I've got my computer connected to the internet. I needed to buy a wireless USB widget to do it, which is a substandard solution, to me, but I figure it'll be useful to have, even if I end up figuring out how to get the wired networking to work again.

Of course, immediately after getting that part running, it decided to start having it's serial crash sessions from non-existant IRQ conflicts again. I installed the beta video drivers I dled a while ago in anticipation of putting in my new vid card and that seems to have fixed the problem. Not completely out of the woods, yet, as my keyboard apparently decided to stop working entirely in the past week. I'm using my old one, which isn't nearly as good. I'm also in dire need of a new computer chair. The desk is just slightly too high for my arms and the edge is digging in just a bit. Maybe I should get one of those gel pads to rest the palms of my hands on.

Anyway, the move.

This whole ordeal has been very strange. While I've moved many, many times, never have I done one on my own. In many ways, it's really weird, because it's rather unecessary. It doesn't change my work at all, at least not now. But it's something I've chosen to do simply to shake things up.

For the few days previous to the move, I was really quite nervous. In a growing capacity, too. I found that doing some things that weren't entirely productive (like seeing Fearless or watching Nana with Chris) were actually necessary in retrospect simply from the comforting aspects. Even so, the stress was clearly getting to me, as the days were busy trying to get everything done and I wasn't sleeping well. For the week previous to the move, I probably averaged between 5 and 6 hours of sleep per day. It probably didn't help the stress levels that at the time I'm trying to get all this done, all my local family (mom, grandparents) were busy with things which took them away, so the normal safety-net of Tacoma wasn't in evidence. In a way, it made it feel like I was moving from and to a location without my family, which was very alien.

Wednesday was an incredibly packed day. Getting my car on the U-haul trailer was interesting, and I felt a bit dismayed that the bed of the truck wasn't completely flat (when I'd gone into a location the previous week, I was told that both the 10' and 14' trucks had completely flat beds. Ah, well.) Since the location I used was up by downtown Tacoma, Pete and I had to drive completely across town to drop the car off before doubling back to get the truck to the apartment. I suppose this was good to get me used to towing the car, although I never really got comfortable with it. More on that later.

I still needed to get some last minute packing done, but that and the loading itself went quite quickly and well. Erik got home just about the time we were finishing and I gave him my key. There were a few things that I left (deliberately), but I may pick those up at some point on a trip back. We'll see.

Chris, Pete and I got pizza from Papa John's (Papa Murphy's was closed) and headed over to my grandparents' to eat dinner and hang out. Alan showed up a bit later, and we sat around for a couple hours just talking and reminiscing about a lot of stuff that we've done in the past decade, particularly our early otaku habits.

After they left, so I could work, I hit nervous overtime. I started freaking out and checking all the details of the trip. I wanted to make sure that the places I stopped for gas would be easy to get into and out of, so I looked around for truck stops. At one point, I almost started crying when I remembered the name of one of the travel centers (TA, which in retrospect isn't actually a truck stop company), but I put together a good plan. I also had some tea, which calmed my nerves somewhat. I was still nervous when I went to bed, but I got to sleep pretty well and actually got close to 7 hours, which was nice before the drive.

On Wednesday, I took the truck out to get filled up, stopped by the credit union to get some things figured out, and got lunch and some snacks for the road from Safeway. There was a sale on Arizona Iced Tea, which I went for, but later decided I wish I hadn't, as it has high fructose corn syrup for sweetener. Chris came by to help me hitch up the car, I checked for last things in the house, locked up, watered the plants, gave my mom a call, and started rolling.

It was quite nice that all my nerves disappeared by the time I hit Olympia. I made it to my first stop, Brooks, Oregon (it's around Salem) on about 13-14 gallons of gas, which is far better than I expected towing my car. I got there right around 7pm or so, filled up, grabbed a six inch Subway for dinner on the roll, and kept going. I started cruising radio stations for NPR somewhere around here, which remained mostly true for the rest of the trip.

Pulling out of Brooks revealed one slight problem. Somehow I'd turned off the dash lights, so I couldn't see anything after the sun set. No speed, nothing I was about to pull over and call Uhaul because I thought there was something wrong with the truck. Then my fiddling revealed the problem and solution all at once.

Getting into the Siskiyous slowed me down somewhat. I was mostly going about 60 or so before that, but the heavy rises caused me to drop down to about 35-45 at best. Even so, my gas mileage remained when I filled up the second time at Central Point (Medfort/Ashland area).

I did get a little nervous running up the mountains, though. While I mentally knew that my car was fine, every time someone would pass me, I'd peek in my mirrors to make sure it was still there. I wondered what the call to USAA would be like: "Hi, I lost my car." "It was stolen?" "No, I mean I lost it. The last time I saw it was around Ashland and I've driven about 100 miles since then."

