November 2016 – Page 3 – Life in the Cheese Drawer

day 3: the OCEAN

November 9, 2016 kate Comments 1 comment

it’s so BRIGHT here. all the time! it’s pretty weird.
today after facing some ugly truths, jane and i hopped in the convertible and headed as far west as we could. after driving on narrow lanes once again (seriously – not sure what’s up with the narrow traffic lanes around here [but dang if these peeps don’t keep a great amount of following distance! love it]), we finally came around a bend and saw the pacific! that’s a big piece of water.
after hanging out on hwy 101 for a bit, we were able to get off onto the pacific coast highway (hwy 1). we immediately found a pull off and went to the beach to dip our toes in the chilly water and pick up some rocks and shells. jane didn’t roll her pants up high enough and got wet pants at least three times.
then we took off northward on the PCH/101, landing in santa barbara, where we parked the car and took a stroll on the beach (where we saw a creepy, really tanned old dude in a speedo who should’ve taken a dip in the cold ocean), then walked out to stern’s wharf.
at that point, it suddenly got super hot. jane was using the ladies and i stood in the shade, where i sweated from just being. i also awkwardly chatted with a guy in steampunk gear who had his cat on a leash (the cat was cool).
after saying goodbye to the cat, we had drinks and lunch at a restaurant (moby dick’s) out on the wharf, overlooking a harbor and the palm trees of santa barbara. i’d definitely recommend SB if you want to just hang out in a smaller town with a beach and typical tropical atmosphere. lots of palm trees, giant beach, constant sun.
then we left and drove back down 101, hooking up with hwy 1 again via a weird, roundabout, interstate farmland area (seriously, weird farming stuff here). we drove through malibu and saw a ton of fancypants houses that we wouldn’t be able to pay taxes on, let alone buy. i think i saw ellen degeneres’ house! j/k i don’t know if i did, but i’m sure i saw the house of someone famous!
then we went to santa monica pier, where we had surprisingly easy and CHEAP access to parking (seriously, $6 for parking; i thought it was going to be $20). headed out on the pier and looked at a bunch of tacky stuff, picked up a couple souvenirs, then watched the sunset off the pier, along with every other person on the pier at the time. got some great pics, though!
we got back to the hotel by backtracking a bit because the timing was pretty horrible due to rush hour. we drove through topanga canyon and were surprised at the end of it by a GREAT overlook of LA at night. after half an hour of windy, 20-mph driving, it was worth it. it’d be fun to see that during the day too.
instead of taking the freeway to our hotel, we decided to drive ventura boulevard for 11 miles to our hotel. it was CONSTANT COMMERCE. just weird. saw a lot of porn shops (one with a giant, stuffed penis for sale in the window), psychics, sushi shops, then walgreens, target, pier one, then fancy restaurants, organic pet food stores, yoga studios, then a mcdonald’s, trader joe’s, michael’s craft store, then a store dedicated entirely lightbulbs, chandelier stores, etc. etc. and all the time, traffic was tight with the narrow lanes. i’m not sure how a person is supposed to turn left onto the road.
we got through ventura, then jane made her only navigational mistake of the day. we were turning right into the hotel, and it was coming up, and i said, “it’s coming up. there it is. here it is. turn here. right here. there it is. there it goes.”
then we had to drive around on some side streets, but jane made it.

