sandy eggo

View Larger Map211.3 miles, 3 hours 17 minutes and $37.21 (in gas) later . . . I made it San Diego . . .

and that was two weeks ago. I know, I know. I am alive, and doing quite well, I've just been too busy (in a good way) to post anything.

In a brief recap, Jayna and I moved out of our house on Coronado, celebrating with an end of an era party, complete with beer pong and cake. Amazingly, I was able to fill an entire 5 x 10 u-haul trailer with all my stuff, so in order to experience the joys of dealing with U-haul, we loaded it up and moved most of me into storage in San Diego.  After seeing my life flash before my eyes while learning how to navigate a a tiny Jeep with trailer in tow through the 405 on a Saturday afternoon, I now feel more accomplished in life; though I must give Jayna massive credits for being able to reverse the thing uphill into a tiny narrow driveway.  Then it was back up to Santa Barbara for a fun last week of saying goodbye. Jayna and I laid our first real trail at the Rodeo Hash and then I jumped off the pier at the annual Fiesta Pub Run! Kelly managed to creep back into town and let us distract her from the impending doom of defending her PhD.  I've met some of the best friends I've ever had in my life out here and had some serious goodbyes to say; SB isn't such a bad place after all.

On a Monday morning, with the value of my car increased by around $10K, I filled up my coffee mug and set off.  I held my breath, literally, pretty much turning blue, until I made it past LAX with no traffic(!), then sailing down the 5 all the way here. I think this trip was the closest comparison I'll ever have to driving hummer. Top loading me with 3 bikes and two pairs of skis not only increased my car's net worth, but nearly gave me a heart attack as I was literally watching the gas gauge fall. (Later calculations show that I only dropped from 36 to 28 mpg, but still) Currently in the process of figuring out where to put all my stuff, I'm getting settled in my new house, exploring the area and loving San Diego!

Last weekend, I managed to get people to say goodbye to me a second (or third, or fourth) time, as I flew back up to Santa Barbara to celebrate the becoming of Dr. Kelly and see the band. This seems to be a season for change for many of my loved ones. Kelly decided to reward herself for a successful exodus from grad school by dropping most contact from civilization and biking the Great Divide Route (thats what I thought until I saw her on gchat this evening). You can follow her here via intermittent blogging or their SPOT GPS tracking. Dr. Spike is following me to (or I guess joining me at) UCSD and in future breakfast hunting.  My father will be shortly relocating to the University of Florida, trading one orange and blue team for another; the possible football downgrade and basketball upgrade are topic for conversation.  My sister is taking the first step to becoming Dr. Dewey Woo and is beginning her first year as a vet student at the University of Tennessee. This will now be the second year that I didn't make it out to Starlight*, but my family and their woo's enjoyed it for me; but I am going to venture back to Champaign to bid my hometown farewell.

Lots of stuff going on! In the mean time, I've been filling my plate with research in the CTE lab at UCSD, exploring the area, finding trails to run, planning my next major races, discovering the velodrome, and most importantly discovering the fabulous sunset viewing spots near my house. Pictures are coming soon (I promise)

*Random, but really cool side note, if you click on the Starlight link and look at the google map, under more, there is a photos option.  The photo that comes up for the lake is of the our childhood ice cream place, The Cow Palace.