finally here

After 35 grueling hours of driving, from Troy, NY to Los Alamos, NM... yeah Im here.. and Im getting reimbursed $1300 for my efforts (48 cents per mile and per-diem expenses). It was 2182 miles.

I had a plan perfectly set up, too. I was going to drive to my parents house in Jamestown, NY, stay for a few days. Then drive to Urbana, IL for a complex systems conference. Then when that was over, I was going to drive to Springfield, Missouri to meet my friend Kim and stay with her. And then go to Los Alamos from there. I had set this up weeks in advance. I was to arrive on May 19th (a saturday) meet with my landlord and move in. Then I was to start orientation on Monday the 21st. I told LANL this weeks in advance too.
But then when I was at my parent's house, I was informed that I needed to be drug tested at Los Alamos before starting my orientation. But I needed to have it done so they'd have my test results by the 18th (friday) so I could be set to start on monday (the 21st). So in order to do that, I had to be at LANL on thursday morning to get tested. But I was to give my presentation at the complex systems conference (in illinois) on wednesday morning.
So as soon as my presentation was over, I left for los alamos. I drove straight from 10am wednesday morning in Urbana, IL, till 3am thursday morning, and stayed at a shitty hotel in Amarillo, Texas. (But I stopped and had dinner with my friend Kim in Springfield, because I felt bad about not being able to stay with her) Checked in at 3am to the Quality Inn. "Quality" being the operative word, ha! Slept for 3 hours, and then left Amarillo at 6am and drove 5 more hours to LANL. I should have slept in my car and saved $50. Or I shouldnt have stopped at all and drove right through. But oh well. I got there, got my drug test, met my landlord, unpacked my bed, and collapsed on it for 3 days. I got really sick too. I thought I had mono, but I think I was just really tired.

Orientation was 2 days of paperwork and listening to people tell me I cant look at porn while at work, and I cant go behind the scary fenced in gate unless my badge is red or blue.

Finally that was over and on wednesday I met with Hasan and he gave me a few papers to read. Er, 10 papers to read. Im now an expert on epidemic spreading on scale-free networks with cutoffs in the number of degrees. Well not really. But at the end of the summer I might be.

The good thing is that my apartment is nice and clean, but really empty because I could only take as much furniture, etc., that could fit into my tiny Cobalt coupe. Which, by the way, got here just fine. I have a newfound respect for my car. But now I need new tires and brakepads (maybe rotors too because of the way it sounds when I stop at traffic lights, etc). And hell, I think I will buy a set of cool rims for my new tires too.

I didnt realize how beautiful Los Alamos was. I will post pictures soon.