Cross County Pt 2

Pretty much all of Oklahoma on I-40 was under construction, and it was the state with the second most amount of cows (Texas was first). Staying at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Oklahoma City turned out to be a great move as they had excellent customer service and a yummy breakfast. Texas was super flat and you could see for miles. New Mexico was more rolling hills and mile after mile of nothing but desert-y scrub, so we were very glad to get to the hotel. We made the trip from Ok City to Albuquerque, NM in about 9 hours and got there early afternoon so we tried to relax, but our hotel was kinda crappy so that made things challenging. We were glad to leave the next morning, despite being exhausted from lack of sleep the night before. We made the drive from NM to the Phoenix area in about 7 hours, and got there early as I had forgotten about the time change. So we are now 3 hours behind South Carolina time, which I know will take me awhile to get used to, because I was up at 5:15am today. My hubby slept like a log, for the first time in about 5 days. The biggest thing we had to get used to was the heat, as it was about 100 degrees yesterday. Today was still hot, at about 93, but had a nice breeze blowing so it didn't feel so oppressive. We had a nice Mother's Day, my first, though the main focus has been on my mom which is fine with me. My hubby is preparing his yummy shrimp, mango and okra curry for dinner. 


This week will prove to be a bit busy as we get settled in. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, then I'm planning on getting my hair cut and my driver's license done. I will be so happy to get a haircut as my hair has been getting seriously shaggy and long and in the way. Might be a little longer to get the car registered and license plate changed. The moving company is coming tomorrow, which was a bit of a surprise as we didn't think the guy would be here till later in the week as he had two stops to make before he came out to us. So we'll have to sort out how we want to store everything in the storage facility and what all we want in the house with us. That's all the fun and excitement going on here, will post more in upcoming days as things start to happen. 

Going across the country by car

My hubby, our golden lab/basset hound mix dog and I (plus a very full car) have gone through seven states in three days, which is pretty incredible when you think about it. These are South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. I had been to all these states except for Arkansas and Oklahoma and my hubby had gone through all but the last three. We drove to nearly Atlanta on Tuesday night, then woke up late Wednesday morning (though didn't sleep much for the second night in a row) and drove to Memphis. We had found out last night that the Mississippi River was about to flood, but thankfully all of the bridges over it near Memphis were still open. However, the White River in Arkansas, between Little Rock and Memphis had flooded its banks and they had closed down part of Interstate 40, which is the main road we are taking from Memphis, Tennessee to Flagstaff, Arizona. So we had to find a detour for today, and even though we left the hotel by 5:45am this morning, it took us an extra three hours to get around the detour (which was super annoying as we had planned to drive all the way to Amarillo, Texas but ended up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma because we have been driving for 11 hours today). 

As I have said before, I have never been to Arkansas, but what I have seen from the detour and the rest of the state via I-40, I am not missing much. I will say though I am sorry for all the folks that lost their homes and farmland due to the river flooding. We saw the devastation of the it and the tornado that ripped through one of the small towns on the detour, as well as the damage done to one part of Birmingham yesterday while driving. I mean you see the news reports, but nothing prepares you for how crazy everything is in real life. Like all the homes with no roofs or those that were completely flattened. I don't believe I have ever seen the Mississippi River but it was very impressive and as one newcaster said, they were expecting it to get up to 12 ft above the river line when it does flood. It was looking pretty swollen and had covered trees and power lines nearly up to the top. There is almost nothing on I-40 through Oklahoma, except every 25-50 miles each county is owned by a different Native American nation, which had it's own casino. We went through the Cherokee, Creek and Kipopo Nations, just to name a few. It was very green and flat, though less green than Arkansas, which I was frankly surprised at. Also Arkansas had vineyards in the mountainous areas of the Ozarks, which I also wasn't expecting. 

Tomorrow we are hoping to drive from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think my mom wants us to be in Arizona by tomorrow, but I think it we will end up getting there Saturday evening as it is nearly 16 hours there from where we are now. I could do 11 hours, though that is pushing it a bit with me being pregnant and a pooch in the back seat, but 16 hours is just too much

Days 20-22

This weekend has again been busy and I've neglected the blog. We finally managed to pick up a ton of boxes this weekend and have begin the gigantic task of packing our apartment, though I don't think it'll really pick up until this weekend. I've managed to get some of the "things I need to get done before we move" actually done, like canceling services now that we have a move date finally. So this will be my last week in South Carolina and I have kind of mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I am glad to be going someplace new and different and having the chance to start over. On the other hand, that prospects frightens me a little bit. This is a huge move, the furthest I've ever gone. My only comparable move was from Alabama to Virginia, but this one is further away. Anyways, on to the song selections...

