So, as I promised...

Here is some more info on the new location. Alameda is a city (in Alameda County) that is basically two distinct areas. One is an island (ZIP code 94501), and one is adjacent to Oakland (ZIP code 91502). I live in 01 and work in 02...and can hear planes fly by my office regularly. I think almost all of you are friends with me on Facebook, so you can get to the complete album there, but for those of you who aren't for some reason, here are the photos.


























Welcome to Benton Street. As you notice, trees are big here in Alameda.



























Really big. And in driveways. (Yes, I really do have to slalom around it at least twice every day.)



























Come in the door and up the stairs and take a look at the USC baseball schedule posters.



























To the left, you will see a hallway that leads to, among other places, my room. Lined with baseball pictures ('06 Crespi freshmen, '04 USC in Cuba, '04 Duluth Huskies)



























Nothing fancy here. Bed, nightstand and dresser. That's it.



























Here is the futon in the guest room. You know you want to come visit now!



























You can sleep under the Led Zeppelin poster!



























Here is a closer look at said poster.



























And here is what's across the room.



























Got all the guitars (that remain outside the closet) in this pic.



























And here is what is between my room and the guest room...it is actually nice to the point of being incongruous with the rest of the apartment. As pops noted, legit ceramic tile.



























Here's the living room. TV is now up and running, but I still need something to put it on.



























Page may have gotten the spot above the futon in the guest room, but Hendrix gets the spot above the couch in the living room.



























And I have a kitchen. Yes, that is a rice paddle you see to the left. Yes, I am that Asian.

So there you have it, kids. Come on up to NorCal and check into The DL Domain on foursquare...you know you want to! Bonus pics...here's my cubicle. Here's my "personalized" corner of my cubicle. Try not to be jealous!

Apparently even Blogger wonders where I've been

Seriously...they went and changed the site, and added some widgets that will enable my armies hordes couple of readers to easily post and share. Mostly, though, I think it will just make it easy for me to post it to my Facebook page.

So it's been a while, and the reason it has been a while is that I have been without Internet for the last week. The reason I have been without Internet is that my new apartment doesn't have it yet. The reason I have a new apartment is that I moved for a new job. This new job is in Alameda. Yes, Alameda is a city. It is in the bay area--directly across the bay from San Francisco. It is adjacent to Oakland. (Yes, I know. No, it's not scary...at least Alameda isn't.)

That's right, kids. I'm an official NorCal resident. I have a BART card and everything. I never thought I would see the day either, but after four fantastic years learning the field of tech PR at the DJA down south, I've made the transition to the bay. I'm a senior account executive at Engage PR, here in Alameda. Bay area traffic sucks. I don't want to deal with it. It takes me 10 minutes to get to work in the morning if (when) I hit every red light on this island. (Yes, I live on an island.)

Other than the fact that moving into my second-floor apartment was a horrific experience that began with me dropping a box down my pretty, hardwood stairs (and shattering the hell out of everything that was in it) and the fact that it's apparently the coldest winter in the history of the bay area, it's been a great transition. Alameda is a cool little place, and you should come visit. I have a two bedroom apartment that is walking distance from a handful of bars. It's a little longer walk to the main drag in town, Park Street, but it's definitely walkable. As drunk as we will get if/when any of you come visit, it'll be a piece of cake.

Pictures and more updates to come soon...when I don't have to come to the coffee shop down the street to get Wi-Fi. Send me a text or drop me an e-mail if you want my address.

The Verdict

1. East Ventura, roommate: Annette
2. Newbury Park, roommate: Brandon

Eliminated
4. Simi Valley, roommate: Janelle
5. Oxnard Shores, roommate: Terri
6. Newbury Park, roommates: Diane, Miko

Wildcard:
- Port Hueneme, roommate: Tim

After all that, it's right back to the place I saw last Friday before I hit the F Word. Should that fall apart for some reason, Brandon in Newbury Park is my contingency plan, so I'm not telling him no yet. Tim in Port Hueneme was solid, but it felt like a college apartment to me, and the room was entirely too small for all my crap.

Plus, none of them have Spuds. So there it is.

New Place Power Rankings

1. East Ventura, roommate: Annette
2. Newbury Park, roommate: Brandon

Eliminated
4. Simi Valley, roommate: Janelle
5. Oxnard Shores, roommate: Terri
6. Newbury Park, roommates: Diane, Miko

Wildcard:
- Port Hueneme, roommate: Tim

As it stands, the place I went and saw last Friday before the F word journey is the leader. It's the best combination of the pertinent factors: roommate, setup, location. I am a big Annette fan, and her dog is NOT Venus. He's mellow...and looks like Spuds MacKenzie. (More Spuds here, here and here.)

Brandon is a pretty mellow guy with a nice place that is right around the corner from work. The problem? It's right around the corner from work. There is NOTHING to do in this area. There's Borderline, and that's about it. I would have to decide if I'm willing to trek elsewhere to do stuff. Right now, the answer is no.

Omid is probably the best match of a roommate, as he is a drummer. (I think those of you who know me, know how this one works.) However, he is renting out another room to someone with whom I would be sharing a bathroom, which is not the case in the other two places. Additionally, the location has the same issue as Brandon's, but it's a possibility.

The next three in the rankings have been eliminated for various reasons but primarily bad parking situations (Janelle's) to dynamics that I just don't see myself fitting into (Terri's and Diane's). The parking thing is self explanatory, and the gist of the other two is that I would be the loud/obnoxious roommate. I'm not trying to throw ragers in the middle of the week or anything, but I would feel awkward sneezing. No bueno.

The wildcard round includes two places I have yet to see. The one in Port Hueneme is right on the freaking ocean, and I'd be living with a CSUCI student. He seems cool at the first glance, but I'll see when I meet him tonight. The other place is with two people, which I'm guessing, means I would be sharing a bathroom. I need to check with her, but if that's the case, there is probably no shot I even go out there to see it.

