Rough Draft

StreetPilot 2610

I recently purchased the Garmin StreetPilot 2610 Automotive GPS. I have a rather poor sense of direction so it will be a big help to me in getting around California. Lynn's parents have the same model and it has worked well for them. They travel quite a bit going to contra dances.

So far I am pretty pleased with it. I did successfully use the GPS to take Egon to the vet in Cleveland and to get to Setsuna's BBQ. The one problem is that the software used to transfer maps only runs under Windows. I was able to install the software in Virtual PC, but transferring the maps is incredibly slow and most of the time when I'm trying to transfer maps I get an error message after a while saying the GPS is no longer responding. I was able to get maps of Williamsport and Cleveland transferred before my trip. Those maps totaled about 11 MB and took over an hour to complete the transfer. The longest part is the "building index" phase, which doesn't seem to involve actually transferring any data to the GPS but that's when I usually get the not responding error. I'm now trying to get the maps for the Bay Area onto the GPS and it's about 20 MB, but after many hours of trying I haven't been successful. Has anyone out there used the StreetPilot 2610 or another Garmin GPS with Virtual PC?

Final Cleveland Roadtrip

Last Tuesday I took Lynn back to Cleveland after she was here for my party. It was really nice having Lynn at my house for a few days. She met most of my family at graduation, but she hadn't met my Dad yet or Aunt Shawnee and Erica. She also got to meet my dog Missy and Mimi's dog Peaches (who is an awesome, if crazy and easily excitable dog). We didn't really do antyhing extremely exciting while she was here, so hopefully she wasn't too bored. We did make some Orange Julius and I took her to the mall and she found a pair of shorts and a pair of pants that were pretty cheaply on sale (each under $15 I think). Of course we played Dr. Mario a good bit and played badminton a few times. We also ate over at Mimi's on Father's Day. We ate out on the porch and had strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Lynn went in to work in her lab. I walked down to school with her each morning. It's about half an hour walk to campus, but it's a nice walk, it's not hilly or anything. I kept myself occupied in Nord researching cars, reading blogs, talking to Dave when he was around, and visiting Angie in the Fribley area office. Thursday Lynn and I ate lunch at the Winking Lizard with Angie. I hadn't been there before, but we've been meaning to go and have their root beer (which was excellent) and their spinach-artichoke dip. I also ran into Brendan on Thursday and found out he's going to be in San Francisco over the summer, so that was good to find out. Wednesday night when Phil got back from work he, Dana, Lynn, and I went down to Chipotle for dinner. Since their apartment is pretty much right next door to Chipotle, we got "take away" and went back to eat at the apartment. We also ran into Angie at Chipotle so she came back and ate with us until she had to go to a meeting back on campus.

On Friday Dave, Dana, Lynn, and I ate at the Mad Greek which I had never been to before. I had Lamb Curry and it was really good. Originally Dave had sent an email to a bunch of people saying we should eat at Mongolian BBQ as a going away dinner for me since he had a buy one get one free coupon. But Dave never made reservations, and not that many people were interested in eating late or thought it was too expensive so just a smaller group of us ended up going to the Mad Greek. Afterwards, we went back to Angie's dorm and played some Pinochle and then watched a couple episodes of Blind Date (I think because we were all too tired to do anything else). I'd seen part of an episode before, but there are some really strange people on that show. The one guy hit on a least one girl (not his date) at each of the places they went to. I'm not sure if the contestants get to pick where they go on the dates or if the show does but one couple went to this place in their pajamas where they were on this bed with another woman whom he started making out with. Another couple went to a lingerie store where the guy was trying on lingerie. Weird stuff. I have to wonder if anyone actually has a successul date on one of those shows.

A few other things we did during the week. Lynn and I took the cat, Egon, to the vet on Friday since Phil and Dana were at work and Chris was at his mom's. We also stopped by the Cleveland Heights Library since Lynn finished the book she was reading and we went to the Asian bakery to get some delicious coconut buns. Lynn and I also stopped for gelato on the way back from school one of the days. That stuff is so very good, especially the peach.

