Travel Curse

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my travel curse, I will recap my travel from 2007.


(1) From: Baltimore
To: San Jose, CA (For Google interview)
Carrier: American Airlines
Intended Arrival Time: Evening of April 26th

What actually happened: Flight was canceled. My interview was at 10am the next morning. Most agents told me that I would not make the interview. Then, I found an agent that said I could make it.

Actual Arrival Time: April 27th, 3am

Return flight was without incident.


(2) From: Baltimore
To: Manchester, England
Via: Philadelphia
Carrier: US Airways
Intended Arrival Time: June 15th, 8:30am

What actually happened: Flight from Baltimore to Philadelphia was canceled. Jamo and I took a cab to Philadelphia to try and make the connecting flight, but we still missed it. We were rescheduled for a route via Brussels, and stayed the night in Philadelphia. There were delays due to mechanical issues in Brussels.

Actual Arrival Time: June 16th, 5:30pm

Return flight was without incident.


(3) From: Baltimore
To: Catania, Sicily, Italy
Via: Rome, Italy and Newark, New Jersey
Carrier: Continental
Intended Arrival Time: July 7th, 3:50pm

What actually happened: I arrived, but my luggage did not. On July 9th, I received an update that my luggage was in New York. I received my luggage on the evening of July 11th (I left Baltimore on July 6th).

Actual Arrival Time: Amazingly, on time.


From: Catania, Sicily, Italy
To: Baltimore
Via: Rome, Italy and Newark, New Jersey
Carrier: Continental
Intended Arrival Time: July 15th, 8:57pm

What actually happened: They canceled the flight from Newark to Baltimore, after I had already left Rome.

Actual Arrival Time: July 16th, 2:30pm


(4) From: DC
To: San Francisco
Via: Atlanta
Carrier: AirTran
Intended Arrival Time: July 18th, 11:39pm

What actually happened: I am currently in the airport in DC. My flight was supposed to leave half an hour ago, but is now not due to leave for another 40 minutes. It's supposed to arrive in Atlanta at 9:30pm, the exact time that my flight is due to take off from Atlanta to San Francisco.

Actual Arrival Time: TBD




Consider this post a warning to all about traveling with me in the future. I think I am airport and airline kryptonite.

Notes on England

Some things in England are different than the US. Here are some examples:


(1) The ducks are much friendlier.
















(2) People tend to be a little more . . . confident.
















(3) Beer is abundant

















.... and they don't cheap out on hops.














(4) The neighbors can be extremely loud, and would often wake me up in the morning. No consideration.


















Find more pics like these, at
http://picasaweb.google.com/vmhodge/England61607, http://picasaweb.google.com/vmhodge/England62007, http://picasaweb.google.com/vmhodge/England62107, http://picasaweb.google.com/vmhodge/England62307.

Passing Through

The airport is a very ethereal place to me. The dulced tones of Wolf Blitzer being produced by the droves of flatscreen televisions softly outweighing the murmur of passengers scurrying to their destinations. Really no universally accepted definition of time; only the suggestion of what time zone you are in recognized only for context. This is no more aptly demonstrated than by restaurants accepting our U.S Airways food vouchers for "dinner" at "breakfast" and Spending a lunch voucher on a 16 oz. Sam Adams Summer Ale.

We should be in England.

We gave ourselves several hours to catch our flight from Baltimore to Philadelpia last night, but the plane we were supposed to take was coming from Charlotte and was delayed just enough that we figured hopping a cap to Philly would give us a better chance of making our conecting flight to Manchester. This was probably a good decision as our cab driver never found cruise control below 90 mph and we made a 2:15 drive in about 1:20. But the lines were longer than we bargained for and we found ourselves in a free hotel room at a Ramada Inn with $40 of food vouchers to last us 24 hours.

After a good night's sleep (first one in about two weeks) and having spent the past 6 hours or so in the airport, we've burned through our vouchers (mostly on beer. Can you believe they let you spend food vouchers on beer? I love U.S. Airways) and are waiting for our 1st class flight to Brussels, where we'll hopefully connect without incident to Manchester to spend the week with Vanessa's family.

It's been a colossal pain, but we've had fun as airport denizens AND we have first class seats to Brussels so we can't be too upset. I've really enjoyed our time milling around the airport. It's like a little city populated with temporary citizens. Everyone has a story about where they're going and why they're sitting in a restaurant in Philadelphia rather than hanging out at their final resting place. There's an overwhelming feeling of being snowed in. People that would normally never have occasion to meet one another find themselves showing off pictures of their kids. Some random place in concourse C becomes your local watering hole for an afternoon, and the bartender instantaneously knows exactly how you like your gin and tonic. People sleeping on seats in public and having overly emotional phone calls on a bluetooth because there's no better place to do it.

