Pod People...

San Francisco, CA USA

February 5, 2008
N 37°48.049
W 122°24.580

Today was a big day for us. Our “pod” was delivered and we had to move back into our place. It was an interesting process—both the delivering of the pod and the thoughts going through our heads. The good thing was we worked as a team and got the job done.

Let me back up one day. We arrived home on Monday after spending the weekend in Sacramento retrieving our car, watching the Super Bowl, making a stop at Lowes, and grabbing a bunch of miscellaneous items at my Dad’s house. After unpacking our car, we walked around the house preparing stuff for the delivery of our pod. This is the surprising part… Marc and I fought more in a single afternoon then we did our ENTIRE trip.

Being home feels great, but at the same time I think both of us have a lot of pent-up anxiety, uncertainty and mixed emotions about being home. It was strange, 72 hours earlier we were travelers; navigating our way around the world, unfamiliar territory at every corner. After several “interesting” exchanges throughout the day, we looked at each other and asked what the heck is going on? In the end, we kissed and made up, but it was a frustrating day.

Today, we started by casting our ballots, grabbing coffee at Trieste, then returning home to wait for the pod. When the delivery men arrived at 9:00 AM, the street in front of our house was chaos. A large PG&E truck was double parked a half block up the street, there was a cable guy blocking one side of the street in front of our house, an AT&T truck with men working on the poles next door, a taxi driver being scolded by a police officer, and then the cabbie tried to stop in the exact spot the pod was being dumped.

The pod was coming up the street on a forklift, the cabbie was backing up, honking cars were creeping up the street and we stood there in amazement laughing. It couldn’t have been crazier if we planned it.

As soon as our pod was dropped at the curb we threw the door open and started unloading. We unloaded a total of 36 boxes, 4 wardrobe boxes, a BBQ, deck chairs and a bunch of miscellaneous items that we didn’t even remember packing a year ago. It took us about an hour, and at least a dozen trips up the elevator, to empty the contents of the crate. After everything was unloaded we tackled the kitchen and then our closets. We steadily worked until 5:30 PM, leaving ten boxes for the following day.

We did have a few surprises throughout the day. Plus, we were even lucky enough to find a rotary cheese grater with a big chunk of moldy parmesan cheese still in it. I noticed a little yellow on the outside of the grater and said, “There better not be cheese in here.” Sure enough, I opened the grater, and dumped out a few ripe chunks.

As we unpacked box after box we were amazed at how much stuff we have. We questioned why we need all of this stuff. We lived quite comfortably for a year with only what we could fit in our backpacks. We survived without sharp knives, a Cuisinart, dozens of sweaters, and numerous pairs of pants, shirts and shoes… do we really need all this stuff?

I guess that’s the question we’ll have to answer over the next few months as we adjust to old our lives back in San Francisco.

Historic Sites/Cities

1. Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
2. Normandy, France
3. Washington DC
4. Rome, Italy
5. Taj Mahal (Agra, India)

Thanks for Meeting Us (whoops…we only had four)

1. Shelby and Dustin (twice)
2. Bob and Teddy
3. Pat and Randy
4. Elise
   

Funniest Stories

1. Massage in Vietnam with Teddy
2. Delhi Run Around…
3. What a Pisser…
4. Close Call at Abel Tasman
5. I Want to Get Arrested…
   

Best Sunsets

1. Montanita, Ecuador
2. Hvar Island, Croatia
3. Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand
4. Halong Bay, Vietnam
5. Mumbai, India