition you were expecting, but there are definitely some new colors (or lack of colors) present. I will probably continue to tweak it here and there. I couldn't decide between a black background and a dark green one, so that might still change.

The image of the forest came from our New Zealand collection. I love how the photo turned out and was just waiting to have somewhere to use it. Of course it has nothing to do with toast, but that wasn't going to stop me. As for the meaning behind the new title for my blog... an explanation is pending. I don't want to get into it right now.

The end of the beginning

Mom Murdock sent us these flowers (as well as a care package full of Minnesota goodies) to help detract from the debris.

Our stack of packing paper is going to be taller than R soon. I should have asked her to stand next to it for a comparison.

R left this message for me on the wall of the office. Isn't she sweet? I didn't want to paint over it.

It takes roughly 2 years for me to forget how much I dislike relocating. That’s part of the reason I was willing to leave Wilmington: I had forgotten what it's like to be unsettled, to have to clear a path in the boxes to go from one room to another, and to make decisions about what to put where (that is, if there is even space for everything). The last week has been sort of like that. The excitement of being in a new home is mixed with a dirty floor that’s too cluttered to clean and walls that need paint before electronics can be hung on them. It is at this point in the process when I say, “I’m never moving again.” But then a few years pass and I get excited about living somewhere new and the process repeats.

Our transition to this town was actually pretty smooth. It was nice to rent a furnished place for the first four months as it allowed us to put the physical work of moving on hold and to focus on learning our way around and getting used to new/changed jobs. Aside from the job part, being here without our own home felt a little like a vacation. It didn't feel permanent. Eventually we had to put some roots down and stop living out of a suitcase or, more accurately, out of somebody else’s dresser.

The condo could haved needed a lot more work than it does. The fact that we might be disorganized for only two or three weeks is quite a relief. There's still a lot to do, but we're settling in fast. I'm hoping the photos above show some of the beauty amid the chaos of the last week.

We really like the place. I like how the big windows in our living room let a lot of light into the place during the mornings. I like how we can open our sliding patio door to a little courtyard and hear the fountain running out there… and how this place is cozy by lamp light after night sets… and how each room seems to have its own personality... and the how the kitchen stove heats a pan evenly. We’re going to enjoy making a home here. I get the impression the hassle of moving is worth it when you move to Santa Barbara.

200

Hey hey hey. This is my 200th post on Blogger. It all started on May 19th, 2006 when R and I found ourselves in a new town and I was figuring out what to do with my life. It’s funny how things haven't changed all that much. I blogged on a homegrown web site before that and filled up a large number of notebooks with some slightly more personal journaling before that. The bottom line is that I enjoy recording my thoughts. The writing is good practice--it has helped immensely with communicating in my job--and I like being able to look back and see what I was doing on some random weekend years ago. Plus, although it's usually a one-sided conversation, it's an easy way to keep in touch and share photos with people no longer in close proximity to us. If anybody wants to follow along, they can. If not, that's fine too. It's just here and it will continue to be here either way.

This is an exciting time to be contributing to the blogosphere. Whether it's a pompous waste of time or not, the idea of "life casting" has taken off around the world. There are a number of blogs that I follow, a few of which have links posted to the right. I enjoy looking through the window into the personalities and adventures of friends and sometimes strangers. If you don't already blog, I encourage you to start. Use a fake name if you're insecure about privacy or only post about impersonal subjects... Just get your thoughts out there.

I feel a reinvention is an order. Here are some goals I have for my little corner of the web moving forward:

• Design a new layout -- Expect it shortly after we get settled into our new house. My current look is simple and easy to read, but I'm getting tired of it. And being that it is a preset Blogger template, I don't think it reflects my personality. I've got some ideas for a more representative appearance and am planning to implement it soon.

• Don't record everything -- Let's face it, if R and I go to the grocery store, you don't need to read about it. When I list what I did over a weekend, the completist in me wants to list everything I did that weekend, but that can make an entry long and boring. From now on, I'll try to stick to the more interesting things going on and less daily minutiae. We do laundry and groceries every weekend. I'm not going to mention them anymore, unless the wash overflows and ruins our floor or we're held hostage at the grocery store or something.

• Start Twittering -- This is where some of my daily minutiae may end up. I've been going back and forth about whether or not I want to start micro-blogging. I've been giving status updates on Facebook and been surprised by how much fun that can be ("Jeffrey wishes they all could be California avocados" anyone?), but I'm worried my regular blogging will suffer if I join another website dedicated to recording one’s thoughts and happenings, even if they are limited to 140 characters or less. Will I be repeating myself if I write on both? Will the need for this blog be gone? I would hope if I had to choose one, I would choose Jeblog, but keeping up with Twitter would require less of a time commitment... Let's see how it goes. Notice the new link to the right.

