I had every intention of putting up a bunch of new pictures but I really have been doing nothing but working this week. I'm kind of playing catch-up with a few cases I have so I don't get backlogged. I need to maintain my reputation as the best CPS employee from Florida (There's actually only one other guy that I know of in this competition but I'm pretty sure I have him beat). I think I put in about 50 hours this week already (mainly because I had to work this past weekend) and I still have to go to work on Friday. Geez...
I'm thinking about taking off to Florida this weekend just to get away for a little bit though. I hope my boss is feeling generous and will let me have a day off...
Friday, 25 January 2008
Friday, 18 January 2008
What To Do With the Weekend?
(don't worry Modaresi-Beal's and Mom, I will soon have pictures of your wonderful editions to my apartment...next blog probably)
Well, this weekend had several possibilities for plans. At first, my brother Casey was going to come visit me in Austin and we were going to do stuff that would most likely get us arrested but sure as hell would have been fun. Because of the flight situation though, Casey won't be able to pass-ride so that one is a no-go.
Then I thought about driving to Tallahassee to hang out with my boys who still go to FSU. Even though the drive would be truly terrible to do alone again, I was still considering it (my friends are pretty fun). Although this one is still a possibility, the chances are dwindling...
Now, I don't have any plans at all. I originally had MLK day off but I lost a coin toss in my unit and now have to be on call for any cases that get called in that day. I'm one of about 9 different CPS investigators though, so it probably shouldn't be much work at all. Kinda sucks though because I thought this weekend was going to be something a little different from the usual thing. I guess there's always the Texas Independence Day weekend...
Well, this weekend had several possibilities for plans. At first, my brother Casey was going to come visit me in Austin and we were going to do stuff that would most likely get us arrested but sure as hell would have been fun. Because of the flight situation though, Casey won't be able to pass-ride so that one is a no-go.
Then I thought about driving to Tallahassee to hang out with my boys who still go to FSU. Even though the drive would be truly terrible to do alone again, I was still considering it (my friends are pretty fun). Although this one is still a possibility, the chances are dwindling...
Now, I don't have any plans at all. I originally had MLK day off but I lost a coin toss in my unit and now have to be on call for any cases that get called in that day. I'm one of about 9 different CPS investigators though, so it probably shouldn't be much work at all. Kinda sucks though because I thought this weekend was going to be something a little different from the usual thing. I guess there's always the Texas Independence Day weekend...
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
I Got a Rug
Yeah, so I am the proud new owner of a rug now. How about that? I never thought a purchase like this would be blog-worthy but I really feel like it's a big step into my "adulthood".
Since I moved in to my new apartment I have been slowly furnishing it with pieces from Craigslist, garage sales, salvation army, goodwill, and of course, from my friends and coworkers who all had extra stuff. Surprisingly, my living room actually looks pretty good (in my humble opinion), even with all the hand-me-down furniture. Now once I get my new art (*wink*) up on the wall I think the place will really be quite a little pad for all kinds of debauchery...err...fun times.
The addition of the awesomely soft and delicious looking Crate and Barrel 100% New Zealand wool rug now ties my room together and I now have a great place to fall asleep while watching Gabe and Shirin's DVD of the internet they got me recently (I've been watching that Daft Punk video and that crazy dance competition kid every day now). I really felt like I had to write about this because it's probably the biggest purchase for something to go in my house that I've ever made (that wasn't a computer). Kudos to me. Feel free to stop by and rub your clean feet all over it's wonderful fibers.
Monday, 7 January 2008
A Typical Weekend
Because all my readers have been asking what I do on a typical weekend (not really), I will go through these last 48 hours or so in detail to try and capture what I do with my time off in Austin, TX.
FRIDAY NIGHT:
Right after work on Friday I went with a couple of friends to a bar down the street from the CPS offices and we had a drink or two. Most of the conversation gravitated toward whether or not we planned on staying in Austin for more than a year or so. We always talk about things like this because virtually everyone I hang out with is not an indigenous Austinite (half the time we came from a few thousand miles away actually). I guess all of us moved here because we wanted something new and exciting but we tend to always talk about moving back to our respective homes for some reason. The jury is still out on this one, however, because it seemed like the consensus of the conversation was: "Who knows?"
After the bar we went to see I Am Legend with Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for those of you who don't know him). I liked it. After that, I went home and went to sleep 'cause I've been sick for much of the last two weeks and didn't want to string myself out any more.
