Decision of a lifetime ...

[ahr19]

So what's the update ? Did California get you yet ? Put you into that happy mood ? You loving the sun and the laid back attitude everyone has ? Or have you developed road rage and joined a gang ? WEST SIDE !!!

I don't know if Cali has gotten me yet ... but it is cool. I think once I get into my place it will be better. My own home base so to speak. And I was already laid back before I arrived ... so it shouldn't take long for me to fit in.

Update #1: after listing my home in DC for about ... a month and a half on craigslist to rent, I have secured a renter for a year. This is a great burden lifted from my shoulders. The timing is pretty much dead on so it should work out.

Update #2: The process for me getting my new home purchase is almost done. We are in "escrow" as they call it out here and I hope to close in the next three weeks. Now I can plan how I want to lay out the house and set it up. I see a couple flat screen TV's to be posted on the way in my near future! I will have to downsize in terms of my furniture as my home in DC will be larger in square footage than my new place. Perhaps I will sell some of the furniture on craigslist ...

Update #3: I had my first "In-And-Out Burger" experience and the burger was Very good! Whew ... I don't usually do fast food at all, but I was told to try In and Out ... Next time I have to get the milkshake as well as I hear they are to die for ...

One of my next projects is to determine if the women here are better than the women in Miami. Stay tuned, but to start off with Miami has a large lead!

[Zymotic]

LOL , sounds like its all falling into place. I don't know about In-and-Out. Everyone always raves about them, but I can't stand them. The ravers are usually people that grew up in the 50s ... In-and-Out just reminds me of some after the sock-hop joint to grab a burger. I guess I'm not old enough to appreciate the nostalgia of that stuff. I prefer Tommy's chili burgers. The chili isn't too spicy, isn't too bland ... its jussst right and they lay a ton of it on their food...

Good luck with your chick study ! lol

[ahr19]

Small Update!:

Actually, I returned back to DC on Sunday AM to prepare to pack my house up. I took a red-eye in and was able to play a farewell game with my soccer team. Definitely worth the sacrifice. I made it through the day without falling asleep. On Monday, the movers came to pack my home up. Took about 6 hours to pack all my ish in boxes and stuff. Tomorrow (Tuesday), they will load the truck ...

Tonight was my going away party for my soccer team I played on here. There was a great turnout and it was a great time. Two shots and a bunch of drinks later, I am at home getting ready to go to bed and wait for the movers tomorrow ... I am some kind of lit up ... Sort of emotional party as I have gotten close to several of the people I play soccer with. I will miss them and it will be sad ... but I must press on ...

Tomorrow they movers come to load my things AND I have the going away party for my previous job ... this should be just as emotional as this party tonight, but with a speech ...Oh boy ...stay tuned!!!

[ahr19]

Yup ... I have returned to LA and won't be back to DC for about three months for a wedding. The movers came and loaded all my stuff. 10,000 pounds of stuff. Definitely time to downsize. Also had my going away party for my job which was very nice and very sad ... Four years in one place is a long time, especially when the team I worked through went through things like parents dying, children being born, attempted suicides, marriages, hurricanes, blizzards ... and all sorts of other crazy things. They sent me off well ...

I was able to confirm the rental of my home (my previous renter bailed at the last minute), cleaned up my entire home and make some necessary repairs. Did all that in time ... And made enough time in the end to have dinner with my mom and brother ... Good move ...

So I was able to get a first class plane ticket for the ride back out to LA. My first time ever in first class. I look behind me two seats and who is sitting there???



Don Cheadle ... I didn't get a chance to talk to him but he was just chilling the whole flight. Low key ...

I am back and waiting for my items to arrive to I can begin to set my place up!

Stay tuned ...

[ahr19]

Day 9 in my new home ...

I have been in my new residence for the last two weekends. The number of boxes are now down to a more manageable level. This has been a beast to unpack and figure out where my furniture is going to go. It looks like I am going to have to downsize majorly ... I knew I had to probably get rid of a sofa and a loveseat ... it now looks like I have to get rid of another loveseat which makes two now.

Learning some new stuff about my area. I found out there are some cool restaurants and stuff around where I live (Cheesecake, Chart House and some others ) ... I now need to get some definite groceries and begin to cook. I also got two new TV's ... one for my gameroom and one for my bedroom. Have to get them mounted on the wall ... trying to set up the pad real nice. Living in a hotel was a bear for two months ... It is definitely not all it is cracked up to be ...

So now for my gameroom, I now I will have a PS2 .. debating on getting a 360 or PS3 as well. And as a treat for myself, I will pick up a Wii for my main room where I would entertain company. It is fun for everybody, so the ladies will enjoy it. The game room will just be for the guys.

