Crazy kids. . .

So, Roman and Kane.
Our son and our dog.

Both are cute, loveable, energenic, destructive, intolerable, back to cute, a little bit of sweet, regress back to destructive and add a bit of crazy.

Potty training - both of them. When we got Kane we had info from the ex-owners that he was "house broken" which apparently means that he is trained to do his business only in the house. 45 minute walk - no #1 or #2. 5 minutes after the walk we get a gift in the kitchen or bathroom or living room or one of the bedrooms - disgusting. . . my love affair with dogs officially died with Bear several years ago. I think I want a cat now. . .

Roman on the other hand is getting very good at the whole "going potty" thing! Letting us know when he has to go (not without the occasional accident of course but, good enough that we actually do not keep diapers or pull ups in the house anymore!) We have all heard the tricks - cheerios in the toilet, videos, games etc. . . I am here to tell you that is all wrong. Peppermint Patties - yep - the candy. Put that in front of Roman as a reward and he can do just about anything!!

Other than that I want to send a congrats out to Jared and Jessica! Congrats!!! And, have fun in Hawaii!!

Congrats to Jason on a successful trip and return to and from India. Congrats to Mom and Pop on the upcoming Alaska cruise and congrats to . . . everyone else for the cool stuff I am sure has happened!

L8R!!

Settled in, new friends, still cool and some stress

First post for a while and I apologize for that - finding that I do not have the time I used to when I was unhappily unemployed. . .

Settled in -

We have settled in pretty well. Steph is adjusting to being the house marm and is doing some part time work as a bartender at one of the local establishments when I am not at work. Roman is still very resistant to the potty training we are attempting. This morning he woke up dry from the night, spent roughly 30 minutes on the potty with me playing potty videos on youtube for him (which he enjoyed immensly) and, after the unsuccessful try, proceeded to completely saturate his diaper within three minutes of having it on. . . sigh. . . he is a stubborn one!! I wonder who he gets that from?

New Friends -

I have a new friend from work who's name is Michael Garcia. He is a great guy and I am happy to have him on my schedule. We have a mutual disdain for a couple of the crotchety old guys who have been there for way too long and are simply miserable people who live to bring others down to their level. Oh well! Not my issue!!

Still cool -

I have not had - ok - I have not taken the time to visit the mountain over the last 10 days while I am getting used to my new schedule (excuse). Roman and I plan on doing so this afternoon as Steph is going to work for a few hours. I am still awed by the presence of the mountains. My drive home from work is breathtaking. I leave the dealership and travel about three blocks north before heading east and directly at the mountains. The evening sun creates shadows that eccentuate every ridge, rock and contrast in the mountain face that are not evident in the morning or midday sun. I get distracted pretty easily by this so have to concentrate hard on keeping my eyes on the road!! I do notice the difference between Minnesota beauty and New Mexico beauty. Green vs. Brown but, both beautiful.

Oh yeah - you know how Minnesota is touted as one of the fattest states? New Mexico is only slightly behind this rating. . . the difference? In Minnesota, women (I am going to pick on the difference in women here because, generally speaking, a fat guy is a fat guy - not much difference one to another) carry fat behind them. Steph and I have noticed that, in New Mexico, women carry fat in front of them. If you took a Minnesota fat woman and a New Mexico fat woman and put them together you would end up with one thin woman and one very large woman. . . Of course this is not to say that all Minnesota or New Mexican women are fat (I am mainly referencing those you see at Wal-Mart riding in the scooters screaming at their kids "I said Moose Track ice cream - not Neopolitan - the 5 gallon bucket! We will come back for Neopolitan when we run out tomorrow!!"). Culling the herd would be easy folks - outlaw Wal-Mart.