day 2 of CA – sequoia national park

November 8, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

here’s a picture preview of today’s happenings. it’s 11 p.m. here, 1 a.m. my time, and we just got back from driving all day, so i’m beat. tomorrow morning i’ll try to edit my written account!
EDIT:
after waking up again at 6 a.m., we decided to call hertz to see if we could get our car rental early – YES. hertz is only 3/4 of a mile from the hotel, so jane and i hoofed it over there. TRAFFIC EVERYWHERE.
we walked past a super-long election line, which is really disconcerting. then we walked along a less busy side street that both of us decided we wouldn’t walk during the dark, saw a lemon tree that i wanted to raid, and then smelled some marijuana on the other side of a tall yard fence-like thingy (we wanted to join).
got to hertz for our mustang convertible! took off and navigated LA traffic (surprisingly like st cloud traffic in town except for narrower lanes). (freeway traffic is much nicer than cities traffic – longer following distances, but narrower lanes.)
we went over a mountain, and then entered the land of haze. i felt like i should’ve been entering a post-apocalyptic movie set or something. it was the bottom of the san joaquin valley, so there were a lot of orange groves, some very large solar panel farms, maybe olives, and a whole bunch of FLAT, HAZY land. we think there were some pretty mountains in the distance, but we could barely see past our noses.
we started climbing out of haze-land and into the sierra nevada. stopped at a dam to check out the water levels (not good). then headed to sequoia for a 4-hr jaunt up over and down a mountain.
up the mountain was pretty boring – not a lot goin on besides some mountain-esque scenery. we were there for the big trees! shrubbery just wasn’t doing much for us. lots of switchbacks and slow driving on the way up, and it was pretty warm. we DID lower our car top down after entering the park, so we got to have some convertible fun!
then suddenly, TREES!!! sequoias only thrive in a certain elevation level, moisture, and temperature, and that western slope of the sierra nevada is the only place in the world that hosts the big trees.
it was great – we were driving, and suddenly i felt like i was in the black hills (with more slope-y-ness) because it SMELLED like the hills – the great pine smell you get from sitting amidst many tall pines. the temp also dropped about 20º, so we stopped and pulled out our sweatshirts.
and the trees were HUUUUGE. like incomprehensible huge. it took the entire frame of my wide-angle to get a shot.
we stopped at the big forest museum, which used to be a market, gas station, hotel, etc., but they are doing all they can to return the forest to the trees. they’re also working on doing prescribed burns after a century of suppressing forest fires (NOT GOOD, as we’ve seen in the black hills) we learned a lot about the trees, got to take a short walk and some pics with trees.
then we drove on to see general sherman, the largest tree by volume in the world. ginormous! jane thought this was the tree you could drive through, but that’s a redwood way up the coast that we won’t be seeing. but, we walked down a hill to see the giant tree, then took some pics, and hauled our butts up the hill (ugh, quite a haul, too).
slowly descended down the mountain just as the sun was setting, so we got some stellar mountainous sunset pics. finally got too cold for the top to be down, so it was up with the convertible top. we left the park at a more northerly location, so our drive back was a different route through the land of haze.
and good grief, did it stink. i’m not sure if it was biowaste or we were driving through some livestock land, but gag city. wow. still felt (and now smelled) like a post-apocolyptic movie come to life.
stopped at in-n-out (not impressed), and three hours later made our way back to our hotel.
PASSED OUT. wow. what a day!

awesome (almost) day 1 of fun

November 7, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

DAY 1: universal studios and WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER.
after 9 hours of sleep, i woke up at 6 a.m. bright eyed and bushy tailed. after lolling about in bed for half an hour, jane and i leisurely got ready to leave at 8:30 for universal (the park opened at 9).
let me tell you, if you want to be in the happiest place on earth and not deal with screaming 6 year olds all day, universal is the place to be (so sayeth jane). there were kids, yes, but there were a LOT of adults there. we were sipping our butterbeer, and a woman in her 50s ran over to do this interactive thing. teenagers, 20-somethings, 30- 40- 50- : everyone was super excited to be there. as for jane and me, we could’ve lived in hogsmeade!

our first stop was for butterbeer, which was DELICIOUS. had to get the commemorative mug while we were there (i asked how much it was, then shook my head and said who cares how much it is? i’ll still get it! [it was $11 w/butterbeer]).

we took a look through dervish and banges, the owlery, honeydukes, filch’s emporium, zonko’s, etc. etc! didn’t get fitted for a wand, but stopped at ollivander’s and got a wand! hermione’s my spirit animal, and her wand has leaves on it, so i got hers.

