When It Rains, It Pours: April [drive, err 2nd drive]

Yes, yes–another hiatus.  And there will be another (for a week) because my parents are visiting and I won’t have time to do the important things either.

PS-this is my WordPress anniversary, which is cool, but not my blogging one.  I started on Myspace–and yes, I liked it better.

Anyway, let’s wrap up the moving story already.  I think the posting may be actually taking longer then the move itself. . .

So I had to drive Rusty (unknown vehicle status) a SECOND time from Spokane to Salt Lake City.  And I started out all tired.  Also, my house-sitting job wrapped up on a Saturday night, so it was awkward timing.  Because 2 days prior the lease on my apartment was up.  So I technically had no place to stay in Washington.

My boss (the owner of the house-sitting house) offered my an extra night at their place.  But I thought it would be awkward when her and her husband were home.  So I declined.  And my aunt offered me her house, but then I would be obligated to chat Saturday night, use her dirty bathroom/shower, and they would probably make me late (and CRAZY) in the morning with more obligatory chatting.

I would have to start the drive Saturday evening.  But I’ve learned trying to press on at all hours of the night, not only sucks, but is dangerous.  So I just broke down and shelled out money for a hotel.  But in Missoula–because I love that town!

So I’m driving up this steep, steep hill, pushing Rusty to do 65-70 MPH (normally 50 is my absolute max) not being sure how much Rusty could handle.  Everything is going ok–I’m in between that Idaho and Montana part that’s up, up, up, but fast speeds.  And suddenly, the hood of the car just catches my eye.  I saw it move!  While I was going 70mph!  I abruptly put on my flashers and pulled over in the “emergency stopping only” to check the scene.  Sure enough–the hood was OPEN!  I was so scared.  How long had it been open?  What if I hadn’t noticed?  What if it flew up while I was driving up hill with a lot of speedy traffic?  I could have been killed.  I imagine at that speed the hood would have broken the front window.  Not to mention obscured my vision.

So I closed that and resumed my trip, drama-free, but shaken.

I stayed at the hotel and it was lovely and uneventful as well.  Then the next morning I got an early (I am now a night person, remember) start at 5:38AM.

That drive between Montana-Idaho-Utah is boring.  Sure, the speeds are high, but there is really nothing out there.  And of course my phone doesn’t get reception.  Also making me nervous about potential car trouble.

Rusty is a 1992.  And back then, they apparently did not try to make it a quiet ride.  I could hear all the traffic loudly and the awful wind.  A random storm blackened the sky over me and caused severe wind that made it effortful to stay in my lane.  But it was so, so loud I kept thinking my doors must not be closed all the way.  So I was nervous one might open while I was driving and stuff (maybe me) would fall out in the highway.

The other thing that happened was while climbing a hill.  I was using cruise-control–that did make it a better ride then when I took the Penske.  Anyway, I’m going up hill at 75-80 MPH in a group of cars and suddenly Rusty just came out of cruise control.  Just decelerated at an alarming rate.  And because I was mid-hill I couldn’t get any speed manually either.  I had to quickly pull off.  And I didn’t know how alarmed to be.  Was Rusty done for?  Was this a sign of a bigger problem?  Would I be stuck in Idaho without a car or phone reception?  uh oh. . .

There was tons of wind and tons of bugs on the interstates of Montana and Idaho.  I was having to clean the windshield every time I filled the tank, then it would quickly become buggy again.  One time, about 5 hours into my journey, when I was tired, thirsty, had expired from car-slurr, I cleaned the windshield.  It wasn’t 5 minutes and this huge group of bugs crashed into my windshield, covering it with their rust-colored bodies.  It made me disproportionately upset and made the trip feel so loooooonnnnnnnggggg.

But I just used the bathroom, and cleaned off my windshield with vinegar–which boosted my morale substantially.  Vinegar worked better then the gas station cleaners and it was the first time I could see well!  And my car had no further issues.

The end of that trip sucks, because just when you’re the most greasy, tired, thirsty, and ready to arrive at the destination, the traffic becomes thick and the driving moronic.  You have to pay super-close attention and constantly defensively-drive!  So I’m worn out and crowded in speeding cars, having to pay acute attention.