SATURDAY:
I woke up at 7:30am because my friggin' room gets uber-bright in the mornings due to the lack of quality blinds I have on my windows. I ate some breakfast, cleaned up my house, and watched some DVDs (I still don't have cable...although not for a lack of trying. I got the DirectTV people to come out to my house to install satellite TV and they told me that my balcony didn't face the right direction so they left. Oh well). After spending a few hours hanging out with myself, I went back to sleep (I'm sick remember).
SATURDAY NIGHT:
I woke up the second time around 4pm or so. I got showered and dressed and ventured out to go buy a new tire for my bike and a big canvas from Michaels craft store. The canvas is going to be the second piece of home-made paintings for my apartment (the first coming from my lovely sister-in-law Shirin). I think I'm going to paint it all black and just sort of throw white paint at it till it looks like something out of a high class art gallery. We'll see how it goes...
After all my shopping was over I cooked some dinner and then went to meet some friends downtown. I ended up going to a few different bars and meeting up with a few different friends. It wasn't a big night or anything but I still had a good time seeing some people I hadn't seen since before Christmas. I went home around 1am (if you had come this weekend Casey it would have been a longer night than that - I promise).
SUNDAY:
This day I spent working around the house. I sanded and stained a chest of drawers I got from my parent's house in Florida, I painted my big canvas black, I washed all my dishes (in the sink mind you!), and I spent some time outside just hanging out in my apartment complex. This last bit doesn't seem all that fun (and it wasn't for much of the time) but I ended up meeting two of my neighbors who seemed really cool. One of them had kids and when I told her who I worked for she immediately started explaining that the scratch little Mckenzie (her daughter) had on her face was because of their dog (I guess I have to start expecting this reaction from parents sometimes). Overall, it was a pretty cool day though and I now know a few more people in Austin (ya know, in case I need to be taken to the hospital after one of my "home renovations" goes awry or something).
And that's pretty much it. A nice, relaxing weekend. Time to start work again I guess...
FRIDAY NIGHT:
Right after work on Friday I went with a couple of friends to a bar down the street from the CPS offices and we had a drink or two. Most of the conversation gravitated toward whether or not we planned on staying in Austin for more than a year or so. We always talk about things like this because virtually everyone I hang out with is not an indigenous Austinite (half the time we came from a few thousand miles away actually). I guess all of us moved here because we wanted something new and exciting but we tend to always talk about moving back to our respective homes for some reason. The jury is still out on this one, however, because it seemed like the consensus of the conversation was: "Who knows?"
After the bar we went to see I Am Legend with Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for those of you who don't know him). I liked it. After that, I went home and went to sleep 'cause I've been sick for much of the last two weeks and didn't want to string myself out any more.
SATURDAY:
I woke up at 7:30am because my friggin' room gets uber-bright in the mornings due to the lack of quality blinds I have on my windows. I ate some breakfast, cleaned up my house, and watched some DVDs (I still don't have cable...although not for a lack of trying. I got the DirectTV people to come out to my house to install satellite TV and they told me that my balcony didn't face the right direction so they left. Oh well). After spending a few hours hanging out with myself, I went back to sleep (I'm sick remember).
SATURDAY NIGHT:
I woke up the second time around 4pm or so. I got showered and dressed and ventured out to go buy a new tire for my bike and a big canvas from Michaels craft store. The canvas is going to be the second piece of home-made paintings for my apartment (the first coming from my lovely sister-in-law Shirin). I think I'm going to paint it all black and just sort of throw white paint at it till it looks like something out of a high class art gallery. We'll see how it goes...
After all my shopping was over I cooked some dinner and then went to meet some friends downtown. I ended up going to a few different bars and meeting up with a few different friends. It wasn't a big night or anything but I still had a good time seeing some people I hadn't seen since before Christmas. I went home around 1am (if you had come this weekend Casey it would have been a longer night than that - I promise).
SUNDAY:
This day I spent working around the house. I sanded and stained a chest of drawers I got from my parent's house in Florida, I painted my big canvas black, I washed all my dishes (in the sink mind you!), and I spent some time outside just hanging out in my apartment complex. This last bit doesn't seem all that fun (and it wasn't for much of the time) but I ended up meeting two of my neighbors who seemed really cool. One of them had kids and when I told her who I worked for she immediately started explaining that the scratch little Mckenzie (her daughter) had on her face was because of their dog (I guess I have to start expecting this reaction from parents sometimes). Overall, it was a pretty cool day though and I now know a few more people in Austin (ya know, in case I need to be taken to the hospital after one of my "home renovations" goes awry or something).
And that's pretty much it. A nice, relaxing weekend. Time to start work again I guess...