Saturday was the BBQ at Setsuna's parents lakeside house. There were a lot of people there, some of whom I knew, some I recognized from DDR club or Anime Society, and other's I didn't know at all. It was a really fun time though. A group of us played a game of Chez Geek, and we went swimming in the Lake for a while. Surprisingly the water was not too cold. We walked out along the wall which was rather treacherous as it was slightly under water and slippery and when waves came it was difficult to not get knocked over. We swam for a little bit inside the wall and then decided to venture on the outside of the wall. The main fear with that was that the waves might smack us into the wall, but if you got out far enough, they weren't breaking yet so it wasn't really a problem. That was the first time I had been swimming in a lake and it was pretty fun. Lynn did get a little scratched up on the wall though. After we were done swimming there were hamburgers and brawts being cooked. Lynn and I also cut up half of one of the watermelons, but there weren't too many people that wanted any. We enjoyed it though, even though the watermelons were seedless. After eating Lynn and I joined the game of Apples to Apples. We played for maybe half an hour but there didn't seem to be an rationale behind the way people were judging so after Jacob got back with the DDR pads we went downstairs to play some DDR. After that Lynn and I went out to sit by the dock and watch the sunset by the lake. It was a really pretty scene and I really enjoyed watching and listening to the sounds of the waves. Setsuna's dad also started making a bonfire at that point. We went inside and played a game of Pinochle. Jacob, Lynn, and I played a three handed game while a game of 15 was going on with four other people. Then we went out to roast marshmallows and make smores. Setsuna as been having these BBQs for at least the last 4 years, but this was the first year I really knew her and the first time I've been in Cleveland during the summer at all so it's the first one I've been too. It was lots of fun though and I had a really good time.

Sunday I had to leave to come back home, so that was not a very happy day. Lynn and I did get some frozen custard at the place right by her apartment. Peach was one of their special flavors of the day and it was quite tasty. Finally, after a tearful goodbye I left for home. The weirdest part about getting home then was that it felt empty without Lynn here. Even though she had only been here a few days, having her here felt very natural and it just felt like she belonged here and not like she was just visiting for a few days.

I'm really glad we've gotten to see each other so much since the end of the school year. It's kind of hard though not knowing exactly when the next time we'll see each other is though. Hopefully we can arrange something over Labor Day Weekend. Fortunately, this Internet thing makes it really easy to keep in touch, so even when I'm in California we shouldn't have any problem talking every day. Knowing that makes it ever so slightly easier, but it's nothing compared to spending every day together like we have this last week and a half and the entire spring semester.

Graduation/Going Away Party

I'm a little late in blogging this, but on Saturday June 19th my Mom held a graduation/going away party for me. It was mostly relatives and family friends (people my parents have taught with) and I also went to Clevelanda and brought Lynn back for the party. It was a fun time and my Mom had a really awesome cake made for me. Lynn took this picture of me by the cake:

There was lots of good food at the party, and we played some badminton while Uncle Joe provided amusing commentary. That night after the party Lynn taught me to do a tripod which you can then transfer into a headstand, we demonstrated leg wrestling to Jimmy, and I poorly attempted some cartwheels

In addition to money, I received a mall gift certificate which will be used towards buying the Simpsons 4th Season DVD, a full bedding set, desk organizer, apple shaped post it notes, and 2 cooking pots. Most of the money will be put towards the purchase of the Garmin StreetPilot 2610 GPS which I'll blog more about later.

New Car

When I fly out to California in a week, I'll be looking at buying my first car. I'm looking for something small, gets good gas mileage, and costs about $20000 or less. I'm also planning on keeping the car for 5+ years so reliability is also important. So because I want to keep the car along time and because I don't really know that much about cars, I'm going to get a new car rather than a used one. I don't want to have to deal with something going wrong with used car and then being overcharged for repairs because I don't know what's actually wrong with it.

Right now I'm leaning towards the VW Golf or Jetta. I'm also considering the Honda Civic, Toyota Prius (if I can find one), and the Hyundai Elantra. I really like the feeling of the inside of the Jetta, but the Civic gets better gas mileage and I think generally has less problems than the Jetta. My friend Angie just bought an Elantra and the most enticing thing about that to me is the fact that it has a 5 year bumper to bumper and 10 year powertrain warranty which is longer than the warranty on the other cars. One other plus for the VWs is that they come with a CD/tape player and the tape player will be convenient for connecting my iPod.

