We’ll we’ve finally made it to the final destination here in Portland. The house is beautiful and the trip was incredible. Staying at Ray’s was a real treat. Him and Judy were wonderful hosts and it was really great getting to know a part of the family that I’ve never really had the chance to get to know. We’ve invited them to come out to Portland to visit and hope they do. In the mean time though, we’re just trying to get settled and are waiting for the rest of our belongings to arrive.
We were expecting to get the rest of our things shipped and delivered tomorrow (Tuesday), but apparently the truck is “running late” and we won’t be recieving anything until Thursday! We’re both pretty annoyed. The company we’re having move us out is called U-Pack, which for the most part up until now has really been great to work with. They’re far less expensive than renting a U-Haul and the customer service (for the most part) has been great. However… when our crate was being dropped off, it was hours late. They dropped it off late into the afternoon when it had been scheduled to be delivered in morning. Now, after we’ve been given an “estimated” transit time of four days, they’re saying it won’t be delivered until 6 days after it was picked up from our apartment in Minneaolis. I understand this is an estimated delivery time, but you must admit, that when you’re end product is 150% of what your estimate was, that’s a pretty shitty estimate. When I spoke to someone on the phone today, they suggested calling again tomorrow for a mor accurate delivery time. Basically my plan is to call “bull shit” with the intent of getting a discounted rate. After all, if they underdeliver I should be allowed to underpay, right?
Oh, and there’s some lady that works at the Portland office that really sucks. I’m not sure if this was her first day, or if she woke up to wetting the bed this morning or what, but she sucked. Laura called, and the lady she spoke to was immeately annoyed. She was flustered because she was having trouble finding our order record. She then proceed to accuse Laura of not having paid our bill yet. Which we haven’t, because you don’t pay your bill until the shippment is delivered. Why she was having trouble with that, I have no idea. She then proceeded to tell Laura how she needs to be sure there is a 40 ft clearance for the truck to deliver the crate. Why did feel the need to tell Laura this? I have no idea. It was like she kept trying to solve some sort of problem that wasn’t there. She must have voted for Bush. So, one last time, she sucked… and wets the bed.
So, for now, U-Pack sucks. Tomorrow, may change that opinion a little, but they definitely won’t be getting my 100% endorsement, pretty much all because of one useless bedwetter.
Again, I must appologize for a complete lack of pictures. Cords and business for getting stuff from the camera to the computer are currently in the possetion of U-Pack. Upon their arrival I will post pictures immediately.
Sorry for the lameness of these photos. They’re the only shots I’ve taken with my phone recently, and I can’t get pictures off our camera because all of the cords and business are packed away. I promise “much awesomer” pictures soon, but for now these will have to do.
The first blue sky in a while.
Laura and Thomas napping.
The clouded Sun.
An amazing sunset driving to Bozeman, MT.
Sunset #2
Today, we went down to Yellowstone for a day trip with Ray. It was pretty amazing. The drive down from Bozeman is about an hour or so, and it’s incredible how nice an hour drive can be when you’ve got such amazing scenery around you. The mountains are spectacular around here, but also for most of the way up there were this beautiful streams running along the road. The streams were running through the snow, half frozen, with these amazing shades of blues. Really a wonderful drive.
Yellowstone was pretty incredible as well. There was an amazing amount of wildlife. We saw bison, mule deer, elk, coyotes, bird and eagles. Really beautiful animals. We also so these hot springs, the Mammoth Hot Spring (I believe?), that were really out of this world. It was like we were on Mars or something. There are these pools of water coming through all of the snow and ice and steaming from the heat they produce. Seriously you could feel the temperature change from different parts of the path depending on how close you were to the water. I really need to post pictures. It was great to be able to hang out with Ray for the day. He really does know a great deal about Yellowstone and Montana and has been the perfect guide for our trip. It amazes me how much her reminds me of my dad and other Zimney men in the family. Laura pointed out how much we all talk with our hands. Not just gestures, but the way the gestures are made. I guess we curl our fingers a lot when we gesture. Pretty neat to witness the family traits so externally like that.