• Post more video – Aside from the two editing projects I have on deck (a music video and some Ultimate Frisbee action), I want to make use of this amazing video camera I have and shoot some spontaneous, less perfected videos. I hope to show you more of Santa Barbara, maybe record an occasional cooking piece with R, and do some short experimental work just for the fun of it. Part of what's been holding me back is my lack of high definition editing capabilities. My camera can shoot some sharp, colorful footage but right now most of it is lost when I copy it to my computer. Part of me wants to wait until I upgrade to an HD capable system before attempting to edit something like my music video, but I don't know if I can wait that long. Actually, I know I can't.

That should cover it for now. We're having a busy week moving into the new place, on top of working full time jobs, so hopefully this entry (and continued Twitter posts) tide you over for a little while.

Closed

We are now the proud owners of a condo in Santa Barbara! The movers are bringing our stuff over next Monday, so we have one last weekend of apartment living. We're anxious to get out, but in some ways I think I'll miss this place. There's something carefree about renting. We didn't have to clean (a cleaning service was included in the rent), worry about any maintenance, or pay any separate utility bills. But we're definitely willing to give up those conveniences for more space, our own furniture (including our TV!), and the freedom to customize. I'm also looking forward to having a refrigerator big enough to hold beer again.

Gotta run. Tonight we're having a picnic on our new living room floor (pictured above). A "camp in" was also considered, but we're not that desperate to start living there.

Ouch

We just plunked down a grand on two plane tickets home for Christmas. That doesn't even include the rental car or the cost of parking at the airport for a week. Good thing Christmas in Minnesota is worth it. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Catching up

Hey everybody (or nobody, depending on whether or not anyone is still following this blog). Other than my little notice about the rain, I haven't written in a while. Work seems to be occupying the vast majority of my time these days. I'm realizing I don't have a firm boundary between working from home and just being at home. The accessibility of my laptop combined with some recent big deadlines is making for extra hours in the virtual office. We also joined a gym recently, and that's been soaking up some additional time, but I'm not complaining because a daily workout is the only reason I'm able to sit at my desk for the rest of the waking hours in a day. I can't attribute all that time to my job though. My masochistic tendencies have me sitting here even after the work is done, surfing the web, snooping around on Facebook, curiously not blogging--nor editing--more. If R is working late one night, it's not unusual for me to eat all three meals of my day in front of the computer. Somehow I feel like it's not even enough time.

Last weekend was relatively uneventful. The notable bits were dinner at a restaurant with a scenic location on the beach on Saturday and a wine appreciation gathering with the Newcomers on Sunday. The latter event took place at a home in the hills with an impressive view of the sun setting over the town. It was another chance to mingle with the rich and sample some offerings from a local winery. That's life in Santa Barbara for you.

This weekend was laid back too. We've been sleeping in, eating dinners out, and of course we attended the avocado festival in Carpenteria yesterday. My appreciation for that wondrous fruit has deepened upon our arrival here. Lately I've been slicing them up and putting them between toast with some humus and calling it a sandwich. At the festival we tried avocado ice cream. I wouldn't say it was the best ice cream I've ever had, but is there really such a thing as bad ice cream?

After exhausting what the festival had to offer we walked along a pleasant beach in Carp. The sand was soft and waves rolled smoothly in. We found a spot to sit and watch the surfers do their thing. The pull to try surfing ourselves is growing in intensity, although it will probably have to wait until next spring, unless we want to rent wet suits along with the boards. Until then, I have my skateboard. I'm considering buying some bigger, softer wheels for it, which will limit my ability to do tricks (which, believe me, is quite limited by my skill level already) but will make transporting myself over cracked sidewalks quite a bit easier.

A guy who lived on my floor during our freshmen year at college found me on Facebook recently. It turns out he lives roughly a mile, maybe two, away. We met downtown for some beers and food last Thursday night. R joined us after she got out of work. It was an odd experience to catch up with somebody after 9 years. He is a guy I never knew that well, just from a few residence hall functions and maybe an occasional dinner in the caf, but the simple fact that he is/was a Minnesotan--and especially a St. Thomas alum--made him a welcomed find after the last 4 years of associating with people who at least started out as strangers.

I have been liking Santa Barbara a lot lately. R and I have a good situation going right now. Each of the places in which we've lived has had its redeeming qualities and provided an experience I'll never forget, but so far California is the only place, other than Minnesota, I can see us staying long term. The high cost of living and the distance away from family may be the only factors that could stop that from happening because otherwise I can't find anything wrong with this place.

We've been walking downtown the last couple of nights for dinner and soaking up the spirit of vacation all around us. Music pours out of almost every restaurant. People bike by with surf boards in their arms. Limos full of bachelorette partying women drive up and down the street. David Byrne holds a concert at one of the local theaters. There's inspiration and adventure waiting out there every night. Sure, I'm sitting at my computer or in front of the TV for most of those nights, but I like knowing what's out there and the idea that we're just getting started in this town.

(Editor's note: From now on all photos taken with my phone will appear in the smaller size seen above. Photos taken with the DSLR will be shown in the usual, larger size.)

Hello rain

It's drizzling this morning. California isn't always sunny, you know. There might be some moisture in the air every four months or so. I don't want you to think we're becoming too spoiled out here. Luckily, I'm pretty sure the weather will clear up this afternoon so we can head down to the avocado festival...