Stress -

Neighbors suck. At least 70% of our do. Valentine, Paul and Richard are cool. Non obtrusive, friendly and respectful. Scott - talks too much and does not know when to leave a conversation he walked up to and interrupted. John is a moron who is all about keeping out of peoples business (at least that is what he says) but then is nosing into everything. A 45 year old loser with rich parents. Sarah is a 45 year old miserable, whiny nurse who, while not actually physically disturbed by the fact that Steph, Roman and I spend most of our time at home in the breezeway, she is offended by the idea of it and has threatened to go to management to complain about us. Hmmmmm. . . maybe I will have to mention the fact that she does laundry in her apartment (right above us) at 1:00am. Nah. Reeks of effort. . . The Wisconsin rednecks finish up my list of bad neighbors. 34 people in the apartment, all of them adults and working and they can't keep the lights turned on, or the water - don't pay the bills. Noisy, big folks with that dopey, "I am from Hersey" look on their face. So - to the percentages. Valentine, Paul and Richard. Three apartments, three people on the good list. John, Sara, Scott and the five people in the redneck apartment - 8 people - bad neighbors. 3 out of 11 good = roughly 70% neighbors that suck.

I am not exiting my soap box.

A new appreciation. . . and the new job!!!

I have a new appreciation for how dependant I am on my cell phone. This appreciation is courtesy of the Sprint company who can't seem to get their act together to get us cell coverage in the apartment! Couple that with the fact that the APD is pretty stringent about the cell phone while driving law and I do not have the opportunity to talk to anyone outside of Steph. Steph is great and we have really satisfying conversations but, I miss my family - I have always had them so close - not having the capacity to just pick up the phone and call has got me a bit freaked out. . . hopefully Sprint gets the situation fixed soon. . .





I am close to the end of my first week of training at Albuquerque Lincoln/Mercury/Volvo. Training has been good and I am actually ready to get rolling on car sales. The more I learn about Volvo's the more impressed I am. Everything is safety first - roll cage from roof to under carriage, Boron pillars that effectively let the car support seven times it's own weight in the event of a roll over, the new City Safety system that automatically brakes the vehicle if you are travelling under 19 mph and get too close an object in front of you. They also are a very Green company. The leather for the interiors? That's right, from cows raised organically. Organic dyes, - no chemical release on the interior of the vehicle from Volvo. . . pretty cool! I want to succeed here, make a rediculous amount of money, pay off our bills, take care of the kids and buy Steph a C70 convertible by next summer. Already have the color picked out!

Our neighbors Valentine and Judith are the brightest spot of our new place. Everyone is nice but, it is not the same as the friends we had in Minnesota (at least from my end!) Valentine and Judith are great. We are blessed that they are here!!

Take care all! We miss you and I am determined to do well very quickly so we can visit the north land soon! Send anyone you know in the New Mexico area who may need a new or certified pre owned vehicle my way!!!

I was going to end with a supportive "Go (insert New Mexico professional sports team name here). . . !!!!". I guess not!

Beautiful, Bored and Pizza

Beautiful - this place really is. Roman and I were on the mountain yesterday inbetween rain falls and I was captured by the simple elegance of the terrain. From the simplest cactus to the sky. It is a far cry from Minnesota. Every day there is a change. If we get rain at night the mountain is a bit more green, the air is fresh. If no rain falls we are reminded of the fagility and arid nature of this climate. The mountain remains brown. . . even the smell of the air gets more pronounced with . . . nothing. It's like smelling something in a vacuum - like your olfactory senses are lulled to sleep with the lack of moisture in the air.

Roman and I stolled to the highest elevation for us yet. My guess is about 2000' above Albuquerque's 5300' base. Roman is the smarter of the two of us. We walked the three blocks of sidewalk leading to the mountain trails and then he insisted that atop Pop's shoulders was the place to be. We enjoyed the walk and when we hit the peak of our climb I did a cursory check of the plateau we reached for snakes, scorpions (both the German rock group and the animal - don't know which makes me more nervous) and spiders and then let the little man play with his favorite toy on the planet - rocks. I snapped some photos (including the one above of the rain/no rain horizon above Albuquerque) called Gabby and Tori and relaxed for a bit. We then decended from our lofty endeavor and made our way back home. It was a good afternoon!

