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19.3.24 0313
The W - CRZ's World - CATCHING UP WITH DEPECHE MODE
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CRZ
Big Brother
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Since: 9.12.01
From: ミネアポリス

Since last post: 17 days
Last activity: 9 days
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#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 9.07
...or even CRZ - this is a draft of the letter that'll go out to the family, I would say later today, because I'm already way behind on the promised goods...


Well, it's been a month so I better catch all of us up on what's been happening before I start forgetting things. It's not as if I haven't had the computer up and running - I think it's been two or three weeks with *that* - but I haven't actually taken the time to sit down and type it all out. Sit back; this'll probably take a while.

Our moveout date was Monday, 26 July - so of course, given my nature to procrastinate, we spent most of the *25th* with last minute packing. The movers arrived pretty close to 9am (we were told they'd be there between 8 and 9) and got to work. I'm not sure they counted on our 2/2 apartment containing almost 400 boxes (including close to a hundred that were either LPs or CDs - and I know the LP boxes weighed sixty pounds since I weighed them to find out), but it ended up taking them almost seven hours, counting breaks, to get it all into the LITTLE truck that was going to be unloaded into the BIG truck when it got back to the yard. Of course, I came up short two or three boxes, so I had to drive my car to a packing company for a last-minute purchase - forgetting that, with my car packed to the hilt, there really wasn't any room for flattened, unfolded boxes. Amazingly, I made it back without getting pulled over. We had lots of Coke, 7UP, Gatorade and water for our three-man crew - and we tip pretty well, too, so I think/hope they didn't mind the heavier work. At 2pm-ish, I called our contact with the property company (who had swung by at 9:15am - nice) to say that she probably wouldn't be able to check us out until next morning. That was fine and that was that. Finally all our stuff was liberated, save the "valuables" that filled the Beetle - you could probably say overfilled - and what we'd left in the fridge that obviously wasn't going to travel with us. Kim and I hit the pool one last time, then made it back to the house just in time to promptly conk out once President Clinton started speaking. (Make your own joke here.) Pizza Hut and RAW, battle royal and ironman match, and after cleaning out all the little bits from our bar, we decided we had to have our last champagne in the hot tub - in plastic glasses, of course; no glass in the pool area! Especially when you're flaunting the rules by taking the dip after 2am!

Of course, the lady with the property group - I know someone will ask later if I don't mention it now, but the company that bought the apartment complex basically offered everyone payoffs to so they could proceed with a condo conversion - I think the last people to leave were us, our upstairs family of elephants that constantly was making banging noises on their floor and our ceiling, and a few old timers that were gonna milk City of Santa Clara charter law for all it was worth - or wait for an even BIGGER payoff, I dunno. Anyway, we didn't have to clean the place to get our deposit back and you *know* we didn't. Okay, where was I - ah yes, the lady with the property group knocked on the door at 8:15 - of course, we weren't TOTALLY ready, but she had something to do or something (these people are always scurrying around - who knows) so as long as we gave her the keys and signed the papers, we'd get the cheque and we could leave later. This turned out to be a great move, because I was able to hop into the tub - and promptly doze off for probably another hour. I try not to do that TOO much, but what can you do. So we readjusted our belongings in the car, packed up a couple coolers, left six bottles of "two buck Chuck" with a post-it note saying "ENJOY" to whoever'd find them and finally (almost) we were off. I stopped at Costco to top off the tank with bargain $2.259 gas, at the credit union to immediately deposit the check lest they change their minds, and THEN we were off. It was just past noonish.

We got all of about 60 miles before we stopped at Grandma's house in Concord, where we had a very nice chat and then brilliance hit and it was decided that we'd take a nap at her place for a few hours, since we were coming up on rush hour anyway. Four hours later, Grandma graciously offered to take us to Fuddrucker's for a goodbye dinner. She wanted us to stay the night and leave in the morning, but I knew waking up at 6am wasn't something I was about to do even if I *did* somehow manage to get to sleep immediately, so we went ahead with our plan to put some road underneath us and get out of the state by that night.