My third stop in Corning happened around 4am. It's right then that I noticed that the tow dolly for my car had a sign that said maximum speed, 45. I'd been pushing 55 for most of the trip, and even got up to over 70 at some points. Oops.

I was getting pretty beat, by this time, as I'd been driving for 12 hours almost nonstop. As I started driving again, I pondered whether I should pull into a rest area to get a few hours of sleep or just keep trucking. It became a moot point arouns six-ish when I hit the 505 turnoff to head towards SF and away from Sacramento.

In a way, I wish I had stopped. Because while it's not the -best- road in the world, 5 isn't that bad. I hit 505 and it's like bumpa-bumpa-bumpa for the first ten miles. I was positive my car was going to be ruined and my dishes were broken and... actually, my computer problems might have come from something jarring loose from all that. However, 505 clears up after about 10 miles. The other 25 or so aren't that bad.

80, however, was hell from the start all the way in. Worse road than 505, and now I was hitting morning rush-hour traffic. Right here, I've been driving for about 15 hours straight, I've been awake for about 20 hours, and there are all these California drivers around me. They aren't patient. They just zip in and out and what have you despite my best efforts. To keep myself feeling better, I pulled over to the right lane and just kept going at a nice, easy pace. 45 or so, just like the trailer said.

Despite the traffic, I got over the Bay Bridge and into the city just fine. However, I messed up getting from 80 to 101 and ended up missing the exit I wanted. A quick check of the map showed me how to get to where I wanted to be, with just a few extra turns, so it was fine in the end. However, driving IN the city was an adventure. See, the tires of the to dolly are actually wider than the truck. They sitck out on both sides. And the lanes on the streets of SF are rather narrow. In fact, the two are almost exactly the same. Also, most of the parking here is on the street. So I spent my time (driving up and down hills on Fell street) checking my side-view mirrors, especially the right side, to make sure I wasn't going to hit anything. I tended to have my left tire in the next lane, but other than a few honks, it didn't seem to bother anyone.

Oh, god, the hills. I need to drive around for a while in my car so I get used to them.

I nearly had a disaster when I was all of two turns away from my destination street. While waiitng to make a left turn, I heard a bang as another U-haul, of all things, passed me on the right and struck my mirror, knocking it completely out of alignment. Now, after making my left, my next turn is a right. So I want to be in the right lane. There are cars on the right... and I can't see my right side.

Hell. I think I pissed off more people from that point on.

Turning onto the final street revealed an even larger bit of fun. THe first block had a meridian down the middle with trees and stuff. The space between the inner curb and the parked cars was quite narrow. I went down the street slowly, letting my left tire rub along the curb.

Finally got to the address. Total time on the road was a bit over sixteen hours. No parking space for a U-haul with a towed car (in SF? HA!) So I double parked and turned on the emergency lights. Got out. SF's kinda chilly at 8 in the morning in September. I buzzed the door and Aya (roommate #1) came down. She was getting ready to leave for work, but still helped out moving a few boxes to my room. She also woke Jesse (roommate #2) so he could assist with the unloading.

All in all, it went pretty well, except I saw a few problems. For one, my room is at the back of the flat. To get to it, you need to go down a long hallway that has two corners at each end and after the second, there's an immediate corner through the doorway actually into my room. Getting my couch into here would be a fun trick to pull off, if it's even possible. Of course, getting my couch actually up into the apartment could also be a fun trick. The stairway spirals a bit and isn't especially wide. Still, the couch is pretty light, so we should be able to make it work. Plus, the living room area is quite large, so we can probably fit it out there if all else fails.

Second problem is that I brought too much stuff. Even with all the stuff I got rid of and put into storage (easily over half of what I own), I've got too much for my room. Granted, we've not set up the bookshelves, but I don't think I'll be able to unload all my boxes effectively. I really should have gone ahead and put my comics into storage, as well. In retrospect, it may have been better for me to go with one of my plans which was to put what I could into my car, store the rest, and just get furniture items as needed when I got down here. As it stands, I may pack up some boxes of things to take north on a trip at some point. It's not so bad, though. Just about everything fits into my closet quite well.

Jesse and I finished unloading around 10am, which was quite quick. We ended up putting my couch, chair, and bike in the garage, currently blocking Aya's car in. We'll need to get them moved into the apartment this week, though, as she'll need to be able to get out this weekend.

I did make one mistake, but not a huge one. When I unloaded my car from the tow dolly, I forgot to put down the wheel ramps. Yeah, it's not a huge drop, but it wasn't what I'd call fun.

By that point, I was really wanting to sleep. Awake upwards of 22 hours, feeling really dirty, and wondering if I was going into shock from the stress and excitement (I was shivvering despite not being incredibly cold and feeling quite high strung). Even so, I had nowhere to park the U-haul and mostly wanted to get rid of it so I wouldn't have to worry. Jesse figured out the nearest location to drop it off and we headed out so he could guide me there.

