Far from home
Thank goodness. Home sucks.


I was up early today. I wanted to catch the sunrise (shown above). Wow. It's a nice one from my vantage point. All I can see from my balcony are hotels and oceanfront. I look forward to exploring it later.

The hotel I'm staying at has wireless networking, but it doesn't really work in my room. They put me on the highest (6th) floor, almost into the far corner. Though I was able to send a couple emails, I really couldn't do anything else. The service kept cutting out. Good thing I have pretty much everything I need printed out already.

I'm not sure why they put me on the 6th floor, because judging by the parking lot, they probably could have fit everyone on the first floor. I'm almost positive that I was the only one on the 6th floor last night. Hmm.

Today was urban caching day. I spent very little time on the oceanfront boardwalk. Just enough time to log my first cache, before I drove down Route 58, hitting just about every single plaza and commercial hotspot that had a cache on the premises. I was able to find the first few I sought pretty quickly, but as it got to be noontime, the muggles were out in full force. So I abandoned that plan and took a trip to Mount Trashmore and cleaned out what's around that area.

That was it. Doesn't sound like much, but just doing those things took me all day. I wanted to head up to Bayville and do some of the disc golfing, but by the time I was done caching, there wouldn't be any daylight by the time I was halfway done the course. Maybe Sunday, then.

I went to Hardee's for dinner, because this fast food chain is more prominent than McDonald's and Burger King in this part of the country. I figured it be a good idea just to hit up popular restaurant franchises that we don't see up North and see if there's a reason for it. Anyhoo, everything on the Hardee's menu is designed to kill you as quickly as possible. Bacon and cheese and half a pound of beef on pretty much everything. They had this fancy Hawaiian chicken burger thing that I bought and found to be quite yummy, albeit a fucking mess to eat. Also, I now consider Hardee's french fries to be the most superior of all fast food french fries out there. I'd like to see a couple of these places make it into New Hampshire. Did I mention that the cashiers bring the food to your seat? You don't have to stand there awkwardly! I'd like to see how well they can pull that off during their rush hours.

I then spent my night procuring heroin, hookers, and beer. It's Friday night, after all. I gotta do my thing! Alright, so I had to settle for one of these three things, but I'll work on the other two in the upcoming nights. ;) Bonus points if I manage to find a homeless bum that I can choke to death. That's something I want to do before I die. True story.

Here's an interesting note: I get an extra hour of daylight being in Virginia than in New Hampshire. Because it's closer to the equator, the sun rises about 30 minutes sooner and sets about 20 minutes later. That rocks.

---

Pictures:
* The sunrise from my hotel
* Norwegian Lady statue along the boardwalk. GPS shown in order to log the geocache.
* A duck crossing sign? I forgot ducks existed!
* A weird species of tree found everywhere in Virginia
* A close-up of the tree that I thought looked cool
* Seagulls along the side of the river at a park I visited
* Ducks near a flagpole along the same river area
* Black ducks in Mount Trashmore Park
* Seagulls on the pier in Mount Trashmore Park
* One of many groups of gulls in Mount Trashmore Park

Videos:
* Waking up in Virginia Beach was a little better than in Keene, NH
* The area around the Norwegian Lady has lots of statues The drive down


That was my view outside of my apartment this morning. Very fascinating. I fucking hate this snow.

Anyway...

I went to work today for a couple hours, just long enough to get my morning stuff done and for swhorfe to lend me his laptop for my trip, and I was out the door by 10 AM.

There's not much for me to say about the drive down to Virginia. It took about 11 hours, including breaks, in which I only really took one. I'm surprised that I didn't break more often just to stretch my legs. I think that my prior "longest road trip alone" record was like five hours, when I went from Hillsboro, NH to New Rochelle, NY to see homeboy Jonny and U2 at Madison Square Garden. And that was many years ago. So I'm very impressed that I stopped long enough to gas up my car twice, one quick bathroom break, and one 15-minute dinner break (which wasn't until I got to the McDonald's in Princess Anne, MD at 6:30 PM). Yay me.