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
New Year, New Blog
Well, nothing has changed about the blog except that I'm going to write in it regularly (you have my word as a gentleman).
To bring in the New Year I hung up the best X-mas present I got this holiday. My brother Casey and his wife Janice made this hanging sign post that tells you exactly how far away from Austin, TX all the big cities in my life are. London, Tallahassee, St. Pete, Athens, and Lakeland are represented. Here's what it looks like:
There you have it. My apartment feels a little more like home now. :)
To bring in the New Year I hung up the best X-mas present I got this holiday. My brother Casey and his wife Janice made this hanging sign post that tells you exactly how far away from Austin, TX all the big cities in my life are. London, Tallahassee, St. Pete, Athens, and Lakeland are represented. Here's what it looks like:
Here is a closer look at three of the signs:
(I almost made it 5000 miles from London)
(I almost made it 5000 miles from London)
There you have it. My apartment feels a little more like home now. :)
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Coming Back?!
I might just try to start the 'ol Blog again. I think I have enough back-stories from Austin now to keep this thing updated with good posts every week.
I'm gonna try guys. :)
I'm gonna try guys. :)
Saturday, 3 November 2007
Digital Camera?
Shirin (my sister in law) said in a comment that I need to post more pictures...and frankly I agree. Here's the thing: I don't have a camera to do that. I think this means that someone is going to have to get me one for Christmas. The last one I got for Christmas from my mom several years back was awesome but it just finally died and it only takes blurry pictures now. In the meantime I think I'll just describe pictures that I've seen here around Austin:
-There is a huge building downtown called the Frost Bank building. I think it's the biggest one in Austin and when you look at it from an angle, the top looks like an owl peering down at the city. Seriously.
-My training class for work took a picture outside of the main building. We have about six guys and six girls (all of various ages) and I think that might be a record for the number of males in once class. I was in the middle of the picture.
-East Austin (in some places) is occasionally considered the "less-than-desirable" place to live (I often drive over there for work). My supervisor and I passed a convenient store once while we were driving there and she told me that it sort of looked like an area she saw when she visited downtown Los Angeles (the bad parts).
-6th street at night - kind of like Mardi Gras but with less beads, more 18-year-old college students (if you can believe it), and fewer floats driving down the road.
Well, I think this little section is proving why I need to get a digital camera. Any takers for X-mas???
-There is a huge building downtown called the Frost Bank building. I think it's the biggest one in Austin and when you look at it from an angle, the top looks like an owl peering down at the city. Seriously.
-My training class for work took a picture outside of the main building. We have about six guys and six girls (all of various ages) and I think that might be a record for the number of males in once class. I was in the middle of the picture.
-East Austin (in some places) is occasionally considered the "less-than-desirable" place to live (I often drive over there for work). My supervisor and I passed a convenient store once while we were driving there and she told me that it sort of looked like an area she saw when she visited downtown Los Angeles (the bad parts).
-6th street at night - kind of like Mardi Gras but with less beads, more 18-year-old college students (if you can believe it), and fewer floats driving down the road.
Well, I think this little section is proving why I need to get a digital camera. Any takers for X-mas???
Friday, 26 October 2007
Nothing Much
I do pretty much the same thing every day. I guess I would post more but I honestly spend most of my time thinking about what I'm going to do about moving into my place. Other than that, my days are pretty much the same. Here's a typical weekday for me:
6:45am - wake up
7:30 - drive to work
7:55 - get to work and spend an hour on the computer checking work emails, AOL emails, sherdog.com, and finish any kind of CPS work I didn't do the day before
8:55 - training class begins...
12pm - lunch (usually leftovers from the night before or a sandwich or Sonic)
1pm - back to training
5pm - go home
6pm - go work out
7:30 - come home and take a shower
8pm - cook some pasta w/chicken in duck sauce (just kidding, but I do saute some damn good vegetables with the tomato sauce)
8:25 - eat and watch a DVR'd episode of the ultimate fighter or the office
9:15 - call Erika and sometimes my mom :)
9:45 - get on the computer and think about blogging something
9:46 - get off the computer
9:47 - get in bed and either read a little, think about filming the next "george" episode, or imagine myself on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter".
10:15-10:45pm - go to sleep
And there you have it! My weekends are a little more exciting but with all the traveling I've been doing lately I still haven't seen everything Austin has to offer. I do still like here though and am really looking forward to exploring the city more whenever my flight benefits run out and I can't fly back to florida every other weekend. I'll let you know some more stuff then...
6:45am - wake up
7:30 - drive to work
7:55 - get to work and spend an hour on the computer checking work emails, AOL emails, sherdog.com, and finish any kind of CPS work I didn't do the day before
8:55 - training class begins...