We came into Reno right around midnight, and the first place we went into was Circus Circus. We liked the rate, so we got a room - watched Aqua Teen on the east coast feed (which means ... it's still on at midnight! Only it's the second showing) and I promptly passed out again.

Woke up, checked out and hit the slots. I know, I know, slots are the best way to lose your money - shows what you know, sucker, 'cause I hit the quarter slots for A THOUSAND QUARTERS. My secret was to pick the progressive slot that had the largest jackpot (and thus hadn't paid off for the longest amount of time). Sure enough, watching the diagnostics as the money lady did the magic thing with the key and the machine, I noticed that the last "big" payoff on that machine was the same amount as the MARCH payoff they were proudly announcing via a placard on top of the machine. Anyway, it was a 7-7-7 but with a 10x, if you're interested. The only thing higher than a 7-7-7 was the progressive jackpot itself - but I don't remember thinking "darn, I didn't get the $12,000" - mostly because I was pretty satisfied with the $250. My PREVIOUS record slots haul was $100 in quarters - which, at the time, totally ruined my weekend, because there was no way in hell I was gonna play the rest of the time while I was that far ahead (a hundred clams was a LOT of money for me back then! Heck, when you're unemployed, a hundred clams is a LOT of money NOW, right?) So anyway, all the hotel rooms the rest of the way were paid for thanks to Circus Circus, so that was a stroke of luck.

It also meant we were pretty quick on the road out of Nevada, too - we stopped at a Love's/Arby's truck stop in Fernley - more likely NEAR Fernley because I can't say I remember it and I'm just going by the American Express bill, and of course there was a casino between the Arby's (where lunch was) and the Love's (where the bathrooms were). We weren't really tempted.

I seem to remember someone on the message board telling this story, but unfortunately I didn't remember it until I was in the middle of experiencing it myself - after we crossed the border into Utah, we were getting low on fuel. "Okay," I said as we passed a gas station at the "4" mile marker, "I'll stop at the next one." There WASN'T a next one. Town after town, and exit after exit on I-80 would have a "NO SERVICES THIS EXIT" sign attached. The low fuel light had long since gone on, we were BELOW the "E" line, and I was convinced we weren't gonna make it. FIFTY-SIX MILES LATER we managed to pull into the Skull Valley Market where I discovered that, heck, we still had 3/8 of a gallon in the tank, we could have gone probably - ten or eleven or even TWELVE more miles if we'd had to! All I can say is we were very fortunate to have the wind at our back earlier that entire day, and I'll probably NEVER get 33 miles to the gallon again, and maybe next time I won't just assume Utah has any... you know, *civilization* outside of Salt Lake. Somehow, I didn't feel right giving Utah any more of my business, so we went straight through to Evanston, Wyoming, where it was shockingly difficult to get a room owing to ...I don't know, there was a rodeo in town or something.

Back up, back on the road - we tried what I thought was a diner in Evanston, but it ended up being a bar that served food - but not breakfast, so we ended up driving to Little America. There's a great big story about why it's called Little America, but the bottom line is in 2004 it's a giant tourist trap that totally worked on us. It was lunch time by the time we rolled in, but they still served us breakfast, very friendly, cute penguin coffee cups that of course we purchased immediately afterward - because there wasn't enough STUFF in the car as it was! - and another trip to the pump for me because I DAMN sure wasn't gonna miss an opportunity for the rest of THIS ride. The American Express bill also says I stopped for gas in Cheyenne, which means there's a whole lotta NOTHING and a whole LOTTA nothing across Wyoming. Actually, that's not true, because it was easily the best LOOKING state to drive through.

Oh, now that I think about it, there was a dinner stop in Cheyenne - that's what it was, because we weren't sure if we were going to get a better chance later. We went to Subway. The kids that worked there...they really seemed like they were going places. Like the Skull Valley Market.