Needless to say, when I pulled up at the apartment, I was DONE!  I was ready for a hug from Cool and a nap in a clean apartment.

But that’s not what happened.  Cool, still being manic, had bought a used futon while I was away.  Which was bigger then our living room.  I was thinking it didn’t fit.  That bed-bugs had probably been introduced.  And how did she pay for it.  Instead of the relaxation, nap, shower, and meal, I would have to fight with Cool, pack up a futon, clean the apartment (which of course she left a mess) and I might as well unpack Rusty while I was at it.

Not the best.

In the end, the futon got re-sold for a $5 profit, I cleaned the house, and Cool got a meds adjustment, and *knock on wood* has been a lot more stable.

And that’s the end of the moving story!!!  Finally.

When It Rains, It Pours: April [moving-drive-1st leg]

Let’s see, driving long stretches is mostly boring.  But a few key things are worth noting.

-Going on a Sunday was genius.  Traffic around cities was a lot less.  And bigger then that, the construction was on hold.  So we still lost time to slow speed limits, but we never had to stop in a line for workers or anything.  Any other day would have taken a LOT longer to get through those zones.

-Cool had fairly bad behavior for the entirety of the planning and execution of all of the move.  She was the bad kind of manic:  Unfocused, irritable, all over the place, no common sense or concentration.  So mostly she provided stress upon the stress.  BUT the one amazing thing that she thought of–and followed through to completeion–was walkie-talkies.  I wasn’t all about them–I figured they’d be fun if we had them, but not having them wasn’t a deal-breaker.  Let me tell you:  Walkie talkies and 2 vehicles are THE way to go if you have to drive a moving truck.  I drove the 16 foot Penske, and Cool (and the cats) followed along in her HHR.  This was great, because she could monitor my blind spots.  If I wanted to switch lanes, we could just beep each other quickly on the radios.  No cost of cell phone minutes (though using Boost, we both have unlimited talk, text, and data anyway) and no one-handed stuff.  We could also easily communicate which speed we wanted to go and when we had to stop for gas, bathroom, food, or rest.  The walkie-talkies made driving the Penske EASY!  Awesome job, Cool!!!

-We got started around 2PM, and drove 5.5(?) hours to Butte, which was about 2 hours past my point of fatigue.  Having long-hauled many road trips before this, 2 hours isn’t all that bad–relatively speaking.

-The cats rode in the car well (I’m told).  Usually Goose is good, quiet, and still during the car ride.  Choco-Luv likes to scream and yell the entire trip.  But sans drugs, they did pretty good–maybe Cool just tuned them out with loud music though.

-And the hotel seemed magical when we got to stop for a real shower and bed and TV.

-The cats fussed a little–they do the opposite thing at lodging that they do in the car:  Goose is usually a horrible, terrible noise-maker and pacer in hotels.  He kept us all awake the whole night in Boise, and when when my dad and I took him from Missouri to Nevada for the final time, Goose was so angry with me he peed on my hotel pillow.  He yowled a little, but not incessantly and we could still sleep.  I think it helped that we didn’t drug them at all this time.

-Splitting the trip into 2 days helped bunches, and the next day we just had to drive 7-ish(?) hours to Salt Lake City, instead of a whole 10.5 hours.  Which I think 10.5 is a low estimate from Google, it might have been more like 13 in real conditions.

-Montana and a nice high speed limit, and I always feel at home under it’s big-sky.  Idaho is full of nothingness, but at least they also have an extreme speed limit.  I just kept driving the Penske because it was going well.  And I think switching off would have made everyone more nervous.  Unlike Rusty, the Penske had cup holders, and you don’t realize how important and nice those are until you’ve lived without them.  It was also nice having a clock, which Rusty does not have.

-The only thing about the Penske that was bothersome, was my accelerator-foot got tired.  The speed tops out at 70 mph, but with a speed limit of 80 mph, I wanted to push it as fast as it was willing to go.  But it made the truck roar and shake, and I had to mash the pedal all the way to the floor.

