Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Eureka (We Found It)

I'd have to check with my sister the archeology major on what the plural of Eureka is, but Steve and I did indeed find it this last week, and it was a great vacation. And, like all good vacations, we were more than ready to return home by the time it all ended.

In case you haven't been reading the blog recently, I have wanted to take Steve up to Eureka to see if it would be a spot where he'd like to retire (one of the few towns in California where the population has remained constant for the last decade). And for those of you who don't know where Eureka is, exactly, here's a map giving you an idea. It's a town of 26,000 people, situated on Humboldt Bay smack dab in the middle of the old-growth redwood forests of the Northern Coast of California. It has quite a history, mostly of being overlooked or passed over, so that it still has a small-town feel of post World War II but without the McCarthyism. (Although the county does have its share of rednecks, it was one of a handful of counties in California to vote against Proposition 8.

We flew Horizon Air (Alaska Airlines commuter service) direct from Los Angeles to Eureka. I was amazed to have found a direct flight, expecting to have to change planes at least once to get there. The only drawback was that it was an 8:20 a.m. departure, meaning we had to be up around 4 a.m. to make it to the airport and through security.

Once in the air, it was only an hour and 45 minutes until we landed at the Arcata-Eureka airport. Our rental car was waiting (we got upgraded because they had run out of cars; ours was the last available. It seems there was something going on at Humboldt State University, which is situated in Arcata, just seven miles north of Eureka.

The airport is actually situated north of Arcata, so it was about a 15-mile drive to Eureka. When we got there we stopped in Old Town and had some lunch, then checked into our motel. Most of the buildings in Old Town are over 100 years old, with lots of Victorian influence. Some of the most famous Victorian houses, in fact, are a part of Old Town: The Carson Mansion and the Pink Lady.

Thursday evening we went to a gay meeting in Arcata which was very friendly and supportive. A woman suggested we go to Hurricane Kate's for dinner after the meeting. We took the suggestion and went to the restaurant (also in Old Town Eureka) and had some of the best food I have enjoyed in a long time. The preparation and presentation would compete with anything in a four-star restaurant here in Southern California.

On Friday, a local Realtor named Jeff Katz picked us up at the motel around 10 a.m. and we spent the next six hours being chauffeured around Eureka and Arcata and Loleta (a small town to the south), looking at the kinds of real estate available in the area: From new condo to farmhouse on acreage, and all in our price range. They were all nice properties (one in particular we fell in love with) but not being in the market at the moment, Jeff was just trying to give us a lay of the land and the variety of properties typically available.

We took Jeff out for lunch for all his efforts on our behalf. We stopped at a place at the Marina. The food was nothing really special, but the views were amazing. After Jeff dropped us off back at the motel, we hopped in our own car and went exploring the wonderful world of merchandising in Eureka (i.e., the shopping malls). I purchased a pair of walking shoes for the next day's activities, and Steve picked up some ibuprofen. Like most places, Eureka's shopping mall and the Old Town and Downtown districts are suffering from empty retail spaces, but Jeff said things seem to be looking up, slowly.

We grabbed dinner at the diner next door to the motel and just hung out in our room for Friday evening. The sidewalks seem to roll up about 10 p.m.

On Saturday we started out with our complimentary breakfast at the motel, then I drove Steve north up the coast to show him more of the area. We drove about 45 miles on often twisting road (U.S. 101) to Elk Prairie National Park, to check out the Roosevelt Elk and hike through the old-growth forest. Steve did see some elk (I did not because I was driving) and we did get to spend about an hour wandering amongst the trees.

It's hard to describe the experience of walking among these giant, ancient trees. They bear the scars of fires and lightning strikes and a hundred other natural disasters, but still they grow skyward, reaching up into the sunlight, each unique, with its own form and history of growth.

As I told Steve, it was refreshing to be dwarfed by things that are not manmade: Standing next to a skyscraper in the city one feels insignificant and the architecture's very existence suggests a power far greater than any one human: The effect is intended to impress and intimidate, both at the same time. But standing in this expansive cathedral of ancient trees, one feels connected in a very strong and spiritual sense to the earth itself and all the life upon it. There's no other feeling like it in the world.

