Welcome to Today.

I have been living retroactively to try and update my blog based on my adventures; however, now that I have completed the act of getting to California, I feel that it is ok to simply jump into life as it is currently occurring. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my current place of residence--I should probably get on that. The apartment I'm living in belongs to Liz Cassel, a Stanford grad student, to whom I was referred by Megan. Liz is in Houston, TX and I am here sleeping in her bed and using her desk and looking at her clock (a photo-montage of pictures of her playing ultimate). The apartment is the bottom half of a residential building located directly on the street. Luckily, it's not a terribly busy street. And, on Sunday mornings, there is a street market with tons of fresh produce and flowers that is a block from me. It's one of my favorite things about living here. My other favorite thing is the kitchen in this place. It's phenomenal. Tiled floor, long, granite countertops, gas stove, and all the amenities like good knives, juicers, blenders, wine stoppers, etc. My roommates know how to live. Oh ya, I live with 2 other Stanford graduate students. I'm not terribly good friends with them. One of them is quite quiet and the other has been gone for the past month teaching in Colorado. But it's great. Except that there is no A/C and it's about 80 degrees in here at 10:30pm. However, comparatively, I hear that 80 is comfy. The people I babysit for woke up at 7am to a temperature of 92 inside their house. Ick!

So, as for the job situation. I moved out here partly because my boss, Becky, from the physical therapy clinic where I was working in Athens, GA moved out to San Jose this past March and offered to get me a job where she's working. That has happened. I'm currently employed by BaySport as a physical therapy aide. I love it. I get to do so much more hands on stuff with patients than I was able to do in GA. It's confirming that I love physical therapy and that it's something that is worth investing in for 3 more years of school. Aside from that I babysit for Becky as well. (Becky, my boss from GA). I used to babysit for her back in Athens when she only had Enzo, but now she has Nolan as well. They are 3 years and 10 months, respectively. I adore them both. Becky picked up some more hours at BaySport with my arrival. So, I commute to work and then to Becky's or to Becky's and then to the office. Or sometimes, Becky will drop the kids off at the office, as happened today, and I take them swimming. This is the BIG benefit of my job at BaySport: it's located within a super swanky gym. I get a free membership. They have 4 tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, a hot tub, 3 weight rooms, a pilates room, a spa, and a café. In other words, I'm getting a pretty good deal. So, sometimes I take the kids to the pool for an hour or so until Chris, Becky's husband, gets off of work. It works well, especially on days like today where is was 105 degrees--and I'm sure it was about 110 in Becky's house.

Starting next week, I'll be working at Starbuck's Coffee as well. I know, I know, I'm working for the man, right? Well, as it turns out, 'the man' offers health benefits for part-time work. That's right, with an average of 20 hours a week, I can get full-time health benefits. Unfortunately, I interviewed and got this job about 3 weeks ago and I'm just starting next week. I went out of town, and now my trainer/manager is out of town, so I wait. The Starbuck's is literally right down the street, about a block and a half away, which will be nice for those few mornings next week when I have to be there at 6am. My eyelids burn just thinking about it. Oh wait, maybe that's the fan blowing semi-cool air at my face. Either way, it's going to be a little rough. Monday will be a good test. I work at Starbuck's from 9-1pm, Becky's from 2-3:15, and BaySport from 3:30-8pm. Plus, it takes about 30 mins to get to Becky's from my place. I hate the commute, it's my least favorite part about where I'm living.

Now, to throw a wrench in all the plans: Megan and I took a little vacation trip up to Seattle last week. Through a series of events, we had free plane tickets up there from Sunday June 29th to Monday July 7th. We took advantage of it. We were also able to stay in Fremont at Megan's friend, Kendall's, house for FREE for the ENTIRE week. It worked out ridiculously well as Kendall was flying east for the next 10 days. We house-sat. Perfect. We also had run of the grill, the car, and some bikes, as well as camping gear. All in all, we had an AMAZING week. I have some pictures. I'll do a whole post on it at some point. But the main point is that I fell in love with Seattle--and so did Megan. I also fell in love with the University of Washington, which could serve me well come this time next year...SO now everything is up in the air. My living situation is up Aug 15th, and I have places to stay through the end of August so I can finish up my jobs, but then my path is unclear. I'm looking at full-time jobs with benefit options in the Bay Area as well as in Seattle--anyone have any connections they want to tell me about? I'm looking to work for the next year and then go to school. I figure the more I can save the better, so that's the plan.

