Mishap No 1

The first luggage-related incident has happened. There have been other mishaps of course, but this is the first travel-specific one. My two travel-size bottles of body wash (which we will henceforth refer to as the more masculine "soap") were in my toiletries Ziplock baggy (BAGGY! shout out to Sachin and Jared) along with my toothpaste, laundry soap and whatnots. One of them (the smaller one) busted open and got all-up-in everything. What had happened was, the screw cap and the stump it screws onto were severed off. Luckily, it was mostly contained in the bag, and also luckily, soap washes off pretty easily.

I'd take a picture, but I can't imagine a less interesting image. In more interesting image news, I had an East Coast beer yesterday. America's Oldest Brewery, Yuengling, which the label says has been in service since 1829. It was almost more than this California boy could handle when I saw it in the liquor store (note: this is also one of those states that have special stores for booze. God bless California, which lets you buy vodka when you buy raw meat and fresh produce.)

I'm likely to post a lot today and tomorrow, as Monday, Chris' parents (who are both really cool) will be heading back home with my suit and Kate's laptop, so I'll be out of touch probably until my second day in London, some time on Friday (as I don't want to waste any precious Irish moments writing to you people.

I can only hope that my posts will be more exciting once I hop across the pond — a hop that doesn't seem as imminent as it should at this point. 11 am local, 8 pacific, 4 Irish time.

2 Down, 6 5 to Go

After 2 successful flights, we are now 25% done with our air travel for this trip. There are 3 2 more on Tuesday, one on Thursday, then two on December 12. This blog is coming from the Days Inn in Raleigh (which will always look misspelled), North Carolina.

I was on the plane from 6 am PDT till about 4:30 EDT, which is only really 7 hours, but coupled with the shock of my watch advancing, feels an awful lot more like the 11 hours it is to every timepiece I've seen since landing.

The country, is flat. This is by far the furthest east I've been since I was about 8 years old (since then I guess Vegas would be it) so I was able to see the sprawling smoothness of the heartland. With the obvious exception of the Rockies and Appalachians.

My watch says 9:25 right now. Yours probably reads 6:25.

[note: strikes added 9/4/07 at RDU Internet station]

Soy mijo, otra vez

My mom's aunt is staying with us before she moves to Hawaii to be with her son (lucky). So for the past few days, and for the next day and a half, I am, and will be, "mijo" once again. Oh I've been called a lot of things by a lot of people, but the affectionate nickname is reminiscent of early childhood and I'm realizing I was this close to actually being able to speak Spanish (if only I'd listened in on the kitchen talk between my aunts and grandma). As I drive her around town, running errands before her big move, I feel a little odd standing next to a 4-foot-9 woman holding a cane, laughing and swearing the day away. No, odd is the wrong word. Cool? I haven't felt cool in a while. It may be that.

Well I'm not too sure, and I'm not too proud

To say (wahow)

Kittridge Bought My Bed

The guy who played the CIA director Eugene Kittridge (Tom Cruise's foil) in Mission Impossible just bought my used, full-sized bed from me. I thought Henry's voice sounded familiar on the phone, but it could have just been one of those voices. It wasn't. I really wanted him to say, "Hello Mr. Hunt," but would have felt awkward since he was in my house, buying my bed for super cheap off Craigslist. I didn't want to be that guy for a half an hour while I helped him load it all up.

I get the feeling he was buying it for a guest room or something, and his SUV was pretty nice and a new model, so don't worry, I don't think he's a struggling actor.

This may be my last LA post, since Kate's going to Comcast to shut off the Internet soon. Such a fitting way to end LA. A cool actor (I love him in that movie) buys my bed off me and I helped him load it up. I tried to introduce him to Kate. She didn't care. Later, I told her who he was, she cared a little less. I care though. Also note. He almost didn't come get it because the hypoallergenic case he has is too small, but then he told his wife he could buy a larger one. Oh wives, never thinking outside of the box. And by box of course, I mean kitchen, which is where they all belong.

It's official

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Where I'll be going

All the red dots for sure. Possibly the black ones as well