Bored - you would think that after 5 1/2 months of being unemployed that one week of being unemployed in Albuquerque would be no big thing - nothing could be farther from the truth. I am so ready to re-join the work force it is simply rediculous. Of course the week has not been without adventure in that realm. I called Fred (the gentlman who lined me up with my upcoming employment) on Wednesday to check in - found out that he was no longer at the dealership. . . saw my work life flash before my eyes for a moment. My deal is still intact (upon confirmation from the dealership - that was my immediate call after exiting the conversation with Fred). I don't know what Fred is going to do but, honestly, I really do not care compared to my ability to provide for mine. Good luck Fred!!!

Pizza - a few years ago Steph and I were surprised to find that the best sushi we had ever had (still remains that way to this day) was found at a sushi place in Tulsa Oklahoma. Imagine that. . . Today I am equally surprised to find that the best pizza I have ever had came from a shop here in town called "Dino's". Simply amazing stuff. I am equally unimpressed with the spicy cuisine I expected to find here - harder than you might think. I have asked a few folks about some places that are not afraid to bring the heat and am hopeful that on payday I can swing by for lunch and test the theory.

Later - Frank

A walk, a chat with Zach and the wind

Walking on the mountain again last night with Steph and Roman when Roman decided that he was not interested in listening to us at all and wanted to off road it. It was getting towards the end of the day and some shadows were present so, not knowing the area wildlife or the sunning habits of said wildlife, we decided that he and Steph would head home and I would get some much needed excersise.

I continued on and, since the mountain provides good cell coverage, I called Zach to see how he was doing. It was a good conversation, we talked about his day, his weekend, his dog Ziggy and something about a new dog they now have that was found swimming in a lake by the boat so they picked it up and are deciding whether or not to keep it. . . a bit confused by that one I'll admit but, he is happy about it so, ok! As we talked the wind picked up so much that he was having issues hearing me - I found large boulders to duck behind or shallows in the trail to dip into so we could continue talking until I ran out of protection and the wind was too much to continue so we said good night.

The floura here is pretty cool - completely foreign at this point, but cool. No grass to speak of - except when driving by the houses in the "palisades" neighborhood - nice manicured lawns, huge houses - only about 5,000 car sales away!! Cacti everywhere. Even the weeds that are not cactus look like it. Lots o rocks too. Not the river rocks we were used to on the St. Croix either. Sharp, jagged chips of rock. Roman loves it!

As I walked I found that, the later it gets, the more the locals come out (smart enough to not go out and work out until the sun starts setting and it dips below 90'). My peace and quiet was interrupted by mountain bikes, groups of walkers, dog walkers and just general traffic. My walk was over.

I headed home and saw my first gekko (oddly enough, not on the mountain but on the sidewalk about 1/2 a block from our apartment. . .)

Settling in -

We are in our new place, have met the group of new neighbors in our building, are entertained by some, enamoured with others and ignore a select few.

Our place is nice and simple - two bedroom, small kitchen, large bathroom, ample living and dining room combo and a parking spot.

The beauty of this place is the location (outside of the one black hole in Albuquerque for Sprint - which we have of course so we can not make/take calls at our place) which is nestled in the foothills of the second highest mountain in NM at a peak elevation of 11,000 feet. A bit different than Minneapolis!! Albuquerque's elevation is around 5,600' which is a change for us as well but, nothing that is adversely effecting our adventures!!

later -

Rain and a couple of visitors on our second night

So it started to rain after some pretty impressive thunder claps reverberating off the mountain side. Roman was asleep, Steph and I were sitting outside enjoying the company of our new neighgor Valentine. She is a sweet British gal who we are fortunate to be living next to - she is visitor #1.

After a bit I caught something moving behind Steph out of the corner of my eye - our second visitor! A nice, big, all too real scorpion!! We caught him, played with him for a while (while he was safely inside a plastic container) and then placed him in in the drainage ditch (I believe it is called an Arroyo) coming from the mountain that runs next to our place. He wandered a few feet, turned, flipped us off for interrupting his evening and then continued on his way. . .

by the way

Roman just used the toilet to go potty! Whooo Hooo!!!

No pictures of this will be posted though.

so I says to the guy. . .

26 hours. . . I say again - 26 hours in the car. All I want after that is to be out of the car, stretch my legs and take a shower.

Out of the car - check
Stetch - check
Shower - NO. NO. NO. New Mexico gas company decided to not turn it on as they were supposed to on Thursday at 12:00. They were at the apartment, apparently forgot that I told them we would not be there yet and to contact the manager, and walked away.