Anyway. I'd love to hear some comments. This is what is going on RIGHT NOW. I know you've all been dying to know, so I feel good finally having posted something current:)

To Cali, the Destination!

Finally, finally, finally, we made our last drive through California to our San Francisco destination. We were both excited about the prospect of being in one place for a few days.
But before actually making it into Cali, we had to pass some construction--the kind that lasts for 13+ miles. Ya, it sucked a little, but we made it through. The drive was beautiful despite the roadwork. I was a little nervous about an orange we had rolling around in the cooler when we finally crossed the border into California at the "Agricultural Stop." Luckily, Megan had her wits about her and we were able to press on.

We came near Davis and decided to stop at some outlets in Vacaville. We went into the Puma outlet, which was tempting, but only slightly damaging on the wallet. And we also went into Bath & Body works, I love their slogan for this lip gloss. I also love the lip gloss, except that it's like $10 a tube...wtf?



Back on the road, Megan was looking sharp in her new Puma hat.








But we were both a little bored. The sunset, however, was captivating and crossing the bay bridge was picturesque. I was so so so excited about my new place of residence:) I only wish I were still near to the water's edge. It's such an amazing feature in San Francisco.

A Night in Reno.

Does this sum up the experience of Reno? It's questionable...Megan and I are still wondering if "Pasties" is REALLY the word that was supposed to be used on this sign. Regardless, we were finally closing on our destination for the evening: Reno. We discussed driving on through to Tahoe, but with the dust storm that took over the afternoon, we decided that we were ready to settle. The dust DID finally clear, and it opened up to be a beautiful sky (see the picture Megan took of the clouds).


















Somewhere along the way, I decided that I couldn't really wait to pee. The rest stops are few and far between in the desert, so we stopped at an "exit" that literally led nowhere. The road stopped after about 30 yards of the exit ramp, so I just pulled off and jumped out. I didn't even turn the car off. However, Megan surprise attacked me with the camera...

Eventually, we made it to Reno and found a Days Inn off the interstate. It was to be our first hotel room together--moderately exciting!!!












So, to celebrate, we did some awesome diving onto the bed and photographed it. If you are able to zoom in on my face in the picture where I'm cross-legged, you will find a Jessica face full of pure fear. What was I scared of? It's unclear. In the first picture of Megan diving, I hope that you will notice her resemblance to Kevin Bacon. I hope you are smiling broadly if not laughing. We had a good time in Reno, all in all:)

From Salt Lake City to Reno

These first two pictures are showing you a lake, The Great Salt Lake. I took these out the window of the car as Megan drove us away from Salt Lake City closer to her home. In the original plan, Robin, Megan, and I were going to do the drive from Salt Lake to San Fran in one day. With only Megan and I, we decided that we might have to split it up into 2 days. Unfortunately, this would mean that we would have to stop at a hotel because we had not planned on a place--partly because we didn't really have a place in mind for the area that we covered. Regardless, everything worked out. Plus, this way, we stopped and examined some of the salt in the salt flats while on our way!
We phoned a friend to learn more about The Great Salt Lake, of course, that friend was Robin. I mean, she's The Great Geographer, we had to call her. Unfortunately, she didn't answer right away. Our curiosity grew: how big is the lake? how big was it when it was at it's largest? is the salt left behind usable? do we eat it? is it a source of income for the area? Megan knew the lake was pretty large. Come to find out it used to be part of Lake Bonneville, which used to cover most of Utah and part of Idaho and Nevada as well. The lake today fluctuates quite a bit due to its shallowness.

The record low is from 1963 when the lake covered 950 square miles and its record high was in 1987 when it spanned 3,300 square miles! On average, the lake covers 1,700 sq miles. The white stuff in this picture isn't the snow we'd been seeing just the previous day--this is salt.








The salt that remains from the lake's evaporated area is used for several things: salt for water softeners, salt licks for livestock, and to melt ice on roads, but not to eat. Any companies that extract salt have to pay royalties to the state of Utah since it owns the lake.








