In a few days I'll begin what's become an annual ritual since I moved to California almost exactly 4 years ago: going home for the holidays.
Just writing this now, I'm wondering if the day will ever come that I don't consider Toledo, Ohio to be "home" instead of where I'm currently living. Do I have to spend more time away than the 25ish years that I lived there? Or maybe I just need to "settle down and get married"?
Anyway...
I have mixed feelings about the up-coming week. Why? Because I know what's in store for me. There's the fun and excitement associated with seeing family, old friends (and now their babies!), old girlfriends (and almost girlfriends) and being away from the day to day routine of working in Silicon Valley.
It never seems like there's enough time to really catch up with the people I spent 3-4 years with every day in college. It's fun to see how they've changed, and mostly how they haven't.
It's relaxing.
Well, mostly.
There's the dark side of going home, too. A lot of driving. 2.5 hours each way to see friends in Columbus. 3.25 hours each way to see my sister and brother in law south east of Cleveland.
And then there's all the computer work that Dad wants me to do. Every year, he's managed to produce a pile of trouble that I have to fix. This year it's a new notebook and a Linux box to re-build. And probably something with the printer too.
Oh, god. And I just know I'm gonna waste time screwing with Windows. He wants to remove the brand new installation of Windows XP from the new ThinkPad T40 he bought and replace it with Windows 2000. Why? Because he hates Microsoft. But I'm starting to think he hates me. Because he isn't going to do the install, I am. I don't know why, but he still seems to think I know Windows--despite the fact that I haven't used it on a regular basis for at least 4 years now.
Ahh, the holidays. What a mixed bag.
Posted by jzawodn at December 18, 2003 09:13 PM
Sometimes, it's the ID-10-T error when PEBCAK can't be blamed. :-)
Just get a transverter and do the pc stuff while you are on the road for 3.5 hours. What else you gonna do, watch dvd's. (Unless you are the driver of course)
Jeremy, I'll never consider anywhere but Toledo home. I never feel the comfort and security one feels when at "home" anyplace other than Toledo. I don't need to be at my Mom's house. Or my Grandma's. Just being in the town is enough.
I don't think that will ever change. We can't have spent as much of our early lives there as we did and consider any other place to be home.
Even when nobody I know still lives there, the place will be Home. Even if I never return myself. It's Home. Settling down somewhere else doesn't change that. It adds another place that comes close, but it never replaces it.
Dont forget to fill in your TPS reports before heading off for the holidays!
This is frighteningly similar to our holiday tradition of heading back east. I'm getting pretty tired of it. VNC allows me to remotely fix most of the stuff my Dad messes up now.
This year we found a way to avoid the trip back east - book a vacation going west a few days after Christmas which makes it impractical to go east only to go twice as far back west in a short period of time. Parents immediately freak out, book a flight, and come to you for the holidays. :-)
Jeff
> to see my sister and brother in law
> south east of Cleveland.
To save you the suspense, it's snowy and cold here (in case you were wondering).
Hey Jeremy, we should meet for coffee if you have the time.. email me if interested.
Mark
3.25 hours from Toledo to Southeast of Cleveland? where do they live--Canton?
> Just get a transverter and do the pc stuff while you are on the road for 3.5 hours. What else you gonna do, watch dvd's. (Unless you are the driver of course)
You let a little detail like DRIVING get in the way??
Home is where you wear your hat. -E.Lizardo
I feel your pain. I'm going to Connecticut for a week where the highest speed connection I can hope for is 56K. (VNC? There aren't enough hours in the day for VNC over dialup)
Still, here's hoping you have a save journey, a relaxing time, and a winning argument to just install random unix on the system and be done with it.
Heh, you aren't #1 on google anymore.
Just thought I'd let you know. ;)
Jeremy,
Merry Christmas! If you want to stop in Findlay and meet Josh and I for some Be Trans or Mr. Lees drop us a line.
Asa
You're #1 for "mysql is pure evil"!
http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=mysql%20is%20pure%20evil
[... and being away from the day to day routine of working in Silicon Valley.]
Gosh... you are in the middle of the galaxy! How can you feel this way? How should feel those who have a day to day routine in the edge of the world?
I was born and spent my first few years in Balaklava, a small country town 100Km north of Adelaide. My Mum, Sister and I moved to Adelaide when I was 5, Adelaide is definately "home" to me. Balaklava still feels like home though, even though I haven't lived there in over 22 years now.
Well I can second the praise for VNC, life is much easier now that both sets of parents have broadband and a little icon on their desktop that says "Allow Mike Access" which fires up the VNC server.
