I'm not homeless!

I found a great furnished sublet yesterday in Carlsbad, a northern suburb of San Diego! I moved in today and am getting settled. The neighborhood is really nice and quiet. There are tennis courts and a pool as part of the development. There is a ton of shopping and restaurants down the street which of course means Starbucks!. Tomorrow I will be able to start getting ready for the job conference that I am going to Friday. Wish me luck!

ARIZONA

I figured I would do another pic update while I am waiting to hear back on some sublets. Here are some pics from Arizona. I took the one of the cacti and my side mirror during stopped traffic heading towards Phoenix.

Here!

Just wanted to give a quick update. I made it to San Diego!! I briefly saw the Pacific Ocean before finding a hotel for the night. You'll all be excited to know that I found an outlet mall in my first 10 minutes here..with a Startbucks!

I will post more later. yay!

Almost There..

Greetings from some suburban sprawl section of Phoenix! I don't think my route quite makes it through downtown. Any guesses as to how I found a hotel tonight? Yup, Starbucks. There is one of everything on this side of town, so I stopped in and asked where the hotels are in town. It worked like a charm. You can always count on friendly ole baristas. They never let me down. (Yipee!)

I'm almost there! I have about 4-5 hours left to go tomorrow.

State traveled today: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona

NEW MEXICO

New Mexico is so beautiful, especially west of Albuquerque. The towns along the highway looked awful and I would never want to live there, but the scenery was great! At this point in my trip, I finally decided that I could actually stop the car to take pictures. I played it safe and only stopped at rest stops and real exits. I never pulled over on the side of the highway. I would have had way better pictures if I did.

Pictures As Promised

I am finally able to upload my pics! Here are the first two, early Wednesday morning from St. Louis. I pulled over at an exit just outside the city to get a picture of the arc from afar, but by the time I got off the exit the view was blocked by a giant ugly racetrack. Sooo, I had to take these pics while driving (don't worry there was slow traffic). One is through my windshield and one is through an open window, so pardon the blurriness.

Don't Mess With Texas

Greetings from Amarillo! I totally wish it wasn't past 10pm here so I could go find a Taco Cabana (right Judy, Chris, Cara?) . I just spent at least 13 hours driving, so I will keep this post short for now. I hope to add pics soon. I passed through St. Louis in the morning and saw the Arc and Busch Stadium. It looked like a cool city driving through it. I kinda went by Tulsa. I am now past the half way mark. I think tomorrow's drive will be more exciting. Maybe I will see a cactus or two.

States traveled today: Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas

Night Night.

One For My Homies

I have written this a bit in advance, but have decided to schedule this posting for while I'm on the road. I just wanted to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my Pittsburgh friends who have really put up with supported me through all I've been through in the last year and especially the past few months.

CARSEN: When I first asked if I could crash at your place, I really thought it would only be for a month - two at the very most. It ended up almost 5 months. My bad, dawg. You're gonna gets what's coming to you, mang. Thanks for putting up with me and listening to my countless stories. Did I tell you about the time???

YUKI: Yuki! Thanks for all the wonderful meals and girl chats. Come play in California! Quit!

AITON: I will never think of Vanilla Ice the same way again. Thanks for letting me store stuff in your basement. I have some extra trash cans if you and Hil need them. She'll be thrilled to have them in your house. I'm ready to start the next label design when you are.

HILLY: You are the best moving buddy ever! I owe you forever! Thanks for the empty cardboard box intervention. I didn't realize I had a problem til you stepped in. I now live virtually cardboard free and I have you to thank for that.

JANICES: My move back to Pittsburgh 5 and a half years ago started with me in Florida, driving north on 95. I called Janice and left her a voicemail that said.... "Hey Janice, I have a funny story for you". Two days later I was crashing in her living room where I stayed for the next 4 months.

She doesn't even live in the burgh any more, but this crazy girl (AKA my bestest friend) went to two different gas stations and got me gas cards for my trip. You da bestest!

ANNE: Thanks for coming to my last night in Pittsburgh get-together. You know that I always end up back in the burgh eventually. Thank you so much for the claddaugh key chain , gift card and note!

ADDIE: Thanks for coming up from DC to visit before I left. You rock, Matty not so much ;)

DREW and LINDSAY: I'm so glad I got to spend time with you both before I left! It better not be another 14 years before we hang out again!

PETE: Thanks for the super mixes!

SEAN: Thanks for the CDs! I will think of you as I do my car karaoke.

