Yeah it's pretty hot today

It's nice for pool parties (Saturday) but it's tough playing golf (Sunday) when you're bleeding sweat.

Fruits of manual labor

(I tried to post this from my phone about a week ago but for some reason the email wouldn't go through)

I spent the better part of 2 days in the sun washing & waxing 3 of our cars (I know, life is tough) on our driveway, as you can see here, with nice shines. I don't have a picture of the 3rd car because I didn't wax it.

For the wax, I used Maguire's NXT Tech Wax. It comes in a slightly viscous liquid. You squeeze some on the sponge that comes with it and rub it over the surface A of the car, and then you rub down surface B. Then go back and buff A with a nice clean towel and then rub down surface C. Then you go back and buff B. Repeat until the car is done and voila! You get to brag too!

Hax Hax Revolution

Score 1 for the persistence team.

So instead of trying to log in from blogspot, using my phone, I went to the direct page (basically something like http://www.blogger.com/post?b=3252351251235xxxxyyy) which is the blogger post editor page and it allowed me to edit using my phone! So now I can finally screw up again and go back and fix it while I don't have access to a computer after BruteForceX tells me what I did wrong, because he always tells me what I did wrong, always.

Woota! (or Woooooohaaaaaaaa! if you're a man in the army and use this as an excuse to scream out a very gay exclamation yet keep the very heterosexual man persona. Not me, of course.)

The grass IS greener

BruteforceX and I figured out that Blogspot doesn't allow you to post replies to comments. Is that weird or what? You would have thought that the almighty internet god known as Google would have thought of an obvious feature like that.

Also, Blogspot won't allow me to log in from my phone, even though Livejournal does. Maybe I should have stuck with Livejournal?

The Art of Fine Print

My parents have been trying to upgrade their phones lately with Verizon Wireless (VZW) because they've outlasted their 2 year agreement and seem to be having some battery issues with their phones.

I am in the midst up doing this for them online so that they can get their mail-in rebates instantly, and for curiosity sakes I decided to actually READ the customer agreement. Since a couple of my friends already work at VZW and I'm guessing we've discussed VZW for about 200 hours, I thought I would pretty much know about most of the knick knacks of what VZW offers and does not offer.

Well today, I found this clause that surprised me and made me laugh at the same time:

"If you get disconnected by our network from a voice call in your Home Rate and Coverage Area, redial. If the same number answers within 5 minutes, call us within 90 days and we’ll give you a 1–minute airtime credit."

In my history of calling VZW, I've found that a good customer service call with them (and they are pretty good) takes about 10 minutes to complete. Can you imagine somebody calling in to ask for a minute of airtime back because their call dropped? There's got to be better things to do with your life, like playing Guitar Hero III.

Not that I remember ever having a call dropped with VZW. Their call quality is pretty amazing.

Sadness

Every time my blackberry buzzes and I get that warm-fuzzy excited feeling just to find out it's another junk email about enlarging my penis or Rolex watches for $50 or getting Viagra at deep discounts, I die a little on the inside.

This world is so cruel.

Makes you smile

Spent the night at my sister's last night. Got to see this lovable pumpkin again. She's 7 months old now. She makes some random noises (doesn't talk yet) and rolls over once in a while (doesn't crawl yet).

Welcome to California

Nothing like a little graffiti to let you know you've come home.

Made it to the C A

Woot woot! Somewhere in Redwood forest right now between Crescent City and Eureka.

We pit stopped last night in Grants Pass, OR. It felt very much like San Bernadino there.

Cold or Poison? Only god knows

So yeah, my dad has a cold. He had a fever last night and had a tough time sleeping. I had that problem on Sunday night, so there's a good chance I gave him this problem.

So we were talking together and we both think that maybe it wasn't food poisoning on Monday at all. It was just the hitting of the cold that got him.

There was never any 3 year old fish in my freezer ever. That never ever happened. That post down below that talks about it, complete blasphemy. I will never admit to any such thing without the backing of OJ's lawyers.

200 miles closer to San Jose

We just touched down about an hour ago at this resort called Sunriver in Sunriver, OR for the evening.

It's one of those places where 2 people stand at the front door all day long just to open the door for guests in 35 degree weather.

