Weekly Update #1

View of Ithaca Falls from Lake Road

Hello everyone!

I'm going to start having a weekly post, hopefully every Friday, that will sum-up how life's going in my new environment. Expect other posts as well as things come up, but you can count on a summary at the onset of each weekend of how the week went.

This being week one, I spent the majority of it unpacking, putting up blinds, and setting up furniture. We have discovered that we have many books, many movies, and many clothes. And we now have furniture to hold the first two of the three. The extra bedroom has really come in handy as a storage closet for now.

On Tuesday, I returned "Intrepid" (our nickname for the Penske truck that Spencer and I drove to get here). I Brought my bike for the ride home and did a little exploring of the area. Ithaca is a nice mix of a small town (29,000 people compared to SB's ~90,000) but with the amenities of a much bigger area (big-box stores like Target, Walmart, and Lowes). I also stumbled across Ithaca Falls on my ride.

Ithaca Falls

I then decided to ride up to the street that is barely visible above and to the left of the falls. Wow ,what a vertical ride that was, but I've done worse. 

Ahead for the week is a trip to NYC this weekend with possible some time at the US Open, assuming Hurricane Earl blows through nice and fast (I wanted weather right?). And then there is a possible trip to Niagara Falls next weekend that I need a passport for and thus need to stay in the city so as to attend an appointment at the Regional Passport Agency in Manhattan.

That's all for now!

Adventures in Mexican Food

Leading up to my move to New York, I had been consistently told that there is no good Mexican food in Ithaca. I was deeply saddened by this, but sacrifices had to be made. One of the chief complaints, and I have experienced this one first hand, is that restaurants here use only black beans, never refried. Now, I don't mind having a choice, but real Mexican food is fried meat with refried beans, salsa, and maybe cheese, onion and cilantro. Not that hard.

I did however think that I would be able to cook myself some decent (though admittedly not authentic) pseudo-Mexican food. Well first off, Jenni already had some meat. I would normally just use ground beef, but Jenni had procured some buffalo meat. I don't know how... I'm sure she told me at some point... I just remember it being from a very nice and persuasive local guy, possibly at a farmers' market. I know, senile already... where was I?

Anyways, in preparation to making buffalo burritos, I wanted some refried beans. Now in SoCal, refried beans take up 30-40% of the beans section. Large cans, small cans, name brands, generic brands. Oodles. At the grocery store we use here - Wegman's, a rather large chain something like a mix between Whole Foods and Vons - there are, at first glance, none. There is every kind of bean imaginable prepared in countless ways, but not refried. Only after pacing up and down aisles and muttering in disbelief to myself for 10 minutes did I stumble upon the "Latin-America Food" section. And there they were. A paltry selection, but refried beans nonetheless.


I had never realized that I grew up in Latin-America, or at least a place that is so influenced by Latin-American cuisine that the ingredients therefor are mixed in with the rest of the less "ethnic" food selection. Odd.

Monologue During Trailer Fire Near Needles, CA

Chicago Video

Why do I have all this stuff again?

            

We Made It!!!

After 5 days, 11 states, and 3,182 miles Spencer and I made it to Ithaca!

I would love to have a nice commemorative picture of this, but Spencer missed 4 successive "Welcome to Ithaca!" signs... Ah well.

If you'd like to see all the pictures from the road trip, just follow the link on the right (under the giant CDM logo).

Road Quote #12

C: Ok, the clue is "Biblical grazers," 4 letters.

S: Camel!... Donkey!

C: *4* letters...

S: Donk!