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year30, updates, travel

The Grand Move, Updates on the road, Days 6 & 7

Santa Fe to Lubbock, TX

Last moments in Santa Fe

Day 6, Thursday
Still had a pretty sucky time connecting to the Internet, but I wasn't going to give up on you just yet, Surface Pro 3. I believe in you! Since our Airbnb rental's "high speed Internet connection" wasn't living up to its promise, I decided to walk downtown to work from Starbucks - J decided to come with so we could have Subways for lunch [1]. And whaddayaknow, I've got working Wi-Fi! YES!!!

Starbucks had a crazy promo that I desperately wanted to win. I had two chances today and I won neither. Better luck next time!

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Had to work from the shared bench. I pulled out a power strip from my bag - an idea I got from a blog entitled, "How To Prepare For Comic-Con" that suggested to bring one with you since there aren't a lot of outlets at the convention center...quickest way to make friends, too! - that immediately amused the people I had to share my space with. One of them was a 20-something girl who probably spent no less than two hours talking to multiple people on the phone, disputing some sort of medical claim (Note: I need to work on my eavesdropping skills if I want to get in the live-tweeting-or-blogging business). It sounded super stressful - she left the coffee house without resolution.

Nothing else of note happened during my stay there - got a lot of work done, thank goodness. J picked me up for dinner and we went to a quaint little restaurant called Tune-Up Cafe.

Decided to sit at the bar and start off with some local beers. While waiting for our orders, a man approached the bartender, claiming to be a movie location scout asking permission to shoot some photos. J and I exchanged glances, and the bartender had the "it happens" expression on his face. Apparently Santa Fe is a popular destination for shooting films.

Food and drink

  • Lunch: [1] J really wanted fajitas again, but it had been cold and rainy, so the fajita man wasn't at his usual station. So we shared a foot-long honey oat, black forest ham, lettuce, onion, tomato with vinegar and oil. I'm starting to love Subway!
  • Dinner: Jason - chicken enchiladas, Jam - shrimp and halibut pasta

Watched some Property Brothers before bed. Man, I will really miss having HGTV.

Day 7, Friday
Last day in Santa Fe! Didn't get to go to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum, but we caught up with the fajita man so that was awesome! Got to try green chile stew, which was perfect for a chilly mid-day. Ate at the park.

We both worked for a few hours at Starbucks; still didn't win the damn contest. Random thought: There are so many homeless folks in Santa Fe...how are they managing the cold? J thinks they are only stopping over on their way to somewhere warmer. And besides, there are homeless people almost everywhere.

Food and drink

  • Lunch: Jason - beef fajitas, Jam - green chile stew

Green chile stew, at the park. #vsco #VSCOcam #lunch #santafe

A photo posted by Jam Kotenko (@superduperjam) on

  • Dinner: Went to a restaurant called Whole Hog Cafe (which I thought was an AWESOME name!) and got the 1/2 slab with high expectations.  

Verdict: Underwhelmed. Coleslaw was only so-so (Best is still from Bray Butcher Block & Bistro at San Pedro Square Market in San Jose) and the sauces weren't that great, except for the #3. I'm really looking forward to the barbecue in Texas and St. Louis.

En route to San Antonio, TX

We hit the road at 6 PM Mountain Time, decided to stop in Lubbock at midnight Central Time (San Antonio is 10 hours away). This was our view for 5 hours or so:

It was so boring that we had to up our podcast/playlist game just to stay awake. We listened to episode 10 of Serial and had a heated discussion about Adnan's lawyer's incompetence. It's funny how the recordings shared through this podcast made these lawyers sound so bad at their jobs, they're not at all like the polished actors who play lawyers on television. Anyway, despite the fact that this episode had cast a bad light on the defense, there was no doubt about it now, what this show is trying to say: there definitely wasn't enough evidence to put Adnan in jail. </end-of-rant>

After Serial, we listened to J's old iPod whose tracks I won't list, apart from this one Chemical Brothers track that awakened both of us in the middle of bumfuck Texas, where NOTHING was going on (I didn't even realize that we already crossed over to Texas):

Accommodations for the night

Motel 6. No comment, just here to sleep.

year30, updates, travel

The Grand Move, Updates on the road, Day 5

More on Santa Fe

Morning

Waking up toasty next to the gas heater definitely has its perks, but it only takes about 5 minutes for me to feel the overall chill of Santa Fe's morning air...it probably was a bad idea to sleep in shorts with no socks. Must get a few more pairs of cute knee-high socks at Walmart/Target [1].