What I do want to make note is that:

* Once in New Jersey, there was no snow.
* Gas in Jersey is "cheap" at $2.939 a gallon. About 45 minutes away in Connecticut, they were charging $3.399 a gallon. wtf?
* I was dreading New Jersey because of all of the toll booths we had to go through during our spring break adventure years ago. It's a lot quicker now with EZ Pass transponders on most of the local vehicles.
* The toll for the Delaware Memorial Bridge, however, did take like 15-20 minutes for me to go through. Uncool.
* I only saw a couple WalMarts on my way down. I saw construction stores like Lowe's and Home Depot a lot more frequently.
* The only Waffle House I saw was around Dover, Delaware. I didn't pass it when it was dark, though, so I don't know if any part of the sign doesn't light up. I assume it must not.
* The first eight hours of the trip flew by. Then, it dragged ass.
* I have nothing to say about the modern marvel that is the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel or Virginia Beach because it was was dark by the time I got there. Better luck next time.
* I got here on only 1 1/2 tanks of gas. That's impressive.

I found the hotel easily enough. I checked in and went to bed almost immediately. Big day tomorrow.

---

Pictures:
* What it looks like at work
* More snow-filled trees from the recent storm
* The view from my living room window sickens me
* The view stepping out of my building into the parking area
* My salt-filled car by the time I stopped in Jersey
* The only Waffle House I found, and it was in Delaware

Videos:
* Smoke break at work. Again. The sequel to Smoke Break at Work from a year ago. Same players. Different time. Tuesday Funnies

Daddy's Little Princess

When I was a baby, someone had given me a little "tea set" as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of "tea," which was just water.

After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch his little princess bring him a cup of tea, because it was, "just the cutest thing!"

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then says, "Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet?"

Random pics
There's quite a bit of snow at mom's house. If you're looking out the front porch:

* the left side
* the middle
* the right side
* the screen door

Diamond Acres burned down. The area's been taped off, so I could only get pictures while driving:

* shot 1
* shot 2
* shot 3

I had the first Ford Focus in my apartment area. Now there are three of them. wtf? I am so ready for next weekend.
I already know when I intend to leave.
The hotel is booked.
I know my route, and where I may run into construction.
I know how much I should expect to pay in tolls and in gas.
I know where I intend to stop to fill up and eat.
My itinerary for each day in Virginia Beach is set.
My geocaching routes are defined.
Contingency plans have been made in case of rain, etc.
What I intend to do when the sun sets is a little blurry, but I'll figure it out.

Now I just have to go down there and do it all.

The only real monkey wrench I have is that my grandmother died today. She was easily the best of my four grandparents. Easily!

Though I'm not too bothered by it, it really sucks for my mother. My mother got a hip replacement this past Thursday. My grandmother lived up in Canada: Sherbrooke, Quebec. One would assume the funeral will be held up there somewhere. My mother's siblings are on their way up there right now. And I can't imagine how much it must suck for my mother to be laying there on a hospital bed, not being able to go her own mother's funeral.

On one hand, I'd like to go because she was the only grandparent I had that I saw more than once every five years, and she was awesome. She also outlived the other three.

On the other hand, I'm sure my mom need consoling, and I'm not fluent enough in French to think I'd be able to make it past the border patrol, let alone through Quebec. And I've been planning this Virginia Beach thing for quite a while.

Sigh.

At least I have plenty of sick / personal time at work I can kill. We'll see what happens. Mall Madness!
Look it up.

Ray: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/clue/news/1710069/
Ray: It's official, Hollywood has gone to hell
Me: wtf?
Me: that is... wow.
Ray: COnnect FOUR! The movie!
Me: As a sequel to "Gone in 60 Seconds," we bring you "Mille Bornes," featuring nicolas cage
Ray: That could be cool
Me: except you go 50 miles and some douchebag drops a "empty gas" card on you
Ray: LOL
Ray: The gas milage sucks!
Me: should have got a prius

Served.
I went to my mother's tonight, and then dinner with Sister, and there I learned that Diamond Acres burned to the ground some time this weekend.