After visiting these giants, we drove back down the coast and stopped off at Humboldt Lagoons State Beach. The freshwater lagoon was situated on the eastern side of the road and to the west was a vast expanse of sloping beach, the waves breaking on the gray sand that stretched for a mile or more. Huge twisted burls of redwood littered the beach and there was no one else on the sand save the two of us.

The day was cloudy and cool, as all of the days on the shore were during our visit, and the clouds hung down like a veil into the forests to the east. On the beach itself, the wind blew strong, the waves whipped into foam and the continuity of nature was palpable.

We continued driving south, visiting Patrick's Point State Park, with breathtaking views of the rugged ocean cliffs. We hiked about halfway down to the rocks on the shoreline but decided to go no further. Like every other park in the county, there were numerous trails to discover and not enough time to locate them all.

We drove the frontage road from Patrick's Point to the fishing village of Trinidad and made a quick circuit around the small town. Heading south, we stopped back at Old Town Eureka and wandered through more of the shops. I was looking for a shop with art glass. I soon found out that the term "hand-blown glass" in the window usually meant they had glass hash pipes for sale. We did finally find a shop with art glass, and I fell in love with a huge floor sculpture, about four feet tall. I told the proprietor I had to think about the purchase, since it wasn't a trifle.

We got back to the motel in time to shower and head out to dinner at Sea Grill, where the owner came over to our table and talked about the different areas of the county to live and what she liked best about living on the North Coast.

Sunday we spent driving around town on our own, trying to relocate the various neighborhoods that Jeff had shown us on Friday. We also went to the local redwood park in the city and toured the Eureka Zoo, which was situated on the edge of the park. We got lost and turned around just enough to feel as though we were having a great adventure, and we ended the tour by heading back to Old Town, taking pictures of the Carson Mansion, then stopping by the glass shop to purchase my sculpture and arrange for shipping. We wrapped up the day by having dinner at Adele's, a kind of upscale coffee shop and doing most of the packing before turning in for the night.

On Monday we slept in until 10 a.m. and went down to Old Town to have lunch at Los Bagels. We strolled around to kill a little time, since the rental car didn't have to be back until 4 p.m., and our plane home didn't leave until 6:15. On the drive back to the airport we stopped off in Arcata at the town square, which is its equivalent to Old Town in Eureka: Lots of nice little shops, good places to eat and a place to hang out, to see and be seen.

Even with the diversions, we ended up waiting at the airport about four hours. But, all in all, it was an excellent trip.

A few quirky things that happened: Reading over the want ads in the free copy of the local daily paper on Friday morning, I discovered the paper was looking for a full-time graphic designer, so I applied. Also, on Monday, Steve got a phone call from a recruiter in Glendale here in Southern California about a full-time position available that paid significantly more than his present position, but they wanted him to start the very next day. Both seemed situations of opportunity knocking but in an off-kilter way. Whether either situation pans out is almost immaterial: the fact that this kind of energy is popping up on a regular basis these days is refreshing.

Now that we're home, we're turning our attention to doing some remodeling on the condo, making it a special place. I'm sure my sculpture will act as a design catalyst for the revisions we make.

And as for Steve: he fell in love with Eureka, just like I thought he would, and he's all for retiring there, ASAP.

And now it's late and I have to be off to bed. After all, tomorrow is another day. (except now it's today.)

Monday, June 21, 2010

No Pictures, a Thousand Sixty-Seven Words

I'm feeling reflective this evening, so thought it would be a good time to put something down here. I'm not feeling depressed or moody, hopeful or pessimistic; it's just lots of thoughts moving in a pool inside my head; the eddies of the present mixing with the past and future with no judgment, just review, reflection and comprehension.

Had my first website presentation today at Pearce Plastics. Everyone seemed very receptive, but the owner is a 90-year-old Republican who does not use the Internet, and although he gets the concept of a website's marketing potential, he also has little grasp of how a site works or what elements are available to use or how best to exploit web interactivity to draw in new customers while maintaining contact with current ones.

I held my own and tried to explain things without sounding like I was talking to a six-year-old, and I came off professionally polished. The presentation was well laid out and didn't give too much away in the way of artwork or concepts. At the end of the meeting, I was told they'd have a decision by next Wednesday, when Steve and I come back from our trip to Eureka.

