backaching birthright

It's been a lazy week so far. I decided start working next monday, the 4th of June, so I've had some time. Of course, last friday, saturday, sunday, and monday I was moving in, with many thanks to Saori, Jonathan, and Joe. Monday I swung by Sally's house and ate lunch there. Afterwards I picked up my "Birthright" couch.

This is a low gray fabric covered couch which unfolds into a bed, and while the couch is decently sittable, the bed is incredibly uncomfortable. The four inch thick mattress has been folded so many times, its compressed the springs in spots and you literally feel the bars of the bed frame beneath your back spaced out every three feet. The best way to lay on this mattress is to lie parallel to the couch if you are short enough, or diagonally, with lots of padding beneath you. Interestingly, this was the same couch owned by my parents since before I can remember, and sold to Sally before my parents moved overseas for the first time about ten years ago. Now, Sally and Jonathan are moving, and the couch is passed back to the son like Anakin's lightsaber. The circle is complete.

The other day, Saori and I drove up to Kierland Commons, where we mostly window shopped, but we both picked up books on taking the GRE exam, which is necessary for admittance to most graduate schools. I'm not too worried about the verbal or writing sections, but the math section is going to be really bad as I've not reviewed any kind of mathematics outside structural calculations for the last four years.

Wednesday night, Saori and I met our sketching teacher at a coffee bar in downtown Phoenix. LUX is pretty cool, and seems to cater to the young, hipster, graphic arts and design community. Decent coffee but amazing coffee-icing cupcakes. He handed our sketchbooks back to us, talked about work, and asked us each to make a copy of our sketchbooks for his class.

Yesterday afternoon, we walked (about a block) to the Heard Museum, to their cafe. It was about lunchtime, but they were completely accommodating about just serving us coffee. The cafe has lots of outdoor seating at small tables in a tree shaded courtyard of the museum, and it was the closest I've felt to a European cafe in Phoenix.

We finally caught up with Aldo last night, and we met at Trax for a drink. Aldo's been working already at a small, four person firm. He mentioned the architect, the secretary, and later mentioned that he was working with Emily who also went to Buenos Aires with us. Aldo is the fourth member of the firm, so at this point, I know half of the firm. Sounds like a good job though, and its very close to where I work downtown.

I discovered an auxilary port inside the console tray of my Prius, so I can hook anything that has a headphone jack, like my iPod. A nice little feature.

I've spent a lot of time driving this week, mostly using the surface streets from Phoenix to Tempe. I mainly drive along Van Buren, probably one of the most incredible streets in Phoenix. Van Buren starts in the heart of downtown Phoenix near the State Capitol and passes by the pioneer cemetery. It rolls into a really sleazy neighborhood of prostitutes, used car dealerships, discount stores, and cheap motels from 30 years ago with names like "Log Cabin Lodges" and "Apache Motel." It runs by the heavily fenced and fortified State (mental) Hospital, and further on, a dog racing track and massive flea market. By the time you get to Tempe, you're in the rolling desert hills of Papago Park, and you pass by the ancient Tovrea Castle (wedding cake building). There, Van Buren bends south, and crosses the old bridge over Tempe Town Lake, at night beautifully lit with lights, before continuing as Mill Avenue, through the college and arts shopping district of Tempe. Mill avenue rounds the bend south of campus, giving passengers a fly around of Frank Llyod Wright's Gammage Auditorium, before shuttling them along Apache. Apache is pretty typical road, except for the fact that the light rail is going to run on it, and then Apache becomes the main street of Mesa.