After seven days of driving, over 2100 miles and through 7 states of the 'ol US of A, we pulled into Antioch, Illinois with all the fanfare of... at truck rolling down main street with all the other cars... but hey we made it and thats what counts. Just pulled up in front of Gramma and Grampa Ploss' house here in town, rolled the car off the trailer, and called it a day. Gramma made us baked chicken with potato salad and watermelon for dessert. Mm-mm.

Earlier we passed through Springfield, and miles upon miles of corn fields. Not much else except lakes and rivers to see. Very quiet and flat here. (pictures follow)

Here's the last leg of our journey:

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All in all it went smoother than I could have hoped for. No problems with the truck, trailer, or weather, just lots of bumpy roads and the in-progress fixing of said roads. Now all that remains is to unload the truck and hopefully visit with the rest of the Plosses here in town, as well as the Great G's over in Gurnee. My flight home leaves Thursday afternoon. Until I blog again, this has been Life In the FAST Lane.

Yesterday was a busy day, as we drove the 188 miles from southern Tulsa to their lakeside (and golf-course adjacent) home south of Springfield, MO. Stopping to do some banking and gas filling made the trip longer than normal, as did the windy and hilly country road we took down there. Truckers drive like madmen down there on two-lane roads with no shoulder. Yikes! We got to the house in the late afternoon, relaxed on the porch overlooking the lake, and enjoyed the warm and momentarily rainy weather. They took us to a favorite local restaurant for catfish, chips and beer, with pie for desert, mm-mm. All home cooked, even the potato chips, fried fresh. We relaxed all evening with the deer and lightning bugs, then fell asleep to lightning and thunder. Best sleep all trip.

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Today we slept in, then made our way over to Branson to see the new outdoor mall at Branson Landings on the White River. Shops and attractions right on the river front, across the street from a GIANT new Hyatt convention center (which i neglected to photograph). Lovely weather made it a nice comfy walk around, while we chatted and looked at the condos for rent/sale in the same Hyatt complex. After saying our goodbyes from there, since P&E had plans for the fourth, we set out north to our destination tonight in Litchfield, but not before sampling some BBQ at the Rib Crib, which is a chain of roadhouses in Missouri. Fabulous St. Louis-style ribs and babybacks. Needless to say I bought a couple bottles of sauce to bring home with me. Our evening ended with a view of the flooded Missisipi River, the famous St. Louis skyline, Cubs vs Cardinals on the radio, and scattered fireworks here in Litchfield as we drove down the last stretch of I-55.

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Heres the last two days in pictures:

Since we're grinding out the miles (well, I'm doing most of the driving) and not stopping much, this trip is arduous and rough on the back/legs/arms/eyes/brain. Just like yesterday, we decided not to push too long into the night. So we stopped in Tulsa for dinner and decided that it was close enough to Shell Knob, Missouri (188 miles) to wait until tomorrow to head there to visit Mom's brother Pete and his wife Eileen. In our travels today we saw lots of trees, but amongst them were strange sights a-plenty. Stopped at a Route 66 museum here in OK as well.

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From last nights stop in Albuquerque to Amarillo is about 290 miles, and we split that almost down the middle while the other slept, as uncomfortable as that is. The drive was mostly desert in New Mexico, and once we passed into Texas, it was flat fields with occasional buildings. Pretty boring stuff, which probably contributed to the lack of willingness to go on. It would have been rough to make it to Oklahoma City.

So tomorrow we'll be heading to Branson, Missouri (south of Springfield), where my Uncle Pete and Aunt Eileen have a house. We'll spend the fourth with them and then head up to Illinois.

For now, here's some shots from the boring drive today:

Heres todays scenery.

My mom is moving back to Illinois, north of Chicago where she grew up. All of her possessions are in a 26 foot U-Haul truck with her Acura in tow. We left San Bernardino today at about 2:30, and stopped for the night in Kingman, AZ. Tomorrow its on to Albequerque, NM.

Here's some pics from todays travels.

In other news, I'm still working hard at In-N-Out and here at Poly. The weeks seem so hectic that this quarter is just flying by. Last weekend, though, I had a break in the action so I could drive down to Corona and surprise everyone for Grandma and Mary's birthdays. It went over well i think. Other than that its been a blur of photographs, painting, and project after project. And the grind continues.

Until next time, when I might have more to write about, this has been Jimbo from SLO.

Anyway, I've been busy with work for school as well, since that is really what I live here for. You can see what I've been up to for photography class on my website, Wiseguy Images. Yesterday I registered for my Winter classes, and I'll be moving right ahead with my photography by taking Artificial Lighting and Digital Color Photography classes along with a couple of other art classes. Should be a busy quarter once work is factored in.

Next week I'll be driving down to spend Thanksgiving with the family, and after that there's just two weeks of school including finals. I'll be staying in SLO to work for a lot in December, but I'll be down to Corona again for Xmas. I hope that Grandpa Nehls continues to improve and that the G's will be able to join us for Xmas in Cali. My thoughts are with you there in chilly Illinois.

