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home : update : the move

Saturday, 09/20/03
just woke up. i think the upload worked, so here are the photo thumbnails, and here are some quick descriptions:

[click] a cool bridge over I-15 northeast from San Diego. i snapped a picture of it on the way out there (a ~year ago), so it seemed right to immortalize this other side of it, too.
[click] some new thing going up in Las Vegas. whatever.
[click] dog is my co-pilot.
[click] like the sign says.
[click] this is the entrance to this cool part of I-15 (leading up to the Arizona / Utah border) that winds through a bunch of canyons.
[click] state motto: "Land of 10,000e2 Mormons".
[click] some scenic-looking thing in Utah.
[click] some scenic distant hills in Utah.
[click] husk that corn.
[click] ah, 76... we hardly knew ye.
[click] this guy was driving like a freak, so i took a picture in case i needed to report him for vehicular homicide later on.
[click] the people's republic of Iowa.
[click] Ella perking up her ears in Chicago.
[click] Ella watching traffic.
[click] Ella doing yoga.
[click] getting back on the highway in Chicago.
[click] boy, i sure am going to miss those traffic jams.
[click] the sign says "welcome to Pennsylvania" (or something like that), but you'll have to take my word for it.

archived updates (more recent updates listed first)

Friday, 09/19/03
i got a hotel room early enough today that there's time to dial up. i made it to Denver on Wednesday night, to Chicago on Thursday, and now i'm just outside Pittsburgh. i made better time than expected the first two days (or drove for longer, really), which is good because picking up stuff in Chicago took longer than expected (by a couple of hours).

today in Indiana, there was a string of cars passing a slower car (which was in the right lane), and the second passing vehicle (a pickup) was heavily tailgating the front passing vehicle (the tailgatee was one of those ~new little Taurus cars). i was thinking "man, why aren't there cops out here cracking down on that kind of stuff (which is really super-dangerous, as opposed to speeding which is relatively benign)?" anyway, the Taurus finally passed the slow car and pulled over to the right lane, and the pickup went ~zooming past him. then, after about ten seconds, the little Taurus's tail lights started flashing all funny-like, and it went pelting after the pickup and pulled it over. you gotta hand it to those Indiana undercover state troopers, they are hard to spot. the trooper guy was even wearing a non-uniform shirt like a polo or something. but the pickup driver should have known better, because the Taurus's trunk lid had waaaay too many whip antennas mounted on it.

well, i better start uploading pictures, because this could take a while (on a 50 Kbps connection).

Wednesday, 09/17/03
just wrapping up the packing & loading now. all i have left is a few "carry-on" items and a bunch of trash to throw out. i'll choose to leave a little later than planned (in the morning), so that i can get an adequate amount of sleep. there's enough extra time in the travel plans that i should be just fine.

so i'll hit the road in about seven hours. no more updates until then. if i get a chance, i'll write from the hotel tonight, probably somewhere in Colorado.

Tuesday, 09/16/03
phew! i made it through the review today pretty well. i have a bunch of follow-on work to do, and that's a good thing (except for a couple of parts i might be working on as i travel), because it's in a good area of the project to be working on.

anyway, i'm a little more tired than i expected, but otherwise things are good. so now i have to finish up some packing left over from yesterday (hence the "Packing Up" song on the now playing thinger (that's my packing song)). i picked up the van yesterday and spent some time reconfiguring the interior and taking care of the structure-oriented packing. here are some pictures (and here's the thumbnails):

[click] seats pulled out, "Ella protection cage" put in
[click] close-up of the Ella protection cage. it's wrapped around the folded down (and lowered) back bench seat and tied down very sturdily. the idea is to keep luggage from coming forward & squooshing Ella during a (very) hard stop.
[click] just a futher-back look at the whole thing
[click] the removed middle seats and the stupid "utility tray / raised floor" thing
[click] view through the left side door of the Ella protection cage
[click] view through the right side door of the Ella protection cage. the big fluffy thing on the right is Ella's bed, hanging off of the van's roof.
[click] view from afar. Ella's bed is on the roof, and the green thing is a folded mattress pad thinger that will keep Ella away from sharp parts on back of the driver/copilot chairs.
[click] darker view from afar
[click] not sure how this picture is different, but whatever... maybe it's the tie-downs (white cord)
[click] ah yes... the tie-downs
[click] referring to photos of the packing scheme i used in coming out to San Diego (~one year ago)
[click] placed the folded-up middle seats on the folded (and lowered) back bench seat, and tied them off some big old pipes by which the back bench seat is attached to the floor (very sturdy!). the idea is, then, that these middle seats will do most of the luggage-stopping in a hard stop situation, and the Ella protection cage will stop anything else that gets through.
[click] more of the same
[click] middle seats viewable through the cage
[click] where Ella's bed will be (sorry... sideways = lazy)
[click] re-installed the stupid "utility tray / raised floor" thing (goes behind the back bench seat). if i could leave in in San Diego (or burn it), i would.
[click] the aforementioned stupidity, stowed
[click] same deal from a different angle