Like I said my car knowledge is rather limited, so if anyone has any advice for me on makes/models or advice on negotiating a good deal when I'm actually buying the car please leave a comment.

Belated Harry Potter Update

I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on June 13th. I enjoyed it a lot, though I think 4 was still my favorite of the books. So now I'm anxiously awaiting the 6th book along with all the other Harry Potter fans. In the meantime though, I have lots I can read on MuggleNet and J. K. Rowling's Official Site. Finally, thanks Lynn for letting me borrow the books, I greatly enjoyed them.

I also saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban with Lynn and Jessie last Thursday. It was definitely my favorite of the movies, even though I think it also left the most out from the book which I guess should be expected since it is longer than the other books. I'm really glad I decided to read the books, so thanks Lynn for letting me borrow them.

Completions

Yesterday was rather productive, well, if you consider finishing a book and beating a video game productive. I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and loved it. Fortunately, Lynn gave me the 5th book when I was visiting her so I've already started on that one. I also finally beat Xenosaga yesterday, gametime was 39 hours 29 minutes. Like most video games the story continued making less sense at the end, but I'm looking forward the sequel anyway. I'll probably start playing Kingdom Hearts now as I've been meaning to play that for a while. My brother logged about 60 hours in that game, so it should keep me the rest of the summer since now I rarely sit and play a game for more than an hour at a time.

Cupertino Apartment

I fly out to San Jose on July 8th to begin working at Apple on the 19th. Luckily, I already know where I'll be spending at least my first year in Cupertino. Andrew Jones, another Case graduate, is also now working at Apple. He interned there last summer too. He contacted me about living together and has found a really great looking apartment complex. He has pictures up here and the floorplan (Mystical Window)is availablehere. I'm especially excited by the two floor layout, porch, and built-in washer and dryer as well as the pool, spa, and fitness center. Plus its only 3.5 miles from Apple which will be great for riding my bike to work like I did last summer. So now that I know where I'm living my main task between when I arrive in CA and my start date is to get a car.

Cleveland Trip

Last Thursday I drove up to Cleveland to visit Lynn for a few days. Even though it had only been a couple weeks since I last saw her, I was really excited to see her again and we had lots of fun while I was visiting. Phil went home for the weekend to help his dad with some stuff and Dana and Chris went to Dana's house for the weekend, so I was glad to be able to keep Lynn company for a few days. Most free time at the apartment was spent playing the most addicting game ever, Dr. Mario, and watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. A more detailed list of what we did follows.

Thursday
I got to Case around 4:30 and picked Lynn up in front of Veale. Unfortunately, her 2:30 meeting never happened so she had been waiting for me quite a while. We stopped by Russo's on the way back to the apartment so she could pick up a few things. Normally she just stops by on her way back from Case, but since she walks there's a limit to how much she can buy. After getting back to the apartment we made some dinner, played Pinochle with Dana and Chris when they got back and watched Back to the Future on TV (Lynn's favorite movie).

Friday
Friday we got up and went down to Case. Lynn did some stuff in the lab while I continued reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Nord. Lynn needed to get 1100 copies of a flyer for Case in Point so it could be in the packet sent to incoming freshmen. So we decided to stop by Ghetto Pho for lunch and then get copies made at Kinkos. Ghetto Pho is a Vietnamese Pho noodle place that Lynn went to with her senior project group at the end of the school year. We split a large bowl of Pho noodles with all the available kinds of beef and we also had a peach bubble tea. We also stopped by the bakery that is in the same little plaza and bought 4 of the awesome coconut rolls.

After getting back to the apartment since Dana and Chris were back we decided to figure out our plans for that night. We decided to go to Hoggy's! and then play miniature golf at a place right across the street. Hoggys! is a fun restaurant that looks like a barn, has a 1939 tractor hanging from the ceiling, and has a slogan "nothing could be swiner." The food was good and decently priced. I had the 3 Little Pigs which consisted of three sandwiches (pulled pork, pulled chicken, and beef brisket).