-Utah drivers are awful, and it made it a little difficult that we had to finish the drive like that.  You’re at a point where you’re tired and just want to get there–it’s no time to have to employ a bunch of defensive-driving techniques.  But we did.  And all 4 of us made it in one piece and without very much fatigue or headache.  Also–this is of course relative to past trips.  We were all very tired of sitting in a car, sleepy, and wanting to be home.

-We got to the new apartment at 3:30PM.  I needed a shower.  I was fatigued.  I was SO done with moving!  I just wanted to shower and chill.  But alas, the parking situation was tight, so in order to unload the Penske in the vicinity of our unit, I had to park in 3 neighbor’s spots.  Needless to say, there would not be an afternoon/evening of rest.  Not even a meal break.  We had to immediately unload the Penske in order to move out out of the way before people got home from work and had no place to park.

Next episode:  Unpacking.

The Long Journey Home [UU AuD Interview Part V]

This may be the most drawn-out series I’ve ever blogged.  I anticipate a renewed enthusiasm and follow-through on posting once I resume a normal sleep schedule.  I have just 5 more weeks of this swing-shift that kills my motivation and productivity.  And though I’ll need a (summer) job, I would be very hesitant to accept a swing or night shift position.  Especially for paltry minimum wage.

Anyway, here is the story of our long, long travels back home.  It started Saturday around 7:30PM and doesn’t end until 3:30 PM Sunday.  I may never take a Greyhound again:

-it snowed–more like a wintry mix and within a half hour, there were trucks sanding the interstate highway.  I couldn’t believe it!  Even after inches of accumulation, Spokompton is slow to plow, and may never clear/sand certain roads (ours).  Leaving a snowy, muchy, icy, slick mess for weeks.  What a treat timely snow removal procedures will be!

-We got the rental car to the airport without incident.  Thank goodness.  I was still very nervous because it was a rental, the weather wasn’t perfect, we were lost, and the people of Utah drive like F@#%ing idiots.

-At the airport, we found the rapid transit pick up point, and purchased a $2.50 (for 3 hours) ticket via kiosk.  It was very simple.  What was not simple was deciding which of the colored routes we needed to follow, where the transfers might be, and where we should get off the Trax.  This is always a nerve-wracking experience when you’re unfamiliar with the city, and have never ridden their public systems.  And like all anxious passengers we got off too soon.  Then we walked in a kind of sketchy area back to a prior stop.  Which I guess we could have waited for the next Trax going the opposite direction, but we were anxious and that’s what we did.  But we calmed down at the prior stop, waited for the next Trax, and reentered.  Then we got off 2 stops later.

-This took us to the stadium where the Jazz NBA team plays.  And a game was getting out so loud fans dressed in Mardi Gras colors were everywhere.  I would have loved to go to a game.  BUT I had tried to purchase a single-ticket game for the Gonzaga men’s team–and they had season ticket-holders only–for more then $100.  So I figured NBA would be worse, and maybe we could win tickets on the radio or something for a special occasion. . .  We had to wait 20 minutes for a different colored line to take us to the bus station, because maybe people of Utah don’t know the rule, or maybe all the fans were drunk–but everyone pushed ON to our Trax line before we were allowed to disembark.  And our next line was just leaving.  Had they followed the rule of letting people unload first we would have made it without any wait at all. . .

-When we reached the bus station, we looked up the cost of Jazz tickets.  They range from a hundred down to $3.00 (depending on the seats)!!!  I was instantly disappointed, because we could have gone to Friday’s game or Saturday’s and that would have been awesome!  As it was the next home games were before we move, then October.  Damn!  Lesson learned–don’t assume.  And who does Gonzaga think they are?!

-Our dufus Cheesecake Factory waiter had not packed forks or napkins for our to-go cheesecakes.  Instead of eating them in the bus station at 10PM, we had to wait until we could get forks.  And so we did more waiting (on super-uncomfortable wood chairs) with other strange and trashy people.