I've come to the point in my unemployment where I do not look back on my old job at the Reporter with nostalgia any more than I do other past events in my life. Nor am I really at a point of anticipating what new work might be just around the corner for me, and the idea of pitching this website feels good. It's all mine. If we go with it (and I think we will), it may be the first of many and, who knows, I may just have a design studio emerging from my Mac up here in the office.

Ever since my mom's estate closed and I received my part, I have been shifting back and forth between things that are plannable: At first I was focused on taking part of the money and remodeling the house: bamboo floors, new counters and cabinet fronts in the kitchen, new lighting, etc. Not so much to have a nice place to live in (although we'd have that), but improvements that would make the place more sellable when we decide to retire.

That's partly what the trip to Eureka is about: Steve has always wanted to live near the ocean, and I dearly want to move to a small town that's not in danger of being engulfed by a nearby metropolis. Also, home prices are low enough in Humboldt County that we could sell our two-bedroom condo here in Pasadena and move into a three-bedroom house up there. And, of course, there's the natural splendor all around and things are so green. The weather's cool, and we both love cloudy, rainy days.

I've visited there and loved every minute of it, especially the long walks in the primeval forests. Steve has never visited, so it's my job to get him to fall in love with it in four days; not quite as long as it took us to fall in love with one another, but if he leaves wanting to go back, I think my task will have been accomplished.

So I'm thinking that putting together a web design studio of my own wouldn't be such a bad idea; it would make a great retirement career. That's the nice thing about working in retirement; you just need to generate enough money to pay the bills and have a vacation or two each year. But to get there means I have to start making some serious money again soon, and I'm not sure when that's going to happen. If someone doesn't have a good-paying job out there for me, perhaps I can make up one of my own.

Another reflection today: My niece Amanda is giving birth on Thursday. As Steve and I are winging up to the redwoods, Amanda will be having labor induced. It used to be that the blessed event came in its own time, like the miracle that it is. Now they schedule it between breakfast and their weekly round of golf. Still, having a sibling's child giving birth gives me pause.

Last year Mom dies, the last of her generation, and this year Amanda gives birth to the first of the next generation. I will become a great-uncle, and our fate as the older generation will be sealed. All my nieces and nephews will have to step up and claim their status as emerging adults and I will continue to be bewildered by how many young celebrities I don't know and how much popular music I am totally unfamiliar with.

For now, I just want to kick back, get ready for the vacation, and enjoy our days away from the big city. I watch the news and hear about the drive-by gang shootings and high-speed chases that end in gunfire and small children killed by hit-and-run drivers and robberies and murders in fast-food franchises and serial rapists and I just want to get away from all those things. In a small town those things are occasional tragedies. In the big city they are repetitive fodder to punctuate the daily stream of commercials on TV.

Another shift in perspective in my brain pool: At the turn of the century, being a publication designer meant I had to move to a metropolis to follow my career goals. But printed publications are evaporating and the role of the web in publication is expanding day by day: Much better to exploit the fact that even small businesses soon will need to have an Internet presence and set up to provide design services for that than to mourn the passing of the good old days when everything went onto paper and could be tucked into your portfolio book. Now it's all digitized and tucked into your portfolio website for all the world to see.

When we get back from Eureka, we're also meeting with a contractor who comes highly recommended by a friend who works in the construction trades. So perhaps it will be time to move on the remodel. And perhaps it will be time to move on my first paid website. And perhaps things will move forward and all those thoughts caught in that eddy will flow forth and nourish all things in the immediate future.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Events, Not Momentous, but Events

It's been a while again since I made an entry here. Mostly because not much has been going on of note. There are a few things to mention, so I thought I'd jot them down before they went out of my head.

We went to see cousin Robin's latest play, "Cannibals," at the Zephyr Theater on Melrose in Hollywood. It was a funny show, all about struggling actresses "of a certain age" working in Hollywood. Robin's performance was absolutely stellar and she was funny as hell. I'm not just saying that because I know she'll read this at some point. She really was great. She played a celebrity bitch movie star and it was brilliant. The state is really her medium (though she's great on screens big and small).

