Work Life Balance

Work-Life Balance - one phrase I'll never be fooled by again.

Zoo

I went to the Zoo today. I took some pictures with my new camera.

ATM Cards

Why do ATMs withhold your card until the end of the transaction? I head to the ATM to get cash, deposit money, etc...when I'm finished the transaction and I have my money: mission accomplished. I got what I went for; however, I still have to get wait for the card. That is unintuitive, and that's why ATM machines have successful eaten both of my ATM cards this past week.

Commute

Every morning at some point in time before I wake up the Wall Street Journal is tossed in front of my door. When I leave work I pick up the paper. On the metro, I attempt to read the paper. Unfortunately, I'm still too distracted by the crazies. I wonder when I just won't notice them anymore.

My new camera came this week. Photos coming soon. It's still hot here, I don't know how I'm going to survive summer next year.

My bed

I spent a week sleeping on the floor. Now I have a bed. I love my bed. My best investment ever. Recently, I've gotten into the habit of misplacing everything: ATM card, iPod, headphones, carrots,.... It makes life difficult. I'm glad that I can't misplace my bed. Some people might be curious to see this.

I can't say that I'm proud.

Internet is too much.

Facebook now says that I'm "Lawrence Alum '07." If Facebook says it's so, it's so. It still doesn't feel official. People like to say that college is not real life. I'm not sure what they mean by that. At Lawrence, I was challenged, part of a community, and made great friends. Not paying bills does not mean, it's not real. I'm glad I didn't let it slip through my fingers.

Best Buy, I need to stay away from you for a month. I'm going to pretend you are not a few metro stops away.

I have two CBS channels. It was strange to get two CBS broadcasts. "Why does the US Open need to be on twice, at the same time," I thought. "Hmm, this news is only about Baltimore. Oh, that's why I have two CBS channels."

I live in the District. I get taxed by the District of Columbia. I can vote for a mayor exclusively. No Senator, no Congressman, no State Senator, ...wait, why do I get taxed more than a state.

Kickball starts in one week. Play Hard!

Loose Change

Loose change is dangerous when you have a vending machine in your building. It's still 90 degrees here. Too hot. I still don't own a couch.

Treading Water

After moving, it takes a while to feel that you actually live there. Not settling in - my stuff is here and in its place; however, I don't understand what it means to live here. I'm still foraging for my rhythm in the District. My body has adapted, and it knows when to get up - too early - I'm the first person to work. The problem is that my mind is still confused; it doesn't know what day of the week it is, what lamp to buy, what groceries are needed, or which way to walk. Going there will take how long?...it will be busy...? Is this an extended vacation? The questions stretch through the urban sprawl of DC flowing over the Potomac into Virgina. The District swimming in a plethora of options, and it's taking a while to discover the right subsequence for each day. I'm exerting myself everyday, and I'm just treading water; hopefully, one day I can float effortless with the waves. In the ocean, on vacation in North Carolina.

Settling In

The process of moving doesn't seem to stop. Every apartment has it's own nuances from where the living room light switch is to where the cabinet door handles are, and it takes a several moments of confusion to break the old muscle memory. Sometimes, it's continent how we can easily forget that what is not in front of us.

Homes just don't come with everything you need. Normally they just come with a refrigerator and a stove. Everyday I discover something I don't own. Thursday, I spilled Cheerios. "I'll clean this up," I thought. Then, I realized I don't own a broom. Back to CVS. Saturday, "Oh, I'll just reheat what I made on Thursday for lunch." Wait, I don't have a microwave. Back to Linens 'n' Things.

The CVS across the street has a strange habit of selling out of everything I want - besides candy.

The National Symphony played a free show on the Capitol lawn last night. They hadn't rehearsed much for it, but the warm summer evening and the illumination of the Mall behind the stage made it worth seeing.

Nationals vs. Marlins on Wednesday: $5 tickets.

Starting from scratch

Moving-in was a chore. It is arduous process that took several attempts, and isn't over yet.

Last Friday at the Atlanta Airport:
According to our captain, our flight was stuck in afternoon rush hour traffic. There were ten or elven planes ahead of us on the runway. As I found out, in Atlanta time that means two hours.