Those pictures in the previous post? That's me showing Vanessa how a blog post goes from concept to creation after four pints. We're sitting in the Philadelphia Brew Pub, our new local bar. Making it our own. "Who, those people taking pictures," the bartneder answers, "That's Jamo and Vanessa. Heading through to Manchester. Been regulars here for three hours."

airport antics

Brain.

Shink!


















Synthesize.

















Create.

schedule

here's our upcoming schedule:

this weekend: poultry days
thursday: leave for england
june 24 (sunday): get back from england
july 3: i go to pittsburgh for mars
july 6: vanessa goes to italy
july 15: vanessa gets back from italy
july 23: vanessa starts at google

among this we must:

sell a house
find a place to live
get rid of my car
pack/ship our things
move out of my place
get her car out there
i must quit one job and find another

it's enough to give someone a panic attack. but this weekend? this weekend is for us. poultry days, baby. we know we probably shouldn't go seeing as we have no time. but with vanessa missing mars this is going to be one of the last times for a while where she gets to see just about everyone (a few stragglers won't be around, but this will be a pretty large gathering of just about everyone).

so we ship out tomorrow at noon for the 8-hour drive to cause trouble in a state that i probably won't have occasion to be in for a very long time to come. which is probably for the better.

Coming Out Week

This week at work was completely dedicated to telling people, one by one, why I am leaving, where I am going, and listening to their absurd comments about San Francisco. This is Oren's rendition of a couple of my coworkers, which he created during a conversation where they called San Francisco the "gay city" which is home to lots of "wet backs":



Because I share an office with Oren, he's been privy to a lot of the crazy conversations that I've had, as well as a number of conversations that all sound exactly the same. (Where are you moving? Where are you going to work? When's your last day?) It's been nice to have someone to laugh about everything with, and yesterday we decided to go out (Oren, Laurie, Jamo, and I) and blow off steam. It was really nice just to forget about the move and goof off for awhile. Also, you know, it's always good to dance. See more pics here. After we move, I will definitely miss those two!

Fairwell, Old Friend

Nobody wants to buy a couch that has been loved like this one for so many years. Nobody will even take the couch for free. In fact, we decided, nobody will want to buy a condo that has this couch in it.

So, Jamo gave a heartwarming eulogy, and set the beloved couch free. Moments later, he says, it was compacted to the size of a dime by some kind of monstrous garbage machine.


Yesterday was a big day for me in terms of moving milestones. Firstly, I told my manager I was leaving -- and oh my goodness, I was completely unprepared for how hard that would be. I mean, really, it's not my manager's fault that San Francisco is way more fun than Westminster, MD. So it goes.

Now I'm in that awkward in-between stage at work, where my leaving is not completely common knowledge yet, but a few select people know about it. There hasn't been enough time for word to spread far, so I'm never sure who knows and who doesn't, etc, etc. Luckily, I have a four day weekend, starting today, so that should help get my mind off work.

The other moving milestone achieved yesterday was the official listing of my condo. Here's the clip:

Internet Remarks: FANTASTIC TERRACE LEVEL CONDO! LOVINGLY MAINTAINED, OPEN FLOOR PLAN, NEUTRAL DECOR, BERBER CARPET, CROWN MOLDING, PRIVATE SIDE ENTRANCE & PATIO, ALARM SYSTEM, CEILING FANS, DUAL SINK, HARDWOOD FLOORING, LARGE STORAGE ROOM/PANTRY OFF KITCHEN, SECURE BUILDING ONLY MINUTES FROM METRO AND SHOPPING! THIS ONE WILL NOT LAST LONG!

What do you guys think? Will this one last long? Are the internet remarks speaking the truth?

phase 1: repair

in an effort to make vanessa's place more marketable we decided to repaint the hallway of the main entrance. in large part because of the wall patches that were still showing from the previous owner. also, we wanted to add as much more stress as we could to this whole process. turns out we should have taken the advice of the surly home depot paint counter employee when he said, 'if you paint over one kind of paint with a different kind of paint, you gotta prime it first.' of course having been a professional painter for a summer about 5 years ago i thought my eye was good enough to tell paints apart. wrong-o. so here we are with a gallon of semi-gloss painting over god only knows what. also, the paint we bought is significantly lighter than the undercoat making the paint difference all the more noticeable. excellent.

so now we got a photographer coming over thursday night to get some sweet shots of her crib for the introweb and her place will be on the market by this weekend -- according to armondo (not an alias) the real estate agent, this weekend is a big deal for house hunters.