That's where I had my first job. I would spend three summers there serving fish and ice cream. All that stands now is the frame of the convenience store end of the building, which is where I would sell beer, porn, and cigarettes to the underaged.

Ok, I checked ID's. And regardless of age, I gave them whatever they wanted.

Ok, no I didn't. That'd be silly. And I would have been so fired or something.

Fun fact: for years, I've been saying that if I was to start a band, it would have been called "Mutton Chop." The title of the first album would have been Beer, Porn, and Cigarettes. For those who were wondering why, well, now you know. Why "Mutton Chop," though? It just sounds cool.

I'll see if I can get some pics when I head back up that way this Sunday.

Those wanting a tour of my old stomping grounds in the 'Boro just lost a big one right there. Tuesday Funnies

A young man moved into a new apartment of his own and went to the lobby to put his name on his mailbox. While there, an attractive young lady came out of the apartment next to the mailboxes, wearing a robe.

The boy smiled at the young woman and she started a conversation with him.

As they talked, her robe slipped open, and it was obvious that she had nothing else on. The poor kid broke into a sweat trying to maintain eye
contact After a few minutes, she placed her hand on his arm and said, "Let's go to my apartment... I hear someone coming."

He followed her into her apartment; she closed the door and leaned against it, allowing her robe to fall off completely. Now nude, she purred at him, "What would you say is my best feature?"

Flustered and embarrassed, he finally squeaked, "It's got to be your ears."

Astounded, and a little hurt she asked, "My ears? Look at these breasts; they are full and 100% natural. I work out every day and my butt is firm and solid. Look at my skin, no blemishes anywhere. How can you think that the best part of my body is my ears?"

Clearing his throat, he stammered, "Outside, when you said you heard someone coming... that was me."

OMG EMO MYSPACE SUICIDE /TRAIN
Yeah. It finally happened. And it only took me about 15 months to go through with it.

A coworker wanted pics from the new guy getting wasted, but apparently she didn't want to give me a non-work email so I could send them over. MySpace seemed to be the easiest answer. I wasn't particularly fond of that idea, but I haven't really been putting up much of a fight anymore. With no 10-year high school reunion and most people losing touch with me within six months of whatever joint activity we shared, I have been feeling the urge to find out what's been happening to these people. My circle of friends has shrunk considerably. I'm hoping this may spark some of them back up again.

Unfortunately, I'm not really gonna be in a position to hunt people down for at least another two weeks. Too many things on my plate right now, and I'd rather wait 'til my Virginia trip comes and goes before addicting myself to the likes of social networking. Found a few people I haven't heard from in decades already, though. But at this point, what's another two weeks, really?

Anyway, I suppose if you want to be one of my first "friends," you can add me and I'll get to it when I get to it. Ye feck ye.

P.S. I really hate the lack of a batch upload feature. Queer. I don't know as much about computers as I once did.
I blame lack of practice. I don't fiddle with my PC's as much as I used to. Haven't been keeping myself up to speed on various hardware sites, either.

Last weekend, I went to see my mom. She got a new 19" widescreen LCD monitor to replace a busted 17" CRT. I hooked it up ok, but I couldn't get the text to display without looking "cobwebby." It has a native resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, not a particularly common resolution, and I spent hours fucking with drivers and downloading nonsense to try and get that resolution to display. I fiddled so much with the computer downstairs trying to find a solution that I inadvertently killed the sound and the video drivers on that PC and I couldn't get the damn thing to display a picture without going into safe mode. And I couldn't fix it. Hmmph. Oh well. I was going to nuke it, anyway. It had other problems before I fucked with it more. Luckily, the computer upstairs is my mom's main computer, and that's where the new LCD is, anyway.

I came to the conclusion that my mother's graphics card -- a paltry Geforce2 MX 200 -- just wasn't going to get the most out of this new monitor. I ordered an FX5200 from NewEgg.

