Off with my head

Just want to get you caught up on last weekend before another one comes along and pushes it into the past. Mostly it was a recovery weekend. I needed to get caught up on sleep and to settle into life on the west coast again. Friday night I was out of consciousness before R had the chance to say good night. On Saturday we grabbed some coffee and met our new realtor for a plow through seven houses. We saw some decent options and are feeling good about our chances of finding a place around here. We talked it over during a walk down to the Verizon store (R is now a customer) and dinner at the wonderfully atmospheric Cafe Buenos Aires on State Street. Then we went home and I began reading The Da Vinci Code (I'm a little behind on the times) before passing out cold for the second night in a row. On Sunday, we rode the bikes to the French festival, where R decided it was time to execute her husband with le guillotine :-). We ate some savory crepes and a pain au chocolat for lunch, watched the end of a dance show, and got on our way to a couple of open houses. Throw in some laundry and a trip to the grocery store and you've got yourself a weekend.

On working from home

A few people, mostly coworkers, have been asking me how I like the new arrangement of working remotely. Well, it's too early to give any sort of long-term feelings because I've only been away from the office for a month, one week of which was spent on vacation and another working at a client site, but I can tell you it's been sort of a love/hate relationship so far. Actually, "hate" is too strong of a word. Let's say it's a love/dislike relationship.

The convenience of being able to roll out of bed and begin working in less than 15 minutes can't be beat. It also gives me the opportunity to talk to myself all I want, play music over speakers rather than headphones, get minor chores done around the house during random coffee breaks, and slip easily between modes of intense concentration and slacking off, depending on the urgency of my duties. Yes, it's easy to be distracted when the work is slow, but I make up for it by working hard other times with minimal interruption from talkative coworkers. My schedule has been on more of a get-what-needs-to-be-done-done basis than a firm following of the clock. I'm still putting in 8 hours between 6:00am and 3:30pm, but I spread out the hour and a half of break time over the course of the day. This is my preferred style of working; it's an echo of my college days, when I would study all day and all night but take plenty of breaks. The process takes longer over all, but it's more fun while it's happening.

Of course there are downsides to my arrangement too. Maybe it's because we're living in a studio apartment, complicated by the fact that my own home office furniture is still in storage, but I'm feeling a little cramped. The desk I'm using is too small for me to spread things out on, the chair isn't extremely comfortable, and I'm not getting good cell phone coverage. But these are temporary, minor drawbacks. A bigger concern is the frustration of trying to communicate with people all over the country. Time zone issues aside, I'm a visual person, so working over the phone is difficult. I prefer the email and instant messaging mediums, which are typically slower and less likely to elicit a response at all, but they allow me the opportunity to be more thorough in what I want to say and receive in conversations. But the fact remains: sometimes I want to drop by somebody's desk and bug them in person.

By the end of the day, I'm usually pretty anxious to get out of the house. So far there have been plenty of opportunities. At the very least, I get out for a jog or bike ride... and those activities have never felt so good. My social interaction doesn't extend much past R and Facebook (I finally signed up!) these days, but for some reason I'm fine with that for now. It's hard to jump into making new friends right after leaving some good ones behind, but it will happen in time. We've done all this before.

So I'm not exactly laying out on a beach with my laptop every day, as I joked before we arrived, but I do get to see the California sun often enough. It's still quite high in the sky when my work day ends.

Oh yeah -- I don't know where the specks of dust in photo above came from. I do use that keyboard every day, I swear.

Transient times and 4th of July

A month ago I was living in Delaware. The following week I was living in California. The week after that I was on vacation in Minnesota. Then I worked at a client site in Wisconsin for a week. Now I'm back in California, thinking of three different time zones each time I look at a clock. I need to start work at 9:00 EST. I have a daily meeting at 12:30 CST. R comes home at 4:30 PST. This is getting confusing.

Our definition of "home" continues to blur. Each place we leave is moving on without us. Our first week in California obviously wasn't enough to establish roots, but right now it's the best we can do. Returning to it after a two-week trip sort of cemented it as our current home. Some of our possessions, 10 boxes that didn't go into storage, have been delivered to the apartment. That helps, even if it would still feel more natural to fly into Philly and pull up to our townhouse (we do still own it -- not much luck with the sale). I think R would agree with me that there is an appeal right now to being somewhere familiar, somewhere settled again. There is certain amount of comfort involved with being in your own place, and we haven't been there in a while. That's not to say our temporary living space isn't comfortable; it's just not long-term.