monday i was officially promoted to manager of my store. thank you, thank you. the extra money will be nice and the notch on the resume will be even better. but i can't help but feel a little guilty about this. i know i can't tell fastenal i'm leaving in two months for a variety of reasons. and i can't reasonably turn down this promotion. certainly the "right" thing to do would be to sit down with the powers that be and tell them my situation and work with them to get someone in here while i'm around to show him the ropes of the store. but all of the business-minded and successful people i've talked to about this have pushed me into keeping my mouth shut and convincing me that the way i'm currently handling it is the only way i can.

okay, time to paint!

clerical error

k2 makes a good point over at his house:

Jamo and Vanessa's california list apparently doesn't include "finding a house to live in, in california." I guess that's on my list.

uh. yeah. i guess that falls in the "absolutely necessary" category. not real sure how that happened. the person responsible for this nonfeasance will get a good stern talking to.

at first i was really scared about finding a place to live out there, but vanessa and i have been looking at craigslist on a daily basis over the past week or so and have found no shortage of really sweet-looking places in amazing locations (i don't know much about san fran area, but it seems like throwing at dart at a map of the city earns you an 80 percent chance of hitting a great neighborhood to live in). and despite the horror stories swirling around bay area affordability it seems like lots of these places are actually reasonable; especially if we share rooms.

so even though we were turned down for our first choice -- a seven-bedroom beaut mere blocks away from nightlife and stumbling distance from a hospital or two (could come in handy) -- i have unsurpassable faith we'll find a place that will make us very, very happy.

Selling Everything

I've never used craigslist to sell furniture before. I decided to try it for (1) my desk and (2) my kitchen table (which you already know the fabulous details of)

It's been 2 days, and so far I have received 3 email responses to the posts. Two of the three are the pushiest scammer emails I have ever seen.

Behold, an excerpt:

I will like to buy the kitchen table sets
so pls do withdraw the advert from Craigslist. I will also like to
inform you that i will be paying via cashier check due to the distance
as i am located in Connecticut.

Basically this guy's telling me, he will buy my table and I am forbidden to sell to anyone else. Also, he'll be paying with a cashier's check for maximum scammability, and he's sending his mover's over to beat me up and take the table even though the check was worth no more than garbage.


Another fabulous contender likes to use ellipses for maximal creepy effect:

I am interested in the item you have up there in yourposting....What i would wish is a hassle free purchase...What i do need from you is an address where you can receive the check and also a full name that i could have it issued to thats if you are ready for transaction...It is going to be an overdraft cashier check.Do send me the necessary info i requested for so that the check would be sent out to you in no time.I'll send the movers to you for pick up...

And maybe the bold font will intimidate me into throwing all of my cash at the movers when they come over.


The third email I received simply asked if the desk was still available. Maybe that lead will actually be a real human wanting to exchange money for furniture. Here's hoping.

lists

vanessa is big on lists. always has a list. she says it's the only way she can remember to do things. so we sat down the other day and started a california list. the idea of the list is that it lets you visualize all that needs doing and lets you budget your time accordingly. instead, our california list just freaked me out.

there is so incredibly much that we need to do before we can even begin to think about moving: giving notice at our jobs, quit our jobs, move out of my place, move out of her place, sell (or rent) her place(!), find movers, sell one of our cars, get the other one to california, go to europe (yeah, we got a 10-day jaunt around england planned for mid june. and she has to go to italy for another ten days to attend a workshop/conference/wine tasting something or other with robots and computers. this happens one week before she starts at google). and so much more. so we looked at our list and decided we'd better get moving else we'll never be ready to get outta here. so this weekend we're having a condiment party. come to vanessa's, bring something you like to put condiments on (not restricted to food), and help us finish her condiments/drink the rest of her alcohol. oh yeah, and bring your checkbook. that fine oak finished dining room table with the tile inlay can be yours for only $400.

down the memory hole

one of the thoughts that occasionally occupies my mind is how days of our lives seem to disappear with time. think back to may 15th 2006. do you have any idea what you did that day? chances are you don't, unless of course it's your birthday, you got married that day, had a child that day, went to a raging fun party that day, broke up with your signifcant other that day, etc. (in which case happy birthday/congratulations/congratulations/sweet/condolences (or congratulations). in fact i'd be willing to bet that many of us experience whole weeks in which not a single memorable occurence transpires.

i feel like this is at least a contributing factor for vanessa and i starting this blog. not that we think we'll ever be able to forget how these next two months shake out, but it will be cathartic to get some thoughts out from time to time and it will be neat to have a record of what went down when.

San Francisco Flavored Henry St

K2 sent us an email today about a 7 bedroom apartment that he found right in Mission, the area of San Francisco where we're most interested in living (super fun nightlife, lots of restaurants, close to Google shuttle stops, etc). The place is huge, plenty of space, and best of all, we can pack it with tons of awesome people. K2 says the house is reminiscent of Henry Street, the setting of so many of our happy college memories. It amazes me that we can move across the country and still be a part of a community of familiar, fantastic friends. We're sending over our applications tonight!

