WriteAway

Ms. Clinton, Mr. McCain: Guess who’s really out of touch? It’s not Barack Obama this time.

In the last few months, the earnings of this writer have gone from comfortably more than the average middle class family of four to a Social Security check and a few thousand in freelance earnings. Anybody who thinks that doesn’t make you bitter is seriously out of touch.

A recent article in the New York Times went into great detail about the buyouts three large automobile manufacturers are offering to get rid of thousands of employees. According to the Times article, Ford frankly admitted that they wanted to get rid of their highly experienced best employees and replace them with lower cost, inexperienced entry level workers.

This seems to be a trend: dump your most loyal, long term workers, the ones with the tribal knowledge and the experience to help your business and replace them with entry-level people with little or no experience.

Continue Reading »

This morning, when I checked my email, I found a comment that needed to be moderated. The comment read:

Not bad at all, but this topic is rather little of interest. Please do not disappoint your readership.

When I tried to visit the URL included with the message, Google popped up a “malware” warning and informed me that visiting the site could “hurt my computer.” Obviously, I didn’t proceed, and therefore have no idea of who sent the message.

I’m a very new blogger. This particular blog was originally intended to share, with family and friends, the saga of my cross-country drive when I moved from middle America to my native California. I didn’t expect to have any other ‘readership’. Until I started the random comments, it was strictly a personal blog.

Please do comment (unless you’re a spammer or are just looking to spread your malware), but if you find my writing not to your taste or believe that I’m disappointing my readership, please let me know what you’d prefer to see, rather than just telling me that it’s “Not bad… topic is rather little of interest.” And that comment would be easier to comprehend with a little editing!

I obviously wouldn’t mind having a “readership” and would love to please everyone that stumbles across my personal blog. While that’s impossible, I’m always trying to improve my writing as I make the transition from corporate training designer and developer to successful freelance writer. Your constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thanks,
Sunny

I’m sick of this campaign! I still believe that there might be something else important going on in the world.

John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, possibly because he’s the only one with the tenacity to hang on. Like Hill-Billary, he’s determined to fight to the death or for the next 100 years, whichever comes first. He supports the war and will keep it going until the U.S. “wins” the religious/tribal war between the Sunnis and Shiites.

We can’t just pull out, since we started it with our preemptive strike, invasion, and occupation of Iraq. We need to mop up and make sure that the country we devastated is returned to its condition before the U.S. invaded and occupied their sovereign nation. The Iraqi people deserve a few luxuries too: water, food, heat, shelter… My mother taught me to always clean up after myself when I made a mess.

One thing that upset me today is the Florida-Michigan debate. It’s my understanding that the candidates all agreed that if any state violated Continue Reading »

Well, last night, for the very first time, I decided that I should take a photo or 10 of the lunar eclipse, especially since I heard there won’t be another full eclipse until December 2010. I’ve never really done any night photography beyond a couple of snapshots in fairly well-lit areas. I did have a little time to prepare: when I heard about the eclipse on the local NPR radio station, it was around 6:00 p.m. The eclipse was supposed to start at 8:01 p.m. EST.

So I got out the camera, took it out of its case, pulled out my short course book for the Canon Rebel XT, and started reading about what I needed to do. It seemed simple enough. I got the tripod set up, put on my long johns and a warm Continue Reading »

The picture above is a Corel Painter interpretation in pastels of a photo of oleander flowers taken in Fresno, California, outside my hotel room, when I visited for Thanksgiving in November 2004. This image is available for print, in its original size (12″ w X 10″ h) by special order, or in 13″ X 10″ from my online printer (they only do standard sizes) which is less expensive. Prices and options can be found at the end of this post and will soon be available on a separate page.

It is a puzzle to me why there are oleander bushes all over the place: they’re highly toxic plants, from what I’ve read and heard. Being quite large, they do a great job of providing color and privacy where they’re planted and help to hide the railroad tracks Continue Reading »

I started this blog months ago to post a travel journal for my family and friends when I moved from Ohio to California. Then I got busy looking for a job and doing freelance work, and abandoned it. Now, and this is a long story so I’ll go into it later, I’m back in Ohio and working on building up my freelance client base so that I can — what else?–go back to California.