Today, I went to my mom's early and slapped the card in the downstairs computer and nuked its hard drive and reinstalled Windows and everything else from scratch. That computer wasn't getting any use and it's significantly better than my mother's main computer, it made the most sense to make that PC run nice and clean and replace it with the one upstairs. Which is what I did. And it turned out that the new card was able to display the 1440 x 900 resolution without me having to do anything. And it has a DVI port, which made for even a better display. Yippee.

In case you're curious about computer specs, my mother was rocking out on some piece of shit Compaq with a Celeron 400, 256MB SDRAM (not enough to run anything on nowadays), the Geforce2 MX, and a hard drive that ultimately died and had to be replaced with whatever I had lying around at the time. I don't remember. It might be an 80-gigger. Plenty of space for her, anyway. The one that was downstairs composed mostly of what I was rocking out with back in 2003: an Athlon XP 2500+ in an nForce2 Ultra 400 board, 512MB PC3200 DDR RAM, a DVD drive/CD burner, a leftover Geforce2 GTS, and some sort of name-brand hard drive. Runs smooth like hot butter for what she needs it to do. Makes me wonder why we didn't make the switch sooner. More pictures... somewhere.
Nicole -- who must have been refered to by ten different names on this site by now -- opened an account at MyPhotoAlbum and has tossed up every photo from The Rookie's 21st birthday, the Ice and Snow Festival 2008, Halloween 2007 pics from the bar (and work!), and the Weinermobile showing up at work. I guess she hasn't figured out that my website exists and that a lot of the pics are already online. Funny... she has my email address and all... guess she has never bothered to explore the domain name.

Anyway, even the "incrimating" photos have been uploaded to her account. It's unclear if certain ones will be password protected. Not that anything graphic was taken... just trying to protect people's privacy. I'm not going to promote the URL until we've come to some sort of decision on that, but if you want to see them, you can email or IM me and I'll tell you where you can find them all.

Supposedly, I can upload videos there without having to go through YouTube or another one of those very public sites. I may end up doing that, since she gave me access to her account. Whee. Cupid De Locke
Valentine's Day is the day I choose each year to make the ladies in my life feel special. I used to be a player back in the day, I haven't really made much of an effort in more recent years. It's a shame, really.

I was hoping that she who got a rose last year would get another one this year, but they never sold any flowers at work like they did last year. And with the brutal snowstorm we just had, I wasn't willing to risk my neck going to the store for some broad. ;) However, I did peruse the candy aisle a week or two ago and picked up a box of chocolate-covered cherries to give her. The brand she likes, in fact. I thought it would be more thoughtful than the traditional heart-shaped box of random chocolates, though the packaging wasn't as Valentine-ish. Sadly, she proclaimed her young son her Valentine before I was able to make my oh-so-slick maneuver. Sigh. Though the box was for her, it ended up being split between us and devoured over the course of the next two days.

However, I did score an unexpected card and a lollipop from Brownie. Whee! I didn't get her anything, though... that makes me a jerk.

Today dragged unbelievably slowly. Nicole and I and some of her apartment mates headed out to happy hour and played lots of pool. Couldn't really get wasted because we had to work the following day, but we had to get out and do something because of how long it took our shift to end. I won almost every game regardless of who I was playing. :) A league of my own?
As far as I am able to tell, no one younger than me living in New Hampshire has more geocache finds than I do.

I'm currently ranked within the Top 50 in the state with finds, and most of those ranked higher than me are old and/or retired.

In fact, I'n not entirely sure who has the second most finds and is in their 20's. Surely, there must be a few others besides me? Tuesday Funnies

Train Ride

A man and a woman, who have never met before, but are both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a transcontinental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly... he in the upper bunk and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned over and gently woke the woman saying, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold."

"I have a better idea," she replied. "Just for tonight, let"s pretend that we're married."

"Wow! That"s a great idea!" he exclaimed.

"Good," she replied. "Go get your own blanket!"

After a moment of silence... he farted.