We waited on the plane with no air conditioning for two hours. Fine. Delays happen. Why then? I had to move in two hours later than expected - ten minutes after storage and CVS closed. The lease was waiting for me when I arrived. I signed and signed and signed. My apartment was just a skeleton of what I envisioned of a home - empty, smelled of new paint, white walls, and a strange echo of every noise.

Unable to get my pillow out of storage, I wrenched out my clothes from Orlando - t-shirts, undershirts, anything soft - used them for a pillow and slept in my coat on the floor. On the floor like a crazed artist living in a studio located in the heart of Brooklyn, I slept on my cold hardwood floors. Worst night of sleep ever. I couldn't wait until the CVS opened at 7 am. I bought soap. I showered. I found out what it's like showering without a bathmat - terrible; drying yourself off in a puddle.

Saturady - Ikea:
Unbelievable. I felt as if I was fed into a giant blue machine. I grabbed my score card and followed the arrows up the escalator diving through the multiple living rooms, dens, bedrooms... A hour later, I had pieced together my media center and dinning room set: black-brown and sand. All earth tones for my space-age bachelor pad.

Sunday - Target. Crowed, I had to walk out to the parking lot to get a cart.

Monday - Ikea furniture arrives.
I hate putting together Ikea furniture. If I have to see another tiny screw or wooden peg again I'd rather poke myself in the eye. My TV comes next week.

Vocabulary

Training is over. That means I've learned something. Whether that something is useful will probably be a question I'll struggle with over the next two years.

Let me share the new vocabulary I've learned:

Networking (v.) - Drinking on the weekdays, typically at an open bar that only serves beer and cheep wine.

Staffed (v.) - to have ability to charge hours to the client.

Deck (n.) - a printed version of a PowerPoint slide, commonly for a proposal. Each slide should to look like it was worth $400/hour, regardless if that is the true value of the information it conveys.

PowerPoint (n.) - Everyone's favorite program, where templates don't work the way they should.

Add Value (phrase) - a catch all saying that describes what we're supposed to do.

I'll have to look into that. (phrase) - answer to a question that you didn't understand, but might be valid; however, there is a high probability that the question is gibberish.

Solving Complex Business Problems (phrase) - making PowerPoint presentations.

The Wall

Wow, well this blog hit the wall when I started working. On the flight home from Dallas I started a post. It died shortly after I got off the plane. There's no internet during flights; there are only small seats and no snacks - unless you fly Midwest then you get their signature cookie service. I swear they bake those cookies in-flight.

The English language and I are engaged in a constant struggle. It throws new words and phrases at me everyday, and my mind lets them dissolve into a gray abyss. It's time to fight back. Someway some how. Maybe I'll read with a dictionary at hand - my strongest tool.

I should get back to paying attention during training, but I'm going to post this now incomplete before I decide against it.

Here's what I wrote in-flight on August 10, and never posted:

"There’s something exhausting about sitting down all day. I feel that it’s fitting to start my first weekend since I started my 9 to 5 on a plane. Well, calling it a 9 – 5 is an ineffective way of describing it. It’s more of an 8 am to 10 pm (half day Saturday). The wheezing air conditioner above my head blends well with the white noise of the aircraft, and the Dallas concrete expanse drifts away from my sight. These seats are small. I am not small. Therefore, I do not fit in this seat. I would call this argument reasonable, but not logical. There’s no concept of scale in the argument.

For the majority of last week, people talked at me, but not just me – rather a room full of 250 analysts. With two 20 foot projector screens behind at their backs, a lavalier mic, and a clicker in their hands they talked. And talked. I felt that I was in an infomercial for a pyramid scheme – a painful one.

I have this strange habit of blogging in flight. I thought about making it a concept blog. How about write as much about the person next to you until they speak up? Well that would only be amusing to me, since the reader wouldn’t have the same perspective. There has to be something I could do to amuse both you and me."

