42″ 1080p TV. Current cost, $600-750.

42″ 1080p TV. Cost to ship to California? $233.

Ouch. Still, far cheaper than buying a replacement out in California, and I have little to complain about with regard to the TV. Speakers are kind of weak, but who cares about speakers on an HDTV? Seriously, you’re splurging, go the whole mile – surround sound is the only valid answer. Picture’s gorgeous, of course, and I’ve my share of crazy inputs.

Loving the UPS store here. Such a ridiculous thing to package and ship, and they went at it straight away. Was out of there in under twenty minutes.

Loving on USPS as well. Media Mail could use some major clarification – I opted not to send much of my potential ‘media’ via Media Mail, and only sent books. Problem is, I received too many different answers to my questions on Media Mail. Given that violations either come with penalties or are simply discarded (as far as I’ve heard, there is no return service on Media Mail)… Yeah, not worth risking.

Still, Parcel Post is dirt cheap. Estimated delivery times of approximately a week. Can’t argue with that, and frankly, if things are late, meh, they’re late. We’re talking cross country migration here.

Need to run the numbers and see what my final UPS packages tomorrow are going to run (two more custom packages, alas – no way around it!)… But, I think I’m in good shape to have successfully executed a cross country move for under $1k. In addition, I’ve several hundred dollars worth of tax write offs thanks to donations to charitable organizations – and I haven’t even gotten to furniture yet. Speaking of which, this sort of insanity is why you should never buy expensive furniture until you’re damned set on permanently settling somewhere. ;)

Can’t wait to go to Ikea and buy a bunch of Klingon tables. FLOOGNAGH! GAGH! MOLTZ, JOI CHOO!

Coming back from the UPS store today, ended up behind some dude with an NRA sticker on his car. And… A ‘Darwin fish’ in a circle with a line through it. Hilarious. Couldn’t tell whether to be happy (someone concerned with gun rights) or disgusted (person who believes in fairy tales, claims divine omnipotence, but can’t come to terms with the fact that said divine omnipotence could’ve worked out the entire evolution thing).

I’m not fooling myself into thinking California doesn’t have its share of ‘differently thinking’ individuals, but damn, compared to this place…

Going to miss the scenery, to be sure. Nothing like the forests of Pennsylvania at the beginning of Summer. Kind of unhappy I didn’t have the chance to drive about the state and take some pictures, but that’s what vacations and rental cars are for.

Well.

Farewell to the black morass that is Northeastern Pennsylvania. Farewell to crappy weather, crappy humidity, crappy roads, crappy local governments. Farewell to crappy job markets.

Hello, In-n-Out.

I like to think United is a leather-clad dominatrix, refusing to allow you to check in with plenty of time to spare, because she knows you really like it, because the safe word is Willem Dafoe, and you aren’t screaming Willem Dafoe’s name, because damn it, that’d just be awkward.

Your online system is telling me I am too late to check in online; it’s within an hour before my scheduled departure. Except, not really. Re: Surprise 11:20 AM. I’m glad that my reservation is fine. Yes, you already said I have to check in at the airport. I’m asking you if your airline is going to screw me because of some absolutely illogical policy. Yes, I *know* – check in at the airport. I’m asking if I *can*. Oh, FFS, thank you, good day.

Rush to airport. No rush, because waking up is hard to dooooo.

Check in, no problem. Hours to kill. Starbuck’s. God awful coffee. Pretty good blend of coal ash and mud, though. Departure. Sleep.

Paul H. Muad’dib, why is it under negative NINE THOUSAND? Ridiculous $7 blanket is very tempting to purchase. Rather sleep. Sleep, in the three seats I have to myself. US Airways. They are NOT United. They do not really pack them in. They are not stacking them like cordwood. They are not loading them up via baggage conveyor into a holding area with a grated floor.

Philly. Time to kill. Bathroom. Oh god yes, bathroom. Four hour flight? Seemed longer when I watched it. Itinerary said five. Captain was awesome, by the way. Explained exactly why the hell we weren’t departing at 8:20 AM in great detail; begged apology. US Airways. They are NOT United. Bathroom. Change into long sleeved shirt. Wander around Philly. Time to kill; need food. Wendy’s! Coming soon, crap. Walk to terminal F. Can’t walk to terminal F without re-screening. Still no problems with TSA. Theatre Security Asininity. Not arrogant enough to be an arsehole martyr. Not looking to cause enthusiast problems; result, no problems. Ever. Downright pleasant folks, really. I’m on a BUS!

