• THE Lowly Peon
  8/05 @ 7:25am
  in Texas
• THE Lowly Peon
  8/01 @ 9:10pm
  absinthe
• Poppy
  8/01 @ 3:23am
  Eep! Good luck retrospectively, kate! Hope it went well!!

• Avalantern.com! (4)
  8/08 @ 6:19pm
• never pay for what should be free (3)
  8/01 @ 2:51am
• why I may never want to leave this lifestyle (4)
  7/31 @ 3:38am

• Current Albums
  3/23 @ 4:11am
  Will
• Musicals
  3/21 @ 1:45pm
  Benji!
• Coolest Guys Ever
  11/21 @ 5:56pm
  Benji!

the california zephyr

as most of you know, i recently took the california zephyr, a 56-hour train ride, from chicago to san francisco. it was quite the wild ride.

i read some blogs giving advice on how to get the best out of you zephyr ride (note that they were blog, which means they were probably from apple nuts and were probably computer-oriented). i took the main piece of advice and sprinted onto my car, looking for a seat with an outlet. with a feeling of success and excitement, i sat down next to the little sign that said "120 volts" and looked around to get situated. it did not take me long to realize that amtrak is so much more stupid than i give it credit for, and that the outlet is completely inaccessible. i spent about twenty minutes with the guy next to me trying to take my arm rest apart so we could access the outlet to no avail. so there goes my power, my computer, and the ability to get work done while passing the time. and movies.

but, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. i spent more time looking out the window, reading, thinking, listening, and chatting with other people. and all the computer geeks on the train flocked to one place, allowing us to talk computers while we waited for our computers to charge (often one at a time). this is how i met my first iPhone buddy. he let me play with his iPhone for at least an hour. and man, those things are incredible. i'm gonna read through the at&t/cingular contract to see how i can finagle getting out of the contract when i go to china (allowing me to have an iPhone until i do).

the first night i was there, my philosophy was simple: stay up late, maybe have a bit to drink, and i'll be tired enough to sleep anywhere. so, i went to the lounge car and claimed the one outlet. i got some wine and sat and programmed, watched some arrested development and house, and soon noticed that it was past 2. my how time flies when you're on a computer. i went up to my seat and saw that my seat-mate had spread himself across both our seats. being me, and completely unable to wake someone up, i decided to go sleep in the lounge car. i slept with my computer bag as a pillow, freezing cold, on the lounge car floor. until about 5, when people started coming into the lounge car to watch the sunrise. so that night's sleep wasn't exactly satisfactory. but, i learned quickly to nap once every hour or so, in small increments, which helped pass the time, keep me relaxed, and get enough "sleep".

i quickly became friends with the guy in the lounge car, as it was both the only place to charge my electronics and to get food that wasn't $20 for a snack (like in the dining car, which i never wound up going to). most of the time it was real quiet in the lounge car, so i could get a cup of coffee or a coke and look out the window. it was a nice change of scenery from my seat and the kids that were whaling no more than six feet away from me.

the last day was rather boring, heading through nevada, which looks more like choco canyon (from super mario) than one could possibly imagine. i took a bunch of pictures, but seeing as how they were all from the train, who knows if they turned out. i'll post them as soon as i have some time to play around with them.

once we got into california, the trip became both very interesting and very beautiful (it was neither since we had left colorado). it was exciting as hell to realize we were approaching san francisco and the ocean. looking at all the boats was a lot of fun. i was hanging out with the iPhone guy in the lounge car, looking at google maps, trying to figure out where we were and how much longer we had. it was a lot of fun. then, to my surprise, we were only 40 minutes late. it worked like a charm.

now i'm sitting in a coffee shop while nell is out for a run. i'm taking the day off, as i haven't used my legs since sunday. then tonight i'm going to some bbq for the fireworks and later meeting up with nick and sierra! yay!

[note: everyone uses apple stuff here! this really is heaven!]

July 4, 2007 @ 11:49am . 35 views . 9 comments