The wind had been pretty bad when we were stopped, but fortunately again it was a tailwind when we were on the road - but as it turned to night we started to see a lot of lightning. I was told this was just "heat lightning" but as we stopped at one of the rest stops where they helpfully had monitors with weather radar displayed, it sure seemed like there was a lot of RED where we were driving. Blissfully ignorant, however, we pressed on...only to find ourselves in a TORRENTIAL downpour - and then....HAIL. Apparently, it was the size of dimes, but all I know is when you're driving down the interstate and this stuff falls on your car, it's PRETTY DAMN LOUD, MAN. It also got to the point where visibility was totally shot, and the truck I was following not only slowed to a crawl, but decided to PULL OFF THE ROAD instead. I forged ahead, but was ...let's say "convinced" to lay out at the next rest stop. I tried to get some weather info, but of course it's nothing but national stuff on AM that time of night, and the radar view was conked out at the rest stop. Calling 511 provided...nothing that wasn't 12 hours old. So. I wanted to keep driving but eventually we decided to stop at the next town, whatever it was, and wait it out by getting a room. So we ended up at the Holiday Inn Express in North Platte, Nebraska...and it kept raining.

Of course, by the time we woke up, it had completely blown through. Gassed up the car, McDonald's for breakfast - well, Chicken McStrips, since we missed breakfast - and off we went. I was pretty sure that I'd done 600+ mile days the past two and one more 600+ would get us to Minnesota. Last gas purchase on the bill was in Stuart, Iowa. How do you get to Minnesota from California? Get on I-80 and turn left at Des Moines, pretty much. We took I-35 up and just for fun, we stopped at the same Iowa rest stop near the border that was our FIRST rest stop for the Minnesota-California leg of our *2002* trip from New York. No snow this time, at least! We finally rolled into the parents' house around midnightish Friday/Saturday - I believe after the hellos my first words were "yes, please - a double." Also, I slept for twelve or fourteen hours.

Of course, we'd found out somewhere in the meantime that the truck wouldn't be at the place until Friday the 6th, so we ended up staying over for a while. We did pick up the keys on the 1st and also installed a window air conditioner, just in time for the weather to turn unseasonably cool (drat). We turned on the phone, got the cable installed - oh man, let me tell you how having a DVR has changed my life - okay, later - and basically went back to the parents' house every night while we waited for the truck.

The truck actually ended up coming in on THURSDAY, so we woke up super early and made it in by 8am waiting for the truck. It arrived closer to 9:45 but given the strange curves all the streets around here seem to have, the driver did a pretty heroic job of getting CLOSE to the place. I ended up meeting him just around the corner from our house - somehow he backed this 53' rig in front of the place. Well, he DID have to wake up ONE neighbour to get a van moved.

I should mention a few things about the house - it was built in 1908 and it's on a hill, so you have to climb about a dozen cement steps just to get to the porch, where there are six MORE steps - and then, of course, we have the second floor so you have to open the front door and go up a REAL flight of stairs just to get in. All this, of course, meant that our three-man crew was going to disprove the notion that unloading a truck was much faster than loading it. We found out that after getting varying estimates of 8,000 to 16,000 - and picking a company that gave us a 11,000 estimate - our stuff ACTUALLY weighed in at 13,000 pounds. Yikes! Again, lots of water, Cherry Coke (didn't foresee the cherry being so popular this time) and another (hopefully) generous enough tip - they put in a full eight hours for us, but finally everything was indoors.

And so went the unpacking, and unpacking, and unpacking, and we're probably not even halfway done - well, actually maybe we ARE halfway done - I need to do something about the records and CDs and it'd be nice if I could clear the space taken up by the boxes we've already emptied AND broken down - we are promised some attic space, but our landlord (and the guy who lives on the first floor) is out of town or out of the country, anyway it's moving along nicely, honest.

And so we go - we've already spent a few nights at the bar with karaoke with Kim's brother and his girlfriend, and we did trivia at the pizza place another night. We also spent a weekend at Oronoco's Gold Rush Days, the largest gathering of antique dealers in the...Oronoco, and that concurred with the Steele County Free Fair, which was our prelude to the Great Get Together that IS the Minnesota State Fair - look for the list of deep fried foods I have ingested to be posted SOON - and, in short, we've been busy busy busy. But I still bought the Benoit DVD just so I could have a second WWE DVD set (Foley) that has a very visible me in it.