So I hope to keep up with my blog here as much as I can, at least once a month while I continue my trek towards graduation, which by the way is about 2.5 years away. So I'll be living life in the SLO lane for quite a while to come. Stay faithful and you might be rewarded (or not, it's a gamble). Cheers!

The weekend of September 29th I drove down with my friend Sam to work at a 5k charity run in La Mirada. We were employees of a company called Eternal Timing, a subcontractor of TriCalifornia Events. This was my first time working for them, but Sam has done lots of events over the past years, and basically it was a small event so we were expecting a hassle-free weekend. Boy were we in for it.

Our duties for the contract were simple: we were to set up timing mats (basically large rubber mats infused with copper wire that function as both antennae and receivers for RF-ID chips), assign timing chips (RF-IDs attached to a runners shoe), and time the event. Once the event was over, we should have compiled and processed the data, then posted it online for the athletes to view. Easy peazy.

Ok, I'll give you the short version, but that is not what happened that weekend. We got there on Saturday and there was no one at the event site (a regional park). Great. So we call the event organizer and find our there is no one showing up until the next morning, and that we will have two or so hours to set up and check out chips to 500+ athletes running in the timed 5k and a kids 1mi run. Unrealistic expectations at best. So we go try to check into our hotel and find that the organizers never made the reservation. Luckily we got a room in the hotel and just had them pay for it. The rest of the night was spent waiting for various information, when we should have been sleeping so we could get up at 4:30. Anyway, it was a long night. Luckily our company pays for everything so we had nothing to worry about concerning food and such.

The event day was even worse, and for my own mental health I'd rather not relive it. I'll just say that its amazing that there was a race at all. I'm not even sure they raised any money for lupus, which is the cause this event was fund raising for. Our attempts to salvage the chaos the ensued were not in vain, but needless to say that by noon we were itching to get our equipment back in the truck and on our way home. But not before a little lunch.

So we stopped and ate some great Dim Sum with Sam's aunt and uncle who live in the area. It was a great and authentic Chinese meal, and afterwards we hit up the 99 Ranch market for good Asian groceries (tea, rice, and such). But then we came out to the parking lot and found that our company truck had been broken into, and lots of our stuff had been taken. After calling the sheriff and filing a report, we proceeded to drive all the way back to SLO missing a window. Fun fun.

So we get back about 5 hours later than expected, eat dinner and pass out. What a weekend. But the bad karma was not over for me. That Tuesday I rode my bike downtown with my friend Doug to get some lunch (we had a couple of hours between classes). I got a puncture somewhere along the way and when we came out to get our bikes i had a flat tire. So I had to walk home and be late to class. Basically my theory was that I had some kind of karmic disaster and somehow was accumulating other peoples misfortune or something.

Anyway I'm feeling better now because the sheriffs department recovered some of my stuff that got stolen, including my computer, as well as all of the company's stolen property (two laptops). I just turned 21 and had a great weekend, so I guess I've had all the bad karma I can in one sitting. Now life is almost back to normal and I have class at 8am tomorrow, so I'll cut this short and hit the sack. I'll leave you with an image of my 21 year old self and my birthday souvenir: my literstein mug (note the lederhosen and commemorative button). Cheers!

I've got four classes totaling 14 units, but I tried unsuccessfully to add a fifth class and so I've got Mondays and Wednesdays off. I'm taking basic Art classes required for my Art and Design major, and as such I'm surrounded by freshmen students everyday. There are a few fellow transfers in the department, so I don't feel out of place or anything, but these classes are very basic, and the tedious lectures get a little frustrating. Having taken art courses at RCC I'm very familiar with the subjects being taught, even if the credit doesn't articulate between colleges. My classes for this quarter are Basic Digital Photography, Color Theory, Beginning Sculpture, and Biopsychology.

The first three are those freshman level courses. The Biopsych is a B5 general elective for me, and it might turn out to be a great choice. The course deals with the biochemistry and biology of behavior, focusing on the brain and central nervous system as well as the genetic aspects of behavior in humans. My professor is a practicing Clinical Psychologist, Michael Selby, PhD. Quite a smart man, from what I've seen and heard in our two lectures thus far. I think I'll enjoy his class.

As for life outside of classes, there's not much to tell. I've been playing some billiards with my good friend Sam Chew, whom I met my freshman year at Cal Poly. I went to his place last week to hang out, and was introduced to a crazy card game called Killer Bunnies. The most complex card game I have ever played, to say the least. Very fun and very competitive. We only played one game but it lasted for hours. Great social fun, as bargaining, bribing and betrayal are key elements to success in the game.

So here in SLO the freshman are getting to know the place, but still staying on campus a lot, since they live there. We live on frat row, but since school started it's been more quiet than it was last week (thankfully). Even frat boys have to study i suppose. Who knew?