As you drive through the salt flats, also known as playas, it nearly looks like you are driving through a very flat plain that is covered in a thin layer of snow, until you stop or open your car window and realize that it's really f-in' hot. Like desert hot. Here, there was a structure, some kind of art sculpture, that Megan and I stopped to see. We didn't stay long because it was hard to adjust to how bright it was, and it was unmanageably HOT.

Playas are ideal places for racing apparently, which makes sense because they seem smooth and flat and there's nothing you could really crash into...however, I still find it a little odd. I would like to witness this racing business.



Interestingly, you can see another kind of "playa" right here in this photo. To me, it looks like I have a "high and tight" haircut. No offense to anyone, but I'm not sure it's a good look for me...
One might also argue that there were a coupla playas in the car that day...ok, this is getting bad. But, in all seriousness, I really like this picture of Megan and I and I'm not quite sure why. I think we are good-looking.













Ok, Pooks, you specifically commented on my potential "west coast elitist" attitude and here I am blogging with a few notes about the differences between driving in the southeast and the west. For one, there are casinos sprinkled across desert lands; this doesn't so much bother me, but the fact that one of them was called "Nugget" (see picture) is a little much.
As for another drawback, sometimes the weather can be entirely unpredictably odd. As we passed through the desert parts of Utah, a dust storm of sorts started. I was driving and all the sudden it got sort of dark. I think Megan was reading some of "On the Road" aloud when I stopped her because of this dust picking up with the wind. It was creepy. That whitish-cloud near the ground is dust being picked up by the wind, and I'm pretty sure that it was 4-5 stories high.


Eventually, it looked like this. Visibility was low, which was pretty creepy after having driven in areas where you can see just about as far as your eye will let you. I'm going to have to do a Part II...

The Second Half of the Trek Begins!

It was somewhat hard to leave Boulder. We'd been there a while, we'd enjoyed some ultimate, we went out a few times...and it was hard for me because Robin decided to head home at this juncture. All in all, it was definitely the best decision. 3 people just wouldn't really fit comfortably in my car with all my stuff. I had tried to pack to make it happen, but with Megan and Robin's stuff on top of mine, it was just too much for the Altima. Megan and I dropped Robin off at the Denver airport and said our goodbyes before hitting the road. The drive north through Coloardo was pretty, for the most part. We drove up into Wyoming a little as well before turning southwest and heading to Megan's hometown of Salt Lake City (the only state capital that is 3 words, mind you).
Megan and I got a little bored, and we didn't phone friends as much as Robin and I had. Instead, Megan taught me the states' song to make me learn to name all the US states. This started as we competed to see who had been to the most states. I won, apparently living in the southeast helps when you can drive through the more boring states...
After the states' song was learned, which took a good hour or so, we quizzed ourselves on state capitals. That was entirely pathetic, especially on my part. Robin would DEFINITELY have been ashamed. I was suddenly glad for her not to have been present. I needed (still need more) time to hone my skills...


The scenery remained quite pleasing and we even saw snow!

That night we stayed in one of Megan's high school teacher's homes. She was out of town so we had the place to ourselves. It was an adorable house! Megan drove me around the city, took me to her favorite brewery for dinner, and then drove us up to a high point for a view and down to the Temple at the center of the city. We had an incredible time, but we failed entirely on the photo-front.

A (couple of) Night(s) Out on the Town

Of course, I need to mention the fabulous hostess that housed us while we stayed planted in Boulder for 6 days: Jenni. As a prologue, I guess I should explain that Jenni was a connection that Robin had through her brother; he had lived with her while he did a program in Miami, Fl, where Jenni used to live. When Robin knew we were going to be staying a few days in Boulder, she contacted Jenni. She was more than happy to put us up--even though we were going to be inhabiting the area for quite some time. Jenni is slightly shorter than Robin:)