Terminal F. Food? Sbarro. Sbarro. How the hell do you pronounce Sbarro? Is it Ess-Barro? Or some hideous s-b consonant shift that doesn’t work with English? Damned good pizza. Probably sucked, to be honest. I mean, airport pizza? From some random chain? Crispy thin crust. Awesome sauce. Could be alteration of taste buds caused by starvation. For I am the Kwisatz Haderach. Beer is the mind-killer.

Boredom. Boarding. Beets. Battlestar Galactica. Love small regional jets. Getting used to riding the skybus, though. Bus. Bus. I hate Airbus. Even after United, flying was still awesome(tm), until I realized: It’s a bus. A bus with wings, but a bus. Mere public transportation. Nothing special about it whatsoever. All because of Airbus. They couldn’t name themselves Airlimo? The temperature of this bus is over nine thousand. Shouldn’t have changed. Didn’t turn off my cell phone; take that, asinine pointless rules. Gods below, are we at cruising altitude yet? Need. Music.

Zzzz. Crackle. Crap. Beginning descent. So much for the glory of Yuki Kajiura. Flying to Japan from California should be a hell of a lot cheaper.

Drinking. Decent games of pool. Dim, dank diner. Ridiculous girl from Hazleton. Boyfriend facepalming. Poor dude. Good luck with that. And good luck to you, stereotypical girl from Hazleton. The company I co-founded does direct business with household names that you cannot possibly imagine. What do you do? Nothing of consequence? Enjoy growing old in dive bars.

Ah, arrogance. Well deserved arrogance; the best kind. Time I start acting like it.

Konata is dead. S’what I get for naming a red car Konata. Started earlier; not starting now. Alternator. Alternator, really? Probably. Really? Seems like it.

Pork chops. Mashed potatoes. Hell yes. Need to cook dinner when I get back. I make killer lemon and garlic pork chops. Ah, crap. I make a damned fine ham. Ah, crap. I should just cheat and do sushi. Need to remember to grab the knife from the kitchen. Best investment ever. Nearly took off my finger and didn’t feel a thing. Want to break out the requisite sushi equipment. Only have settings for two people, though. Awesome green-black, though. Gods below, must pack that carefully. Might be a UPS or FedEx box instead of a USPS gets-there-when-it-gets-there cheap box.

Family that doesn’t comprehend that moving some crap into the house != moving in. Infuriating. Attempts to correct largely ignored. Could try harder. Guilty about not trying harder? Not really. Don’t need the drama. What ever happened to TNT? They know drama(tm). Need to find a place with Surewest. But even Comcast is surely better than the local cable monopoly.

Alternator. Gunk on the cables. Clean the gunk. Like hell that’d fix it. Still, much improvement. Negative on start. Why is my airbag light blinking with my blinker? WHY ARE YOU BLINKING, AIRBAG LIGHT? YOU’RE NOT EVEN A BLINKER. Disconnect. Serpentine belt, we meet again, my old enemy. Remove the coolant resevoir. I can see why; there’s no room. Not like the Jeep. A foot of room in front of the engine; Serpentine clearly visible. My god, it’s full of space. Not like Ford. Then again, ZX2. Overpowered tiny car. Overpowered, giant engine, makes sense. Bolt removed. Can’t even approach the nut which must be removed. Why would you do that, Ford? Why would you leave two inches of screw sticking out? Just to make things difficult for those of us who don’t have tiny rachet sizes with ridiculously unnecessary depth to them? Gods below. Washer fluid resevoir? Two of those nuts. Can get the one, but there’s no chance at the second. Great.

Screw it, I’ll work around it. Ah, Serpentine belt. Tensioner in the worst location imaginable. Can’t get the torque to move it. Detatch front right shield. Plastic shield. Hilarious. Have torque; but… Physics for the win. Force of ratchet being pulled back keeps second ratchet snug against a piece of the body. At full de-tension. Alternator pulley uses teeth. Would rather not lose fingers to pulling and working the belt; jenky use of a second ratchet to hold tensioner in de-tensioned position – yeah, not trusting that. Screw it. Saving $250 isn’t worth dealing with the horrible Serpentine belt. I cede victory.

Four months of mail. There’s my new Visa from Citi. And here’s a letter from Citi that arrived shortly thereafter. It’s just been revoked. Okay then. Well, I’ll just pay this card off slowly. No, wait. Okay, then. I’ll just prioritize paying off this card. Crap. ShittyBank. No matter what you do, they win.

Real system. Install Steam. Install Portal. Slightly amusing. Honestly, seems ridiculously overrated. Bored already. Believe this is why Depeche Mode wrote that song asking if there is, in fact, something to do.

Alternator. Is it the alternator? My car has spider webs in it. My car sat at an airport for five and three months. It was buried in snow. I want to drive, damn it.

