bald weather returns to southern california

as the title implies it was time for the annual shaving of the head today. i feel lighter and more aerodynamic, just waiting for someone to stick me in a wind tunnel and test my reduced drag coefficient. which is funny in an esoteric way that while scientifically that is probably true, socialogically, it would seem, that having a shaved head would facilitate one being a drag performer/queen (with all the wigs and whatnot) thereby increasing your potential drag coefficient. not that that has anything to do with my choice of hairstyles, just an insight into how the mind wanders.

so in other news, i bought a tent. and those of you who know me well are like "don't you have a tent already?" and if you're cory you're like "didn't you have so many tents you gave me one, not that long ago?" and i am like "yes, i do, and i did." but that notwithstanding, i needed (wanted) a tent that meg and i could use on less intense camping trips (ones where you don't have to carry all your stuff all the time). meg has some knee problems-and another problem where she considers backpacking less than an ideal way to spend her vacation, but i'm not bitter- but she is amenable to car camping so i decided to buy a tent to meet our needs.

car camping, for the uninitiated- or those who know "car camping" simply as camping- is when you put all your gear in a car and drive to a spot, get out and take most of the amenities you were supposed to leave behind in your home and put them in a tent. frequently attached to a generator. its like rving, or renting a cabin (but for poor folk). it is not without it's charms so long as the modern world is kept at bay (and everything is battery powered-so there is some chance it may give out).

and now you're like "great, but why now, what makes you need(want) a tent for such purposes now?" and i'm like "don't rush me, i'll get there". meg starts vacation next week, and i have taken fri/sat off of work, which allows us to leave on thursday (after calculus) to zion national park. meg had specified warm, and a river on her trip preferences so we will be camping along the virgin river in southwest utah.

so back to the tent. did all my research, and bought a "tucana" tent by coleman for about$120 at target. yesterday i went out to try to set it up. i am a firm believer in doing this with new things (tents especially) before you go into the field-meg thinks its a little obsessive, but there is no good excuse for leaving home without tent poles. plus we will be arriving around if not after sunset, so i now have the added challenge of being able to do it in the dark. so i went to the park and did a trial run. firstly, the thing is giant, 8feet tall in the middle (on the inside) and 16 feet by 10 feet. it went mostly fine until i had to put the rainfly on, when not being 8feet tall became a disadvantage. still i managed and with some inventive solutions on my part i managed to get it up-not staked and guyed- in an hour (all by myself).

it is a monster, big enough to park a truck in. room for a queen-size air mattress and an inflatable living room set. one of the cooler features is that it has a big d-shaped door that has slender tent poles in the hinge and around the edge of the door next to the zipper that keep it rigid and allow it to function like a regular door. much better for meg than the unzip and crawl out/in on all fours.

i went back today to practice again, with a new strategy, and brought my time down to a half hour, and that included staking (but not guying). so i am pretty sure that we'll be okay in utah, providing there is minimal wind and rain when it is time to set it up. there are no real pictures to put up yet, but there will be some from the trip so look for those in 8days or so.

Living room redux

Here's the before and after on our living room. it needed some color, and some rearranging. i know you're thinking "it may have needed color, but is that the color it needed?!". and the answer is yes. it really warms up the whole room. those are the same cabinets under the tv as were next to the tv before, and the pendant light in the room is now remotely switched from an outlet to the right of the frame.

much cleaner, and more modern, and better--but that might just be the paint fumes. plus, much easier to clean. still want to get a smaller coffee table (so you can see the rug that incorporates the purple into the rest of the space. sara's blog really gave me motivation to do something about the living room, you should check it out (link on the left) she's always redoing something.

Father time

Happy birthday to my dad, even though sometimes i have made you out to be an international terrorist, you're okay in my book. i love you, dad.

if you see him, be nice to him (this week only).

Back home to visit, and then to the car museum

So i went back to visit hanford (mostly to visit my grandfather who is having some health issues) for a few days, it was a nice break. i also went to see cats (the musical-not the animal) with my mom{my dad gave me his seat}, it was opening night, front row center, amazing. but what a weird book, t.s. eliot or not, c'mon it was all over the place. cats, spaceships, synthesizers, "memories", it was everywhere. if you want to see the pictures, go to my folks' blog (link to the left)

on the way home, i decided to go to the nethercutt museum, in sylmar{upon my dad's recommendation}. it is a private car collection, all rolls royce-y and fancy schmancy 1930's carriages, limos, and the like. very cool. the two-tone green rolls was my favorite, and there was a bugatti that i didn't photograph that was unbelievable. they also featured a hood ornament collection (with some that light up) it was pretty cool if you like cars, and free.

the power of huell

Two weeks ago we saw this grocery that sells specialty sodas on california's gold with huell howser. like original dr pepper, nehi, and orange crush to name a few. and rootbeer, birch beer, ginger beer, spruce beer etc. so we went to check it out.

This is the view from the line there were about 70 people in the small store all with carts full of nothing but sodas. awesome.

this is our cart, why yes, it does have moxie!

we were talking to the people behind us in line and they lived in the neighborhood, they said they had never seen more than 5 people in the store before. it was all due to the power of mass media.

Thingy-de-resistance...

the pinnacle of my ability with a needle (outside of my heroine addiction-kidding, ma) this took FOREVER, but it turned out pretty well. i hope you like it. (yours will cost $150) the fish was pretty easy, but the scales were murder- you can see they gradually become smaller (less impressive)

(Seriously, $150)

Congratulations Joy&Jeff

Meg's best friend joy gave birth to her first child today, Mikayla, at around 1145a. so congratulations to her and jeff, and i'm sure they'll be incredible parents.