List of things I'm looking forward to in Ohio

1. Air Conditioning - This isn't generally necessary here, but it's what I miss the most from our first apartment in L.A., especially when the summer heat rolls around. Also I'm getting tired of having the windows open and fans blowing all the time. The fans are noisy, and we're subject to whatever sounds and smells are happening outside the apartment. The smoking neighbors are by far the worst offender.
   
   
2. Less Traffic - I don't have to deal with traffic nearly as much as Carrie, but it still makes me want to kill myself sometimes.
   
   
3. More Space For Our Crap - It's not like we really have that much stuff, but each year it feels more and more cramped. There's a couple in the apartment next to us that has lived here for the past 15 years, and their garage is completely full of junk. I don't want that to be us.
   
   
4. 2-Car Garage - This is one of the little things that didn't bother me at first, but it really irritates me now. Parking on the street didn't seem terrible at first, but I'm really tired of the bird poop, the other idiots that can't park properly, and looking for parking every day. It'll be nice hot having to deal with it.
   
   
5. Driveway - This has started irritating me more and more, because anything involving the car is always such a hassle. Something as simple as rotating my tires takes forever because the only place to do it is our narrow garage and I have to move the car halfway through. It'll be nice to have space to take all four wheels off if I need to and work on the car in the sunlight. Also I miss the days of being able to wash the car in the driveway, instead of having to take it to a car wash place.
   
   
6. Closer Camping - There's some decent camping in L.A., but it's all at least 5 hours away (in good traffic). I've heard there's cool stuff an hour from Dayton, which makes me happy.
   
   
7. Far Less Smog - Breathing the air in L.A. can't be good for my health.

List of things I'll miss in Los Angeles

1. Beach Volleyball - This is what I'll miss most by far. There's just no substitute for beach volleyball. Indoor is alright, but it's such a different game. Sand courts are always a disappointment as well.
   
   
2. Sushi - I can only assume there's no good sushi places in Ohio, but I'd love to be wrong. I'm sure it won't compare to here either way.
   
   
3. Weather - I'm definitely going to miss seeing the sun every day. Every once in a while, a week will go by where it's cloudy all day, and it makes me depressed. It's going to be hard going through an entire crummy winter.
   
   
4. Stuff To Do - We don't really even do that much on the weekend, but it's nice knowing there's stuff out there to do. Disneyland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Sea World, etc. And there's certainly more opportunities for live music in L.A.
   
   
5. Restaurants - Most chains are represented in Dayton, but there's a handful of places I'll miss, like Manhattan Bread & Bagel, Big Wok, Pinkberry, and Pollo Inka, to name a few.

Ok, this backlog of pictures is getting ridiculous. Now whenever I'm looking back through the archives, I have to think of when I posted the pictures, not when the trip actually took place. It's screwing up my sense of time, so I need to get it in gear.

Anyway, we went skiing back in February and here's some pictures. It was a pretty good trip except for Carrie's niece shrieking all night long.



I guess I'd better get used to the idea of snow before we get to Ohio. It looks nice and soft, but it's all a front.



We're on top of the world.



Hooray for skiing?



Carrie says skiing is serious business.



I wished I could have gotten a better picture of this guy. With the hat and the cape, I'm assuming he was the phantom of the opera. Doesn't seem like that getup would help too much while skiing.

My bosses and most of the office were traveling last Wednesday, so we decided to go to Disneyland for the day with my buddy Tim and his girlfriend Lillian.



Here we are riding the tram. Woo!



C is for Carrie.



I think Pluto bats for the other team, because he only puts his arm around the guys. I guess it IS the happiest place on earth, so maybe it's to be expected.



Looks like Sully loves all genders equally.



Here's a crummy picture of a picture of us on the Tower of Terror. Lillian didn't go, because her lunch was threatening to vacate the premises. It's ok, we just pretended she got trapped in the Twilight Zone.



Tim was just BARELY tall enough to ride Mulholland Madness.



After that, we decided to rest our feet and our stomachs and laze around on the Mark Twain riverboat.



And finally, we went on my favorite ride, the Jungle Cruise. Most underrated ride in the park, hands down.

After I ordered new windshield wipers for both our cars, I thought it was a little odd when I received 4 "Your Item Has Shipped" emails, but surely they wouldn't ship them all in a separate box, right? And certainly not an enormous box that would hold 2 dozen windshield wipers? I guess I was wrong.



Previously they've just come in a triangular mailing tube, but maybe they heard I was moving this summer and could use the boxes.

We took the camera to Sundance, but left it at the condo every day. Whoops!


Holy crap, it was cold. Actually, it wasn't as bad as last year, because we bought some awesome Sorel boots that made all the difference.



I sure hope these people went somewhere warm for the winter. That car's not coming out anytime soon.



It started snowing pretty heavily the day we were leaving, so I snapped this shot with my cellphone real quick. It was probably a good day to be leaving.