-At one point, Cool had to go to the bathroom, so she left her backpack on her chair immediately next to me.  And I put my suitcase on the floor immediately in front of her chair.  This did not stop a hispanic family of 6(?) from crowding right on the rest of the row, standing in front of Cool’s chair (and me).  So when Cool came back there was no room, and I physically moved one of their suitcases from in front of Cool’s chair.  They totally tried to steal our chairs–while I was in one and obviously saving another.  PS-sure, there weren’t an overabundance of chairs, but at that time, there were 3 different groupings that were totally empty.  Why they didn’t sit in those, I can’t be sure.  I was SUPER-annoyed about it though, and let it show all over my face.  I mean Jesus–get out of our grill.  Unnecessary!

Sunday

-The forks were procured at 4:30AM.  It was slightly melty by that time, but still delicious.  And why was our waiter so incompetent when the restaurant had been it’s emptiest of all the days we were there?!

-Then, more driving, more waiting, more stops occurred.  I actually slept because this time, every passenger was solo.  So it was fairly silent.  I was exhausted and bored.  So I was able to doze much of the time.

-Cool was trying to be saucy and tease me.  She opened her mouth in a smile, then a huge stream of saliva (gleet/gleek)  arched up and landed on her jacket sleeve surprising us both.  Her eyes went from sassy to surprised and it was a large stream with rainbow trajectory.  She looked like some cartoon sea creature purposely spitting–except she and I were both shocked.  The bus was still nearly silent, but I fell into a fit of giggles that I couldn’t control.  I just kept picturing her face and the spit-fountain!  I got really giggly, and really had to fight to eventually pull myself together.  I just kept picturing her accidently doing that.

-We finally got off the bus at 3PM, and boy did it feel good to be moving out in fresh air.

-Our sad, sad cats thought we had moved.  Choco-Luv didn’t act ferrell as usual, just dramatically thankful we hadn’t left forever–poor thing.  Goose gave us the cold-shoulder to punish our offense, but eventually became snuggly.  We’ll never leave for 5 days again, as it was too long for the poor buddies.

Aftermath:

-I’m constantly hungry after overindulging to such an extent.  It’s like terrible-bad, hunger that’s persistent and without reason.  I must have stretched my stomach big-time, and the shrinking process is not fun at all.

-I also noticed WA is cloudy.  Which is obvious, and I notice a grey, cloudy day almost every morning, but I forgot just how dark and depressing that is.  I’ll be happy to move somewhere with more blue sky.

-Coming back to Spokompton was a little depressing.  I just know our standard of living and quality of life in Utah will be a little better.  And I’ll get a new schedule, which seems really exciting.  So being back here in a swing-shift job, cheap apartment, bad neighborhoods, was sad.  And made me disappointed and impatient to leave again.  But as of now (mid-March, OK end of March almost a month later) as I write this, it’s all soon coming to a close.  The time for logistic concerns is fast-approaching so I’ll be distracted by that too.  It’s good, we’re good.  We are excited to move.

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School Comparison [from early summer 2014]

KS:
-22 hr drive
-cheapest housing
-$12-13/hr jobs-EZ
-different school app & personal stmt
-familiar area
-rival school, weird mascot

 

ID:
-8 hr drive
-cheap housing
-few jobs, $8-10/hr
-best school funding, cheapest tuition
-must split program into Pocatello & Boise (3.5 hr apart)
-Bengal mascot

UT:
-10 hr drive
-cheap housing
-adequate jobs, $12/hr
-near CO, NV, ID, WY easily

Seattle = housing

$450/mo for this + 2 crazy roommates

Oregon = same price as CO

so might as well go to CO if you have to pay anyway

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You Know How I Never Do Anything the Easy Way?

Well, this time maybe I’ll read the signs ahead of time and try things an easier way.  Maybe it’s not my initial plan.  Maybe it won’t be my optimal timeline.  And maybe things won’t end up as perfectly as I imagined.

But big changes are afoot.  Since I looked into Colorado’s cost of living I’ve been in a state of shock and panic.  We are already financially behind by thousands of dollars a year out.  And I see no easy way to remedy that.  Old me would buckle down, push harder and make it happen anyway.  Because I have an ability to dedicate myself and persevere.  But then I stopped for a second and thought–what’s the rush?  There’s no reason we have to struggle around to make Colorado happen NOW.  Why not wait and do it properly?  After all, I was supposed to LOVE Seattle, but my financial situation precluded that and now I hate the thought of living there.