Our vacation in Minnesota was great. Thanks again to our wonderfully accommodating parents. It was nice to take a nap on a hammock, hit the lakes, see relatives, and eat a bunch of home-cooked food. Other highlights were a stop in Coon Rapids to watch my brother's band rehearse and a stop in Rochester (on my way to Wisconsin) to have breakfast with my buddy L and his fiancée. Lowlights were R coming down with a cold for the second half of our vacation (she's doing better now) and a five-hour delay due to thunderstorms in Phoenix on my way back to Cali. Isn't Phoenix supposed to be a desert -- what's with the rain? Normally I would have loved to have the extra time to read, but I had finished my book during the first flight and didn't bring another one with me. Total bummer.

By the numbers:

- 1600 miles driven in a Yaris
- 540 photos taken
- 5 thunderstorms witnessed
- 4 long days worked
- 3 hours slept on Thursday night
- 2 go-kart rides taken
- 1 clown band watched

I've narrowed down my photos to a more reasonable number. Check them out here: EmptyGym rehearsal and the rest of the vacation.

Sorry, no pics from the Madison leg of the trip. But don't worry -- you didn't miss much.

California girl

I couldn't decide which of the above photos of R I like better, so I'm including them both. I actually have a bunch more, so at least I was able to narrow it down this far. (If I were a truly discerning editor, I'd be able to pick one and live with the decision). We had a good photo shoot last night at Franceschi Park, overlooking the town. We walked around the neighborhood almost every night this week. Okay, one night was just to the ice cream parlor, where we easily consumed more calories than we burned, but we could have drove and we didn't.

Our cars were delivered on Tuesday, Delaware license plates in tact, making us stand out as east coasters, which is ironic because I don't know if we ever considered ourselves to be from the east coast. We were still working on becoming comfortable there. R's car had a dead battery on arrival. It wasn't a complete surprise, though, because she did have to get a jump in order to get it on the truck the week before. Lucky for us the battery was covered under a warranty and with only some minor hassle we got it replaced this week.

Tonight I walked by myself down State Street to grab a Chipotle burrito and ate it at a park on the way back. R is in the air right now heading for Minnesota. I'll meet her at her mom's house tomorrow night after a long day of travel. I'm flying into Milwaukee and driving up to northern Minnesota in an effort to save $700 on a plane ticket. I need to be in Madison for work on July 6th - 10th, so I booked a round trip ticket getting me out there a week early. Sure, there's an extra 8 hours in the car involved, but the plane ticket will be reimbursed, so I'll make out okay.

The week in Minnesota should be nice. We've been making this trip home for the 4th of July every year now. Our days spent with family are few but precious.

Just another observation related to my subject line: Santa Barbara appears to be run by young women who look like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. I never realized how popular those over-sized sunglasses are until we got here. The girls here buy them three at a time. I saw one do exactly that at Nordstrom's last weekend when R and I were looking, with no success, for a decent pair for under $100. Then she hopped in her Beamer with the HOTTY87 plates and drove home along the beach. (That might have been a different girl). I overheard another one breaking up with her boyfriend over cell phone while walking down a sidewalk. "I can't be everything in this relationship... I'll give you back the bracelets," she yelled, between obscenities.

These teenage divas have nothing on my R... my R who can switch to a northern, southern, or eastern accent on the spot... my R who misspells words like "massage"... my R who drives a Honda Civic LX and saves the receipt for her battery so she can get it covered under a warranty... my California girl.

Miss you, R. See you tomorrow.

Short notice

If anybody is interested in attending a festival of the Summit Brewery Short Film Contest entries, let me know. Oh yeah, it's being held tomorrow (Thursday) night in St. Paul. I realize that is extremely short notice, but I figured I'd put it out there anyway. It also gives me an opportunity to announce... drum roll please... that we didn't win the contest. If this blog had a mood indicator, it would read "bummed." Ah, we actually found out a few weeks ago, so I'm over it. More than anything now, I'm curious to watch the winning films. They should be online sometime after tomorrow's showing. They better be good.

Santa Barbara, 93103

R and I are feeling a little like Brandon and Brenda Walsh (although thank goodness we're not brother and sister) after they moved from Minnesota to ritzy Beverly Hills, 90210. My inferiority complex is telling me everybody here is more attractive, healthy, wealthy, intelligent, and charismatic than I'll ever be. Not that I'm complaining -- the best way to develop those traits is to be around people with those traits, even if I'm insecure the whole time.