We got lost. And then we found out that they didn't take trailers at that location. So we needed to go to the other one. Thankfully, the directions were easy, so we got there just fine.

They didn't even check it over. Seriously, not a look. And when I told the guy at the desk that I'd been overcharged compared to my quote on the tow dolly, he didn't even ask to see proof, just refunded me the difference. Awesome.

We got lost coming back, too. I love how SF is so lumpy. There's absolutely no way to get a mental bearing on where I am because it just rolls and rolls. And there's no huge landmarks that are common among many areas. You just need to know where you are and how to get to where you want to go.

Got back a bit after noon, just in time to see Aya's mom and... someone else whose name I didn't catch (and didn't ask) off as they headed back to SoCal, I believe. Her mom seems quite nice. She told us to make sure Aya does her share of the chores or something like that.

I debated between eating and/or showering, or sleeping immediately. After taking care of some item movement so I'd actually have somewhere to sleep in my room, I opted for the shower and passed on the food, then went to bed for about five hours. It wasn't enough, but I didn't want to get totally off my normal schedule.

In the evening, Alex (roommate #3) came by and all four of us went to a screening of Contour, a film made by a local group, the Stunt People. It was quite fun, in a low-budget way, but I really appreciated it since I'd seen some of their online vids quite a while back.

Since then, I've gotten into my schedule, mostly, gotten my room set up, except for my couch/bed issue, and driven around town a lot. On Saturday, we ran to CompUSA to get the wireless widget. I also got a 100 spool of DVD-Rs for cheap so I could store stuff... like entire seasons of fansubs on one disc. On Sunday, Aya and I trucked around to Costco, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods to get groceries. I opted to make my first chili here sooner rather than later. I'm figuring on Wednesday. It'll be pretty close to the last one I made in Washignton, except I'm going for a heavier fish (tuna), and will actually remember the tomato paste.

All-in-all, I'm feeling pretty good. It doesn't feel like a move, yet. In a lot of ways, I feel like a college student again, except instead of classes I've got work to do. It's got me thinking about whether it's really necessary for me to get my car registered down here and to get a CA driver's license. That's probably more hassle than it's worth.

One weird thing about the drive down. I'm positive that I was passed by the exact same U-haul van three times. They had the same type as me, but weren't towing a car, so they could cruise a bit higher more comfortably.

I think I may have just figured out what the problem was with the hard-wired connection to the router. Will need to reboot to check in more detail.

I want a TV for my room. They're so expensive, though. Perhaps I should get a larger second monitor, instead.

Well, here I go.

Amazing climbing session on Thursday. Unfortunately my last as a "regular" at Edgeworks. While I know I've not had a chance to sample many other gyms (only other one is the Warehouse Gym in Olympia), I think I'm going to miss Edgeworks. It's got a great atmosphere and there are multiple challenge levels for me.

In any case, due to being busy and booching the time of the gym, the last time Chris and I had gotten there was Sept 4th, about two and a half weeks ago.

So we got there and found that the far side of the bouldering wall had been completely redone. There was another guy there who pointed out a new V2. So I hopped on it and got it on the first try. My first "successful" V2. The guy pointed out something on the green V2 I'd been working on for a few weeks, but it was a long arm stretch which I am not capable of repeating.

In any case, from there, Chris and I started working on this long, new V1. We didn't manage to defeat it, mostly because it's really long and tiring. Even so, we worked on it in tandem quite well, I thought, which was fun. For a while, we've kinda been doing our own things and haven't really had a session where we put our heads together to get through a problem. I'm probably going to miss that.

After we'd been going at it for about an hour (I paused at one point to try a few other things, including doing the new V2 once again) we wrapped it up by doing the easier new routes. We got stuck at one point on what is apparently the most difficult V0- known to man. I actually think it's because someone put a hand element on upside-down.

Still, it felt really good, even if my arms are still aching from the intensity.

Afterwards, we went to Chevy's for dinner so Chris could repay me for the dinner I'd covered recently. We hadn't done that in a while, so it was nice to have the Chevy's salsa, which is good even if the chips are a bit too light. The fish tacos they had were tasty as well. And the plates were huge, even by family mexican standards.

On Friday I got up early so I could call the auto shop about getting my car in. Unfortunately, they can't look at it until Tuesday, which means it's going to be quite tight doing that along with everything else next week. But it needs the tune-up, oil change, and whatnot, especially before I leave. Unfortunately, my mom's got classes starting... really soon, if not already, and my grandparents leave on a trip on Monday, so if I'll need to rely on friends to shuttle me around a bit.

I started heating up the chili for dinner (did the prep work the previous night) and Chris and I went to CBI for, I suppose, the last time I'll be getting comics there for quite a while. Since they didn't have long boxes, we ran down to Spy Comics to get one.