So without making any decisions either way Cool and I just opened our minds and broadened our search (I’m proud of us!).  We looked at the school locations, housing costs, job pay and prospects, then I looked into the AuD programs.

Here’s what I like about CO:  What don’t I like about it would be easier (distance from HERE and cost of housing).  I love most everything else.  It’s in the state we want to eventually live in.  I love that the AuD program has educational and clinical internships in addition to the externship.  Bears are a super-cool mascot (hey, it’s not right, but this stuff matters to me).  I have been studying this program and application process for over a year and am comfortable with it.  Again, it’s in Colorado.

 

Seattle:  We’ve been down that road, and even though Cool (and her mom) would be in heaven (Cool thinks, she forgets about being poor and the crummy frat-house situation that necessitates) I would HATE it.  Again.

Oregon:  Very close move, but just as expensive housing as CO–so we might as well still go to CO.

Idaho:  Also really close move (and beautiful area and cool mascot), but despite cheap housing paultry amount of low-paying jobs.  Cool didn’t love that.  And which we knew about Idaho already.  Also a less than optimal situation where AuD students go from Pocatello 3.5 hours away to Boise after the 2nd year of school.  That’s two moves, another apartment to find, and another job to secure.  Even with the cheapest tuition of the bunch, and best grants/loans–that’s pretty rough.

CA:  expensive.  Obviously.

TX:  No.  Even though I like Austin, Cool vetoes crazy-Texas.

 

 

AZ:  Cool hates the politics and I would prefer not to be kidnapped.

 

KS:  We looked as far east as Kansas.  And it’s a real possibility.  For a day we had decided upon it.  KS is cheap housing–AND I know the Kansas City area well.  Because it’s by the city there are a lot of jobs that pay decently.  We would have vet care (Noah’s Ark) and I could even still donate my eggs til I’m 35!!!  Drawbacks–Can you say 22.5 hour drive with cats?  Moving sucks no matter the distance, but this really started to sound sucky, and I said I would never make that drive again.  Plus, we’re over-shooting our eventual goal of CO by 8 hours.  And I would be a little sad inside to have to join my alma mater’s rival school and become *gasp* a Jayhawk.  Oh, and no WICHE deal means paying spendy out-of-state tuition.  Again.

UT:  Utah is only a 10 hour drive from HERE.  That’s one long day or two really easy ones.  It’s also in close proximity to Colorado (4-8 hours), WY, ID, and NV (8 easy hours from my parents and storage unit).  The housing is the same or cheaper then here, and jobs were widely available and require NO commute.  Salt Lake City is maybe the only place that housing, school, AND jobs were within the same place.  The weather is similar to Nevada, and requires no 4×4, sowe wouldn’t have to worry about selling the HHR and buying a 4×4 while we’re planning everything else.  There is still the recreation of CO (well almost as good).  There is the added bonus of many professional sports teams.  Oh, and randomly I guess Salt Lake City is a gay mecca?  Not that we’re social butterflies, but it would be nice not to be murdered.  . .  I’m having a difficult time finding out much about my program, and think I’ll have to *shudder* make a phone call.  But it appears to have a class size between 5-8.  Oh and a really lame mascot–the Swoops?  To mean a falcon.  Which I wonder why they just didn’t go with falcons, because that’s much cooler than a shape.  I saw feathers on the logo and suspected P.C. rebranding, then looked into it and saw UU used to be the Utes.  Which is awesome, but only for the home school–you can’t have rival teams shouting “kill the Utes” and other such slander.  And their color is red–which I hate and I think goes back to some redskins slur.  But the mascot isn’t super-important.  Right?  That’s what I’m trying to convince myself.  I need to find out more about my specific program and the application procedure, that’s what’s important now.

So I think for financial reasons I’m going to be applying to University of Utah.  Which means I have to start over in my program research, but also means we can stress out MUCH less about the move.  And you know what?  Thinking of other options and perhaps finding a better one didn’t hurt at all.  As a matter of fact, I’m more excited, because I’m not about to have a nervous breakdown about money and logistics–just that phone call. . .

