Start: Ypsilanti, MI
End: Des Moins, IA
Miles: 566.4
The day started out with a few last minute errands. Cleaning up the old apartment, filling out mail forward cards and turning in our keys. Just before we started off for I-94 my iPod came on playing “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson, almost as if it knew what lay ahead. Not much to report on this leg of the trip. We rounded Chicago and hit I-80 on our way to Des Moines. We stopped at some family run motel that advertised free WiFi.
Moving sucks. Moving across country sucks even more. Moving across country in a 2000 Ford Focus and a 1999 Ford Escort sucks the most. Lauren and I have slowly been consolidating our lives and packing it away into small boxes for the last few days. I have been doing my office work from home, which means on my system for hours together. Luckily I ordered thermal pastes last week which is not letting my system overheat. During the entire process of packing and me working there have been few disputes over what should go, what should be stored, and what should be tossed.
We’ve sold our TV (sniff – my 32 inch Sony Trinitron), my 17 inch Samsung LCD, many other computer parts, DVD’s, desks, chairs, couches, etc. All in an effort to fit our entire lives into two compact cars. Crash has a feeling something is up. He’s been freaking out for most of the week as he’s watched his surroundings change drastically. If he only knew he’d be spending about 40 hours in a car with me over the next week …
I’d like to take a few seconds to thank my parents for giving my TV a loving home, my brother for graciously taking some of my DVD’s and various computer parts off my hands (and letting Homer into his home), Lauren’s Aunt Dottie for trading us a regular bed for an air bed, Lauren’s grandparents for giving us their car top carrier, Lauren’s mom for helping coordinate a lot of these trades and, finally, my Uncle Mike for making sure my father’s hand-made bedroom is in good hands until I can figure out how the hell to get it out to Seattle. Thank you all.
See you all in Seattle!
Laure and I have purchased a one bedroom condo in the heart of the Capital Hill district in Seattle, WA. It’s a decent sized 630 sq. ft. condo in an older, but recently refurbished building, called The Ambassador. Feel free to take a peek at soon-to-be home.
If you are looking for a great city with lots to do and decent prices for purchasing then you may wish to check out Seattle. It has mild weather, a great tech industry (Microsoft, Amazon.com and Real Networks to name a few), mountains near by and the ocean. Imagine San Francisco only on a slightly smaller scale.
Lauren and I will be moving at the end of August. If you’d like to get together before then please email us or give us a call. Ack! Two weeks and I’ll be living on the other side of the country. Things move fast.
I’m currently hanging out in San Diego with Dana. I’ve been here a few days and will be heading back to Detroit, MI on the 6th of August. The time spent here has mostly been spent on the beach, throwing back California Burritos and hitting up the various bars in the area with dana. 
Today we went to check out the USS Midway, which you can see to your left. I’m a huge History Channel buff, so it was great to finally check one of these beasts out in real life. This thing was massive! The audio tour was full of all sorts of interesting tidbits, most of which I can’t remember now. I definitely have a whole new understanding of what it’s like to live on one and I don’t envy my cousins much (though Gino does get to fly a figher jet and blow stuff up, which is, to say the very least, incredibly cool).
Tomorrow Dana and I are most likely going to hook up some surfing. I’m pretty “stoked”, as they say out here, to try surfing out. After surfing we are going to check out Balboa Park and play a few rounds of Disc Golf. Not sure what else we have planned for the rest of the week, but rest assured we’ll be drinking and being merry; possibly doing so while at the beach (nah, nah, nah Lauren!).
Finally, something Bush wants to do that I agree with. If you take a step back for a split second and think about this it makes so much sense. Eliminate the IRS and replace it with a national sales tax.
All of a sudden, the problem of what future generations owe in Social Security and Medicare wont be so daunting anymore. The answer is to grow the economy, and the key to doing that is making sure we have a tax system that attracts capital and builds incentives to keep it here instead of forcing it out to other nations.
Imagine if you make $40,000 a year. The IRS takes 30% of that. The sales tax would probably be proportional maybe even a little less (since the IRS wouldn’t be sucking up funds to run itself). But what makes this great is that I don’t have to ever fill out another 1040-ES ever again. And that, my friends, is reason to rejoice.