I already feel inspired to eat healthier and get more exercise. That should be easier than usual considering this place probably has the best weather in the United States. It's been in the 80s and sunny every day since we got here, and the real kicker is that we're not expecting rain until October. Actually people saying the weather has been unusually hot; a comfortable upper 70s is more typical... and that's YEAR ROUND. Maybe this isn't a good thing, however, as I do enjoy having an excuse to stay in once in a while. I might just miss my reclusive January.

There will be plenty to do outside though. We have an ocean in front of us and mountains behind us. And they're close. From where we're living right now, we could probably WALK to either one in 30 minutes. If we hop on a bike we can do it faster. People travel from all over the country (world?) to visit a place like this, so we're going to try to make use of it. We've been wanting to get more serious about hiking since before the New Zealand trip, so now's our chance.

We're also anxious to take some driving trips. Hollywood and Beverly Hills are only 90 miles away. San Francisco is more like 300, which is doable for a weekend. Wine country is right up the road. Vegas isn't too far. Plus there are a bunch of famous national parks in this state that will be a must to see.

We'll want to spend some time in Santa Barbara itself as well. It's a smaller town than I expected and pretty easy to get around in. The streets are biker and pedestrian friendly. (I want to buy a skateboard and "commute" to work at a coffee shop a few mornings each week. Let's consider that a goal.) They have open-air malls and old-style, single screen movie theaters. All the roofs have Spanish tiles. There are exotic plants and cacti everywhere. It's quite scenic indeed.

It hasn't all sunk in yet. I keep thinking I'm on vacation and we'll be returning to the real world soon. We can't possibly live here. But I think I'll get used to it okay. The problem will be getting used to somewhere else after this.

Landed

We have arrived. There are a lot of things to say about being here, but I'm going to save most of it for another entry. I'll try to get some photos to share as well. There will be plenty of time for all that.

Yesterday was a long day of travel. I was so tired when we got in (and sick with a cold) that the extent of our exploration was more or less a drive down State Street and a stop at the grocery store. We landed without knowning anybody or how to get anywhere, so it's been a lot to take in. We were concentrating so much on getting out of Delaware that we didn't think much about getting into California. Today was my also first day of working remotely, so I'm adjusting to that as well. Maybe it's too soon to tell, but my first impression is that we have a good situation going for us here.

The R.E.M. concert was excellent. They played a bunch of hits, although it was the more obscure selections, some of which I couldn't even place, that excited me the most. They picked a few songs that didn't jump out at me when listening to the albums (e.g. "Walk Unafraid", "Turn You Inside-Out", "Let Me In"), but now they're stuck in my head and I want to check out the recorded versions again. Another highlight was when Eddie Vedder came on stage to sing "Begin the Begin" with Mr. Stipe. The crowd went nuts over that surprise. They also brought Johnny Marr (from The Smiths) up for a few songs, but I must say that was less noticeable.

I'm sorry to report that we missed The National's performance on Wednesday due a horrific amount traffic on the way in. We were expecting to get from our hotel in Philly to the Mann Center in under half an hour and we even built in an extra hour just in case it took longer. We had no idea it was going to take two hours to get there? We literally sat down as the band were playing their last chord. Major bummer. We'll have to catch them some other time when they are the main act. Opening acts never get the best treatment anyway, especially in a venue as big as the Mann. Modest Mouse was okay, but it was hard to get into them from our distant seats and with people constantly walking in front of us.

One last note: Good luck to my dad, mom, brothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins who are all running Grandma's marathon or some shorter variation of it in Duluth this weekend. They all managed to get the running bug in the last year or so after my younger bro inspired them by doing a few marathons. I'm impressed by their dedication!

R.E.M.

Wednesday night of this week, our last night of living out east, will be spent at an R.E.M. concert in Philadelphia. I used to be only a casual listener of this band. I was familiar with their hits and would occasionally play Monster during a drive in the car. My brother had a cassette of Out of Time when we were growing up and I considered "Losing My Religion" to be on my list of all-time favorite songs for quite a while. Then, a few years ago, I began a years-long examination of their catalogue for the simple reason that I knew I was missing something (I've done this with The Cure too but wasn't quite as comprehensive). So I started with Murmur and worked my way forward through each of their albums, spending months with each one before moving on to the next.

