#33 - one more sleep 'till christmas

After two long days of driving, we finally arrived! Christmas with my sister and her family in Colorado instantly made the strenuous trip worth every minute. Merry Christmas everyone!!

#32 - clothes make the man

I was finishing up my Christmas shopping yesterday, and in doing so, walked around Best Buy. While I was there, I saw a sales rep talking to a woman about external hard drives. I'm guessing he was either just starting his shift or just finishing because he was holding his bright blue "I know things" Best Buy shirt and had on a, normal people, Hurley shirt. I was listening to their conversation and then I realized: I was subconsciously questioning every word out of his mouth; he didn't really know that much about external hard drives... It was because of the shirt. Those blue shirts give them power: "He knows, he's wearing blue." "He must be right, can't you see his shirt?" Even though he was still clearly an employee, the absence of his official uniform made me see him as just some punk guy. Shopping is all a big mind game - and if they look official, I'm a sucker all the way.

#31 - i'll be home for christmas

This year I get to spend Christmas with my whole family (in parts). I'm so excited! Especially that I get to spend so much bonding time with our newest, Chase Matthew. I think that family is what makes Christmas, Christmas. I love you all! Merry Christmas!!

#30 - shout out

Thanks to my friend, Kristal - I have embraced the addition of hyperlinks into my blog. Being all "technological" still makes me feel funny, but I'll just go with it for now. Anyway - love the special blue words with me... click them and enjoy the ease of the hyperlink.

#29 - chance of precipitation: 100%

What an ordeal! I started on my trek home yesterday afternoon and finally made it 27 hours later. I stayed overnight in Ontario, OR (which, by the way, getting a hotel room by my self made me feel very adult) and then left this morning around 8:30 am. Evidently, overnight, the mountain pass received a down pour of snow, because my life flashed before my eyes about 10 times driving through it. First off, before it even started snowing, my windshield wiper broke. Just the one.... the one on the driver's side, of course... just randomly. So, now I'm making my way up the mountain and notice about 100 semi's pulled over on the side of the road putting their chains on. Should I be doing that? Do they know something I don't? Confidence in my driving skills and in my car (and the fact that the roads seemed very do-able still) allowed me to brush the internal question off. Soon, I realized my mistake and was in about a foot of snow. My poor little car was sliding every which way and add to that, the fact that I could not see a thing because of my windshield wiper (unless I leaned over and peered out the passenger side of the windshield).

So now I'm blindly sliding through snow in a blizzard, going about 30 mph. I saw two other cars pulled over to the side and asked the assistance of one very capable looking man and one very old man, to help attach my chains. With no success, I then turned to AAA. [Now I have to add a footnote: Up until this moment, I have idolized AAA as this unknown supreme entity, an all-knowing car superhero company that will come to your rescue whenever you shine the "bat signal". I have previously never needed their services, but strangely looked forward to an opportunity to see their skills in action.... the skills I pay a monthly fee to have at my disposal]. The call was placed. I explained my situation: how I couldn't get the chains on, my wiper was broken so I am driving blind through the pass and now, because I pulled off the road, I think I am stuck in the snow. After explaining where I was located on the highway, the AAA man expounded their actual services to me. "We can't help you put on the chains and we also can't fix your windshield wipers... but we can tow you to safety... well, within a 3 mile radius" "Well, is there a car place within 3 miles? Because my GPS doesn't show that there is anything for at least 20." "Right, so there will be a fee for each additional mile that we need to tow you". BOGUS. That plan was seriously not working for me, and the situation accompanying my now shattered glorified view of AAA forced me to release some anger on this poor customer service representative. "Well, you're a man - can't you just come out here and help me put on my chains?? Or do something!?" "I'm sorry ma'am, that's not one of the services we offer. We can only really tow you out of a ditch if you get stuck." "I see, so I'll just attempt to drive again and in 2 seconds, when I crash into a ditch, I'll be sure to give you a call right away. Thanks a lot!" I have removed AAA from my contacts list and also immediately removed their endorsement sticker off my dashboard. I also pulled over when I saw a cop, hoping he could help me with the same problems, until he also informed me that he could only push me out of the snow, which I was now stuck in since I pulled over for his help. Ironic. With the aid of my brother, texts of support from friends, and payers being sent a million miles a minute, I made it through the pass (about 3 hours later) and onto clearer roads. Thoughts of "this is the end" crept up again while driving through the Portland area through a down pour of rain, again with wipers not working and it starting to get dark. When a car passed me, there was at least 3o seconds where I could see absolutely nothing and just tried to keep my car in line with the break lights in front of me. "Don't they know I can't see anything?!" I guess not. Relieved and alive, I took a hot bath when I got home and am now going to bed. Good luck to all those still on the road. Safe driving!

(PS. the first picture is what the road looked like when my wipers broke, yes it was stuck in that position and the 2nd is my view for about 4 hours... death! But, despite all that, I remained optimistic - I was not going to die in a bad mood.)

#28 - harvey

It is finished. I have officially completed my last final for this semester and I think I skimmed by okay. I finished around 2:00 pm, so for the rest of the day I have been forced to entertain myself. I can usually hold my own pretty good and today, I have become especially creative. I played "house" with myself, home alone; acting out all the parts while I made "everyone" lunch and cleaned the house. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing, but I don't think I ever really grew out of playing "imaginary". I often role play scenes in my head and even get so caught up, that my outward expressions change to reflect the pretend situations. So, if I look, sound, or even behave crazy sometimes, just know that there is a whole other exciting world and life going on inside my head.

#27 - sweet dreams

I'm not saying I have the greatest or the most comfortable bed, but there is something to be said for coming home after a long trip to your own bed. I've got an almost "princess and the pea" set up, with my box-spring, 2 mattresses, down comforter, memory foam mattress pad, and fitted sheet under me and my down comforter on top of me. I slept so well that first night back. I was reading an article recently about sleep positions, and what yours can say about you. For instance, if you sleep on your stomach (or "Freefaller), you are often gregarious and brash, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and you don't like criticism or extreme situations. I am usually a "Foetus" which means I might be seen as tough on the outside but am sensitive at heart. Aw......

Anyway, tell me what kind of sleep personality you are: www.flatseats.com/general/positions.htm