Fall 2005 Update

I seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth since Andre and I returned from Europe, but alas, I’m still here. I’ve simply been busy; it’s the American Way. The good thing is that I’ve been busy with good things.

While I spend my weekdays in Western and West Virginia, at a dealer or a hotel, working from about 7:00 am to about 10:00 pm, I’ve been taking cool weekend trips to visit with folks. Ever since Sprint officially took over at Nextel, Andre’s been a free agent. He spent two weeks in Los Angeles, two weeks in Chicago, and now he’s got a 4 month project in Philadelphia. Although we try to meet up on weekends as much as possible, he’s often in another city, state, or country. So when meeting is not possible, I see people.

I visited Grandpa Kinch in late August. As with most older folks (Depression children in particular), I can’t buy him anything. He makes due with what he’s got, and he’s more than happy like that. But, he’s not as young as he used to be, so I like to do stuff for him. He built his house in the 50’s, and he’s learning to hint to his engineer-type granddaughter when something needs to be fixed. While it’s been a simple “mention” in the past, he’s getting comfortable with simply assigning me projects. It was a dead light fixture in the cellar on this trip. I figured I’d access the situation, but he informed me he’d already bought a new lamp, and all I had to do was rewire it. Something tells me his wires don’t meet code, but I managed to remove the old box and convert it to an outlet instead. I wouldn’t want to tug on the wires a second time, if you know what I mean.

I flew to Sacramento for Labor Day weekend, and Andre flew in from Los Angeles. We had a great time simply hanging around Root Ave with my mom and grandparents.

I visited Dmitri, Cindy, Mia, and Bali in Champaign, IL for Dmitri’s birthday weekend. Loved their house, but the company was much better. More than anything, it was great to see them and have some time to just veg. I’m learning that having nothing on the To Do list can be a good thing. My mom used to live about 4 miles away, so I took some photos. It hasn’t changed much since the 50’s photo she sent me.

Andre’s friends (and mine now too) David and Christina came to visit us from Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days. We had some no-so-good weather for them, but they tell us they had a great time. We visited Luray Caverns and Mount Vernon. Even with an injured ankle, Christina was a trooper, probably walking two miles each day.

Andre went to Los Angeles to have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. They buffed off a torn meniscus and removed debris. He needed 24 hour care, so I took a few days of vacation and flew in to save his day. I think he’ll agree that he was terrified for no reason, but it was his first time, so he’s allowed. He was miserable for about 10 hours once the anesthesia wore off, but pain killers kicked in for the next few days, and now he’s better than ever before. Of course, I needed to take advantage of the situation, so we had a Holy Cow dinner with Aravind, John, Yuri, and Eugene (honorary). We had to increase the turnout, so we had part two was in San Diego with Asit and Senthil. Of course, no trip to LA would be complete without seeing MiSuk and Pam so did that too. And, as luck would have it, we were able to visit Cindy and Mia up at Holly’s place. Howard, Holly, and Smitty all approved of Andre, so we’re still engaged.

Then, off to NYC to visit with Robb, Victoria, and Aunt Katie. I met up with Andre in Phili and we drove to Hoboken to hang with his friends (mine too) Kenneth and Neena. They made an awesome chicken tikka masala for us and got us hammered. If they took advantage of us, I’m not interested in the details. Ken drove us around in his new FX35 the next morning, and that’s simply a fabulous ride! We were late to Robb’s new place in the Upper West Side, partly because of my adventurous streak, and partly because NYC is neither designed for driving nor parking. Regardless, we made it, only to find that Victoria had taken a sudden trip to TX for a family matter. (Means we get to go again.) Nonetheless, the four of us had a very pleasant time eating, mingling, walking, etc.

During this whole period, Andre and I managed to buy an apartment in Lima, Peru. No, we’re not moving. The idea is to buy low and sell high. His dad’s really got a gift or that kind of thing, and compared to the U.S., it’s affordable enough to not worry about being upside down. His dad will be living in it, so we don’t have to worry about vacant property. If we buy more, we’ll likely have his dad rent the others and manage the properties for us. We’ll see. It could be that I have that resort sooner than later…

And, if you hadn’t heard, Nissan’s moving their headquarters from Los Angeles to Nashville in Summer 2006. It doesn’t mean anything to me right now, since I’m stable at the Mid-Atlantic Region. However, when it comes time to move “back to National” (that I’d always planned to do after 3-5 years in VA), I’ll be moving to TN instead of CA. I’ll certainly miss Los Angeles, but I’m really looking forward to trying something new too. I wonder if all these bankrupt airlines will keep their ticket prices low?

Well, the travel doesn’t stop. Andre and I are headed to Argentina next Tuesday for an entire week. I can’t wait to meet his Aunt and cousins. More news on that when we return.