Searching for a new home

Searching for the right place to live is quite difficult, especially in an unfamiliar city. You just don't know what is considered a good neighborhood or a rough neighborhood. I discovered both. After reading multiple craigslist ads and posting craigslist ads I finally came to a decision.

This decision was quite tough but I am obviously happy with the one I chose. I thought the first place I was going to walk into would be the one. Zach told me not to rush myself that I need to look at more than one place and boy was he right.

This actually being my first "real home search" in Reno it had always been easy, I just talked to my friends and discovered who needed a roommate and BAM I got a roommate and a place to live. However finding a roommate via craigslist is a much more interesting thing. Especially when people don't put details about themselves just the space available. This is never a good thing because you should no a little something about the people you are about to live with.

There where some people whose spots I looked at and it was a nice pad but not the right fit for me personality wise and age wise (yes I know you shouldn't discriminate on age but if I wanted to live with middle-aged people I would chose my parents and aunties). So I rolled them out.

Another pad I looked at was a great spot but it was a little bit on the pricey end for me. The two I had narrowed it down to had amazing opportunity for roomies, I got along with all of them great. In fact the place I decided on I decided to look at after I thought I made up my mind. This was the best decision I could have made because not only is it not an apartment (an actual house) it is also cheaper and I feel that it is in a safer neighborhood.

I felt really bad telling the other guy that I was no longer interested but some of the decision making points was once I read reviews about the apartment complex. ALL of the reviews where horrible and negative (they did just get new management but we all know that story). The most recent review even dissed the new management so I decided it wasn't the spot for me. As people for future roomies I was torn so I had to look at economic factors and location factors and style factors. The house prevailed in all aspects.

So my new house has chickens, a furnished bedroom, close to bus routes but still feels suburban, close to a farmers market and grocery store and it is overall amazing!

I know I made the right decision and it is about time I can say "I am not homeless in Austin". I may be "Lost in Austin" which is a different story but the link might help you understand. Having a composer as a friend *cough* Amy (@amylauder) *cough* makes story telling more interesting.

The first 40 hours

Well I have completed that first 40 hour work week. Let me tell you it is exhausting. I have never quite understood the brutality of 40 hour work week because most of my jobs that I have had in the past would allow me to either leave the office or I would have multiple part time jobs that gave me air from one job to another. This time is different, I am in the same building everyday for 8 hours. I bring my lunch and eat lunch in the cafeteria or break room. I can walk outside for my breaks but the humidity is a killer so I choose to stay inside, especially because I will endure a beautiful hour long walk home. As you can see in the photo. This is normally the best part of the day walking through the neighborhood dubbed as "Travis Heights" to get to Zach's apartment (I do not have my own yet, I am still sleeping on a couch).

Other than that my job is quite great. In no means relaxing but it is pleasant. I am able to listen to my iPod while I do my work so it is great to have all of that music. I have currently been trying to find an app so I can listen to the Rockies games as well while I partake in the ever repetitiveness of pulling files or refiling. The DRU (Document Retrieval Unit) is based out of a warehouse full of files and that is where I work or shall I say hide in the files.

I have been learning a lot and I wish I could discuss other parts of my job but the files obtain classified information therefore I cannot. Even if I could all what I am concerned about is the file number and not what is in the document nor do I have the desire to see what is in the document. My biggest concern is to have the most amount of volume. This is my competitive edge coming about I must strive to have the best numbers. I am very determined to receive an outstanding evaluation. This is where I appreciate my music because it helps me get in the flow and work quicker.

This week has been so jam packed of learning new information about my job and learning about Austin while trying to find a place to live walking distance to work (I know I can ride the bus but as you can see from the image it is a beautiful walk.) I have explore 6th street a couple of nights this week with Jeana (@j_ber) and her friend Lyn that she was in town visiting. This week was even more intense because South by Southwest (sxsw) was going on so I had to go to a few events such as The Strokes concert.

Other than that I will be looking at an apartment tomorrow and hopefully I will like the set-up and possible future roomies and be able to move-in sometime this week!

Traveling to Austin

So yet again I am trying to start to blog again. Eventually I will make it regular, especially because I am no longer in the same city as all of my friends. For those who do not know I just accepted a job in Austin with the Department of Treasury. It is a temporary 6 month job. By accepting this job I am now living in Austin, TX. I just arrived today but the trip getting to Austin was hellacious. Let's start from the beginning but with a quick timeline

December 4, 2010 - I graduated with my dual degree in Communication and Political Science and a minor in Journalism.

December 15, 2010 - I began applying for government jobs

Monday, February 28, 2011 - Received a call to be interviewed/fingerprinted in Austin

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - Flew to Austin

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - Interviewed

Thursday, March 3, 2011 - Flew home

Now I can tell the story on Friday, March 11, 2011 I got a phone-call offering me a position with the Department of Treasury. The position is to exceed no more than 180 days (6 months). I accepted it. I then was informed the beginning date of my tour is Thursday, March 17, 2011 (tomorrow). So I called up BRP and Big 5 told them the news and informed them apologetically that Sunday will be my last day of work because I accepted a professional job in Austin.