12pm - lunch (usually leftovers from the night before or a sandwich or Sonic)
1pm - back to training
5pm - go home
6pm - go work out
7:30 - come home and take a shower
8pm - cook some pasta w/chicken in duck sauce (just kidding, but I do saute some damn good vegetables with the tomato sauce)
8:25 - eat and watch a DVR'd episode of the ultimate fighter or the office
9:15 - call Erika and sometimes my mom :)
9:45 - get on the computer and think about blogging something
9:46 - get off the computer
9:47 - get in bed and either read a little, think about filming the next "george" episode, or imagine myself on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter".
10:15-10:45pm - go to sleep
And there you have it! My weekends are a little more exciting but with all the traveling I've been doing lately I still haven't seen everything Austin has to offer. I do still like here though and am really looking forward to exploring the city more whenever my flight benefits run out and I can't fly back to florida every other weekend. I'll let you know some more stuff then...
Friday, 5 October 2007
Yes, a New Apartment.
I pulled the trigger! I went with my gut and decided to go ahead and to lease a place in Austin for about 8 months (not sure why the lady didn't want a year lease but it didn't change anything so I'm fine with it). I move in November 17th!
I can FINALLY stop moving around this city from friend's floors to friends of friends' empty rooms. A place I can call my own...too bad it's a two-bedroom and I currently don't have a roommate. What I DO have, though, are some good prospects for people to move to Texas and live with me. They are:
ERIKA - Yep, she's still deciding what American city to move to now that she's a resident again (although now and then she says she wants to go back to London). Without going into a humongous story about what Erika and I are doing as far as our relationship is concerned - her chances of moving here are about 40% - 50% (in my mathematical opinion).
JAMES COOPER - That's right folks, the Coop might just give up his higher education job prospects in Florida and bring his talents to Texas. Considering that he was the first person I ever visited Austin with, it might be appropriate for him and I to room together. We'll see...guesses aside - James has a 35% - 45% chance of moving here.
Now what will I do with that 5% - 25% or so chance of having no one move here? I dunno. Call up some random friends from Kathleen High School and convince them that their dreams lie in that great state of Texas. hmmmmm...
I can FINALLY stop moving around this city from friend's floors to friends of friends' empty rooms. A place I can call my own...too bad it's a two-bedroom and I currently don't have a roommate. What I DO have, though, are some good prospects for people to move to Texas and live with me. They are:
ERIKA - Yep, she's still deciding what American city to move to now that she's a resident again (although now and then she says she wants to go back to London). Without going into a humongous story about what Erika and I are doing as far as our relationship is concerned - her chances of moving here are about 40% - 50% (in my mathematical opinion).
JAMES COOPER - That's right folks, the Coop might just give up his higher education job prospects in Florida and bring his talents to Texas. Considering that he was the first person I ever visited Austin with, it might be appropriate for him and I to room together. We'll see...guesses aside - James has a 35% - 45% chance of moving here.
Now what will I do with that 5% - 25% or so chance of having no one move here? I dunno. Call up some random friends from Kathleen High School and convince them that their dreams lie in that great state of Texas. hmmmmm...
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
New Apartment?
I'm trying to get in the habit of posting but that damn LeftHandedNinja.com website has been taking up much of my computer time lately. If you have not been to the site, by the way, you should totally go right now.
Anyways, I went to look at an apartment for the second time today. The place is really nice and has pretty much all the things I'm looking for in a place here. Look for yourself if you want to here: Falls on Bull Creek.
Although it has some negative ratings on certain apartment websites, I talked to three, real-life people who live there and they said they loved the place. It is inexpensive, 15 minutes from my work, remodeled with new carpet/floors/paint, and has an awesome pool. It's also in a really cool part of Austin in the rolling hill country.
I'm thinking about signing a lease soon. I just have to ensure that someone will move to Austin in order to share the rent now. hmmmmmmmmm...
Anyways, I went to look at an apartment for the second time today. The place is really nice and has pretty much all the things I'm looking for in a place here. Look for yourself if you want to here: Falls on Bull Creek.
Although it has some negative ratings on certain apartment websites, I talked to three, real-life people who live there and they said they loved the place. It is inexpensive, 15 minutes from my work, remodeled with new carpet/floors/paint, and has an awesome pool. It's also in a really cool part of Austin in the rolling hill country.
I'm thinking about signing a lease soon. I just have to ensure that someone will move to Austin in order to share the rent now. hmmmmmmmmm...
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