random post of randomness

[primroseburrows]

• So my amazing family and my BFF all got together and bought me the best birthday present ever. I haven't used my desktop since I got it. :D :D
  
  
• Oh, and speaking of presents, thank you so much to eldritchhobbit for the virtual presents!
  
  
• Moving into a much, much smaller place is some kind of Buddhist act of casting off worldly goods. Or a hair-pulling act of frustration. I'm trying really hard to think of it as the former. And oddly, I'm succeeding. For the moment, anyway (which, um. Is also Buddhist. *g*).
  
  
• Of all the dorky comms out there--and I mean this as an extreme compliment--I've yet to find one more wondrously dorky than rockmemrspeaker. I've always thought that h20_wtf ran pretty high up the dork-o-meter, but I think this one tops it.
  
  
• Dear Stephen Colbert: MARRY ME PLZ. Dear Mr. President: LESS THAN THREE X ABOUT A BAZILLION.
  
  
• Whether it's science or God or technology or magic or plain blind luck, I will never be convinced that there are no such things as miracles. Case in point.
  
  
• One of the three thousand cool things about Scarecrow and Mrs. King is that all the guys wear suits. I guess even hardcore KGB agents want to look their best when they show up at spy headquarters in the morning. This is also a good show for playing Generic Bad Guy Bingo (which I suck at, but mneh).
  
  
• I've offically cancelled my vacation for June. Since I've been out of work for almost a month, you'd think this wouldn't bother me much. Thing is, schlepping around southern New England trying to move house and recover from random and very owie back issues does not equate with hanging around London and Stratford and Toronto (oh, my!) with my kid. I'm putting in for vacation in mid- to late August, but still. Wah.
  
  
• Now that I'm seriously pushing fifty, I've been thinking about doing some Epic Travelling to celebrate. It's two years away, so I've got a little time to plan (and save money OMG). I've been thinking about doing the Northwest for a while now but haven't figured out exactly how. So, anyway, yesterday's Vinyl Cafe broadcast was recorded from this train, and Stuart MacLean waxed so eloquent about the trip (and yeah, I know, using "Stuart MacLean" and "waxed eloquent" in the same sentence is redundant), I've added it to the List of Possibilities.
  
  Also on the list are:
  
  
  • U.S. Route 66.
    
  • U.S. Route 1, probably the north to south trek. And I could visit patchfire along the way, whee!. Well, okay, it's not exactly "along the way". But I'd definitely make the detour. :)
    
  • Belgium. I'd try very hard to talk bjohan57 into doing at least part of this one with me.
    
  • Oz and New Zealand.
    
  • Ireland (this sounds like a great tour group, even though my usual trip of choice is to travel by myself).
    
  • The Dempster Highway. Not so much alone for this one. I'd be afraid of breaking down in the middle of nowhere and dying of exposure or being eaten by lemmings or something.
    
  • The Alaska Highway.
  
  
  Some of these will eventually rule themselves out for sheer cost, and some could very well mean skipping vacation entirely next year (I'm not entirely sure I could DO such a thing, mind you). And I'll probably add to the list a lot in the next few months. A couple of these trips could actually be combined. You know, like if I win the lottery or something. I figure some kind of tentative planning should happen within a year or so.

Comments

[luzula]

I would sooo want to drive along the Dempster Highway. *wants*

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

There's enough people just on LJ that want to do this; you'd think we could eventually get up some kind of international tour group, y'know?

[luzula]

*looks through comments*

Yeah, lots of people want to do that, it seems like! Also, I have this dream of getting some kind of work (or even volunteer work) at one of the research stations in the American or Canadian arctic. Preferably the one in Inuvik. I mean, I do have experience with fieldwork in the Arctic. I have no idea if it would be possible, though.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I've seen Arctic "working vacation" trips advertised. It costs a lot of money. :/

Also, look what happened in Inuvik!.

[luzula]

*googles*

That would be stuff like this, right?

Huh, I wonder why volunteering would cost money? I thought what you volunteered was your work, not your money. But maybe it's like Anna and the interns in S&A--if people are only there for a short time, and don't have previous experience with the work, they don't really contribute all that much.

I think I would email the research stations directly if I was going to try for this. Plus, the professor I work for might know people there.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Yeah, stuff like that. I'd love to take a year off and volunteer. I mean, if I were going to get basic room and board for doing it, that's all I'd need, right? The experience would be worth it. But charging? I don't get it. It's not an apprenticeship, it's volunteer work. *shrugs*

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

I really want to do the Dempster some day. And the best part is that you'd get to go to Dawson as well.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'd discover more gold and stuff.

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

You could call it the dekashtour. :)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

The Great Southern Kash Tour.