I'm settling into a new routine, biking to class, spending more time out of the house, and meeting more new people (while catching up with random people I haven't seen since leaving Poly in 2005). So far its a good quarter here in SLOtown. Oh yeah and I've started a new venture: facial hair. Because I've worked at In-N-Out Burger for four years, since before I started shaving for real, I've never had the chance to grow any real facial hair. Well now I can. So here is my first attempt at something:

I think it makes me look older. But I'm not sure if it looks good. I'd like to hear what anybody thinks.

My thoughts are with my Grand and Great-Grandparents in Gurnee, IL, who are with Great Grandpa Harry. Hope everything turns out well.

Lots of love from the west coast. Until next time, this is Jimbo from SLO saying peace out.

So far the week has been slow (pun not intended). I'm gonna look for a job so I can make my car payment and save some money, and since school starts on Monday, thats my major mission for this week. Oh, and if you want to mail something to me here in SLO my address is 190 California Blvd #106, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. Anyway, here's some shots of our building and the interior of the humble abode.

This is the entrance to campus, one block from our building.
The only bother will be walking/biking up the hill for classes at the top.

Here's the front of our building, the Foothill Hacienda Apts. Ours is the first floor door behind my Golf.

Here's our living room, furnished with lovely pink vinyl couches, ugly print carpet and cable TV.

Our spacious kitchen, with more cabinet space than we know what to do with. The fridge is small and there's no dishwasher, but it works! Sure beats campus food every day.

We had our first home-cooked meal last night after grocery shopping: tacos!

And here is the bedroom I share with my new roommate Paul. He's a transfer student majoring in Landscape Architecture, and hails from Ventura. He plays the guitar, and quite well from what I've heard. Our space is layed out well enough that my queen bed is allowable, and we have side-by-side desks back in the corner.

And that's the grand tour. Its a nice place to live, even with the hourly trains blaring by not 20 yards away. I'll keep you posted on the happs for this week before school, as I live life in the SLO lane. Peace out!

Until then, peace out from SLOtown.

But overall I find the experience to be less horrific than described by those previously subjected to the procedure. Perhaps I got lucky. Anyway, The healing continues, and I'm now beginning to think about my move up to SLO. The Dad just bought me a new computer to take with me, another Dell desktop that will be even faster than his home machine is now. w00t!

The Angels won today, as Bryan and I superstitiously clung to our designated seats throughout the bout with Toronto. At one point I moved, Toronto scored a run and threatened more, so I moved back and the Angels scored again, twice. Amazing how coincidental life can be. But we gained 1/2 a game on Seattle, so thats something.

Summer is winding down, and this time next month I'll be coming to you from my new pad, and another month later I'll be turning 21. Just flies by. I'll try to keep updates coming in the next few weeks, as I paint the exterior of the house, finish up at work, pack up all my stuff, go to 6 Angels games (Aug. 31 - Sept. 5) with Bryan, and finally make the trek up ol' Hwy 101 to my new home. Gonna be a busy month. Hope everyone has a good time and leaves some love, I always enjoy it! Cheers!

We took a much needed swim to cool off, then relaxed with a movie and enjoyed the first home-cooked meal in the new kitchen: spaghetti a la auntie. What a treat!

After that big workout, I didn't have the muscle fatigue or soreness the next day. I think the swim afterwards helped a lot with cool down of my muscles. The biggest problem I have is that when I close at work, the next day becomes shorter as I have problems getting to sleep before 3 or 4am. Going to school will help me get in a routine schedule that should help with eating and exercise frequency. Until then, I'll do what I can.

I made a decision that instead of going to the gym, I'd find other more interesting ways to get my exercise. In lieu of that I bought a new mountain bike, which I will ride to my hearts content. I find that I can get more out of riding rather than just spinning in place in some smelly gym. I can ride trails, do circuits on the track or at a park, or just ride around town enjoying the sunshine and the fresh smog. It'll be great once I get to SLO as well, since I can bike to classes, the store, the beach, wherever. The whole area is more compact and bike-friendly than SoCal streets are, plus the scenery is way better than the urban landscape down here.

So along with some better eating (less really) and exercise I hope to get going with some weight loss soon. Today I was at 352lbs, which is at the low end of my 5-7 pound range of fluctuation. Its hard to tell what's weight loss and whats flux at my weight. But in a few weeks if any change has take place I'll be able to tell. In the mean time, I'm enjoying the summer, getting bored/frustrated with the job, and looking forward to getting up to SLO for another fresh fall start.

On a side note, I think that writing about all this on my blog here makes all the difference. I feel more conscious of my daily habits, my food choices and my will to exercise. I know all of that is because of your attention to my writings, and the need I have to make good on my commitment. So thank you to all of you for reading, and keep it up!

P.S. How do you like the new layout? Leave your comments here or by email. Thanks!