I’m currently hanging out in Brad’s condo. I’ve been in Seattle since Monday and have been having a great time. I’ve been running around looking for condos with three (yes three) realtors and it’s been insane. Lauren and I have our eyes on two units right now and plan on making an offer tomorrow on one of them. The picture to the right is the view from Brad’s new condo. 
Seattle, from my point of view, is basically a miniature version of San Francisco. Same terrain (very hilly), same kind of people/vibe (hippies/liberal) and a decent tech area with Amazon, Real Networks, F5 and Microsoft all calling the area home. The best part is that the area has extremely reasonable prices. I’ve found large two bedrooms close to downtown for $180k, which would be impossible to do in San Francisco.
Brad and I have been working on some stuff for his August 1st rollout of a bunch of enotes.com related material in between me running around looking at condos. Nights have been spent, of course, in the company of Brad and his friends at various bars in the area. The scene is very much up my alley: laid back. Not a booty shaking nightclub in sight, which suits me just fine. If you are interested at the massive array of condos I’ve looked at check out this link.
I don’t even have to comment on an article titled ‘Enemy Contact. Kill ’em, Kill ’em.’
“The first time I shot someone, it was the most exhilarating thing I’d ever felt.”
…
“Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill,” Hall says. “It’s like it pounds at my brain. I’ll figure out how to deal with it when I get home.”
…
“I enjoy killing Iraqis,” says Staff Sgt. William Deaton, 30, who killed a hostile fighter the night before. Deaton has lost a good friend in Iraq. “I just feel rage, hate when I’m out there. I feel like I carry it all the time. We talk about it. We all feel the same way.”
Just your daily message to remind you that war sucks brought to you by the young men fighting said war.
All joking aside, yesterday was a major victory for those of us who think the federal government has no right to tell us who we can and cannot live and share our life with. Afterall, the pesky marriage licenses at the center of this debate were first issued to prevent interracial marriages.
Historically, all the states in America had laws outlawing the marriage of blacks and whites. In the mid-1800’s, certain states began allowing interracial marriages or miscegenation as long as those marrying received a license from the state.
The reality is that this is not a federal issue. It’s a state issue and should remain such. For instance, gay marriage would be perfectly acceptable to the majority of the people in California, but most likely not in Wyoming. It was for this reason why more than a few, including my favorite John McCain, broke ranks and voted against the proposed ammendment. The feds already allow states to ignore marriage licenses from other states so why does it matter that “civil unions” are legal in New Jersey? Wyoming and the many other backward thinking states can just ignore such licenses issued by New Jersey.
I don’t so much view this as a victory for gays as I do see it as a victory for privacy and states rights.
I recently posted about how I am in favor of legalizing drugs. This is a completely foreign concept to some, but makes a lot of sense if you cool your head and sit back and think about it.
My dad would often tell me when I was growing up that I could hate him and think of him what I pleased as long as I respected him. He taught me all about two key words that are lost on most Americans today: respect and responsibility. I believe in those two words very much, which is why I’m in favor of legalizing drugs. I respect your right, as perverse as it sounds, to destroy your own life. I respect myself enough to not use drugs. I’m responsible enough to realize that doing drugs won’t get me ahead in this world.
I think that more people should respect others actions, unless those actions tread on other people. What people are saying when they think drugs should not be legalized is that they don’t respect the decisions I make or think I’m not responsible enough to make the decision not to use drugs, which offends me.
I’d like to clarify a few things about my stance on legalizing drugs that some people forget.
Before posting a comment this time sit back and think about the statements above. If you’re a parent worrying about your child using drugs if they are legal, your naive. You need to be worrying about them using drugs RIGHT NOW. I can tell you from experience that drugs are readily available as soon as junior high. You know what you’re doing? You’re not taking responsibility for your child’s actions.
My parents were involved in my life growing up. They asked the tough questions, they made the tough decisions and they disciplined me whenever I screwed up. I see it too often these days that kids run their parent’s lives and not the other way. I used to say that I’d be cool to my kids, but now I realize that if I was their best friend I’d be doing them a disservice.
You heard it here last – crappy parents are responsible for rampant drug use among teens – not a failing war on drugs.
Definitely check out Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, which covers the Fox News Channel’s decidedly right leaning news coverage. The trailer is hysterical and I’m looking forward to my copy arriving. The documentary includes internal memos, interviews with former employees, etc. “Fair and Balanced” my ass.