[andeincascade.livejournal.com]

I'd be totally down with any or all of these but I am dead serious about doing the Dempster Highway thing someday, I really am. Being in the Twin Cities I can offer my place as a jumping off point even.

Also, I was surfing around the other day and came across the website for the Stan Rogers Folk Festival that they have in Nova Scotia every year and I don't know why but I immediately thought, "Prim and I should go to that someday." What do you say?

And belated but heartfelt birthday wishes. I'm rather sucking at greetings this year but sent you all the good birthday karma I could. And look at that lovely pressie. Must have worked!

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Dude. If you want to go to Stanfest next year, I'm all over it barring illness or utter destitution. Another festival I've been trying to get to for years is Celtic Colours, which takes place at venues all over Cape Breton. I haven't been to Nova Scotia in waay too long. Seriously, we should Plan Stuff. And then we could talk about the Dempster, because I'm all over that idea also. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/_scally/]

Awesome present!!!!!!

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I know! My family is also awesome. :D :D

[leafy22.livejournal.com]

Belated Happy Birthday!

I enjoyed watching the two videos you linked to...and then thinking about where I'd like to travel. Some of the children in my class were looking at a book about the Netherlands this week and it made me all wistful about my little trip to Amsterdam last year. Good luck with all your planning!

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

*clears throat in best Benton Fraser manner*

Humboldt County, California is very, very pretty. And fangirls get free lodging from this cool chick... I think you've heard of her... just sayin'. ;-)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Oooh! The Cool Chick Lodging alone is worth the trip.

Oldest child (*points to icon*) is most likely moving to San Diego next year, which I don't think is all that close to you, but it's closer than RI. Which means Opportunities for Visits!

[gloriana.livejournal.com]

I've done parts of the 66 and the 1 a couple of times, been to Belgium and down under. If you can tear yourself away from the Arctic (and it's hard, I know :)) I'd have to say that New Zealand counts as the most amazing country I've ever been (and I grew up in the Caribbean, so I'm used to pretty). It doesn't have the grand quality of the US Southwest, but it's staggeringly beautiful - and so varied! The first day we were there, my husband went on a 2-hr hike up and down a hill beside the sea, an hour or so out of Auckland; and he came back saying he'd seen enough different landscapes to shoot six fantasy trilogies!

South Island, with its glacial lakes and fern forests, is incredible. But the weirdest thing is the way you can drive five miles and be in rolling country meadows, or by the Pacific. So it's like doing the great highways, only you can divide all the mileage by 10 :)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Only two of the options involve the Arctic, actually. ;)

I've heard so much about NZ and how gorgeous it is--I really do have to go, whether for Epic Travel Event or not. Also Australia; my daughter spent a semester in Sydney and was so taken by the country she's seriously considering grad school in Oz. An Antipodean Journey would be lovely, lovely.

[gloriana.livejournal.com]

Only two of the options involve the Arctic, actually. ;)

I was sorta discounting Belgium. Belgium is very little: it's hard to imagine Epically Travelling in Belgium. I nearly drove through it one afternoon. (Though it is very pretty, and I also recommend In Bruges if you can cope with Colin Farrell. I too have climbed that belltower.)

We're partway through the immigration process for Oz - wish us luck :)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

But! Belgium is right next to FRANCE. :D It could be a Binational Dorky Great War Battlegrounds Tour. ;)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

What a fantastic present! *hugs* I love your Epic Travel idea.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I figure marking such a milestone by feeding my giant wanderlust would be a great idea.

And yeah, this laptop is awesome. My desktop has been mostly off since I got it.

[eltonroo.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday although I am afraid I have likely missed it!
And don't worry, 50 isn't so bad (I turned it this year). At least we are younger than Elton and Billy and they are still going strong...

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I was seven when Empty Sky was released. And Elton was the same age my daughter Hannah is now. Woah.

As an old friend of my mother's used to say, Tempus do fugit.

[suchthefangirl.livejournal.com]

I've done the Alaska Highway, and it's awesome.

Actually, I've done Routes 1 and 66 (if you do 1 on the west coast, all the way to the bottom, you are required to visit me. Can't offer you a room, but I could offer you a couch...)

If you chose to do Alaska, but you wait a little bit, then in four years from now, I could offer you a place to stay in Fairbanks (that's the plan, anyway; we hope to be there from '13-'15). There, we will have a spare bedroom for all who visit.

I think I missed your birthday. I am sooo sorry. I have been waaay behind on my flist. Summer break is taking its toll on my computer time. Hope it was happy, and that you back is doing better.

Awesome present.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Birthday was very happy. :) Back is better enough that I'm back at work. Not all the way there, but the pain has gone way down (knocks on all kinds of wood).

I'd love to come visit Fairbanks! And there's a couple years to get financially ready for it. :D