I've got a phone interview with the unemployment people tomorrow morning. Seems they're suspicious about why I stopped going to school. So I have to tell them it's because I finished my contracted period (which I told them when I started) and didn't want to lie on my form and say I was unavailable for work. We shall hash out reality and their forms and come to some kind of a compromise, I'm sure.

Another bit of news about tomorrow is I actually have an interview for a job. It's in the afternoon at a place called Castle Press. The job is only part-time (but may lead to full time) and I'd be making about 60% of what I was making at the Reporter, but it would be an income of sorts and a reason to get up in the morning. I'm kind of on the fence about it before going into the interview, so they'll have to sell me as much as I'll have to sell them.

Third bit of news is that Pearce Plastics, where Steve works, wants to redesign their website, and I had a meeting with them last Friday about it. It looks fairly straightforward, and the details might need to be worked out, but I think it's totally within my realm (i.e., no big databases or dynamic page content). I've been playing around with some design concepts, and should be getting back to them by the end of the week with a budget and a site layout scheme. Woody, the owner, is a member of Rotary, so maybe I'll talk him up and see if he can spread the good word about me to other small business folks. Perhaps a web design business on the side and a part-time gig at Castle Press would be a nice combination.

Nine days until we leave for Eureka, and I'm really looking forward to getting out of the big city and enjoying fresh air, beaches, forests, small-town pace, etc., etc. It's getting that time of year here in Southern California when the green starts disappearing on the hills and everything turns brown and dead. That's when I start my clock and wait for the rainy season to come in six months or so. It will be nice to be surrounded by green by default.

Also, my thoughts and prayers are with my niece Amanda, who seems to be having problems in her final trimester. They were going to induce labor this week but are holding off until the baby's lungs develop a little bit more. Everybody send her your prayers, if you're not already.

That's about it. Time to head to bed.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Nasty Anniversaries

What with all the awful things that happened in my life last year, I'm coming up on some very nasty anniversaries. And one has already passed.

Yesterday was the anniversary of my getting sacked -- excuse me, "made redundant" -- at The Hollywood Reporter. So I shall use the same graphic that I used last year to express my appreciation for the moguls who forced my bosses to fire people (anybody) to create a half-million-dollar savings in payroll. Some extremely talented people went that day (the fifth of a series of layoffs which were all called "the last layoff we're going to do.")

And after a year of anxiety and insomnia and occasional bouts of depression, my doctor finally offered me some pharmaceutical intervention, which I heartily took. So, at present, there is no anxiety and I feel just fine, if a little unfocused.

Good news and sad news: My sister Kittie finally disbursed Mom's estate to the siblings, so now my cash flow worries are over for the moment. First thing I did was put $10,000 into an 18-month CD. Second thing I did was pay off the credit cards. Third thing I did was make the full $6,000 contribution to my IRA and my next move will be to make the same into Steve's IRA. With the rest, we're planning on remodeling the downstairs: bamboo floors, slate in the entry, kitchen and on the patio, new doors on all the kitchen cabinets, granite countertops with glass tile backsplash. We want to get top dollar for this place when we sell it, and it will be nice to spend a couple years enjoying the improvements in the interior.

Steve's birthday is coming up next week, and even with a lot of money in the bank, I still can't think of what to get him. It's kind of nice that we don't go in for giving extravagant presents to one another. Maybe I'll get him a book, since he enjoys reading.

Two weeks later we take off for a couple days in Eureka (I'm trying to sell Steve on the idea of retiring there). Next notable occassion is July 29, when the Arizona horrible-horrible law goes into effect and I celebrate the 57th anniversary of my birth.

August is the anniversary of Aunt Kit's death.

October is the anniversary of my Mom's death.

November is the anniversary of my matriculation in web design classes and it will be second time we really don't know what to do for Thanksgiving because the Moms are gone and a familial focus went with them.

Hopefully sometime between all those observations, we'll get that bamboo floor and that granite countertop. It just feels like the outward things should change and renew, become fresher and cleaner and enjoyable once again. Because, on the inside, renewal is something you just can't rush; it moves at its own pace.