It's also the kind of place that has it's own airport for people to fly in for the weekend.

Yeah, it's nice. We didn't know this when we were headed here this morning though because the price of our room is only $115, which you know, in Seattle you can't even get a room near the airport for less than $189.

Apparently the low price is because of low season. Which is actually a pretty significant deal in Oregon. Nobody does anything outside until summer here. I tried to search for a hot springs to check out this morning. I found a list of 20 of them in Oregon. After calling most of them, I couldn't find one that was open tonight that was in our general direction.

I asked the management here how much the golf was and they told me golf is closed until summer too. Fishing is closed til summer, floating is also closed til summer.

Our original plan was to keep going down the 395. The reason why we're in Sunriver today instead is because my dad has a cold and wanted something comfortable tonight.

The picture above is from our back patio.

Which one? Midgets or Small asian girls

We're staying in THE motel in Long Creek, OR, and judging by the height of the shower head it seems as though maybe they're catering to a different kind of crowd.

From the looks that I got from some of the other ~250 residents in this town and from the lady at the front desk, it sounds like going with small asian girls might be a bad guess, so I guess the answer is obvious after some simple Homer-esque logic!

Oh the gold mine that is Eastern Washington

Earlier today when we we're passing through Yakima, WA, I remember seeing a huge billboard that said "Yakima, the Palm Springs of Washington State" which made me raise an eyebrow and chortle at the same time. I wish I could have taken a picture of it for you guys but that would have been a terrible excuse for causing a car accident..

#1: Since when was being like Palm Springs something to brag about?
#2: It didn't seem anything like Palm Springs: I saw no golf courses, shopping outlets, hot springs, or droves of retired people sun bathing like there's no tomorrow.

After that, we came to an area called the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and another city I don't remember). Apparently you're supposed to find 3 cities here bundled up with synergy and marshmallows. It was more along the lines of trifecta of nothing.

Picture a flat endless rolling dry plains with a few buildings scattered around. Ok that's a slight exaggeration but you get the point. I was expecting a little bit more substance. Right Dan?

Sore thumbs

Dinner at the Rainbow Cafe in Pendleton, OR. Cheap and good with amazing service.

My dad looked so awkward when we walked in some drunk guy raised his arm and yelled "hello!" to us. It was pretty funny but I bet everyone in there thought I was laughing because I was uncomfortable and couldn't understand english. Like I took a wrong turn in Taipei and ended up in eastern Oregon.

Cheerios vehicle

From a Cheerios box this morning. Odds that it has lead paint on it?

The sickness and the ailment

I have been sick for a couple of days with some kind of cold. It's been giving me some chills while sleeping and a sore throat in the morning that goes away by lunchtime (weird huh?)

I'm sure drinking didn't help it much but I couldn't help it. You gotta drink the last night you're in town.

I hope this cold goes away before we get to California though, because I don't want to kill off hundreds of people in droves after I arrive. We have some really bad colds & flus in Seattle because of the weather and we all know Californians are all warm weather sun loving pansies that can't take a day of weather below 40. haha

(By the way, if I title a post with the name I just used for this one AFTER I'm on travel, you can pretty much assume it will NOT be a happy post)

Off to a great start

Had to stop in Federal Way last night because my dad got some kind of food poisoning. It could have been the 3 year old dried fish that was in the freezer dad. :)

Rules when entering Jim's apt:
#1: Take off your shoes
#2: Never ever assume you can eat anything in the refrigerator without asking me about it first

Now, you may be asking yourself why I have a 3 year old fish in my freezer even after having moved twice.
#1: my mom bought it for me when she visited. I kept it for sentimental value
#2: I kept telling myself that I was going to eat it someday and wasn't sure if it would be too late because it was frozen, vacuum packed, and salted heavily. I would have probably ended up throwing it away yesterday (as I now move), but my dad has taken care of it for me.

Where was I while my dad was eating this fish? Asleep recovering from drinking Sunday after moving. We hung out at Paddy O'Coynes and Wasabi Bistro again that evening.

Moving crew

Well we packed up the containers on Sunday with great help from some of closest friends. Here are the aftershots of the dream team at the cafe inside Cyclops. They were better than professionals..