Still looking for some good outdoor soccer teams to join. I have one that is cool and and working on some 7 aside teams during the week ...

That is my update for now ... I'll keep you all posted once I figure out my furniture and rooms ...

[Zymotic]

So your place isn't haunted is it ? Nothing been moving around ?

[ahr19]

So your place isn't haunted is it ? Nothing been moving around ?

Funny you say that. There is this one room in my home where the light just comes on at random times. Trying to figure out what is up with that.

Besides that ... bought my xbox 360 and have a contracter coming by the put up two of my new TV's on the wall. I also ordered a new table for my big TV in the living room. It should come in soon and then I can put it together and figure out how to hide the wires. I also stopped by IKEA and figured out a good bookcase to order also. Real good price for that one.

Having some issues with my dog. He is used to having a doggie door and we don't have one here yet so he has issues holding his bladder when he can't get outside. He is in TIMEOUT right now.

A few things I continue to notice. California is very detached from the rest of the country. You had better watch the news and keep a real good eye on what is going on through websites etc. Otherwise, I could be two weeks late finding out things. Another thing is that there are some very, very pretty women here. Impressive ... AND ... I have even noticed some pretty, pretty Asian women... don't have those where I am from ... definitely something to continue to report on ...

Until the next time ...

[Zymotic]

Funny you say that. There is this one room in my home where the light just comes on at random times. Trying to figure out what is up with that ...

The light coming on is a ghost... put a small bowl of pennies in that room and close it off... See if anything happens with the pennies.

IKEA - well, I go there now and then. They have a pretty good selection, and the prices are decent... however do not forget you are in the land of earthquakes... I've had more then a few IKEA bookcases fall apart after a shaker ... Pier One Imports just had a big furniture sale, they have some very very nice bookcases... I just bought one for $30 which to me is incredible... and it was already put together !!!! Thats another thing about IKEA , you have to put it together yourself, there are always parts missing, and the instructions are usually in Swedish...

The California Vibe - yes, very true , we do not keep up with the news here... know why ? We don't care... The sun is shining , there is a nice breeze, we love life ... The biggest news issues here are OMG its raining !!! I guess local news casts just think if you really cared about world news you would be watching CNN...

Asians ? Yes , we have everything here... that is one thing about this place that I love, there is every single kind of people here... you get so use to the diversity that when you travel over seas it really feels weird to only see one type of face...

[ahr19]

So I have a funny story to share:

I am at my soccer game and at the end of the game I put on a shirt that says .. "Montgomery County champions ... "

This guy on my team asks me "Where is Montgomery County?"
I reply, "Maryland."
He says with a straight face, "Where is Maryland?"
I stammer and say "Back east by DC and Virginia"
He says "Wow ... I don't know where Maryland is. I only know my corner states."
I say, "Were you born and raised here in California and never left?"
He says ..." Yes."
I am thinking "Oh my goodness ... that is so bad."

What makes it worse is that he is a principal at an Elementary School.

We had an earthquake here on Wendesday night/Thursday AM. I didn't feel a thing. My dog didn't bark on anything so I guess we got lucky. 4.5 on the scale so it was a mild one ...

[cybed]

I'd almost take a VERY minor earthquake to day after day of 95 + degree temps here in NC.

So I have a funny story to share:



What makes it worse is that he is a principal at an Elementary School.

We had an earthquake here on Wendesday night/Thursday AM. I didn't feel a thing. My dog didn't bark on anything so I guess we got lucky. 4.5 on the scale so it was a mild one ...

[Zymotic]

So I have a funny story to share:



What makes it worse is that he is a principal at an Elementary School.

We had an earthquake here on Wendesday night/Thursday AM. I didn't feel a thing. My dog didn't bark on anything so I guess we got lucky. 4.5 on the scale so it was a mild one ...

Yeah, we always gettem when you have temp. snaps like we are having now , when it's 105 degrees during the day , and 60s at night ... 4.5 is a decent sized quake but depending on the epicenter there is a pretty good chance you won't be feeling it... There have been a couple after that too, but usually they attribute them to after shocks of the first one... Considering this heat wave is predicted to stay around for another week , I wouldn't be surprised if we had another decent sized quake ... under a 5 , and probably occurring during midnight and 4 am.

Oh, and I am horrible at geography as well. I don't even know my corner states... Well, wait , I know Mexico is down there cause I drive there a few times a year... and I think Canada is at the top ... but I don't know what else is out there... For some reason the geography of the united states hold zero interest to me, and despite repeated attempts to memorize the information I still can not name all the states, or tell you where they are... Seriously I have maps at home, at work, in my car ... everywhere... I just cannot make it stick in my brain... Maybe it's a California born trait... ???