Shower will be in a bit - once the water is heated now that the gas is on.

Albuquerque is beautiful. I will upload pics later when I have more batterty life left. At Starbucks as our internet will not be hooked up until next thursday and all the outlets are being used. 5 minutes left so - I will post later!!!

slow going!!!!

Well, this entry is courtesy of an Iowa DOT rest area with wireless service. We are about 250 miles into our trip after six hours - Roman has not been as patient in the car as usual so we have had several stops already. Many miles need to be realized once he falls asleep tonight!!

35S through Iowa and then into Missouri and southwest from there.

I am sure a late night entry will be made tonight when we need a break - until then...

Lazy day - last one for a while!

So, after the drama of my first post, I accomplished nothing else towards the trip outside of getting some relaxing done with Steph and Roman.

Steph and I got to go to dinner - ate way too much but, only $3.50 (plus tip) spent after the discovery of a long lost gift card! It was nice - happy hour priced appetizers (anyone in the Twin Cities area - Flame in Rosedale mall actually has decent shrimp and scallop Chiveche'!! I personally think the serving it with tortilla chips is a mistake but. . . )

On to tomorrows plans - we are down to one car so Roman and I are pretty much house bound for Monday which is good! Organizing the pack out of the Rendezvous and our current living quarters, the last bulk laundry day, finalizing lists, checking them twice - you know the rest. Steph is naughty and I am nice. . .

We received a bit of a disturbing email today from the management company we will be renting from - something about verification of my earnings at my new job and bank account statements showing that we had 3x rent x 2 months in funds. . . my first thought was "if I had $5ooo in the bank I don't think I would be moving anywhere!!". It all worked out - a dissconnect in communication. We are still a go.

Time to start banking some sleep for Wednesday night. Steph and I plan on driving at most 1.5 hours each and then switching. Seems to keep you pretty fresh. We will test that theory. . .

Pushing to get ready - or not. . .

As I create my first blog, relaxing here in the shade, feeling accomplished after spending two hours prepping, seeding and watering a bald patch of yard at a place I will be leaving three days from now I wonder. . . what the hell am I doing putting down grass seed?

It needs to be done no doubt but, we also have a 1250 mile car trip departing on Wednesday and the preparation for that needs to be completed yet.

We are excited but, I think, a bit nervous/anxious about the aspect of moving to a place where we have no family, friends (save one) or real support within a few hunderd miles. We are getting ourselves ready to go but, we are finding ways to delay the inevitable finality of our moving to somewhere neither of us have a history with nor knowledge of - hence the grass seed. . .

We shall embark on Wednesday - July 22, 2009 for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Our mode of transport? A 2003 Buick Rendezvous. What are we moving with us? Whatever can fit in or on said Rendezvous. . . I think that may be the highest degree of spelling difficulty I have ever had in a short paragraph. . . Albuquerque and Rendezvous - hhmmph.

We have visited nearly all we want to visit before we leave (I don't think we will see everyone but, we still have a few days left!), thinned out our belongings to a paltry six medium sized boxes of "stuff", clothes, shoes, Roman's bed, TV, DVD player, a futon, coffee table, coffee maker, coffee filters, coffee mugs, coffee (seeing a theme here?), Steph's prized dark red velvet curtains and our computers. The initial "dry run" for packing up the vehicle will start on Monday. I want to have everything packed BELOW the top of the seats in back - don't need anything soaring towards the front of the passenger compartment in the event of an emergency stop.

Steph and I are going out to dinner tonight - I re-discovered a gift card I have for a restaurant with adequate funds for a nice time. We are taking advantage of Jared's willingness to watch Roman for a couple of hours tonight to enjoy a meal with just the two of us - probably the last time we will be able to do this for a very long time!! - or until we find someone we trust with Roman in New Mexico - so yes, a very long time!!

I believe that this is significant enough for an initial blog so, I will continue to enjoy the afternoon, finalizing things, listening to an easy mix of Incubus, Bob Marley, Morcheeba and Sneaker Pimps.

Until next time - Frank