While I don't understand all of the references in the song, I still find this song pretty funny, especially the last line. So yeah when I'm pissed off, this song makes me laugh.

Day 20: A song that I listen to when I'm angry - Tim Minchin - Some People Have It Worse Than I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XrI_2bPVA

I discovered this song a few months ago and fell in love with it. It's great for days when it's sunny and beautiful outside, basically the entire summer. It's just a feel good song. The video that is with it is not the original, but it goes along with it. 

Day 21: A song that I listen to when I'm happy - The Eels - God Damn Right, It's a Beautiful Day 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2tOu40EfQ

This song makes me laugh when I'm upset because I can relate to it. The song is about a guy who has been having a tough time of it and his friends are trying to cheer him up. Since I've been spending a lot of time at my apartment with just me and the dog, it makes double sense. (Warning: minimal amount of cursing)

Day 22: A song that I listen to when I'm sad - Avenue Q Soundtrack - There Is Life Outside Your Apartment 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7C-iEoArAc

Bolton Wanderers vs Charleston Battery

So the game was a lot of fun, despite the day being so hot it was like being in a sauna in your clothes all day, we were sweating so much. The only advantage to this sticky situation is that everyone else you are with has also been sweating all day and so they don't mind the smell as much. Needless to say, I never want to experience that again. I was way too uncomfortably hot. We went to the game early and got to tailgate with The Regiment, the fan club for the Battery. We met a nice guy named Mikey who my hubby had been talking to on the Club's forums. This was the first time an English Premier League team had played in South Carolina, so we were psyched to be amongst the 5000+ fans there to watch it (luckily we had a seat, but they had so many people there, it ended up being standing room only behind the goals). We are hoping that this will encourage other EPL teams to come to South Carolina, so maybe we can see some really good clubs like Man City, Tottenham, or even Liverpool (*fingers crossed*). We watched the teams warming up before the game and I was surprised how close we were to the pitch. There were a decent amount of British fans, including those that live in the area and Bolton fans that were traveling with the team. The other big surprise was how quiet it was during the game. I guess I'm just used to watching English Premier League games which are always so noisy.That being said, it was however, a really fun game to watch. The Wanderers won 2-0, though the Battery at least were putting up a fight despite losing.

My hubby was psyched because he got to take a picture and get an autograph from Owen Coyle, the manager of Bolton (who is an ex-footballer for Republic of Ireland and Bolton). We tried to get more autographs after the game, but there were too many people and the good players left early. For me, at least, there were quite a few good looking players on the field, including a cute balding ref. This is not a prerequisite but useful when you get a boring game, at least you have someone cute to look at. One of the things we noticed was how small the Charleston players were in comparison to Bolton, who had one guy that was at least 6' 6". It literally looked like Bolton was playing against a bunch of high-schoolers with the height difference. The only really annoying thing about the game were the vuvuzelas, those horns from World Cup fame. Our friend who went with us got one and spent the rest of the game blowing it at other people and generally annoying us and everyone around us. There were a couple of times I thought people were going to beat the crap out of him and possibly us for sitting with him. Those things should seriously be banned from games.

Injustices done while finding work

I, like a good chunk of the population, will be out of work as of mid-August. Granted I have been looking for jobs while I did have a job, but now that has been stepped up tremendously. I have been doing half of my search here in South Carolina and half in Arizona area. So far the best I've gotten is a chance to take some tests and a first-stage interview for a full time job, which I'm hoping I can get, but I have to go through another round of tests before I'm deemed worthy. And that job isn't even in my field.

The sad thing is most of my dream jobs require a Master's degree. And even though I am literally 4 1/2 months away from getting it, no one wants to take an interest in me. But neither can I get a library job requiring only a high school diploma or a Bachelor's degree (both of which I have). Where is the fairness in that? I have applied to both local county libraries a total of about 15 times each and no job offers, and I'm interning at one of them. I'm in library school, I'm getting a Masters and still I can't get a part time job in a library?!? It is uber-frustrating.

Even more so when I can't get a simple admin job (for which I have 3+ yrs experience) or a lesser job because I have too much education (yes, I even got rejected from Wal-Mart at one of my lowest points a few years ago). I'm just hoping at this point that I can either get a full time job in Arizona and move there and then try my luck at finding a job in libraries once I'm living there. I don't want this to be a repeat of my attempt to find work in the UK five years ago, when I eventually learned that I couldn't get a job there despite getting a degree there because I wasn't British or European Union.