7 states so far...

they get bigger out here.

drove through pennsylvania, the northern tip of west virginia, and half of ohio mostly in the dark. nothing to report there, other than that john digweed's bedrock 11 disc 1 is good for staying awake while driving.

southern illinois is the most boring so far. there is seriously nothing there. indiana at least had curves in the highway. and indianapolis. skyscrapers! civilization!

on the other hand, then you get to st. louis. i was actually kind of disappointed in the mississippi river up here, but the arch is pretty cool up close, and there's a nice park around it. the dog had fun.

so far only driven through oklahoma in the dark. first impression: flat.

we'll see what happens the rest of the trip.

go west, young... person.

in a few hours, i am leaving to drive my sister to phoenix, az to start her new job.

there's a reason they're called "flyover states" i'm pretty sure, being that i've only ever flown over them before. now i will be driving through them.

4 days with my sister and her 75lb labrador retriever.

it's going to be an experience, at least.

earthquake.

i find it deeply ironic that i never felt one in any of my visits to the west coast, but now one hits while i'm at home.

on the other hand, given the amount of time i spend here, i suppose statistics are in favour of it. still very weird. i wasn't sure what was happening, and then afterwards, i thought, was that an earthquake?

yes. yes, it was.

it even woke up the cat.

slippery slope.

i used to have a phone that was just a phone.

then we discovered texting is better than calling in many circumstances.

and i started syncing my calendar to my phone.

then i went back to school and discovered mobile email is useful when you're not at home for 11 hours a day.

and so is web, because you can check weather and train schedules. and read things when you're waiting for the train.

now i have an android smartphone >_<