Is that it? I'm almost at my 20th double-spaced 18 point page, so that's probably enough for now. There are all sorts of amusing photos that you'll probably never see, but maybe if I remember and harrass my wife, we can find that one of the highest point on I-80 and the giant statue of Lincoln and....shoot, there was some other stuff too. I guess that's why you take snapshots.

We're on Time Warner Cable (YEEEEEEEAH) and I guess there was some kinda package deal where RoadRunner was super cheap, so we're on that right now - I still prefer DSL but the speed is nice and you know, Qwest is a nice phone company and all but I don't know how great their DSL is, plus they "recommend" MSN as an ISP, and that kinda no. I think we have six months at the sale price so I'm gonna try to gut it out. We bought a D-Link DI-624 for the 802.11g, and an Airport Extreme card for Kim's Mac, and it seems to work pretty well. I guess there's a BitTorrent for OS X now or something - I have promised to get with the program and at least get Jaguar running on my old G3, because for some reason I can't IM anybody without my computer crashing now.

More later, I'm sure. Questions from the floor...



CRZ
Promote this thread!
pieman
As young as
he feels








Since: 11.12.01
From: China, Maine

Since last post: 111 days
Last activity: 5 days
ICQ:  
#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.50

Do they have Moxie in Minnesota?

When is Kim going to update her site?

Did you ingest deep fried Twinkies and/or Snickers?

I'll think of some more.




Gabba gabba hey!
JayJayDean
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Seattle, WA

Since last post: 2975 days
Last activity: 2553 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.85
How soon are you crazy kids going to buy a house? It's the smart thing to do, ya know.

(Man, it's IMPOSSIBLE to say that with any smugness. Mrs. JJD and I rented until just about a year ago, and we LOVED it. No yardwork, something breaks call maintenance and all that. People gave us the "if you're renting you're just throwing money away" line, but since they were always OLD people their opinions didn't matter, anyway.

It turns out the old people were right, and we WERE basically throwing our money away, and we COULD have bought a house a lot earlier had we really known we could. Now the similar houses to ours in our subdivision are already being sold for almost 10% more than we paid just a year ago.

Anyway, the moral of the story is GO BUY A HOUSE. You know, after you get a job and stuff...)

(edited by JayJayDean on 2.9.04 0636)


To get ass, youve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.

"Your input has been noted.
I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it."
-- Guru Zim

"Speak English or face admin retribution." -- CRZ
CANADIAN BULLDOG
Andouille








Since: 5.3.03
From: TORONTO

Since last post: 3980 days
Last activity: 1601 days
ICQ:  
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.73
Another question:

Why, oh, why, did you pull a bait and switch, teasing us with news on (arguably) the greatest Mode compilation album ever?

I kid, I kid. But I do appreciate the Fuddrucker's reference. I swear, it's been a decade (or more) since I've thought about that place. There are no longer any of those up in these parts....



Our annual Hall of Fame edition, which has roughly the same amount of text as a small book, plus FINALLY, an actual response to my letters from WWE officials, all in the latest Inside The Ropes!!!
Check out the ITR Website, featuring the ridiculously expensive Canadian BullBLOG!!!
spf
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: The Las Vegas of Canada

Since last post: 3060 days
Last activity: 395 days
#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.87
Two minor observations:

1. Had I known there was a chance for a CRZ sighting, that might have been enough to inspire me to drive up to the MN State Fair (I was considering going up to see Brenda Weiler play there).

2. Frighteningly, I have stayed in the exact same North Platte hotel on a Chicago-Denver road trip. Wow are Nebraska and Iowa some boring states to drive through.