I also stumbled across another apartment today, on the outskirts of Mission, which has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a 2 car garage, and a hot tub. Somehow, I think finding an awesome place in San Francisco is going to be no problem at all.

In fact, what's becoming a much greater concern is the fact that I would rather spend my time at work cruising housingmaps.com for sweet San Francisco apartments than spend my time on actual *work*. I mean, I have at least 5 weeks left working -- it's just not a good plan to let go of interest so soon! Somehow I'm going to have to figure out how to forget about California for 9 hours a day before my coworkers catch on to my distractions.

stop. rewind. play.

from the beginning -

it's probably better to let vanessa tell you how this started. from my persepctive, it was two long months of watching, encouraging, waiting. two phone interviews, one week in between each of wondering and hoping. oh, and that's not to mention the first email she received from google coordinator #1 saying thanks but no thanks. false alarm. turns out she didn't realize that vanessa was two years into her professional life, not a graduating senior. but in that moment we saw how quickly they could have crushed her hope. we even gave up for a couple of hours, until we re-read the email.

my thought all along was that if she could just make it through the phone interviews that she would be fine. google's basic philosophy, don't do evil, would probably be vanessa's personal mantra if she had one. i knew once she got in front of those googlers they would see that she was made for them. it was just a matter of getting there.

this is how it works. google gets roughly 4,769,152 applications per day. of these 4,769,152, roughly three make it to the desk of a recruiter. this is, of course, if you don't have an inside man who effectively drops your application right on the desk of this recruiter.

thankfully, we made the right friends in college.

our very own inimitable k2 was one of those select few who found his way to a job at google straight out of college. this should be all you need to know about k2. i think it is categorically correct to believe that without k2's help i wouldn't be writing this, and that's to say nothing of vanessa's credentials (obviously, since she's got a job), rather to draw attention to the incredible amount of well-qualified individuals that never even get a foot in the googly door.

from this beginning bloomed the aforementioned phone interviews (for which vanessa prepared as though she were getting ready to take the gre's) the first of which she was an hour late for thanks to daylight savings time. waiting to hear her fate after that was painfully stressful.

the next step was for her to be flown out to mountain view ('bout two weeks ago) to be interviewed by a number of people all in the same day. the adventure here involved cancelled flights, getting lost on the 15-minute ride from the airport to her hotel (took an hour) and adrenaline pumping so hard that on the biggest day of her professional life she'd clocked a total of about 15 minutes of sleep.

after being put through the ringer live and in person, we waited for the next two steps to be completed -- all of her info (including resume, cover letter, college transcript, interview feedback, blood pressure analysys, list of her top-five favorite foods) was forwarded to review board #1, and approval there resulted in analysis from review board # 2, the board of engineers. following this?

the first day we expected to hear back, she had an offer.

extreme excitement and abject terror gripped. this was four days ago. since then i've been cycling through both feelings on roughly 15-minute cycles, which means sleep has been sparse and focus on other things has been nearly non-existent. oh, by the way, i've just been promoted to manager at fastenal. yeah, so now i run my own store which is replete with all the requisite responsibilites and stresses you'd expect running a small business.

this weekend vanessa's parents and sister (jane) came to visit. this was very timely. her parents are generally right about everything and have an uncanny ability to navigate their way through situations like this with expert advice and planning. i've watched them help vanessa tackle some huge decisions in four+ years and every time the results have been ideal. having them here has been a tremendous help.

today we had a man from the realty agency talk to us about vanessa's options with regards to selling or renting her condo (which she bought less than a year ago). so there's that.

i think you're caught up now. maybe. every revelation and decision is met with as many new questions and considerations that need tackling. as i type i'm sure another thought has been hashed out and four new issues have come up. i hope i don't make it sound like i'm complaining -- if i am already then we're in trouble. there's at least two more months of this afoot. but i guess this is what you're supposed to do. ever since she applied i've been fielding some variation of this series of questions: what are you going to do? are you going to san francisco with her? how do you feel about going all the way out there? what will you do when you get there?

my stock responses have been a variation of: probably teach (people seem to forget that i've got a b.s in education and two minors in english and communications). and of course i'm going with her. we're in our mid-twenties, not married, no kids, and essentially no responsibilities to anyone else. if we don't take advantage of these opportunities now, when will we? i don't want to look back on my life in ten years when i'm hauling a van full of screaming 5 year-olds to baseball practice and wonder what i should have done differently. there's no guaranteeing moving to san francisco will eliminate this possibility, but at least i'll know i got out there and really did something. we may hate it and come back in a year (not bloody likely) or we'll love it and stay forever. i have no idea. i don't care right now. all i can think about right now is how cool it will be in 10 years when i'm talking to someone and i can say, "and then i moved to san francisco . . . "