In looking for freelance projects, I found that many of them involve WordPress blogging. It was clear that I needed to become a geniune blogger in order to expand the kind of projects I’m qualified to work on. Once I understand what I’m doing here, I’ll learn to do custom designs for WordPress blogs. The current design is a template. Blog first, design later.

I’ve been writing for Helium.com recently too. It’s a workshop for writers, where we can publish articles and earn a little money for doing so, through writing articles with high peer ratings and through contests Continue Reading »

September 10
Start 38276 887.5
38277 6.259 gal 888.4
38518 – 38277 – 231 @ 3:00 p.m.

Ogallala NE
38557 168.00
7.674 gal $3.799/gal

Kimball NE stop

Made it to Kimball NE, about 22 miles from the Wyoming border. I saw a Day’s Inn sign and exited I-80 after doing about 400 miles. Total mileage at this point: approx. 1,274, more (slightly) than half way.

The phone book in my hotel room: 37 white pages for “Sidney/Kimball and Surrounding Area” (15 surrounding areas).

In the Pizza Hut—the only “sit down” restaurant open for dinner on Sunday, I was told that the population of Kimball is about 2,500. The other restaurant, BJ’s or something, was closed.

Last night was lovely. Slept well, luxurious room, decent breakfast (for free). Started late this a.m.—about 10:20. Slightly rainy… very scattered, mostly light showers; no problems—certainly not compared to the rain through Iowa and into NE on Saturday. Really got into the 70-75 mph speed limit. Long, straight, fairly flat roads until about 100 miles from the NE-WY border. Then… getting into the High Plains. Makes my heart positively sing! No more pretty rolling hills and woods; can see, well, a lot closer to forever. Big sky, with—finally—blue patches. Interesting rock outcroppings, bluffs, and buttes and… (I need my geology books!).

Western.

I’m currently at Thunder Bay Grille, in Davenport IA, eating a very delicious Black Angus burger. It’s early… just noon now. Gonna’ try to make it into (or close to) Nebraska before stopping for the night. That will put me at 800+ miles total, getting me close to the half-way mark. Marlene is tracking my progress on a map at the store!

Speaking of Marlene, she asked me last night if I brought any food with me besides the garlic powder and salt and pepper shakers. Told her I had my trip snacks and a few things from the pantry: a couple cans of tuna, odds & ends. Told her that after stops to get the check for the movers and signing the lease at the apartment, I’d be heading up to Trader Joe’s to take care of the empty pantry syndrome. Sometime during this exchange, she said something about not worrying about anything, that everything would be taken care of (or words to that effect), and that things were being taken care of… things I’d never even imagine.

Quite a mystery, huh?

Drove about 475 miles today: Joliet IL to Lincoln NE. Total is now 886 miles. The first half of Iowa (eastern half) overcast but mostly dry. But… through Des Moines to Lincoln NE, everything from light or moderate rain to downpours. The traffic through Des Moines, Council Bluffs, and Omaha – heavy (first weekend of college football season). Rain was heaviest in the heaviest traffic. Asked Marlene why… she sez “Becuz.”

I stopped about 20 miles east of Lincoln; almost fell down when I got out of the car! Light-headed!! Have stayed fairly relaxed mostly… conscious effort to not clench teeth, to keep face, shoulders, and arms relaxed, breathe deeply and evenly… efforts shot to hell in Iowa (speed limit 70 mph, including for trucks) and in Nebraska—through cities, 60-65; out of cities 75 mph. High speeds, pretty constant rain, my arms were frozen at 0400 & 0800, right leg frozen in place!

I stopped at Cubby’s (?), a fairly funky small truck stop. I wasn’t really hungry [too tired, I think, for my hunger to even register!], but ready for a break, a potty (past ready; desperate!), and a bit of energy. I had coffee and a bowl of ham & bean soup… which was decent and seems to have pumped my energy level up a bit… that and just moving around a little.

Back on the road for 10-15 miles to the east side of Lincoln and I was definigely ready to stop! I saw a “Lodging” sign with about a half dozen choices. Driving past them… all looked pretty decent. Pulled into the first one I could figure out how to get into BEFORE I passed it: Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn. A single suite: $75, including complementary buffet breakfast. Lovely room: nice little kitchen area with stove, fridge, dish washer, dishes, and utensils… full size coffee pot, lots of coffee, tea bags… oh yeah, and microwave. Clean. Pretty. And the last one I’ll see on this trip, unfortunately. They’ll opening a new one soon in Reno, but there are no others until N. CA. Oh, well… After today, I’m blissfully happy to have found this one.