I found the first half of their career to be some of the most satisfying music in my collection. After reaching their pinnacle of commercial success with Automatic for the People, the quality and re-playability dropped off a little, but at the very least they continued to deliver great singles. There are so many hidden gems that I've found or rediscovered from their work in the 80s. Here are just a couple of highlighted songs that come to mind: "Pretty Persuasion", "Can't Get There from Here", "Begin the Begin", "Fall on Me", "Pop Song 89," and many more. It's amazing how my impression of the familiar songs changed when I put them in perspective of release dates and the arc of their transition from underground favorite to a mainstream, stadium-playing mega-band. It's hard to believe Reveal was made by the same band that made Murmur, yet the steps in their evolution are clear and natural.

The only album in their catalogue I skipped -- but still might check out eventually -- is Around the Sun. I like the single "Leaving New York" from it, but the album as a whole seems universally disliked. Yes, I should form my own impression of it before judging it; I honestly just haven't had the chance during the rush to "study up" before the concert.

I do own their latest, Accelerate, and think it is the return-to-form fans have been waiting for, but I also think pointing backwards is an easy way out and a sign that a band that doesn't know where else to go. U2 has done something similar with their last two albums. The results of these throw-backs are enjoyable and entertaining, but ultimately less satisfying than a step forward. Maybe they are the sign of a band that has matured and is now feeling aged. I don't fault either band though. How many times can they reinvent themselves anyway? I wouldn't want them to stop releasing albums on account of not having anything ground-breaking to share. They can leave that business to younger bands.

Seeing R.E.M. alone would have made for a good concert, but to top it off, The National and Modest Mouse are the opening acts. I'm expecting mixed feelings about Modest Mouse live, but The National? Even if they feel like fish out of water in a stadium, I'm expecting a great performance. I think these guys are following a similar path to R.E.M.'s. They've already released some amazing work (have I recommended Boxer enough yet?), and I'm sure they have more to come.

Ciao

Our farewell to friends had an Italian theme as it took place over the course of three nights during Wilmington's Italian Festival last week. On Wednesday we went to the fest with Tina & George and Libby & Kevin. Thursday we returned with Gordon & Cindy. And Friday was our grand finale: an Italian dine-around with Chris & Anke and Shane & Quincy (pictured above). Each of the nights was a memorable time and a bitter sweet good-bye.

Change is in the air and not just for us. Others are moving before summer's end as well, one couple to Chicago and another to Boston. It is a good thing that the friends we made here are rather "worldly" because this way we will likely see them again. In fact, we already have tentative plans to meet some of them in Paris in a few years. We're also hoping for some visitors in California.

On Thursday we will be moving into a furnished studio apartment on a temporary basis while we look for a more permanent place to rent or buy. We learned the lesson upon moving to Wilmington that a three or four day visit is not enough time to find a place in which to live, so we didn't even attempt to fly out to Santa Barbara to look around in advance of our move. This decision really adds to the fact that we don't know what to expect when we get there. I have a feeling it's going to be another world.

We may not have chosen our townhouse in Wilmington if we had had more time for a house hunt, but that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy living in it. It was a comfortable home. I was sad to disconnect our theater system last night because it was such a pleasing setup. I have the same fear each time I disconnect my computer: that it will never turn on again because it got rattled too much during transport or that I won't find all of the power outlets in the new house to be in the right places. Over the weekend, when we patched the holes we put into the walls, I remembered the time we put into painting them. We picked neutral colors so that the house would sell easily -- so much for that -- but truth be told, I kind of like neutral wall colors anyway. Our yard here was not very big, but getting rid of the lawn mower was tough: it and I took care of each other. We'll have to buy another one some day, and who knows what that relationship will be like.

The Bud Light Film Crew is moving on without me. The new guy shot the next two videos back-to-back down at the beach a week ago. I'm jealous that he has so much time before the deadlines and wondering what kind of editing software he is using. I'm worried he's going to do a better job than me. I'll be the first one on the web site on July 1 to view his first video. Aren't you curious?

We're definitely seeing the sad side of the move right about now -- all of the packing and good-byes -- but the happy side will reveal itself soon. I think California is going to present some wonderful opportunities for us, as well as new friends and an exciting chapter of exploration. We'll remember Wilmington fondly, but there are no regrets as we march forward. In some ways it's nice to leave on a high note, while things are going so well.