What's worse than a cardboard box?

Paper tits.

Mother Nature is being such a douchebag.

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM EST WEDNESDAY.

THIS WINTER STORM WARNING INCLUDES ALL OF SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE...AS WELL AS WESTERN...CENTRAL AND MUCH OF NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS EXCEPT FOR THE IMMEDIATE COAST.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS BETWEEN 430 AND 6 PM. THE SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE...AS WELL AS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS BETWEEN 630 PM AND 8 PM.

ONCE THE SNOW BEGINS IT WILL QUICKLY BECOME HEAVY...FALLING AT THE RATE OF 1 INCH PER HOUR AND REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO UNDER ONE HALF MILE. ROADS WILL QUICKLY BECOME SNOW COVERED AND TRAVEL WILL BECOME QUITE HAZARDOUS BY MID TO LATE EVENING.

THE SNOW WILL THEN CHANGE TO SLEET AND THEN TO FREEZING RAIN BETWEEN 1 AM AND 4 AM ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS...AND BETWEEN 3 AM AND 6 AM ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED TO BE FALLING ACROSS THIS REGION DURING THE WEDNESDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR...SO UNTREATED ROADWAYS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ICY AND SNOW COVERED.

THE FREEZING RAIN SHOULD FINALLY CHANGE TO RAIN ACROSS MOST LOCATIONS BY LATE MORNING OR EARLY AFTERNOON ALTHOUGH A FEW OF THE NORMALLY COLDER SPOTS IN SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE MAY STILL BE AROUND FREEZING THROUGH MID AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAIN MAY RESULT IN SOME URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE STREET FLOODING DURING THE AFTERNOON.

BEFORE THE CHANGE OVER...SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE 4 TO 7 INCHES ACROSS THE REGION WITH THE HIGHER AMOUNTS MOST LIKELY IN SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. AN ADDITIONAL ONE QUARTER INCH OF GLAZE IS POSSIBLE ON TOP OF THE SNOW BEFORE A CHANGE TO ALL RAIN.

I was getting a little worried. It didn't snow yesterday and I almost had some hope that these shenanigans would stop. Apparently not. And given the description of the storm, I wouldn't be surprised to see hail, lightning, marsupials, or "the rapture" come down from the sky. Or, in the rapture's case, go up.

Ok. We get it. You can make snow. Big deal. Move on already. Hillsboro, NH


In case there was any question to my statement of Hillsboro being the midpoint of Concord and Keene.

Stupid snow. Flurries are for queers.
I am so sick and tired of snow.

I think it has snowed at least four, maybe five of the last seven days. That is complete and utter bullshit.

It's really fueling my desire to make my trip to Virginia at the end of the month. I'm really looking forward to it. There's no snow there! I don't remember the last time I looked at a current snow cover map and saw snow along that state's coast. Possibly never.

Mother wants to go with me, but she's getting a hip replacement a week before I go. Too bad for her. I have no incentive to wait a little longer if it means having company. I want to do this. Now. Of course, I don't see Virginia being wiped off the face of the earth any time soon; and chances are, I'm gonna want to go back maybe later in the year or next winter. She can wait 'til then. :)

My own personal experiences dictate that if I have to accommodate for others, I never accomplish anything I want to do. I do plenty of accommodating, mind you. And I can't remember the last time someone altered their schedule for my benefit. So fuck 'em all.

Wait a minute, wasn't I just complaining about snow? "This sucks..."
A new hire in our department turned 21 this past week. Clearly, that meant if was our duty to get him completely fucking shitfaced last night. You only turn 21 once, after all, right?

Myself, Brownie, and a few others took him out to the bar and let him make his rookie mistakes. The guy doesn't weigh much more than me, but he was pounding down rum and cokes like they were shots of water. He claims to have had seven hard drinks in an hour and a half. I usually have half as much over twice the amount of time before I call it a night each Friday. That's when I realized that not only was he going to throw up some time soon, we were probably going to get kicked out of the bar, and I stopped drinking in case I had to finish some of his drinks. Fun times. That's alright, though. I got plenty of incriminating photos and videos I may be able to use to my advantage later down the road. ;)

We went to a second bar, but didn't stay long. A bartender there wanted us to get him out of there because he was passing out on the table.