Just watching the news and weather. Looks like storms overnight, rain all day tomorrow… in the Omaha area. Storms moving SW to NE. The radar looked like clearing to the west, including into Wyoming… which is about 400 miles away. Western Nebraska looks clear too.

To get into Fresno Thursday afternoon, I only need to make approximately 325 miles/day. Easy! Time to stop for photos and limited sightseeing, so it was worth the nearly 500 mile push today. I may sleep a bit later tomorrow, take my time, chill a bit. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the eastern part of Iowa… pretty boring: corn, corn, everywhere, more flat and straight than anything. Western Iowa and so far in NE, hilly, curvy, “bucolic,” pretty (where I can see it through the rain!). The Best… Beautiful-est… lies ahead! Bed time! G’nite.

Day 2, September 8, 2006
Odometer: 37490 101.9 start

The TraveLodge was basic and funky. Brand new lovely TV… which didn’t work. The phone didn’t work. It looked like the floor hadn’t been vacuumed… maybe ever! After I showered I had this brief thought of putting my sandals on before stepping on the bathmat! Soooo glad I brought my nice new sleeping bag and favorite pillow. It was too warm for a sleeping bag but in my mind, at any rate, pretty darn good protection from cooties I was positive were living in the bed! I managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep, thanks in part to the ‘bedding’ I brought with me, but mostly because I was terminally exhausted!

The problem arose when I tried to get all my stuff back in the car. Tim had everything packed in so tightly—and not very logically. My bags of road snacks and munchies were on the floor on the passenger side. The laptop computer was on top of the snacks. The camera bag was on top of the laptop bag. My purse was on top of the camera bag. The higher levels were hanging over onto the seat.

In the back of the car: well… it was stuffed to capacity. I could barely see out the back window. It was totally claustrophobia-inducing!

After breakfast at Bob Evens and then getting somewhat lost trying to find Celina and the UPS store, got there, unloaded nearly 150 lbs of boxes and junk and shipped to it all to Marlene’s house at a bargain rate of about $194.00!

It was kind of interesting: the UPS store in Celina is a little family-owned enterprise/franchise/whatever, run by a mother and daughter team. I mentioned that I would be paying by Traveler’s Checks. They told me that they could accept cash or a credit card, but they didn’t accept checks.

I explained that I would be using Traveler’s Checks, the equivalent of a fist full of cash. God bless ‘em, they had never heard of such a thing! At my request, they called their bank and verified that Traveler’s Checks are actually legal tender, the same as cash. They were thrilled to have learned about this modern miracle (and I was at least as thrilled to not have to use a credit card for a major expenditure so early in my trip).

I wound my way back to Route 30 West (actually SR 69 to 30). It was smooth sailing for a while… until Valparaiso. From there to just beyond bumper-to-bumper Chi Town traffic, my average speed was 3-5 mph! According to truck driver Larry, it would have taken 6 hours to get through Chicago if I’d gone I-75 N to I-80. Taking 69 and 30 got me to I-80… in only about 2-1/2 hours. Once I got on I-80, I kept driving almost until dark, approximately 9:00 p.m. Central Time… Oh, yeah… somewhere along the way, I stopped and got the car serviced. $93.00, including rotating the tires.

Later, cruising along the interstate at 60-65 mph, the phone rings. It’s Linda from the moving company. My stuff was 1,000 lbs over the estimate. Final price: approximately $4,100+, instead of the $3,200 or $3,300 I was expecting. I have to call her on Monday so I can get a bank check for the exact amount when I get to Fresno. I decided that if I could find a cliff, I’d drive over it.

I eventually changed my mind, having concluded that I might have to pinch pennies for a couple of weeks since Marlene probably wouldn’t let me panhandle in front of her store, but the world would not stop spinning because I didn’t get rid of enough books and junk and would have to pay for my sins!