Tonight we finally got to see Biz and met Judy’s son Chris. It’s been great catching up with this part of the family. I feel like due to the age differences (Ray is maybe 8 years older than my dad(?); biz is 11 years older than me), but I feel like the age differences along with locations has really put a rift in seeing these guys very often. I’ve honestly never really had a relationship with them at all. So, it’s really nice to be able to take this time to put some effort towards becoming a closer family.
Okay… I need to sleep now. Barely staying awake as I write this.
Today (actually yesterday) we drove for about 12 hours (from Alexandria, MN to Bozeman, MT), which concluded with an amazing sunset and our arrival at Ray and Judy’s place here in Bozeman. It’s a wonderful home tucked back in the woods of the mountains. I have some pictures be no way of getting them from the camera to my computer right now.
So I’m guessing some of you may be checking the blog to see how Laura’s and my trip out west is going. I’m hoping to get a post in everyday. If you’re looking for some more frequent updates I suggest following me on Twitter. I have the my last 5 updates being posted to the right of my blog on this page, but if you’re looking for more, go to Twitter. I’m trying to send as many updates as I can on there. Enjoy.
Well we’re finishing up day 1 of our journey westward right now, and I’ve gotta say, moving is f***ing exhausting. We’ve been up since 8am and we’re only 2 hours from Minneapolis, but today was more full than the past week. The biggest event, of course, being the packing. My entire body is sore as hell. My feet, my knees, my thighs, my elbows, my hands… damn.
Most of the day was spent in packing up the remainder of our things and moving them downstairs and into our “Cube” in the alley. Our “cube” is basically this 6′ x 7′ x 8′ crate that we’re having shipped (I believe by truck) out to Portland with all of our stuff. And I do mean ALL of our stuff… or at least most all of it. We definitely filled the thing pretty damn near full today, excluding some cloths and things like that we packed in the car (which definitely still would have fit in the “cube”. Throughout the day we had a fair amount of help from Kate and Mike, my Mom and Molly, who were all a great deal of help. My mom brought chili over for lunch which was especially fantastic. All in all we worked for a good 8 hours just finishing packing things into boxes and hauling them down to the cube. Around 5:30 I called U-Pack (our movers) to pick up the cube, thinking it wouldn’t get picked up until the next day, and within about 30 minutes it was gone. It was a little unsettling seeing it gone, but relieving to know it was on it’s way.
Finally, we started cleaning up the apartment, which is one of the worst activities to do after you’ve been busting your ass hauling stuff around all day. We eventually got to the point where we just said “fcuk it”, packed the remainder of our things into the car and hit the road. I think we ended up leaving around 8 or 9pm, which was fine. The plan for leaving tonight was just to shave off a few hours of travel for the trip tomorrow. The goal for tomorrow is Bozeman, MT where my Uncle Ray and Cousin Biz live. Bozeman is about 13 hours from Minneapolis, and we’re figuring the difference between 10 and 13 hours is work the night drive. Besides, all of our stuff is packed up so we would have wound up sleeping on the floor of our apartment anyway.
So here we are, in room 133 of the Super 8 Motel in Alexandria, MN, so exhausted it hurts to think that I need stand up again to take my much needed shower. Very excited for bed, and very excited for the remainder of this trip. Can you guess how many times I’ve written “remainder” in this blog entry without looking back? Anyway. I need to shower and I need to sleep. More adventures tomorrow.
Billy Mays for Oxi Clean
So I’ve got this shirt right? I love this shirt. Laura’s folks gave it to me for Christmas a year ago, and I’m not exactly sure what the material is, but it’s the most comfortable, warm shirt I’ve ever owned. It’s awesome. And on top of all of this, they don’t make this particular shirt anymore. I know because I tried to buy another but couldn’t. Anyway, when Laura and I took our trip to China, I accidentally left the shirt at my buddy Paul’s place in Beijing. So I’d been without this shirt for about 8 months until Paul was able to bring it back to the States this past holiday season. Super excited to have my shirt back, I wore it immediately, and what happens? I get a super awesome oil stain right on the front of the shirt. Awesome.