After the miniature golf we stopped by Angie and Tim's apartment to pick up a table and chairs to take back to Lynn's apartment. It took quite a while to get everything loaded into Phil's Blazer and it was pretty chilly outside. Actually all of the first few days in Cleveland were much cooler than you would expect given it was nearly June.

Saturday
We had planned to play tennis on Saturday, since Lynn had to stop by the lab to stop a polymerization. However, when we passed the tennis courts on the way to the lab, there were a bunch of people there and it looked like they might be there for an organized tournament or something. So we decided to check the courts on Northside, but when we got there all the nets were gone! We walked back to Southside, checked the courts which were still busy and decided to go back to the apartment.

After lunch we decided to go see Shrek 2. We also stopped at Isle of Beads so Lynn could get a couple beads for her hemp necklace. I had told her back on Valentine's Day that I would get her some beads. We had been by it once, but it was closed and since neither of us have cars we hadn't been able to make it back since. After that we stopped by Wal*Mart so Lynn could get a new watch since the glass on the face of the watch had fallen out and so it kept losing time since the hands would get bumped. We got to the theater right at 5 and there was a 5 o'clock showing, so we skillfully avoided having to watch any of "The Twenty," twenty minutes of commercials they are now showing before movies. Afterwards we stopped by Baker's Square for soup, salad, and pie. I had fresh strawberry which was delicious and Lynn got carmel apple a la mode except she got gypped on the nuts.

Sunday
Sunday we went to the Cleveland Zoo since we both like zoos and I had never been there. We eventually met up with Jacob, Setsuna, and Matt there. Unfortunately my cell phone didn't get service in most of the zoo so it took a while before we actually got a hold of each other. The first exciting thing we saw were the elephants. One elephant had a branch laying on its head for some reason. But we saw it take it off with its trunk and then it broke pieces off and we couldn't tell if it was eating it, or using it to clean its mouth, or what but we were both incredibly amazed by the dexterity of its trunk. The highlight of the trip were the siamangs who were doing all kinds of exciting acrobatics on the ropes. There were three of them in the cage and two of them seemed to be taking turns swinging around on the ropes. We also saw an ostrich shock itself on the electric fence, an excited Canada Goose (in the Africa section) run at full speed into the water to go for a swim, the same goose flying a little which incited the heron to try its hardest to fly even though its wings were clipped, and an anteater chasing a roseate spoonbill around a tree.

After the zoo we went to eat at Weia Teia in the Great Northern Mall. The food was good, if rather expensive (especially Setsuna's $7 ginger ice cream).

Monday
Monday morning we played DDR for a little over an hour. I did all my songs on trick and passed most of them. I think I got one or two B's also. I'm definitely starting to get better at DDR. Lynn did at least half of her songs on Maniac and was able to pass most of those also which I was pretty impressed with. She had just started trying maniacs the last time she played.

After that we got lunch at Chipotle and then went over to Russo's to pick up ingredients to make raw apple cake. The cake tasted really good but the consistency didn't turn out right. Phil said maybe because it was cooked using gas rather than electric which Lynn has made it with at home.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning Lynn made scrambled eggs for breakfast before we went down to Case. I finished reading Prisoner of Azkaban by the time we were ready to head back for lunch. We got milkshakes at Tommy's (peach and cherry) and made macaroni and cheese for lunch and played a last few games of Dr. Mario. Then right before we were ready to leave, Lynn received some tragic news. She found out Vassu had been killed in car accident on Monday. Vassu sang in Case in Point with Lynn and quite a few songs for them. I had known who he was before, but just actually met him this past year when he drove Lynn, Anders, and I to the Addler banquet. I didn't know him well, but I could tell he was a really nice, fun loving person and he will be greatly missed.

It was really hard for me to leave after that, but eventually we drove down to the library so Lynn could drop off the Case in Point flyers and then I dropped her off in front of Veale so she could work in a lab some more.

It was a really fun trip that unfortunately ended with such tragic news. And now I'm just looking forward to going back in a couple weeks to pick Lynn up to bring her to my house for my graduation / going away party.