Misadventures and Oddities

I have found the best spot to sit outside at the Sayre's house: on the back porch, there is a bench swing, and with the warm temperatures outside, it is a fantastic place to be!

This post is all about my misadventures so far, because nothing new or exciting is happening at work - my reactions continue to not work and the LCROSS launch was pushed back to Thursday.





Misadventure #1: The Freeway system.

I know I have complianed about this before (see previous post) but the freeway system is pretty hard to follow down here. The North/South on-ramps are so close together that I have often taken the right numbered freeway, but gone the wrong direction. Also, They don't have good exit signs, so I sometimes miss my exits when I try to get off the freeway! My GPS sometimes compounds the problem, as it is often just a hair off in tracking where I am, so sometimes it will say, "Take the right hand on-ramp now" when I should be taking it in another 150 ft.

Example A: First day driving to work alone: I took the exit right before my actual exit for Moffett field, and it took me 30min to get back to where I needed to be. I could not get back on the freeway because of 8ft tall brick walls lining the road, and so I went through downtown Mountain View. I was still on time to work, though!

Example B: On my way to pick people up from their hotels for the trip to the zoo, I took the I-85N when I needed to take I-85S, and thus ended up 15min late to picking everyone up and delaying the group's departure from Ames.

Example C: On Sunday, I got to church fine, but on the way back, I took the wrong Expressway on-ramp, N instead of S, and went in a big loop to find the right one. That's another thing different about this area: Expressways. They are not quite freeways because they have stoplights and cross streets, but they aren't quite roads because they have three+ lanes and go 45mph (radar enforced as every single sign says....) Apparently they also have N/S directions.

Example D: On Sunday night, I had a huge hankering for some ice cream. I had passed it up the night before in SF, but I really wanted some this night. So, I remembered that their was a Safeway nearby, programed my GPS and off I went. It really was about five blocks away, and after successfully purchasing some Cookies and Cream ice cream, I was on my merry way back. However, what I didn't know about these expressways, is that generally, unless you are at a light, you can only turn right. And I wanted to go left. Okay, I said to myself, my GPS looks like it has a plan, I'll just follow it. It had the right way to go, however I missed the street sign I was supposed to turn onto. Again, no big deal, I thought, I'll just go around and come back. But, when I got to the light, I chickened out about doing a U-turn, legal though it may be, and I just turned left. Bad decision. I had to wait half-mile to a mile before I could turn around, and even then I didn't pull a U-turn, but slowly made my way back to the house. All for a bit of delicious ice cream (and rainbow chip frosting with cinnamon gramcrackers!!!)

Misadventure #2: The Dog

First day dog sitting, and guess what happens. I must have not shut the garage door tight enough, because when I got home, Tessy was happily in the house. While this is not a major problem, as she is often in the house, it is always when someone else is home.

Misadventure #3: The House Key.

As a rule, I lock all the doors leading into the house because I am staying alone, even the door from the garage into the house, which doesn't lead directly to the outside. When I went to let the dog outside right before leaving for church on Sunday, what did I do? Yep, you guessed it - locked myself out. There was no spare key around the outside that I could think of, and no one was going to be home for a while (they are in Minnesota). Fortunately, I remembered that Mrs. Sayre had mentioned that the neighbor who house sits sometimes had a spare key. I had just been introduced to them two days before, but I had no idea if they were home or not. Again, fortunately, someone was home, and I was able to get back in the house, on the road, and only be 5 minutes late for church.


I also want to recount some oddities that I have encountered so far during my short 1.5 wks in Cali: (mainly just at Ames)

My lab goggles: Yes, I look like I never left the 80's, though I was only in that decade for 6 months and 5 days. These glasses kind of remind me of some that my dad had back then... These apparently are the only goggles my lab purchases, though I have seen other labs with nicer glasses. They do beat having those great chemical splash goggles I wear at SPU, as I don't have to have them wearing permanent bruise lines into my face. I do wear my goggles almost all day, (and sometimes forget them on my head and bring them home...) as I am in the lab all day. I do now have a desk, but it is a 5+ minute walk to another building, so I might as well just stay in the lab space.

The guy in the top hat: I could not get a good picture, as he and I were walking in different directions when I tried to snap this subtly, but this guy was dressed up in nice black pants, shoes, vest, blue shirt, tie and a TOP HAT!!! Not a "normal" smallish one either - this black top had rivaled the size of the Mad-Hatter's from Alice in Wonderland! I tried later to take a better picture, but I think he saw me pause walking with my cellphone in the air, so I had to scurry off. :(

The old man in my lab building: There is this really old man, probably my grandpa's age, who walks by my lab all the time. I haven't yet caught his name or snapped a picture of him, but he is so fun to watch. I just see him constantly move down and up the hallway, usually toting a paper Trader Joe's bag behind him. He is kind of hunched over, and often wears a yellow shirt and kaki pants, but is always smiling. He also had a gauze bandage on his forehead for a few days, so I wonder what he might have done to himself. I would love to know where he works exactly and what he does, as I imagine him as this super smart scientist who just loves his job and work too much to call it quits and retire to a life of golfing. (Though, perhaps, maybe he does golf, as we have a course on our base...with the 'Tee-1 Cafe'...)

The squirrels here: We have some funny squirrels at SPU, who run everywhere and dig in our garbage, but her in Cali they have black squirrels. It is kind of weird. I don't know if I have ever seen a black squirrel before coming here. Maybe it's a product of all the smog emissions....

Business Hours at Ames: If you want to catch anyone, don't look before 11am or after 3pm. Or during 12-1, lunch hour, unless you search the cafeteria. No one is here. It is kind of strange to me, how flexible everyone is with their hours and how eveyone tends to come in late in the morning. Apparently, people also stay late, like past 6 pm, but I have yet to see it. I told someone today that I come in at 7:30 or 8 am, depending on whether I carpool or not, and he looked shocked. I, for one, prefer to have my afternoons/evenings rather than sleep in during the morning hours and stay til sundown. Besides, traffic is lighter earlier in the mornings. (See a connection?)

P.S. This is Tessy, the Sayre's dog.