[JoeJGibbs]

The bad geography is probably because out west when you drive for hours you're still in the same state.

if you drive on the East coast for a few hours you can go through 5 or 6 states easily.

[ahr19]

Six month update:

Alright ... I have a little free time for a six month update. Time sure does fly. I have been out here a little over six months. It has been almost four months since I have been in my home. Let me see where I can begin to discuss my thoughts on California.

This time difference is really bugging me out. The wildest thing so far is getting up at 9 AM to get to my friends house to watch the Redskins when they play the 1 o'clock game on TV. Watching football half asleep at 10 AM is interesting. Especially when the Skins love to mess with your heart/patience. Also, now that the NBA is starting ... I could get home from work and the Wizards will be off the TV already. So the time difference with sports is really different. I will have to definitely make some adjustments to my work schedule when the Terps start playing basketball. Another thing is that most of my friends back east are asleep by the time I can get home, walk the dog and eat dinner ... so keeping in touch is more challenging ...

I think the weather is really nice for the most part. Of course in May - September it is really nice. Now it gets down to about 55 degrees at night time with a breeze by the beach so you definitely better have a jacket or sweatshirt available. That is a bit surprising for me but it's cool. During the day it is nice, but at night time just have a sweatshirt ready. It's different than when I lived in Miami because it was humid and that made it warmer in these months. There is no humidity here so it stays at the temperature. As long as there is no snow or freezing rain or any of that madness, I am cool with it. I do need to adjust the clothes I wear at certain times.

I found a good soccer league to play in at least two or three days a week. 7 v 7 on 1/3 of a regular field with no goalies ... and it is outdoor. Of course it is coed so I can meet some cute girls while I am at it. And I definitely have met some cuties and some cool dudes too ... so that is a great thing I got into very early when I arrived. Still looking for a nice 11 v 11 outdoor league ... I found one over the summer, but wasn't pleased with the team so I went searching after the season. I found a better team on Saturday nights ... the only challenge is that the games are from 7:20 - 10:30 PM on a Saturday night which isn't ideal ... but it does leave my Sundays free for football.

Work is cool. My new boss is a huge micro-manager so he will take some getting used to. Put it this way, I have to fill out a permission slip when I want to take extra days off work and I also have to let him know if I am going to be an hour or two late. But the team of people I work for are really cool. Some cute, cute girls too ... my goodness ... I have to watch my mouth so much because I wanna say some things, but I may get fired/sued if they come out of my mouth. So work is not really that stressing (except for my boss), and I can hang out here for at least another year or so before looking ...

My house is coming together ... All my stuff is unpacked. That took three months and I still have three sofas that I will need to sell because they don't fit in my house anymore. My place here is much smaller than where I lived in Maryland. I set up my gameroom for my PS2/360. Have two nice, comfty bar chairs and the TV on the wall. The next thing for that room is some type of surround sound system. I will need to figure that out eventually. Maybe after Christmas I could do that ... The next step for the house is to start to paint each room a different color. I think I am going to start with my bedroom and work on it from there. This will be a long project but well worth it. I will also have to work on the outside deck area. Set up a chiminea and some benches and a dog house for my dog ... That is it for now in terms of my home.

In general I am really liking LA/California. I like to use the analogy of when you see a really pretty girl out in public. You look at her and you are like, "wow ... she is really pretty ...I bet she isn't as nice inside as she is on the outside ..." Then I get to know the girl and she is actually really cool and just as nice on the inside ... Of course she would have expensive taste (LA is expensive to live in), but it is will worth the investment .. and you just keep falling in love, slowly but surely... You look from afar and think Cali is a good , fun place to live but must be full of shady and materialistic people ... well, so far I haven't run into that too much ... so I am slowly falling in love with California ...

That is it for now ... I'll try to post up more in a few weeks or such ... especially as I meet new people ...

[Zymotic]

Awww, glad you like California ... And you are right, there are a lot of misconceptions about Californians ... but we don't try to dispute them because we don't want more people coming here ... it just drives up property costs ...

Chimineas are cool. I bought one for my folks a few years ago for Christmas... I was down in Mexico and found one for $20 . Recently I've seen some in stores here and they are around $200 ... So, if you plan on going down to Mexico for a vacation, buy a chiminea there... Just bring a friend ... the one I bought was concrete with river stones all over it and weighed a ton.

[ahr19]

Met this lady last night at this Christmas party. She was mad cool and real friendly ...



Ashley Jensen from the show "Ugly Betty" ...

Just keeping a record of the peeps I meet ... It is a little colder here than I thought it would be in the "winter" ...