lots of HP gear for sale in HP world, and we wanted one of everything. fyi, you can get gryffindor’s sword for $200, displayed on a fancy wooden plaque. there was also a set of bookends that i kind of wanted but couldn’t justify spending $100 on.
after a once through, we took a walk through the lower lot, which included the jurassic park ride. ended up taking three VERY LONG escalators, along with a pitstop for a scenic overlook along the way.

jane was super excited for jurassic park.

we went to the three broomsticks for lunch! i had fish n chips and jane had bangers and mash, and we shared a pumpkin fizz (which tasted deliciously like fall and almost christmas and sitting in a pile of leaves) and a chocolate trifle (it was good except for the chocolate block on the top).

then another run through HP before heading to the rest of the park to check it out.

then i made the vital mistake of the day. i decided to risk going on a ride sans dramamine. NOT GOOD. except, the lead up was good. we got to see the inside of hogwarts!

then we went on the ride, which gave me serious motion sickness. about halfway through i thought, “i have made a terrible mistake,” and i focused on breathing. i didn’t have my eyes open at all during that ride. got off and was about ready to start dry heaving in the little witches’ room.
so, jane and i spent the next hour and a half sitting at a table at the hog’s head, jane drinking a beer and me wondering what i did to deserve this horrible feeling. thank goodness it was one of the last things we did.
we finished up some shopping we had to do in HP world, then we caught the 5:15 trolley to the hotel. i was totally impressed at how much time we spent there! even though two hours of it was spent with me looking green (and feeling like a dementer’s kiss).

definitely want to come back! would even consider braving florida to see daigon alley!

…so…tired

November 6, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

between getting up early to catch a plane, the hour extra sleep, and the extra hours fro traveling to LA today, i’m about ready to pass out and it’s only 6pm. i’m hoping to have some more exciting blog posts tomorrow.

EDIT: jane isn’t letting me get away with this short post 🙁
so our flight was almost delayed but then the delay was canceled. yay! there weren’t many people on the flight, and we got the entire row to ourselves. jane enjoyed an in-flight mimosa, and we found the caribou too late for breakfast, unfortunately.
our shuttle to the hotel was quite the experience. *eyeroll*. we got picked up about 1:30 and finally left the airport area a little over two. two hours later, we finally got OUT of the shuttle. there was an annoying native lady who was in the shuttle telling everyone where they should go, and she was directing the shuttle driver even though the driver knew what she was doing. there was also a sick kid in the shuttle, so if i get sick this week, i blame him. 😐
BUT the hotel looks good! there are couches next to a fireplace next to the pool! if we weren’t so beat, jane and i might’ve headed out there this evening. heck, we still might. if that happens and i get some pics, i’ll edit again.

the DAPL thing

November 5, 2016 kate Comments 1 comment

i’ve just read about the dakota access pipeline for the past half hour, and here’s what i’ve gleaned from my limited amount of research on this issue, which is probably more than the average person has dedicated to the topic:

the pipeline runs from the bakken oil fields to illinois to an oil refinery, which in theory should keep oil production in the US (a good thing for some people).
the pipeline construction will create a lot of jobs along the way, though very specialized jobs, and not necessarily local to ND, SD, IA, and IL since those specialized jobs tend to not have the average unemployed joe or joette hanging around waiting for them. after construction, the number of permanent jobs the pipeline will create is pretty minimal – i’ve read between 10-30.
the company constructing the pipeline went through the appropriate permitting and awareness process. there were townhalls a couple years ago and the army corps of engineers approved the route*. there was minimal representation from the american indian tribes at these hearings. no one voiced concern. (REALLY – this was the time to do this. not sure why this wasn’t a big deal THEN.)
this pipeline was supposed to go through bismarck, but it ended up veering another way because *ahem* they were afraid of contaminating the capitol’s water if there were ever a spill. (*eyeroll* classic case of not in my backyard.)
*so, the army corps of engineers may have approved this route, BUT, there were treaty laws and architectural remains (burial grounds, etc), that were not taken into consideration, so in effect, the ACE really didn’t follow some laws to get this route approved.
construction started earlier this year, and protests started after people realized that the DAPL would be winding across the missouri river a couple times and over the burial grounds. and it’s just gotten bigger.