Anyway, there it is. I'll probably have a decision by tonight. It pretty much hinges on the requirements for this place in Pt. Hueneme. If it's a good fit, and I can move in April 1, it could be a done deal. Then comes the actual moving...which is the part that sucks.

ADDENDUM: Update from midday. Decided that I am eliminating shared bathroom options. Shared bath in Ventura place.

- Ventura, roommates: Lisa, Josh
3. Camarillo, roommates: Omid, Alfredo

Weekend in the F Word, etc.

Just got back from Fresno, and it was riveting as always. Come on...it's Fresno. Let's not expect too much. It was good to see Johnson, though, and her softball team is capable of being pretty good. The swung the bats well the two games I saw, and they ran out a couple pretty solid pitchers. Whether or not they develop into an elite team remains to be seen, and it's still unknown how much depth they have. Nonetheless, the Bullard Knights are a promising bunch.

Sidebar: The shortstop is my favorite player. She straight up picks it, has unreal hands and has probably the best feet of any high school infielder I've watched recently--male or female.

So then, it was a weekend of kicking back and not doing much other than drinking, playing guitars and singing lead for the the rock band video game endeavors. I did realize, though, that I do not miss college. The dumpy apartments with the ridiculous people all around...ugh. No thanks.

Speaking of dumpy apartments...I'm getting out of this one. I had previously avoided breaking this news on any platform that could possibly be traced by my roommate (who doesn't know yet), but I stopped caring. I'm going to finish out the 30 days and do this right, but the reality is that I need to get out of here. I'm sure what she's charging me is fair compared to what she's paying...it all makes sense based upon what I've seen similar places going for around here, but paying this much to live in this place is just asinine. This is a college-esque apartment. Plain and simple. I'm past that.

(This is not to mention that life has been a freaking comedy of errors since I moved to this place...that's a whole different topic that has been beaten to death in this blog and will continued to be beaten further into the ground for the next month.)

I'm out. I'm done. I've been carpet bombing craigslist in secret the last week, but the story is out now. Prospect-wise, my best hope looks like east Ventura with a girl who relocated from Texas.

However, on the docket for tomorrow after work are a house in Newbury Park, an apartment in Oxnard Shores (aptly named, as it's walking distance from the beach), a house in Camarillo and a townhouse in Simi Valley. Someone there is going to have to come up huge to de-seat Annette in Ventura, though. It's a nice place in a nice neighborhood that i would be sharing with a nice person. All of the aforementioned are orders of magnitude cheaper than this with (hopefully) a nicer end product. West valley...it's been real, but I'm moving on.

New Location

Blog #1 from the new apartment, which FINALLY has all my crap in it. In many cases said crap is still in boxes and has not found its ultimate destination, but at least the physical moving part of it is over. In other news, the Steelers and the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. Could have predicted the Steelers. Cardinals, however...not so much. Nonetheless, after all is said and done, that is the Super Bowl matchup. Go figure.

End of an Era and a Nod to New Beginnings

While this move has been something of a work in progress for a while, it's gotten very real this weekend. I have a room with a bed and some odds and ends clothes and things, but that is it. Courtesy of some help from my brother Toph, the furniture out of my room has been relocated to the apartment.

Rather that reminisce and make this a morose kind of a post (which it inherently would be when I think about moving out of a house I shared with one of my best friends), I am choosing to focus on the new beginning element of it. Apropos, considering this blog will also cover the expounding on my "Resolutions" post a few days ago.

I resolve to set goals and will not lose focus. While not doing work and spacing out make for hilarious movie fodder, they really have no place in the real world. Not that I feel like a slacker at work, but I can always refocus and get better at what I do. I have a great job that I thoroughly enjoy, and I am resolved to continuing to improve at it.

This point was primarily for work, but it is also applicable to the rest of my life, as I will make a concerted effort to enrich and deepen the relationships I have with my family and friends. Too often we get busy and lose focus on (or outright neglect) this. Not good...lots of room for improvement in '09.

I resolve to eliminate clutter and refuse to settle. Kind of a follow-on from working to enrich solid relationships, there is the other side of the coin in which some people and activities are really nothing more than clutter. They are a void and a time/productivity black hole. The resolution here is that when I feel as though I am about to waste time with one such peripheral person or activity, that I catch myself and reroute.

There are far too many important people in my life to waste my time on anyone other than them. I've finally come to the realization that there are only so many hours in the day, and while productivity and doing 100 things can be admirable (and is certainly necessary from time to time), part of being efficient is more effectively balancing things.

I resolve to return to basics and refuse to cede control. Those of you who read this clearly know me and are probably laughing that a control freak such as myself is refusing to cede control. No, I do not resolve to become a domineering person all of a sudden. Rather, I am working to be more proactive in things I do.

Part of this is the fact that I've read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Proactive simply means to not leave things to chance. Think about the end result and the side effects of what you say/do before you say/do them. This takes foresight and practice. What better time to start on it than 2009?

This series of resolutions has a little to do with work and a lot to do with life. I am feeling as though I've let my focus slide a little, and I want 2009 to be the year I snap it back into focus. Moving out of the house on Cohasset was a brutally difficult decision, but in the end, I am confident that it is the right one.

It is the end of an era, but with the end comes a new beginning. For me, it's a time to realize that I've let myself stagnate, but there has never been a better time for me to shake out of it and refocus.

Weird...

I am typing this from the actual keypad on my laptop as I am standing at my dresser. If you have any idea what my room looked like just a couple days ago (and since I first moved in here), this is bizarre. Back at the packing up.

Sidebar: this is a total flashback to college...moving constantly listening to Dr. Dre. Love it!