We walked him out and brought him to his friend's apartment where he spent the night throwing up and looking like this:


Ha!

Dear Nicole ended up being a casualty that night, too, as she tried to do him a favor by drinking some of the drinks he kept ordering (I think he claimed his final drink tally was 12, which I find very hard to believe over a 2 1/2-hour span). Good enough to make it home, but not good enough to avoid the porcelain god.

Me? I was good. Mostly sober. Little bummed out that the night ended much more quickly that I anticipated, but you'll have that with rookie drunks. :) Insight on how you can be less stupid.
Apparently, I'm a very sensual and moderately visual learner. What does that mean?

* Sensing learners tend to like learning facts.
* Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and surprises.
* Sensors are more likely than intuitors to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class.
* Sensors tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work.
* Sensors tend to be more practical and careful than intuitors; intuitors tend to work faster and to be more innovative than sensors.
* Sensors don't like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world.
* Visual learners remember best what they see - pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations.

I was as far left as I could be on the "sensual vs intuitive" scale. This doesn't come as a complete shock to me. That's what the "S" in ISTJ stands for, after all.

How about yourself? Tuesday Funnies

Miracle

Little Johnny, an altar boy, runs into the rectory and yells to the priest, "Father, Father, a man just came into the church on crutches, stopped in front of the holy water, put some on both of his legs, and then threw away his crutches."

The priest exclaims, "Son, you've just witnessed a miracle! Tell me, where's this man now?"

"Flat on his arse over by the holy water," said Johnny.

On fire
I watched the Patriots lose Sunday night at my mother's. I cried.

On my way back to my apartment, there was a dumpster on fire, no more than 250 feet from where I live. I watched it for a while, until the fire department came to put it out. I took a video of it, but it's not that good and probably won't see the likes of YouTube any time soon.

That's all I got.

I was gonna dress up this post a little bit so it didn't sound so boring, but it turns out I don't care enough to make it so. Ice and Snow Festival 2008
Brownie wanted to go see it. I wasn't doing anything better. Not surprising that it worked out the way it did.

Keene does an Ice and Snow Festival each year. I never went to one, and we assumed everything was within the circle in the middle of town. We were very disappointed to only see four sculptures in the center circle, along with six sculptures dedicated to corporate sponsorship. Weak. Bot on our way back to my place, we noticed there were a few different displays up and down Main Street.

* Pegasus
* Dancer, or something like that.
* Pineapple
* Rhino
* Gnome on a mushroom, which won first place.
* Jack-in-the-box, which won second place.
* Broken Jack-in-the-box, after a block of ice hit it. Owned!
* Seahorse
* Groundhog
* Hearts
* Marlin
* Swordfish from the back.
* Swordfish from the front.
* Dragonfly on a flower
* Vince Lombardi trophy, says "19-0" at the base.
* Vince Lombardi trophy from the other side; says "Patriots" at the base.
* "We Love Keene" heart thing.
* Darfur snow sculpture mess. Queer.
* Kitty in a teacup
* Newspaper ad in The Keene Sentinel.

Between the jack-in-the-box and the gnome on a mushroom, there were a couple guys making a new ice sculpture. While preparing a couple ice blocks, one of the blocks slipped and hit the wood pallet the jack-in-the-box was on. It then slowly wobbled, and ultimately took a dive onto the back of one of the ice sculpture guys. In the midsts of the sculpture falling, Dane Cook's comedy came to life. Instead of saying, "Look out!" or "The Jack-in-the-box is falling," people watching were just making that "Aaah!" sound and it took a dive onto the dude's back. Super.

After seeing everything, Brown and I went to the bar, drank and played pool. Didn't have the chance to do that last night courtesy of the shitty weather we had. Whee.