i didn’t do much research on the current state of affairs since we seem to be seeing that daily on our news feeds and through friends. here’s my take on that:

keep these protests peaceful and LEGAL! from what i can tell, this is heading into violent and taking over private property, etc. if you want your concerns to be heard, you need to practice your first amendment right to assemble in a legal manner.
speaking of legalities, why no one attended any of the hearings a few years ago when permitting was happening is beyond me. this is why people should be aware of what’s going on your communities.
i don’t know what is going on with the army corps of engineers, but you’d think that a federal agency would figure pipeline construction that will ultimately engage eminent domain should follow all laws, especially when it goes over treaty land. they should’ve been on the ball with that one, and president obama has ordered to figure out what’s going on. i think a lot of blame (if you can call it that) lies on them.
remember the locals – there are local american indians who are sick of the protests. make sure to take them into account.
WATER IS PRECIOUS – in years to come, water will be more valuable than oil, especially if we keep placing possible environmental risks near it. also, my boss made a valid point the other day: there are pipelines carrying crude oil crisscrossing europe right now. but they are infinitely more stable and better constructed. (i can’t find a source on this and i don’t want to spend time to find it; we’ll just have to take her word on this.) we need to get on the bandwagon and think about how to construct things like this so that spills are very, VERY rare. if they happen at all. none of this lowest bidder crap.

BUT ULTIMATELY: if our energy source (oil) can screw up our life source (water) so much by a spill, maybe it’s time to take a look at changing our energy source. also, not only is the pipeline spill a possibility, but oil itself is no saint. i’d rather there be no pipelines anywhere and we all relied on renewable energy or something safer than oil (efficient ethanol sources, for instance, use water themselves – see sugar cane [not corn!!]).
#treehuggerout

itinerary

November 4, 2016 kate Comments 1 comment

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME. heel spur and all.
1. fly out sunday morning with jane! we leave at 10am and should get to our hotel late afternoon. arrival temperature should be in the 70s 😀
2. monday: universal studios and harry potter world! #SOEXCITED
3. pick up rental convertible and either take our drive up the coast or trip to sequoia national park. avoid election day big city stuff.
4. do the other either on our list.
5. free-for-all day – the beach? look at stars’ houses? find an in-in-out?
6. another free-for-all day – maybe the free observatory? hang out at the pool? find a taco truck?
7. we fly back!

story of a foot issue

November 3, 2016 kate Comments 1 comment

ooh, this is going to be SUPER interesting.
*eyeroll*
i am recently outfooted with some stuff to make my heel issues better (and pocketbook less better). maybe 10 years ago or so, plantar fasciitis reared its ugly head in both my heels. i’d roll out of bed in the morning cringing at the knowledge that i’d end up wanting to crawl to the bathroom.
for those who have never experiences PF, imagine a million tiny pins inserting themselves into your heel every time you walked on it. got it? good.
i’d tiptoe, roll to the side of my foot, hop, grab the wall and drag myself out of bed in the mornings, and gradually the pain subsides. but this is a huge pain in the foot! and i dealt with it for a while because it wasn’t life or death.
then i started running, lost some weight, and the PF went away in the left foot. fantastic! still hung around in the right for some reason.
and finally i’d had enough – i was at the point where long mileage running wasn’t unheard of, and the pain in my heel was getting really annoying. so i saw a podiatrist in rochester about the PF.
i have a giant, level 5 heel spur in my right foot (level 5 is the worst). he prescribed custom orthotics (expensive and didn’t do too much). stretching (already doing it with running). icing (already doing it when the foot pain was horrible after running). did this a while and i requested a cortisone shot.
THAT was great. my foot felt awesome, like my other foot. but after about 6 months, it started to have shooting pains up my foot and into my toes. so i went back to the podiatrist, and he immediately gave me another shot, which immediately turned out to be a bad idea.
when you get a shot in your foot, it’s like you’re trying to walk on a giant wad of something, and it’s not a great feeling. the first shot i got, this feeling lasted about a week before it was gone. the second one, it lasted about three weeks, then the effectiveness of the shot lasted another three. (thankfully, my half marathon was in there.)
i’m not sure what happened with that shot, but it was NOT good. so i didn’t got back to that podiatrist.