The first afternoon that Robin and I arrived in Boulder was nearly comical for the way in which we met Jenni. Jenni is a sexologist who was going to be at work until later in the evening, so Robin and I scoped out a pub and ordered some appetizers and drinks and settled in with our books for a little while. Soon we got the call that it was time to meet our hostess. We were led to a commercial strip's parking lot. Once there, we were told to wait in the dark lot for Jenni who would arrive via bike. We waited and waited. We went into the dollar store and got some toothpaste, and finally, as we were sketchily loitering around my car, we saw a biker approach us. We waved and Robin called out to her--indeed it was our dear hostess. She met us at the car and was disappointed to find that I did not have a bike rack at the ready. Instead we would follow her to her apartment in the car as she biked. It worked well, for the most part. Unfortunately, the drive to her place was largely a slow incline, which was a workout for her and a particularly slow drive for us. Robin tried to conversate with her along the way, but this only seemed to further her breathlessness from the hill. Jenni was quite the character, and the time spent at her place was mostly enjoyable--except that she has cats (or her roommates do) and Robin and Megan are both quite allergic...suckers. Luckily, by this point in the trip I was accustomed to Robin's morning routine of nasal spray. Some people wake up to birds singing, I would start my morning with some Bino snorts. I have a video that I will have to figure out how to upload...ok, it should appear here:
Hilarious, no? I mean, she's cute even while performing a nasal spray demonstration. Jerry's a lucky guy.

We went out a few times with Jenni and her boyfriend and one night we managed to take some pictures and also put ourselves in some hanging basket holders (?). Robin, of course, looks absolutely adorable:) Megan and I chose more awkward poses...

































Aren't these photos just so lovely?!












We also went out on the town with the infamous, I'm sorry, famous Adrienne Tecza. Here, she is pictured riding a mechanical bull. There were also scantily clad women walking around offering Jose Cuervo shots for yelling people. We yelled, we took some shots, AND THEN we got FREE stuff like cool tank tops and wristbands that say Jose Cuervo. Beat that.













Adrienne also convinced these guys to make as though they were kissing her on each cheek, nice trick. This was yet another night out. We went out with Jill Simmerman from UNC Chapel Hill, one of our rivals this year who beat us as we struggled for that second place spot at Regionals, which would advance us to Nationals. Whatevs, they had to get up and warm up and play; we got to sit in the sun and enjoy the scenery:) Oh and in this picture, don't mind that slightly creepy little girl in the front left who was attempting to shoot us with her "gun." That was all part of the Boulder weirdness that was amazing.

The Nationals.

Robin and I arrived in Boulder, and the next day I went to pick up Megan from the Denver airport. Together, the three of went to enjoy the UPA College National Championship! In this first photo, one of the vendors had set up a dress-up photo booth. I rocked the tie for the rest of the day while watching several games.

Erin Mordecai, Robin and my former teammate from the UGA Hodawgs, moved out to Santa Barbara for grad school in theoretical ecology and joined their team--the Burning Skirts. Last year, the Skirts were in finals vs. Stanford and, as I mentioned previously, Megan's team, Superfly, managed to capture the National title. This year the Skirts battled on again. They qualified for Nationals, unlike Stanford (sorry, Megan, I had to add this) and by the end of the second day of play, they found themselves on top yet again. For this tournament there are 3 days of play. 1 day of pool play, 1 day of quarters and semis, and a third day just for finals. So Erin anxiously awaited her 3rd day of play at the Nationals.

This is Robin and I with Erin, but I was trying to hide the Burning Skirts logo so she could pretend to be a Hodawg again for a second.

Some of the fans for the men's teams are REALLY obnoxious and die-hard. Think UGA football fans or Red Sox baseball fans, the Ultimate equivalent is the fan contingent for the Wisconsin Hodags. Unfortunately for us, the UGA Hodawgs, people constantly seem to get the names confused. However, Hodag is pronounced phonetically and if you want to sound like the fans, you have to add in the mid-western "daahg." We managed to sit in the midst of them for the men's final, a game between Wisconsin and Florida. The Wisconsin victory meant that we were in joyous company.

This exchange of expression between Megan and I happens quite a bit. Robin managed to catch it on film/card (I mean, it was a digital camera). Love it.
















All in all, Nationals was highly enjoyable. Unfortunately, the Burning Skirts were defeated by UBC, the University of British Columbia. In case you don't know, that's in CANADA. Since when did the NATIONAL Championship include Canadians? The Skirts are technically the best college women's team in the Nation, good work, Buddy!