I had the radio on, listening to The River—oldies… best songs of all time (their opinion). Good (mostly) familiar tunes ya’ can sing along with. Just after the good news from Linda and barely into my search for a cliff, they played, first… that corny old ‘sing sing a song…’ thing, then Sinatra’s New York, New York, including that part about saying good-bye to small town blues (I don’t care how big Columbus gets, it’s a small Midwestern college town!). I decided that I was very happy to be heading for the left coast. Very happy to have a support system there. Feeling very fortunate. Very thankful! And suddenly quite cheerful again.

I stopped at the Days Inn in Morris IL. Lovely CLEAN room, lovely people. It was late and there was no place to eat close by, so I ate cheese sticks, whole wheat crackers, and small, multi-colored tomatoes. Got coffee in lobby – complimentary. Relaxed, and got my stuff better organized.

I slept pretty well and was on the road by 09:00, determined not to stop until Iowa! Had more cheese and crackers for breakfast while I drove.

Here we go! The daily (almost as written) diary of my trip. Some of my notes were “better than nothing” and have been filled out a bit with incidents inserted when I originally typed this up some time ago.

Enjoy!

DAY ONE, September 7, 2006: Covered about 100 miles today. Up at 4:30 a.m., finished some back-up on the PC, backed up the back-ups on DVD, started sealing boxes, trying to get organized! Movers showed up promptly at 08:30 and announced that they could NOT drive the truck to my house! Turns out the driver (Larry) has a rig that is 91’ from the front of the cab to the back of the trailer. The cab is like an apartment, I guess! Shower, bathroom, bed, back door! He promised to give me a look at it in Fresno.

Larry seemed to have an attitude at first, but turned out to be a very nice guy. He tagged everything and did his inventory while Rod, Rob, and a third packer carried out 2-3 boxes of books—without dollies—to the “shuttle” truck.

They had to bring in a smaller truck, load it, then transfer the contents to Larry’s rig. Costing me an extra $250 or so, but I was prepared for that.

I did get a little unhappy when Larry said they don’t pack electronics and that it wasn’t on the work order. It was, and I was getting charged for it!

I called my contact at the van line as soon as they left to get the shuttle truck. They must have called her too, because she was already on the phone with Matt, the salesman. I’d already sent Tim down to the storage place to spend $30 on everything we needed to pack what I expected the movers to pack!

When they left (in way too short a time!), I started to figure out how much I still had left to do. Tim helped a lot. Packed the car—to overflowing, I’m afraid! Way too much weight, and barely room for me!

Finally ready to leave around 4:00-ish in the afternoon.

Tearful goodbyes with Charlie and Miriam. Tim kept hugging me and telling me he loved me—mostly because I let him rent the house until his BWC settlement comes, sometime before the first of the year, at which time he’ll pay off the loan.

And I kept telling him how grateful I was to have him relieve me of the responsibilities of home ownership and let me actually “get outta’ Dodge” on schedule. Everybody says ‘karma’; who knows? But everything has just fallen into place. And I am definitely grateful.

All the truck drivers agreed that I should take Route 33 to 75N, where I could get a room, stop for the night, get a “good meal” at Bob Evans (which I’m doing right now).

I got a room at the TraveLodge. When I first asked, the lady at the desk said they didn’t have any vacancies because of ‘the thing going on at the fairgrounds’. I asked if there was anyplace else close by. She went and talked to the manager and Room 201 was available but only for 1 night.

Got an AARP discount. Room: $39.00. I don’t think I could have driven another 3 feet! Needed food, needed fluid replacement (I’m on my 4th glass of iced tea!), and SLEEP!

Tomorrow: Next town, (maybe Lima) find a UPS store or Staples and ship about half the stuff in my car—hopefully to Marlene’s store. Then… will stop at first Valvoline place I see to get the car checked & an oil change! Then, finally, some serious progress toward the West and my new apartment!

Dream—night one: sitting in skuzzy hotel room; movers have just left and I’m trying to figure out what to do with the remaining stuff. The indicator on the computer tells me the load in the car is into the yellow “caution” zone… all the way into it at really close to the 4.7 gigabyte limit on the DVD.

Plan/determined to stop at the UPS store in Celina, OH and ship a bunch of stuff to Marlene’s house. David assured me I could. Now, after writing down my dream, it’s 5:31 a.m. Still time for a little more beauty rest!