10951_none — a night splint. in case i wasn’t already a big dork.

this morning i went to the central MN foot and ankle clinic, where i was HOPING to get a nice diagnosis of YES LET’S SAW OFF THAT SPUR! but nope. instead i got more lessons in stretching (yawn), a night splint, a referral to PT, and a high-dose ibuprofin prescription (anti-inflammatory). oh, and the charge to stop running.

>:|

sorry, but the running goes on. i should have told her that i’m not a heel striker when i run, but i didn’t think of it until after i left. but, i am going to stop running for long distances for a while to see if that will help. generally, two miles is fine on the foot, but get up to about 4 miles or farther, and my foot gets pretty aggravated.
so, the foot saga continues. we’ll see how the night splint helps out.

you win this round, olmsted county

November 2, 2016 kate Comments 0 Comment

one of the things rochester has on st cloud? it’s got a lot less hate.
in rochester, there are so many different kinds of people because of the clinic, and they all get along, so it seems.
i remember the first few months in roch wondering what was so weird about the town, and it was because all the people looked incredibly different from each other – even the white people. this was kind of a shock coming from central minnesota, where everyone looks at least vaguely german. features were a lot more sharp, pointed, almost severe in rochester. and it was nothing to be at any given store and here a different language come out of a white person’s mouth.
there is quite a mix of different people down there, instead of one or two large ethnic groups in addition to the white people. a lot of students at the college were west african-americans, and there were a few muslim students but they weren’t necessarily somali. a few latinos, a few asian-americans, and it was a healthy mix of peeps.
up here, there’s a large somali population, and the white people don’t like the change in their town. they don’t like change in general. and this is big change.
so because of the somali civil war that’s been going on for decades, refugees went to camps, then there was a deal struck with catholic charities to place somali refugees when they were legally able to come to the US. CC has an office in st. paul and one in st. cloud. so a lot of them end up here. and a lot of the conservative curmudgeons wail and screech about welfare and their taxes. i tend to think they’re using this “fiscally responsible” excuse as a front for their racism, but that’s just me.
what’s really disgusting is reading the comments on the local news outlets’ facebook posts and page comments. it really shows how backwards and selfish a lot of people in this area are.
good thing it has a lot of lakes and it looks good. haha
anyway, last week’s “this american life” talks about divides within the republican party, and the issue of immigration came up. at this point, i was somewhat interested. then the interviewer started talking about st. stinking cloud. what?? i haven’t finished the whole episode yet, but at LEAST 30 minutes of it focus on the somali hatred up here and it’s REALLY interesting. i recommend listening to it.
so, yes, olmsted county, you win the hate round. two points to you (non-parking lot traffic and less hate).

WELCOME TO KABLPOMO 2016

November 1, 2016 kate Comments 2 comments

…where we’re still not sure what’s going on!
here’s what i do know: starting sunday, nov. 6, i’ll be blogging about being in california. there will be harry potter stuff, ocean stuff, beach stuff, foodstuffs, national park stuff, and generally a lot of stuff that you don’t see here on a regular basis. so at least you’re certain of what’s happening during one week of kablpomo.
other than that, it could be a free for all! the disney movie idea is just too time consuming. maybe it’ll be life post-move? politiblog on steroids? central MN wanderings? catblog? pintertest again?
but here’s what else i know:
last year, kablpomo was focused on charlie because of his accident. this year? the boy is alive and kicking, so there will be no sadness! *thumbs up*
so far the general consensus has been that 2016 has sucked. let’s try to make it less sucky with some decent blogging! and if you have any ideas, post them and i’ll take them into consideration!

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30