well, i made it to the new burg, thanks to a ride from my parents who rock. I was supposed to be staying in like an "extended stay" kind of place, but none of them were anywhere near mass transportation or even the city itself, so instead i'm at a hampton inn which is way too bourgie for me but has wireless, which is kind of cool. HBO in the rooms, a bed bigger than some of the rooms i've lived in over the course of the last four years. Luckily, i'm probably moving to more modest dwellings at the end of the week, but the fact that this is all being paid for by workers' dues money makes the whole thing somewhat stressful and uncomfortable. I'm about to head out and figure out how to get to and from the local union office.