So oil stains? I have no idea how to treat any stain, much less a stain as difficult to treat as an oil stain. Oh, and of course I let the stain set. So I tried a few things trying to get the stain out. First just washing it. Then I tried WD-40 (found that online somewhere). Scrubbed with laundry detergent. Nothing got the stain out. Super bumbed. So Laura, being the amazing girlfriend she is, was asking people what they recommended. Sally, my sister-in-law, said that she used the Shout Scrub Brush and added the laundry crystals(?) and then just scrubbed all that business in, and it worked for most everything the kids got into. So last night, we stop by the grocery store and got some Shout Ultra Gel and Oxi Clean. Get home, scrub it all into the stain. Let it sit about 5 minutes (recommended by the Shout directions). Then scrubbed the shirt in the hottest water the tap would produce, and rinsed with cold water. Let it hang dry, and presto! The stain is gone, shirt saved!
Granted I’m not exactly a conisour of cleaning products, and I don’t know if it was the Oxi Clean or the Shout that did it, or both. But the stain is gone, and I’ll probably be using that remedy again in the future. Thank you Laura, Sally, Billy Mays.
So lately Laura and I, mostly I, have been playing a fair amount of Nintendo. I’m not exactly sure what spawned it, but a couple of weeks ago we bought Mario 3, Ramparts, and Double Dragon II. Followed by Tetris, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and one of my all-time favorites, Batman. I think all I really need now is Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Shit’s expensive though.
Anyway, my real reason for this post was an excuse to brag that I just beat Batman. It’s a notoriously difficult game that I believe I’ve only beaten on an emulator, making this my first time really beating the game. Yes I am a dork, and yes I took a couple of pictures. 
That's the Joker on the ground to the left of Batman
Batman proceeds to throw the Joker off the side of the building. Very classy game.
Well yesterday I came to learn that I actually broke my thumb a week ago. The entire was fairly disappointing on multiple levels, but it’s good to finally know what’s wrong with my thumb (which is still sore and I guess will continue for 5-8 weeks).
So yesterday I finally have my visit with the orthopedist after evidently breaking one of my thumb bones over a week ago. Originally, I had gone to the ER the night of the incident (falling on my bike in the slippery snow). The doctor from the ER told me that I hadn’t broken my thumb (disappointing) and that I should call the orthopedist (specialist) to look at it more closely. He then told me that normally it can take a month or two to get in for an appointment but that if I tell them I was in the ER they should be able to get me in within a few days as they normally block off time for “ER victims”. So, the next day I give them a call and talk this lady who I think had dipped into the prescription drugs or something. I told he my situation and she said the earliest I could get in would be Feb 2nd. Well of course this doesn’t work as there is an immediate need to do something about my thumb, in addition to the fact that we’re moving at the end of the month and won’t even be in the state on Feb 2nd. So I politely say that I was in the ER and they told me the orthopedist usually block of some time for people from the ER. From here I think she asked me when I injured my thumb and when I went to the ER (both the previous night) about three times, as it can be very difficult to remember such a complicated date as “yesterday”. She also for some reason had to ask me my birthday about 4 different times. And in the end, when was the earliest I could get in? Oh, yeah. Feb 2nd. Annoyed I hung up and called back about 4 hours later hoping to get a more competent human being on the line. I did and was able to get an appointment for a week (rather than a month) later. My appointment wasn’t within 3 days as the ER doctor said, but good enough.
So then comes my appointment. Basically, I sat in the waiting room for about 45 minutes, followed by waiting in the patient room for about 30 minutes, and then in the very final moments before I was about to walk out the doctor finally came into the room (I had to leave by 1:10pm and the doctor came in at 1:08pm). The five minutes I spent with the doctor we very nice. But it would have been nice if i didn’t have to wait an hour and ten minutes for them to tell me I broke my thumb and to continue doing what I’ve been doing (keeping it in a brace, taking ibuprofen, etc.) Very annoying.
In the end it could have been worse, and it’s finally good to know what’s wrong with me. Still sucks that I’m missing a thumb for the next month or two, but at least it’s not gone forever.