I've been tagged?!?!?!
Mood:  accident prone
So apparently there's some internet blog tag game going on, and I've been tagged. However, I don't feel completely obliged to comply since the "Tagger" did not tag me properly, ie: he did not post in my comments that I've been tagged... he only put it in his own blog, which he is assuming I read regularly (which I do... ) But I figure what the heck, at least it can stop with me.... or something.

ANYWAY, The rules are: The first player of the game starts with the topic, "5 weird habits about yourself". And people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits, as well as state this rule clearly. In the end you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged, and link to their web-journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog/journal that says "you have been tagged" and tell them to read yours.

#1. One of my weirder habits could be my inability to sleep with such noises as a ticking clock, dripping faucet, people talking, traffic.... etc. While that in itself may not be weird, that fact that I need something to drown those noises out may be. In fact, the need is so great that when we moved to Arizona, one of the first things I had to buy was a fan. But not just any fan mind you, but the noisiest little cheap fan we could find! So there we were, shopping for a little fan, checking each one for noise quality. I'm sure it's strange to buy the loudest fan possible (most people probably prefer quite the opposite), but that is what I had to do.

#2. I have a strange fascination ugly fish I find fish like sturgeon and paddlefish, mudskippers and frogfish (there's a lot of so called ugly fish) fascinating, while most people just think they're UGLY, and dismiss their prehistoric beauty altogether.

#3. I also have a frog fetish. I have a bit of a frog collection, including live frogs, frog figurines, posters, and a yes, a frog tattoo. But to keep the fetish fresh I've added geckos to the collection, because they're very froglike, and all too cute! Oh, and I take care of frogs, reptiles and fish for a living... just can't get enough of those cold-blooded animals!

#4. Maybe its because I hang out with herps too much, but I often wonder if I'm a little "cold-blooded" myself. I don't tolerate temperature extremes very well, especially extreme cold... If I could hibernate I would. My feet get cold all times of the year, yet if I'm too hot in bed I regulate my temperature by putting one leg or foot outside of the covers. Weird should be my middle name.

#5. Drawers and doors. I have a strange compulsion to shut any cabinet door o drawer that is open. I think my own personal hell would consist of a room full of cabinets and drawers, all open. And as I go through closing them all, a quiet little gnome follows me, opening them all behind me. Somehow this obsession includes other "openable" things like bathtub curtains and toilet seat lids too.

And if that doesn't please you I'm sure I can think of more. After-all, I may be from another planet, and mother has always claimed to be from a place called "super-weird". Strangeness abound in my family, and the one I married into... go figure!

Sunshine is boring
Mood:  cool
When many people, like my mother, think of Phoenix they think of one thing..... HEAT. Yes its true, for several months of the year it is VERY HOT here. It is also true, as some say, that "it's a dry heat". However, it has come to my attention that its really not the heat that sux so much, its the sun! The sun makes hot HOTTER, it burns, it glares, and its on ALL the friggin' time! Nothin' but clear skies and bright, hot sunshine 90% of the day! Believe me, sunshine gets VERY boring here. So it is my great pleasure to announce that yesterday was... OVERCAST! It was beautiful, hazy grey skies all day long. And it was still wonderfully warm! Better yet, this has continued through today and is expected to last at least another day! Yay! Even better... there's RAIN! Yes, rain in Phoenix, its true. And its lovely. It *almost* feels like fall! I got soaked by a flash downpour at work today, and it was unexpectedly refreshing... sunshine, shmunshine.... who needs it!

Back track: The big move
Mood:  spacey
So, this may be long overdue, but some people enjoy the mild saga of our move from Michigan to Arizona. It took all of three and a half days, with two cars a u-haul trailer, two cats, two rats, two terrariums, and four buckets of live fish. Some of my family called it an Ark. there were no animal losses, except for two little fishies, and a small coral that succumbed to the stress. Out of all we had going on, and the length and heat of the trip, its not too bad.
The drive itself was *relatively* uneventful. We left as early as we could manage (about 10am?) and drove as far as we could stand without stopping. The first night we ended up sleeping in the cars at a rest stop. We drove a bit too late into the night to get a campsite, so we were going to get a cheap hotel room. But we were in St. Louis at the time and all were ridiculously priced. So we drove a bit out of town and still too expensive because a six flags was nearby. So we keep driving and run into the worst construstion delay. The 3-lane highway went down to ONE lane. Lots of semi's and vacationers on the road. It took us 45minute to get by this annoying 3-miles of construction. So now its even later, and Brett's really tired so we gave up before finding an affordable "good" nights rest. We wake up the next morning to a rain storm and continue on. Missouri looks nice and lush. Hilly and green. A pleasant state. but too many jesus billboards. Almost as bad as illinois where we saw the biggest cross in western hemishpere... I can only assume since we later saw the very same big cross in texas, which made the claim. It was creepy anyway. I took a couple pictures just to remember.

I have come to the conclusion that oklahoma is THE worst state in the US. It was weird.. but the entire state just seemed contrived and out of place. The borders were strangely conspicuous as the vegetation changes IMMEDIATELY upon crossing. The few people we met were creepy, tolls are ridiculous ($10 all up for my car, $20 for brett witht the trailer! not going that way again!) and the land is bland boring and flat. Still, we did camp out that night about two hours before the texas border. we pitched the tent, washed up and then foley snuck out of the car. She took refuge under a pine tree with ugly spiders in big webs all over it, so crawling in to retrieve her was not a pleasant option. But we caught her eventually a had a decent nights rest.

Bright and early we continue our voyage. Texas was slightly more interesting than oklahoma... an interesting transition to the western desert states anyway. New mexico was really cool. a lot of the land features reminded me of pictures from mars and other barren planets. of course it rained through most of the drive in NM...... (of course... desert... rain... that's usual right?) But it wasn't heavy rain except for when we hit alburquerque, which is in the middle of a mountain. I nearly had a heart attack when brett with the jimmy and trailer broke suddenly and swerved into the emergency lane to avoid hitting someone. But we made it out in one piece and continued our *relatively* uneventful drive until Flagstaff, AZ.... where brett got pulled over. See, the trailer lights worked for braking and signaling, but did not turn on at night with his lights. But his charming aussie accent got U-haul out of a ticket. We think they should pay US for doing them this service.....

So, we got a cheap hotel in Flagstaff, and got to our new apartment by noon the next day. Arizona was beautiful to drive through. it was really neat how the vegetation changed too. The north is all alpine around flagstaff. Then you go through some mountains and come out in sage-brush shrubby desert-ness. Then the next mountains take you to true desert like scenery with cacti! the rain followed us all the way here, and it was amusing to see all these cars off the side of the road because of it. It wasn't raining that hard, but people just don't know how to drive in it out here. It reminded me of the first days of snow in Michigan, when people go off the road in less than an inch because they forget!
And that is the saga of our trip.

                         
AZ Move