My first train trip - will update periodically

6:30 a.m.

I'm lying in bed, after a restless night, when Ashley texts me from work. Apparently on her way to her job at the University of Oregon, she and her dad saw an LTD bus almost do a 180 in the middle of the road, nearly hitting their truck. Because of this, the Flocks will be giving me a ride to the Amtrak station at noon instead of me leaving my apartment at 9:30 a.m. and taking multiple buses to the other side of town while schlepping two rolling suitcases, a laptop case and my purse -- necessities for the next week split between Salem and Newberg. I quickly accept the offer and then tell her -- with some level of guilt considering she arrived at work at 6 a.m. to help shovel snow for the second time this week -- that I'm gonna go because I want a little more sleep.

10 a.m.

The trash is out, the dishes are done, my suitcases are packed and waiting in the living room. There is nothing left to do, and a little more than two hours until Ashley and her dad are scheduled to pick me up for my ride to the station. I hop online for a little while.

12 p.m.

Any minute now.

12:20 p.m.

I arrive at the station, lift my two ridiculously heavy suitcases -- packed this way so I wouldn't have to check anything -- out of the backseat of the truck and say goodbye to Ashley and her dad. I walk inside, go to the automated kiosk and scan the ticket confirmation email and pick up my ticket. Then I fill out three luggage tags for each of my suitcases and my laptop case and affix each tag to the appropriate bag. I'm not taking any chances. Then I take a seat on one of the wooden benches in the station. The room I'm in reminds me somewhat of the Newberg Post Office, except newer looking.

12:30 p.m.

I look out the window and happen to notice the board listing the arrival and departure times of the various buses and trains. Then I notice my train's late -- LATE?!? Yep. Amtrak's running about an hour late. Unlike my numerous experiences riding Greyhound, at least this time I know the train's late -- and about how much. I call my dad, who's scheduled to pick me up in Salem and my sister in Newberg in the same hour, and he decided to get Abi first. Then I call my mom.

12:35 p.m.

While I'm on the phone with my mom, it has started to snow. Not just a few small flakes either. Real, Polar Express kind of snow. It actually looks really pretty. I would have taken a picture, but I'm not close enough to a window, and I don't want to leave my computer unattended.

12:45 p.m.

A little girl, probably about eight or nine and wearing various shades of pink falls down near where I'm seated. Not surprisingly, she's wearing Heelys. Those things should be banned. Or at the very least, anyone should have the legal freedom to trip anyone wearing them in public buildings.

12:47 p.m.

Ashley texts me, after I texted her about my train being late. Apparently northbound trains are usually late because they have to let freight trains pass. Sigh. At roughly the same time, I discover a stray piece of tinsel from my tree on my jacket.

12:49 p.m.

The girl with Heelys is speed skating through the station. I really hope she falls again.

12:55 p.m.

I glance up from the computer screen and realize that it has stopped snowing...

1:01 p.m.

Good Lord. It's snowing and sunny AT THE SAME TIME. This is a prime example of Oregon's bipolar weather. Only "bipolar" doesn't even begin to cover it...

1:03 p.m.

Heely Girl's mom finally grabs her daughter by the wrist and leads her to a seat. Thank you.

1:10 p.m.

The bus to Portland is loading now. Sigh.

1:25 p.m.

There's an old Asian lady here wearing RUBBERS. I never thought I'd ever see those things in my life...I definitely didn't think people still wore them. Hers are clear and you can see she has shoes on underneath them.

2:55 p.m.

I'm on the train now, somewhere between Harrisburg and Corvallis. There are tons of interesting people on here... I text Ashley, who suggested I go to the sightseeing car. So I did...and now the train's kind of stopping...?

2:59 p.m.

WHY ARE WE GOING SO SLOW???

3 p.m.

Apparently there's a wine tasting in half an hour...too bad I'm not 21...lol just kidding.

3:01 p.m.

Still just crawling along...

3:05ish p.m.

Darn it. Firefox crashed. :( Now to restart...

3:10 p.m.

We're approaching Albany now...maybe I should consider going back to my seat soon...nah, a few more minutes won't hurt.

3:13 p.m.

I miss Eugene... :'(

4ish p.m.

I'm in Salem.

Crazy Christmas Lights

I came across this on a Myspace bumper sticker first, then found the video on Youtube. Most of us have already seen the house that synchronizes its Christmas lights to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizards in Winter," but little did I know that they're not the only family who does this. I also found another one featuring Candy Apple Punch's techno version of "Jingle Bells."

Because I've seen so many similar videos, I was curious as to how these people pull off such an impressive display every year. The Youtube videos had a link to the family's website, so I decided to explore a little.

The Holdman family has been doing this for the past couple of years -- in 2006 and 2007 from their home in a gated community in Utah. However, traffic, safety and privacy concerns forced the family to relocate the 2008 display to Richard Holdman's parents' house in Lindon, Utah. The display is currently up and running, with over $600 collected for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah as of December 11.

Richard Holdman sees the annual light display as a way to combine his love of Christmas lights, music and computers to create a unique product.

Facts about the light display (taken from www.holdman.com)

The entire display is 100% wind powered. The Holdmans power the display using power provided by the local power company, and then replace the power back onto the grid with wind turbines. The display uses about 1800 kwH of power and 3000 kwH is replaced by the wind turbines.

The 2008 display uses about 150,000 lights. This is an increase from 45,000 lights used in 2007.

If every light in the display was on, it would consume about 33,000 watts of electricity. However, because the display is animated, only about 30 percent of the lights are in use at one time, which conserves power. During the Christmas season in 2007, the light display only added about $100 to the Holdmans' electric bill.

Everything in the display is controlled with software and hardware (user programmable light controllers, etc.) from Light-O-Rama. The display also uses about 7,000 feet of extension cords.

Richard Holdman estimated with the money he has spent on Christmas lights for his displays, he "could have bought a few 4-wheelers instead." He added that he tries to buy most of his lights for the next year after Christmas, when they are 50 to 75 percent off.

Definitely a lofty goal for the most avid of holiday decorators.

Christmas in Eugene

Instead of leaving town the second finals are over like pretty much everyone else I know, I opted to stay in Eugene another week to hang out with my friends who live in the area. Plus I'm paying rent for my apartment whether or not I'm actually here during break, so I figured an extra week in Eugene wouldn't hurt.

Of course, it's December, and there are few things I love to do more this time of year than go all out decorating and creating the perfect atmosphere. With my roommate's blessing -- well, actually, I suspect she was fine with my plans because she was leaving the next day and didn't have to deal with my holiday excess -- I bought a 6-foot, artificial Christmas tree from Walmart. I know, the epitome of evil, but I don't exactly have the means to go cut down a real tree of my own.

I also bought some cheap ornaments, two strings of lights and candy canes, and my friends helped me decorate the tree. The finishing touches were six packages of tinsel -- the night before, I had helped Bret and Alitia decorate their two-foot fake tree with a package of tinsel for each foot of tree. I'm pretty sure I now have one of two reflective trees in the Eugene area.
Walmart also had giant stockings, and Bret commented that I could probably live in one of them. With that in mind, I bought the stocking and decorated it with a welcoming message...
I also bought garland and saved it for Alitia, figuring she could do something creative with it. And boy did she deliver. The gold thing in the middle is a giant ball ornament, which prompted plenty of innuendos -- not surprising considering the group assembled in my living room... :)
And of course, the decorating wouldn't be complete without a tree topper that shows the true personality of the owner...as well as the DIY nature of this project...