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Stripped on the Bus

After a win–strip the clothes off your softball teammate?!  I’m not certain how this tradition would get started, other than complete hostility toward some stigmatized, perhaps minority player.  When I played sports we were all about getting along as a unit.  Sure, some of the girls may have had personality conflicts or fleeting animosities, but nothing that resulted in physical abuse!  Teams are supposed to be just that–a system that works together with trust, and when I was in clogging, track, even cheerleading, we wanted to be a cohesive aggregate.  After spending so much time together, in the classroom, at practice, during games–cliques formed with members of the organization, and those girls became your closest friends.  I don’t understand how a team could turn against one member in this way. . .

I guess they do things differently in Idaho, state with the highest suicide rate in the union.  After a softball game in Potlatch on April 28, 2011, the Kellogg High School players proceeded to bully one of the girls on the team in dramatic fashion.  As she slept, three juniors and seniors pulled every last stitch of clothing off her body as a joke.  The sad part is that kids in any school, and in every state get bullied all the time.  More on this later. . .

The weirdest thing about this incident is it happened on the bus ride back to the home town.  The coach and bus driver were in the front of the bus, and this occurred on the back.  How in the world does nobody take notice of three girls (all under age 18) stripping another girl naked???  There are rumors pictures were taken of the abusive incident.  No other team members stood up for the victimized girl, and only the next day did one member of the team send an anonymous note to the school’s administration.

And the reaction of the superintendent, Sandra Pommerening?  Pretty apathetic in my opinion.  First she explained the negligence of the supervising adults on that bus trip by stating, 1.) “. . .  It was dark and there was road noise.”  Despite administrative apathy, 4.) Kellogg coach Alan Williams, has been placed on paid administrative leave.  As for the guilty players–Pommerening did nothing more than kick the three perpetrators off the softball team. . .  With a mere two games left in the season.  Like, who cares?  Softball season was supposed to wrap up on May 5 anyway–I don’t think missing the last week of a sport is a large enough punishment considering the severity of the offense.  Oh, the other part of this punishment?  Gasp!  Being banned from attending prom.  They were not expelled from school. . .

The victim’s mother lives in South Dakota and is quoted as saying, 4.) “They crossed the line – tearing her underwear off her body?  I don’t want to ruin these girls’ lives – I want them to have bright futures but they need to be taught a lesson … I think charges should be filed.”  Ummm, yeah–I think so too.  As do a lot of citizens in Idaho that are outraged over the incident.

After an investigation, Kootenai County police recommended hazing and battery charges for the three bullies on the team.  Though I’m happy SOMEBODY is doing something meaningful, In Idaho, battery only carries a maximum fine of $1,000 or no more than 6 months of jail time–unless of course, the victim is pregnant in which case the justice is more severe.  2.) Pommerening thought the punishment they had already received was just.   3.) All the same, pressure from outsiders was so intense, that the school is changing their bullying policy.  There will be sensitivity seminars for adults in charge, and a zero-tolerance attitude suggested for bullies.

These three girls, the softball coach, the superintendent, other players who watched, but didn’t intervene, and others who hand a hand in the abuse or at the very least, didn’t lift a finger to discontinue bullying need to become an example.  The consequences of this unfortunate incident should be harsh to convey that this category of discrimination and cruelty are no longer acceptable in our schools.  Any minority can easily fall victim to abuse from other students.  LGBT youth are especially in perile.  As people, we need to stand up and let these bullies know this antisocial behavior will not be tolerated.  It is unacceptable that these mean kids get away with tourturing their classmates.  School should be a safe place–for all.

4.)  http://www.shoshonenewspress.com/news/article_593b4348-7fdd-11e0-b28f-001cc4c03286.html

3.)  http://www.krem.com/news/Kellogg-changes-bullying-policy-after-students-strip-girl-on-bus-122197854.html

2.) http://silvervalley.kxly.com/news/crime/kootenai-county-sheriff-recommending-charges-kellogg-bus-incident/46316

1.)  http://www.kxly.com/news/27846232/detail.html