As I shower using scalding hot water, I am reminded of my days in Manila, taking baths by tabo using cool water. The idea of doing that here makes my insides quiver. I turn the heat up even more. Winter, here we come!

Oh, and for some reason, my morning migraine is a lot more intense here. Like, I didn't wake up because the sun hit my face or because J's alarm woke me up. I woke up because my skull felt like it was being sat on by three sumo wrestlers. J says I need to drink more water while we're here as high altitude makes you feel dehydrated quicker.

By the way, this is what our Airbnb rental looks like in the morning.

My complicated relationship with Windows laptops

I recently got a new laptop during Black Friday. It's sleek, shiny, sexy, and it bends in all sorts of ways. Take a look:

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Coming from a netbook, this is pretty much a dream. For a few hours, I enjoyed doing my work on it until we had to leave for The Grand Move. Then everything just went to the shitter.

It turns out, this fancy piece of machine is notorious for having horrible Wi-Fi problems, as in it won't ever connect to the Internet. It will give you access for a few minutes, but just when you start becoming happy that things are going your way, it drops off again. I run every troubleshooting app. I follow every tutorial I could find. Even J's computer wizardry falls short. Frustration city!

Finally, we decide to return my merchandise to Best Buy and switch brands all together. This is what we ended up getting just this evening:

I am pretty disappointed that I won't get a second try with the Yoga 2 Pro, but J explains that its Wi-Fi hardware is crappy - even the demo they have at Best Buy has a hard time connecting to the Internet.

Anyway, this is my second attempt at acquiring a better work machine. I am hopeful that this works out. I've always been a Windows gal, so I am especially rooting for the Surface Pro 3 to suit my needs without conking out [2]. Since most of our trip will actually be us working, I will probably have more updates to share in the days to come.

Pueblos everywhere!

This architectural style is something I am very fond of, which is why I was very excited about the prospect of visiting Santa Fe. The rounded and smooth corners, the earth tones, all of it just convey relaxation to me. For lunch, J and I decide to walk downtown to find a place to eat quickly, and on the way we see some cool pueblo style buildings and take photos of our favorites (click 'em - they blow up in size).

Food and drink

  • Lunch: Fajitas on the street. I had beef, J had chicken. Both were awesome. J asks, "What's the difference between a taco and a fajita?" I don't know, but I would eat both.
  • Dinner: Santa Fe Bite Restaurant, Jason - Street tacos, Jam - Green chile [3] cheese burger

[1] I don't online shop as much as I used to, but when I do, it's usually for stupid things like socks or $5 shirts.
[2] Don't get me wrong, I won't mind owning a Mac, but I don't want or need it right now.
[3] Green chile is a must for every visit to Santa Fe, apparently.

year30, updates, travel

The Grand Move, Updates on the road, Day 4

Flagstaff to Santa Fe, NM

Duration of trip: 5-6 hours

Playlist

J claims that he doesn't read my updates because of my uber-detailed listing of the songs we listen to. "Nobody cares about each and every track you play!" Music buff and wannabe DJ in me died, you guys. So instead of listing it manually here, I'm just going to embed the playlists I saved off of Spotify for our trip. Yep, I actually signed up for Spotify Premium so we could listen to songs offline/without Internet connectivity.

For this particular leg, we turned to this comedy compilation we begun listening to a few days ago, beginning with Robin Williams (may he rest in peace). People of note on this list that we ended up liking a lot are Wyatt Cenac and Maria Bamford. Skipped the non-spoken word tracks and Tig Notaro ("Too much cancer talk!" - Jason).

Food and drink

  • Snacks: Lay's Oven Baked barbecue potato chips, fresh persimmons courtesy of Tita Virgie (so good!)
    Dinner: Taco Bell, Jason - 5 tacos (1 of them originally mine), Jam - Crunch wrap supreme

Welcome to New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment

Not my photo, filched from here. We were going way too fast for me to be able to take my own, and it was already dark out.

Not my photo, filched from here. We were going way too fast for me to be able to take my own, and it was already dark out.

Not exactly sure why this is New Mexico's slogan. For the remainder of our time on the road to get to our Airbnb in Santa Fe, we saw nothing but flat lands and desert. Where are the unicorns and fairies? Must investigate further.

(Not too shabby) accommodations

Downtown Magical, Cozy Cottage in Santa Fe

House in Santa Fe, United States. This comfortable, stand alone cottage is equipped with everything you need to make your Santa Fe vacation fabulous! The property is conveniently located within a private compound and has parking for one vehicle directly in front of the unit. Once... View all listings in Santa Fe

More tomorrow!