A quick review

We've been in San Francisco for something like six weeks now. It has flown by in some ways, and dragged on slowly in others. During the road trip out and the first two weeks or so here, we were keeping a list of the (debatably) interesting things that we did or encountered, and planned to write about them for all the world to scrutinize/ignore on this fine blog you're reading. But as it turned out, after we finished the posts about the trip, we sort of lost our steam and didn't really write much about our "new life in the city." Instead of continuing to entertain the notion that I will some day share whimsical musings about the things on that list, I thought I'd take a moment now to expunge them from my brain. With new perspective, most of them seem incredibly inane, and I see little point in bantering on at length about them. But part of me is wondering whether sharing this in an abbreviated list form actually makes it even more useless than going on in detail about any of these items, because any significance they may have is only accessible through elaboration. Ironic.

We have acquired a bed, bookshelf, dining table/chairs, and a desk. We are still lacking a couch. And a chimney through which Santa could deliver it, so we're kind of in a bind.


We have explored the surroundings somewhat, and we found a puddle and some weird green stuff that we didn't expect to be in a city.


Random stuff:

• This is the fourth place I've lived in a row where the closest business is a Walgreen's. I think this is a conspiracy to keep me eating their Mediterranean fruit & nut mix.
  
• Kacey seems to have discovered a taste for Indian food. Mild Indian food, anyway.
• There are other people in this city. We have even hung out with some of them.
  
• We are finding life without a microwave to be considerably more agreeable than we would have thought.
  
• We have now attended two ILM parties. Kacey won a puppy at one of them.
• I am growing increasingly accustomed to the night shift. My only remaining hurdle is sleeping while hanging upside down from the ceiling, and I've got a guy coming in tomorrow to install some support scaffolding, so I'm counting that box as half checked already.
• We've been going to Golden Gate Park once or twice a week to do a fitness course there. But the weather's been getting colder and the days shorter, so I think we're going to switch to open water night swimming pretty soon.
  

There are more moving in pictures to behold if you so desire.

That wasn't even a very good list. Man.

Mmmm gibblets . . .

From the outset this Thanksgiving seemed slightly doomed. We hadn't even purchased a dining table until a couple days before the big feast (thank you Aaron from Craigslist, we wish you the best of luck in France!)

We were expecting to include these items on our Thanksgiving menu:

1. hilarity
2. turkey
3. mashpots
4. yambos
5. green beans
6. cranbizzle
7. corn
8. those rolls (you know, the kind made out of bread)

Following the construction of this list, Chris asks, "If we have a turkey that will feed 12-16 people, should we cook enough of each of the other items to feed the same number of humans?" Decidedly so.

On the big day, in addition to waking up late, the pan I bought for the turkey was about a quarter inch too big to fit in the oven, the bird was still frozen when we took it out of the fridge, and in the end, we cooked it about an hour more than it required. But when we finally sat down to eat, our focus shifted from being tired and stressed to being thankful for all the food in front of us, and the opportunity to eat it in an exciting new place together.

During this holiday weekend last year we were attending my grandpa's funeral in Maryland. In retrospect, this Thanksgiving's culinary short-comings were quite trivial in comparison, and although the dinner may have taken place a little late, I am very grateful that my family is doing better and that they could spend this time together.

We re-lived this meal in its entirety for five more dinner cycles and for brunch on occasion as well. Starting today we will be exploring new turkey options such as sandwiches, quesadillas, soups, and more. We hope everyone had a great thanksgiving holiday, and in case you were too busy eating turkey to catch it, here is a link to the best part of thanksgiving 2008 (in my opinion)

oh yeah, and pictures.

Cue Obese Chanteuse

We left Las Vegas around 11am, and proceeded to drive through the Mojave desert. This eventually turned into hills, and we saw a bunch more windmills, which Kacey once again demanded that I photograph. We stopped at a ridiculously windy gas station, where the wind blew the car's gas cap fuel door thing closed repeatedly. EXCITING!

At some point along the way, we realized this was it. There were no more fun stops, no more diversions. We probably should have realized it a lot sooner, but the point was this: we weren't on vacation any more. There was no turning back and driving home to Orlando. Across this unfamiliar land full of new sights, we were driving home. For Kacey, it was a home she hadn't seen before, except for a picture or two on craigslist. I was somewhat worried that she wouldn't like the place I had picked out a few weeks earlier on a trip to San Francisco. But I still had an enormous half of an enormous sandwich to keep me from worrying too much. Alternating comforting bites of turkey, pastrami, coleslaw and rye, I listened intently to election results on NPR as each mile brought us closer to our new home by the Pacific.

Between adjustments to the radio tuner to keep NPR audible, I made a phone call. We arranged to meet our new landlord at the new apartment around the new 9pm, and we arrived in the new city around the new 8:00. Presumably because of the extra hour, Kacey told me that she had developed some sort of instinctual navigational system and wanted to try to find the apartment by feel rather than having me navigate for her. This may very well be the craziest thing she has ever said to me, but I stopped keeping track a long time ago. We ended up in the Castro, San Francisco's most fabulous neighborhood, where there were numerous people celebrating Obama's victory in the streets. The resulting commotion and unexpected pedestrians, combined with my lack of faith in Kacey's mystically acquired navigational skills, transformed her from a small, docile and adorable creature into a 5'3" ball of white hot rage. After about 25 of the most challenging minutes of the trip, we eventually set a course to the new apartment. At about 8:57pm, we reached our new home. Barren, dusty, and with repairs scheduled for the next day, the apartment welcomed us.

We had reached the end. But in many ways, we have reached the beginning. Between jobs, between homes, and between destinations, being on the trip was like existing in limbo. As much fun as we had, the prospect of standing on firm ground again is kind of appealing. Until the earthquakes start.

Saying goodbye and packing everything up in Orlando was like closing a chapter of our lives. Or mine at least; I don't know what kind of crazy stuff goes on in Kacey's head. The trip was full of new experiences, but also reminders of the past and visions of the future. As we begin the next chapter of our lives, we want to say thank you again to everyone who has helped us along the way, whether by taking us in, helping us out, or simply making us smile. We hope to see or talk to all of you again soon, and we hope that you have enjoyed following us on this journey. We've enjoyed sharing it with you.

What manner of zany adventures await our heroes? Find out on the Hav-Wartz blog. You're already on it; just come back in a few days or so and there will probably be something new. Oh, and here's a hint: it's likely to involve working, sleeping, or eating. All of which mean raw, unrestrained adventure and excitement.