HELP IS ON THE WAY!
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush 8/5/04

SirBubNorm
Salami








Since: 2.1.02
From: Under the table

Since last post: 7027 days
Last activity: 6977 days
#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.66
6,000 lbs (3 tons) of music? (Well OK you say close to 100 boxes and only mention CDs)

So what's your normal storage system for that much music? :)



It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milkbone undershorts.
Spaceman Spiff
Knackwurst








Since: 2.1.02
From: Philly Suburbs

Since last post: 1327 days
Last activity: 5 hours
#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.05

    But I still bought the Benoit DVD just so I could have a second WWE DVD set (Foley) that has a very visible me in it.

Where are you on the Benoit DVD?



CRZ
Big Brother
Administrator








Since: 9.12.01
From: ミネアポリス

Since last post: 17 days
Last activity: 9 days
ICQ:  
#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 9.07
    Originally posted by pieman
    Do they have Moxie in Minnesota?

    When is Kim going to update her site?

    Did you ingest deep fried Twinkies and/or Snickers?
Haven't seen any yet (but haven't made a concerted effort to find a proper pop botique), better ask her, and those are old hat, old man. I'm talking BACON FRIED BACON here.
    Originally posted by JayJayDean
    How soon are you crazy kids going to buy a house?
Well, as soon as I receive income from a source that *isn't* the State of California Department of Deadbeats, I'll let you know. (Not that I don't mind the checks!)
    Originally posted by CANADIAN BULLDOG
    Why, oh, why, did you pull a bait and switch, teasing us with news on (arguably) the greatest Mode compilation album ever?
I knew it would piss you, yes, specifically YOU, off.

Besides, the best DM compilation album ever is "81>85" on MiniDisc, followed by "86>98" on DOUBLE MiniDisc.
    Originally posted by spf2119
    1. Had I known there was a chance for a CRZ sighting, that might have been enough to inspire me to drive up to the MN State Fair (I was considering going up to see Brenda Weiler play there).
Well, we've been there twice and will be there twice more, probably. Since they do 100,000 a day, I feel safe blending in.
    Originally posted by SirBubNorm
    6,000 lbs (3 tons) of music? (Well OK you say close to 100 boxes and only mention CDs)
Well, let me count here...looks like 33 or 34 boxes of LPs (at 60# per) so that's a ton. probably a few LESS boxes of CDs and I don't know what they weigh - less, I think. And don't even get me started on the boxes of wrestling videotapes...
    Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff
    Where are you on the Benoit DVD?
I'm the long-haired guy in yellow with Kings hat (and nametag!) in the bleachers behind Benoit and Snow at ECW Double Tables. (Also the Foley/Sandman match from the same card) - I'm near Rick Scaia, but am contractually obligated to not let you know which one he is. You can also pick out Scherer AND Meltzer and lots of r.s.p-w guys probably nobody'd recognize if you're bored and/or me.



CRZ
Mild Mannered Madman
Toulouse








Since: 1.3.02
From: Westminster, CA

Since last post: 3904 days
Last activity: 150 days
#9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.79
    Originally posted by CRZ
    But I still bought the Benoit DVD just so I could have a second WWE DVD set (Foley) that has a very visible me in it.


So now all you need is for WoW Unleashed to be released on DVD, then people can pick up the CRZ Trilogy...






There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Mr Heel II
Lap cheong








Since: 25.2.02

Since last post: 1882 days
Last activity: 1618 days
#10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.09
I'm unretiring my Little America penguin avatar in honor of this thread.

Little America was SO much cooler when the penguin was on all the billboards...
The Thrill
Banger








Since: 16.4.02
From: Green Bay, WI

Since last post: 3624 days
Last activity: 223 days
#11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.25

    Originally posted by Mild Mannered Madman
      Originally posted by CRZ
      But I still bought the Benoit DVD just so I could have a second WWE DVD set (Foley) that has a very visible me in it.


    So now all you need is for WoW Unleashed to be released on DVD, then people can pick up the CRZ Trilogy...





Extras: RAW/Nitro recaps. Plzblvit.



Star wipe, and...we're out.
Thrillin' ain't easy.



THE THRILL
ACW-NWA Wisconsin
Home Video Technical Director...&
A2NWO 4 Life!
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