Saturday, July 26, 2008

Homeward Bound

Saturday, July 26, 2008
PHX Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

I’m just about to be heading back to Albuquerque soon. The plane I’ll take is here, so sometime soon I’ll be on it. I am done with this trip, and I would like to stay a little longer. I didn’t even know that I’d be here two days ago. And I only need a name to board a plane, and there’s no rain, nor a plain.

Sorry about that, it sorta slipped in.

But Arizona State University is quite a place, and the people are interesting and even engaging.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Ahh, the sweet smell of...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:35pm
Tempe, Arizona

Orientation is over, but tomorrow I’m taking a tour of both the music and architecture departments. I found a good little pizza place at the corner of Southern Boulevard and Mill Avenue. They even know what green chille is! Six bucks gets me a 16 in. long slice, a salad and a large drink.  Supreme satisfaction.

 

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Aproaching Valley of the Sun

Monday, July 21, 2008
Frontier Restaurant

My trip is looking almost organized now. I’ve got a hotel and a flight into Phoenix, and I even have an agenda! I just lost internet here, though, so you may not be reading this until tomorrow, if I get a chance to post this in the Sunport. I’ll have been to ASU at least once by this time tomorrow, and I’ll get a chance to scope things out around Tempe. I’ll try to get a concrete hold on an Arizonan sailor, and I’ll be resting for my orientation.  The hotel I’m at claims to have Wifi, so I’m crossing my fingers and holding my thumbs.

At the moment, I’m trying to apply for campus housing, but it wants me to use something other than Safari or Mozilla, so we’ll see how it goes. And I’ve got internet, so it’s off to the blog.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Music

Friday, July 18, 2008
I-25, 10 Miles North of Albuquerque

Road Music

I find it interesting what music can do to a trip. The right music can make the difference between tedium and exhilaration.

On one memorable trip a couple weeks ago, I tuned the radio to a transmitter attached to my iPod. Dulce rejected some of the tunes, drowning them out with meows. Then, after she howled out some Eagles, Metallica came on with “Nothing Else Matters.” Surprise, Dulce liked it! She became silent and she settled down in her carrier. I had the iPod on shuffle, so as we wound our way to the north, the preference for some music became clear to us. Generally speaking, she showed a marked preference toward songs with strong bass, percussion emphasis, clear vocals and loud guitars. She didn’t like the quite, calm music as much. Now I just need to create a Pandora channel for her tastes.

Today, as we pulled onto the freeway with ZLee and his parents, the Z expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the unpleasant heat of the inside of the behemoth. Dad turned on the CD player, and the cabin was instantly filled with the sounds of Jimmy Buffet strumming and working on the opening bars of  “Son of a Sailor.” My mom’s favorite nephew settled down; within a minute he was in a sound sleep. So we now know that the proper nautical ballads are called for for the Z.

But music on the road is more than just something to please unhappy passengers.

The other day, as I was heading up to the mountains with a couple friends, the weather, always unpredictable, decided to add some interesting effects to the trip. I was in a melancholy mood that evening, and just as the heavens opened, “All Alone” by the Gorillas came on. We went and got a little mud on the tires, and there wasn’t a soul visible the whole time we were up (It wasn’t a big adventure, but it showed that big tires can really plow through the thick stuff, slide along through the thin, and they established that they can make a big splash in deep puddles). 
Jerry will testify that the right music on the open road can set you free. I like Audioslave, Die Toten Hosen, Apocalyptica, The Editors, AFI and Fettes Brot when I’m on a roll. Jimmy Buffet and more mellow tunes are for the last stretch into the lake. And I’ll even put Iron Maiden on when I’m running to the hills. I also find that some of the local radio stations have some good music. Despite being owned by Clear Channel Communications, 104.1 The Edge gets some airtime in my car. There used to be a “pirate” station, an unauthorized low-power radio station, which popped up here and there around the metro area. I‘ve got music that I bought on iTunes and music from CDs, but no particular age is emphasized. Red Hot Chile Peppers, Chance the Gardener, Three Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Flyleaf and the Beatsteaks all go well as road trip music. Franz Ferdinand, Gnarls Barkely and The Foo Fighters add their tunes to the mix.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A little more jeep



Yup. Here is some rocky jeep. Going down the stairs (see last year sometime for more). And darn you alltel for doing your weird thing with adding non-visible things to this! geraldo


Testing new jeep



Here it is at the local proving ground, where hummers are just too big to go.
geraldo

Here's the other side


Here's the other side, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

This is the view of my jeep from the left side on the rock mentioned below. Wide-angle lenses are cool, but my phone does the same thing. See how the right front wheel is floating beyond the rock?
I have an interesting strategy for getting a great lift on my jeep: I let someone else outfit their own vehicle, then when they sell it, I can scoop it up for a fraction of the cost.

I'm flexing


I'm flexing, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Here I am, but I left my quick disconnects connected, so the left front wheel on the big rock holds my right front off the ground. This is in the Sandia National Forrest, near the Cedro Recreation area. I like the area because of it's proximity to Albuquerque. Here's a map that show's where i'm at.
View Larger Map The edge of the clear area holds the rock my jeep is on. Long live the rocky jeep abilities!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Dad's dockmaster delivery

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Delivering Dad

So I am on my way to Heron Lake today, because my dad’s got to do his dockmaster duty for the New Mexico Sailing Club. He’ll be there from today until Saturday at midnight, when I start my duty.

Separate note, I’ll be attending Orientation at ASU in a couple weeks, so I’m thinking that I want to have a vehicle by then. I’m looking for something reliable, with good gas mileage and also the capability of towing 1500 lbs or so. Know of anything either in Albuquerque or Tempe?

I’ll be staying in a tent this time; Syzygy is still for sale and still in Truth or Consequences.

Anyone know the whereabouts of a decent used mountain bike for sale in the Albuquerque area? That would be cool for me to use this weekend.

I’m writing as we head up, so I haven’t seen the lake yet.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

South Valley

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today was an interesting day. I started by going to the Frontier on my way to work. I grabbed a deuce of Carne Adovada burritos and got a quick stop by the blogosphere before I had to get to the bus stop. When I take busses to work, interesting things usually happen. Today, the northeast bound 5 that was supposed to be at UNMH at 3:06 failed to arrive. And yes, I do walk across the University of New Mexico’s campus to get from the Frontier Restaurant to the hospital.
So I wound up at work at 3:45, although I was aiming for a bit sooner.

The canvass went well by percentages, but not too many doors were hit. My turf was in the South Valley, where houses are situated on largish lots with lots of space between. However, the fact that all of the people I talked to were chill with Tom Udall and that the neighborhood is friendly made up for the distance traveled. It was a good afternoon. Some rain came down, but it wasn’t to heavy, and when combined with the wind and clouds, the temperature was kept low and the enjoyment kept up. I found many people who would’ve liked to talk for a couple hours about why they like Udall over Pearce.