Wal-Mart. Tape and bubble wrap. Fifteen feet of bubble wrap. Might as well get two. $67 for a battery? Thought it was more. Screw it. Everything I’ve been reading all day says, alternator. Unless it’s the battery.

Should’ve got separate receipts. Oh well. Finally have a use for those highlighters.

Konata lives. Konata stutters. Konata stutters badly. What’s up with that? Car has been sitting. I’m going to suspect, longer than a week, what with spider webs and the shaking the crap out of things. Two blocks later, she’s back. Taking it easy. Quick dash to Mountain Top. Could’ve just turned around. Nice section of 309 where it’s impossible for cops to sit. Downhill, posted 55. 80 it is. Structure integrity is holding, captain. Missed Materialise via car stereo. Something intriguing about Kajiuran Opera. Down to 45. Take a left at the light. Road seemed longer last time. Another left, and the old highway. By highway, I mean two lane road with a ridiculously decent posted 40. 55 it is. Except for spinning around that bad corner. Feel daring, though. 35, and she gives no leeway. Love you, m’dear.

Might as well check the Interstate. Real open field running. Construction, FFS. With nary a construction worker to be seen at 1 AM. Still, 55 to 65 mph for a decent stretch. Or stretches. Keep being interrupted by sudden lane shifts with a complete lack of lighting and concrete barriers that are far too narrow. Another reason to miss California; those people understand how to do roadwork. Get back. Park. Turn off car. Turn on car. Turn off car. Turn on car. Turn off car. Turn on car. Turn off car. Turn on car. This is probably really bad for the car, come to think of it. Need to know though. Well. Will check it in the morning. Just drove for an hour and a half. That and getting me to AutoZone for a free alternator check, and I’ll say it was a good use of $67.

Agitated because of the car. And other reasons. Mostly the car. Monday already. Leaving Saturday. So much to do. The car, really? Not really. The real problem is I have a crap ton of things to do on Monday, few of which involve anything material. Determine if I need to rent a van to move stuff to the house. Need to talk to Goodwill. Possibly the Salvation Army. I’ve got furniture, and someone’s going to haul it away for free or for a tax-deductible receipt, damn it. I really cleaned out in the time between California trips. Out of stuff to merely throw out. Need to talk to the post office about Media Mail and Priority Mail. Not much to do.

Sleep for a few hours. Wake up. Humidity out here is deadly. Low humidity at the moment, and it’s twice what ‘high humidity’ days in Sac are. Feel dirty. THEY DON’T MAKE WATER HOT ENOUGH.

Need to do something. Feels like I’m wasting time. Four AM. What time? Only things open are Wal-Mart and gas stations. Media mail. Books are lighter than they appear. Box full of books – half my library. A mere twenty five pounds. Fifteen feet of bubble wrap is nothing. Gods, need more. Progress.

Need a cigarette. Loving the e-cigarette tonight. Oh hell, loving the e-cigarette tonight. Need a real cigaratte though. Need to stop doing this, need to stop reverting. All in due time. Cigarette consumption already at ridiculously low levels. Will make the final push later in the week, I think.

Konata lives. Starts right up. Not believing there’s a parasitic problem. FFS, car sat in an airport, rotting away, for half a year, then started right up. Covered in such filth. Security system still armed. Still think that was not a good idea for the battery. Still going to check the alternator today. Worst case, I blew $67 on a battery, after abusing the hell out of the last battery. Kind of want to make the car as nice as possible; last week with her, and she’s going to a friend. Don’t mind the expense so much. Full of shit, I just wanted to drive *NAO*. Well, and the going to good hands and don’t mind the expense in that case, part.

Ash Like Snow. Gundam 00. Epic in Blu Ray. Unicorn is better, aesthetically. Stupid name. Movie quality animation. Gorgeous. Gundams with airbags. Hilarious. The Brilliant Green. The Brilliant Band Name. Gas station.

Weight loss, none. Maintaining? Good. Need to stop letting someone feed me giant plates of sixty three cheese nachos. Probably just need to wait for summer in Sacramento and the complete lack of eating due to the heat of a thousand stars. Energy drinks don’t count. Monster BFC. Need to get a Windows 3.11 box set up again. Doom and Doom 2. So many hours wasted. Time better spent than watching Birth. Horrible movie. The funniest part is that the main point of the movie destroys itself. The movie is pointless. Simply pointless. Ooo. Gas station burrito. 65,000 calories.

Decisive Battle. Impossible to obey the speed limit. Eliminating targets.

Burrito on plate. Suddenly not hungry. Awesome. Later.

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