I miss everyone already!

Greetings from Illinois

Greetings from Vandalia, Illinois. Well no pics for the first leg of the trip, but I'm sure you all know what Ohio looks like by now anyway. Mmmm, corn.

I managed to do about 550 miles today. It has been a pretty uneventful trip so far, which really I am thankful for. But I must say, if you ever drive through Indiana you should certainly watch the speed limit. I saw cops pulling people over all through Indi, especially the out-of-state plates. I did get to drive by Indianapolis which looked nice. Lucas Oil Field looked pretty cool, but I'm not sure if it's the Colts stadium or not.

States traveled through today: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.

I Got A Blue Thing!

Special thanks to my mom and dad who were kind enough to buy me a bluetooth headset for my trip. Thank god I have lots of rollover minutes!

On the Road

As I type this, I am packing the rest of my stuff and getting ready to hit the road. My google directions are printing. Yes, I am that much of a procrastinator. I had a bunch of friends over last night for my last hoorah. It was a great time. I don't think it will hit me that I am leaving til I hit Ohio.

I will try to post with pictures soon!

Last Day at Work

Friday was my last day at work. It went well. A group of people were nice enough to take me out to lunch and they gave me a nice card. It was a great 5 years in which I learned a ton. I am grateful for the opportunities that I was given there (thanks for hiring me, Ed!). I am looking forward to what the future holds.

Oh crap, no more paychecks!

Leaving Pittsburgh To-Do List

I guess it's a little late since I'm leaving by next Wednesday, but oh well. Here's a list of things to try to do before skipping town. I'll have to keep editing it as I think of things.

• Primanti's - done, Friday in Harmarville - followed by Glen's Custard
• Piper's - sometime this weekend
• Pirates Game - Monday night, but only if Aiton's In

List items that were accomplished over the past few months of living in the 'burgh (instead of 'burg)
• Pittsburgh Zoo (with Anne, Ray, Christian, and Mary) I had never been there in all my years in pgh.
• First Night Arts Festival
• Carnival
• Fuel and Fuddle - Hil
• Pamela's - Addie
• Vinatge Grand Prix
• Fatheads
• Hough's and the list
• Lots of Harris Grill outdoor dining
• Cool As Ice at Hoosac House

Cool Things that I'm glad I got to do in the past year
• Fallingwater - who knew it was 30 minutes from my apartment for 3 years
• Kentuck Knob
• Penguins Game w/ Revo

Sublet Planning

A few days ago I was talking to my friend DJ on the phone who happens to live in No. Cal. I mentioned that I didn't have a super set plan of where I would end up once I drive into Cali. I figured I would try for a September sublet somewhere in between San Diego and LA for the widest range of job prospects. I will then be able to relocate closer to wherever I actually get a job. She went online while I was talking to her to help me figure out how far SD and LA are apart and what was in between. Here is what she came up with. It's looking like Oceanside, Irvine, San Clemente are all possibilities. Any suggestions appreciated!

The Calm Before The Storm

Nothing new to report here. One last week at work to go. After that, I have a weekend and a couple extra days to get ready and then the big trip. I haven't done any further trip planning yet other than making that picture for my last post.

Pittsburgh weather and atmosphere has been wonderful lately which makes it harder to leave. Every year, for the first two months of summer here it thunderstorms everyday. August and September are usually perfect, sunny everyday.

I really should start packing or planning or something....

So that's where California is

Dear Readers,
After consulting Google Maps, it turns out that I will be in my car for at least 36 hours. That's actually less time than I expected, yay. Feel free to make me some Mix CDs. I'm gonna need 'em.

Leaving the 'burgh

In protest of all things MySpace and Facebook (sorry Hil), I have decided to start this blog. I'm no great writer, but what the heck. I'm more hoping to tell stories with pics instead. We'll see how that goes...

I gave my two weeks notice at work Monday and my last day is August 22nd. I plan to start driving west (yes, by myself) starting the 25th. Luckily, I am mostly packed already. Unfortunately, I haven't bothered looking at a map or planning my route yet. (note to self: quit blogging and look at map, are you sure you know where California is?)

I am heading to So Cal for a small job fair in San Diego the first week in September. I plan to look for a job in the SD/LA/So Cal area for all of September. I've never been to So Cal, but it seems to host the industry I am looking to stay in. If that doesn't work out, I plan to head to San Francisco in October and job hunt there.

I am excited to travel!