I made fish chili for dinner. It was interesting, because I'm not really familiar with cooking fish. I was a bit rushed overall for the chili, so I forgot a few things... like tomato paste. Also, since I didn't use any chipotles this time and I didn't up the amount of chili powder used, it didn't quite have the rhobust flavor I'd have wanted. Even so, the combination of the black beans (normal and cuban style), corn, bell pepper, and onion worked quite well. Bit of chili powder and cumin, some been and vinegar, and that cooked up well. I briefly fried the fish before portioning it a bit and dropping it in the mix. Then let it cook in the oven for about 45 minutes or so with the cover off to reduce. Made some corn muffins to go with it. It had an interesting sweet undertone. It was popular and gone rather quickly. I think I'll keep doing chili after I move.

We had our "final" anime night. Watched a couple episodes of Ouran High School, welcome to the NHK ep 1, Kamichu, and Last Exile. All new stuff, really. I'd seen everything, but others hadn't. Sam, Jack, and Jack's brother Frank all came by for their first anime night, which was cool.

Now... I am very tired. And nervous about moving. Just a few days left. So much work done, but so much more to do.

Tomorrow after I wake up I need to load my car up with stuff to store at the grandparents', run to CBI for the signing (lots of Brubaker stuff), run to the grandparents' for dinner (since I won't see them until Thanksgiving, likely), and do laundry while there.

Sunday is a big packing day... and maybe Fearless.

Monday is work and packing and probably putting anything that remains into storage.

Tuesday is the car and going up to Seattle for an M's game with Deanna.

Wednesday is packing day. Packing party! Load up the truck with my loot! Buy pizza! Fun times had by all!

Thursday...

Done - Reserve truck/trailer. Sold books to Half-Price.

9/8 - Check CBI for long boxes (again). Take 5 boxes of books to my grandparents for storage. Do laundry.
9/9 - Finish clearing up area around bed so it can be easily moved. Buy more boxes.
9/10 - Off day, more or less. Climbing. Possibly The Protector
9/11, 9/12 - Sell bed. Start packing in earnest.
9/13 - Go down to credit union to check up credit card changes and cancel, if needed. Pick up mom from airport.
9/14 - Off day, workout and anime.
9/15 - Drop car off for tune-up, etc.? Anime night.
9/16-9/21 - Packing up anything that doesn't need to be out.
9/20-21 - Workout days?
9/22 - Final anime night? Party?
9/23 - ?
9/24 - Climbing, last day for watching anime at Chris's place?
9/25-26 - Final packing up. Laundry day at G-parents. Dinner with G-parents/mom one of the days. Possible baseball game with Deanna the other day?
9/27 - Pick up U-haul. Leave Car/Trailer at G-parents. Get friends to help load it up. Pizza dinner?
9/28 - Sleep at Grandparents. Hook up car. Start driving in afternoon/evening.
9/29 - Arrive SF in mid-morning. Crash first? Invite SF friends to help unload. Drop off truck at Uhaul.
9/30- Life in the Bay Area.

It is amazingly nice outside... which means it's just nigh unbearable inside the apartment. I've got a window open and a fan running full tilt to try and circulate some of that nice air in with this not nice air. Looked at Weather.com and it seems like this weather will keep up for the next week and a bit, which is good, as we're coming up on the 4th.

I still have a watermelon I bought for Pete's BBQ. I will need to crack it open in the next few days.

On, the docket, we're looking at an anime night either Friday or Saturday. A slimmer chance is to have a Shadowrun game either Friday or Saturday, on the day that's not dedicated to anime.

We have many series to watch. I'm personally not through Super Gals, but I don't think anyone else has any interest in that. Infinite Ryvius is sitting and waiting for us to get through the next four volumes. And I've got Rune Soldier which needs to be started. Add to that innumerable fansubs, and we could probably cover two anime nights even before Chris cracks his stuff. So we'll have to see.

Sunday looks like Superman, hitting a matinee.

Next Tuesday is the 4th. We'll need to figure something out. Chris is thinking picnic. I'm not inclined to disagree.

Some various and sundry things are likely to happen in July.

End of July will see Eric and Sam visiting. This will be neat, as I haven't seen Eric since before Thanksgiving.

The lease on the apartment is up at the end of July. Rent is increasing. And it looks like about a 90% likelihood that I'm going to move to San Francisco. Will need to figure out what's going to be done here with various things (I have too much stuff to take with me.) Since my mom's moving back here (well, to Ellensburg), and needs some furniture, I'll likely leave the couch and chair (possibly the bed) for her to use.

At the moment, I'm viewing living in SF as a temporary situation. Tacoma is what I consider "home" and I'd like to live here long term. So I can see moving to SF for a year, enjoy my time there, then come back. A bit like a vacation where I'm paying rent and hanging with friends down there (instead of hanging with friends up here.)