Sunday, 09/14/03
i am definitely in the home stretch now, preparations-wise. i've packed up about 20% of my stuff and threw out another 20%. i've nailed down most of my scheduling plans, especially for the next couple of days. i decided to put Ella in her favorite kennel for the next day and a half (she really likes it there, apparently), so that i can get more done and (especially) because she has been getting a little freaked out lately, whenever i leave her home alone. perhaps there is a crate in her future after all, but we'll see what happens in VA.

so that's good. any logistical plan that i've undertaken typically has one of those "slap your forehead as you realize a better way to do things" moments, and that (kennel for Ella) was one of them. hooray for my ingenuity and great humility.

so i'll pick up the van tomorrow and load it up a bit. so i'll actually be driving around (to work, etc.) on Tuesday with some of my junk in the van, but that's fine. it might even help me work a couple bugs out of the packing scheme.

Thursday, 09/11/03
i got some good news today (although it wasn't really news, just confirmation of something already suspected) that my managers "found" some (secure) office space out of which i can work. of course, it's in Columbia, Maryland (and closer to Baltimore than DC), but beggars can't be choosers. and at least it will put me within regular striking distance of Dave Blagg.

also, there's a strong possibility that i will eventually be able to actually work in the office of our customer (not the Columbia, MD thing). close to home. with the people for whom i'm allegedly working. with a connection to the network that my delivery team actually uses. what a concept! it will probably take a while before i actually start working out of that office, and that's pretty much what i was expecting, so whatever.

and, with my last tasks in San Diego wrapping up (see the regular update, i'm about fifteen hours from switching into full "get ready to move immediately" mode (or as close to that mode as i'll get, probably). nothing like a good deadline to get you moving.

Wednesday, 09/10/03
not a whole lot to report on the move front, at the moment. i'm in the deepest part of the current work crunch, which will end Thursday night (late), and then i'll be able to take the weekend (9/12-9/15) to really get most of the hands-on stuff done (like the packing, dog-washing, etc.). i probably should at least arrange for the utilities to be turned on at the new place, though, since there might be a bit of lead time involved.

Monday, 09/08/03
i went ahead and booked a mini-van for the trip today... a "Chevy Venture or similar". i tried to find out exactly what model i'll get (so i can plan accordingly... it's going to be a tight fit, no matter what), but the nice Avis person told me that they won't know for sure until the day before. oh well, i'll live.

so, for the details on the trip:

i'm picking the van up a week from today, on the 15th.
i'll do a little bit of loading that night (but not too much), have a pretty hard day at work the next day (getting official acceptance of the stuff i've been working on all summer), and do just a little more loading that night.
we (Ella and i) will leave early on the morning of the 17th, which is a Wednesday. we should make it reasonably close to Denver by the end of the first day (but there's no rush... i'm leaving plenty of breathing room on this particular trip).
we'll leave early on the morning of the 18th (and possibly swing by the office in Denver to leave a light-up pizza delivery sign on the top of a co-worker's car... it's a long story). we should make it reasonably close to Chicago by the end of the second day (again, no rush).
we'll leave early on the morning of the 19th, swing by the place in Chicago to pick up some stuff (not much) and drop off some stuff. we should make it reasonably close to Virginia by the end of the third day (i.e., we'll still four or five hours left to go, but not more than that).
we'll leave early enough on the morning of the 20th (Saturday) to arrive in Virginia by 2pm or so (want to get there while the rental office is still open, of course). then i'll have a couple of hours to unload the van (shouldn't take more than four), drop the van off at the Dulles rental location (by 9pm) and pick up a rental car (which i'll have for the next two or three months), and that's that. collapse in puddle.

so, yeah, those are all the details, for those of you who were feeling deprived.

Matt Libby / mlibby.net / contact Matt Libby