Finding an Apartment (part 2)

Second stop: Woodley Park 5:00 PM
Constantly frustrated and my shirts sticking to me from sweat, we cut a path down Connecticut Ave crossing into Woodley Park: more of the same.Standing on the corner of Conn. Ave and the bridge, we asked do I want to live here...maybe let's check one more place - just one more. It was a half ass effort. We choose the first building off the corner. Just happy to be in an air-conditioned building we were willing to stand in line for the leasing agent. There were three parties there: one woman, one student, and us. The woman said she would keep looking but she might be back. The student, my father, and I went up to see room 509. Just poking my head in the door, I knew it was a good fit. Good neighborhood, good place. I had to snatch it up. After heading up to the roof top deck to see some of the amenities, we traveled down to see the lease. It was already being signed by the student. Crap. They had a place available for August 4th or 5th. Too late. We decided to ponder it over ice cream - ice cream is always a good idea. Over ice cream on a 95 degree day, we choose to take it. I'm not in DC for a while anyways (training in Dallas), so save the rent. We crossed the street (yes ice cream is across the street) and went to sign the lease. There was one person seeing the apartment we wanted, and another waiting to see it. Then one woman came back in, and wanted to sign the lease. This was it I thought - game over - but she made the mistake of saying that she was going to see other places before deciding. I would call that getting out of line, as did the leasing agent. Point and apartment for Charles. It's not huge, but DC is hella expensive; my budget was already blown. The metro is 30ft out my back door, and there's a door from the Metro Center stop into my building: commute time ~10 minutes. Here's the floor plan (it's listed as 525 sqft):

Apartment Hunting (part one)

Looking for an apartment is difficult.

The beginning: Friday July 6, 2007 9:00 AM EDT

Friday day morning we arrived in DC - Reagan National, had a quick breakfast, and we were on are way: airport to subway to hotel. We checked in, and then settled into our room; which for me meant that I drop my suitcase on the ground and took some items out of my messenger bag. Then we were off and running just about until we hit our first stop.

First stop: Cleveland Park 10:30 AM EDT

Cleveland Park is in NW DC about 3 miles from downtown. My first impression was "This looks like a suburb full of people in their 30's." Trees lined the streets, a non-chain shopping center, restaurants along one strip, and ever expanding apartment buildings dotted along the main drag: Connecticut Ave. With the blazing summer sun creating a dome of humidity around my body from my own sweat, I glanced at my father; without word his crunched eyebrows and static, devoid of emotion face he asked "you really want to live here?" But it seemed like nice place to live, so I gave it a chance. A block away from Connecticut Ave the noise died, and families were having picnics. My suspicion snowballed whie I staggered downhill to our first stop. The first building we found didn't have a vacancy until August 10. We viewed the demo unit. Nice, definitely livable. The leasing agent was pleasant, but there was something - something I couldn't pinpoint - covered by her pleasantries that unnerved me. I eventually spotted it when she spit out "yeah, this places sell themselves." She wasn't trying to sell us on the apartment, she was merely going through the motions. Show the room, show rooftop deck, show the sauna, show the fitness room... From the rooftop deck, the view was horrid you could see a tiny of the national cathedral and midget trees that blocked everything else.

We continued on our journey. Unquestionably discouraged by the neighborhood, but we forged ahead on our journey which was more of the same - no vacancy, ugly, supper small, falling apart, disgruntled leasing agent. We found some nice agents, and others that didn't care what I rented rather they only wanted me to rent from them.

"I have a place in Cathedral Heights for 1250/month."
"No I'd like a place close to the Red line."
"Oh Cathedral Heights is a great place to live."
"I think it would be annoying to commute from there. No thanks."
"What about Tenlytown?"
"No thanks." Click.

No worries I turned them down. I'm not living in Cathedral Heights or Van Ness, and they'll find someone. The rental market is too tight for it to stay vacant past today.

Lawrence Lives

Since graduation, many of my fellows from the class of 2007 have changed a specific facebook habit: they change their activities frequently. They've removed the clubs and hobbies from Lawrence, and added the small tasks of summer: thank you cards, exercise, go to beach... They use it as a to-do lists. Then in a couple of days, they cross the tasks of the list after the activities have been completed, or they don't feel like following through with the mundane task. Either way it's convenient, and it's a fresh picture of their lives - the part that I used to hear about every night at downer.

I should get better at emailing and calling.