I began to pack-up my stuff. I decided that none of my furniture will becoming with me. So I moved it into storage by the help of Frank. Niki (@nclinger) called and asked if she could road trip down with me to Austin in my 1990 Volvo that we nicknamed Icee (because it does horrible in ice). I naturally said yes.

The first thing I loaded into Icee was my Columbia Trail Head mountain bike. I then loaded up my clothing, pantry, movies, photos, shot glasses (from all over the country) and etc. Thanks to Rachel (@xorachel) she helped me pack Icee nice and full.

Niki and I hit the road monday morning at 5:30 a.m. We made good time to Las Vegas. Where we met my current/old roommate Neesha (@neshiii) for lunch at Panera Bread. We then filled the tank up at Costco. We then checked all of the fluids, oil was fine, the coolant had a weird color but we weren't to concerned because the car hadn't overheated or anything. I decided that I would change out all of the coolant when we arrive in Phoenix for the night.

So we jumped back onto the freeway and headed out of Vegas to Boulder City. Then the car began to overheat. We pulled over (happened to pull onto a street that a mechanic was on) and the engine began to smoke. We sat there debating what to do. We decided to get the car looked at. The mechanic ran a diagnostic on Icee and informed us that we blew a head gasket and they can't do anything with the car until the next morning. They gave us an estimate that it will cost around $1500 to fix it. I only paid $1000 for Icee. The mechanic said because we are travelers they wouldn't let us make a payment plan but if I have the title on me if we decided not to get the car fixed that they will take the car off our hands (for free of course).

Niki and I then got a hotel room and began to brainstorm how to get us the rest of the way to Austin. We looked into U-Haul and trailers to move the car, rental cars, Grey Hound and flying. You name it we looked into it. We were on a time crunch because I have to report for work at 9 am Thursday morning.

After a ton of deliberation and phone calls and figuring stuff out. We had a plan to rent a car and give the mechanic Icee. Toni (@toni_vegas) picked us up and drove us to the Vegas Airport. We got their and we couldn't rent a car. So we went back to Boulder City and slept. The next morning I made the decision that we were going to fly. Sara (@saraxmazing) got us in contact with her parents to pick us up from Boulder City and take us to their place and let me store all of my things there. Sara is going to pick my stuff up in a few weeks and take it back to Reno.

So I bought my plane ticket and resigned the fact that Icee will not be mine. Niki and I walked to the mechanic to look for the title of the car and I couldn't find it. STRESSED OUT BREAKDOWN AGAIN!!!!! I then began to research impoundment laws and we discovered if I just abandon the car I could get a warrant out for my arrest and destroy my credit. So we began brainstorming whose house we could tow it to in order to store until I get a new title for us to salvage the car. After more frantic phone calls Amy (@scmzeller) convinced her parents to allow this to happen.

I then called Mr. Benedict (my mentor in everything) to talk about what is going on. As we ended this conversation it dawned on me the the title is in a box (not my files) in the car. I went back and found it. After a hallelujah Niki and I explored Boulder City until Sara's parents where able to rescue us.

We found an amazing wine bar and did a wine flight to debrief again. Sara's dad picked us up. We loaded his truck. I signed over my title and we went to Vegas. Got more drinks and ate dinner. Sara's parents then lent me two very large suitcases to allow me to pack up my clothes. Then they dropped me off at the airport the next morning for me to arrive in Austin and Niki to arrive in Reno.

I spent a ton of money getting here but I made it. I have my clothes and the rest of my stuff I do not know when I will see it again (hopefully soon). My plan is to find an apartment walking distance from work and to move forward. These past few days have been very stressful but I survived and now I am not stressed about finding a place to live because that seems easy to do now.

How Twitter Saved My Phone

Well as many of you know recently I had to get a new phone number. I have also been talking for awhile to write this blog post about how twitter saved my phone. I finally decided to stop being lazy and write this blog.

Towards the end of last semester. The day after the Santa Pub Crawl, which was absolutely amazing. I had to start working on a German group assignment. My group was meeting-up with each other at the Highlands. Myself being extremely hungover had to call a group member to walk me to the correct apartment because I had no idea where it was. While we were talking on the phone I saw him and hung up. We headed into his apartment to get started on the project. At some point we went on a beer run. I didn't drink with them because I was so hungover from the Santa Pub Crawl. Anyway after the beer run I realized that my phone was missing. We looked and looked and looked for it everywhere. We called it and it went straight to voicemail. I figured it would because I hadn't charged it yet.

I finally decided it was a lost cause. Well then about 10 pm that night I was chilling on g-chat when all of a sudden @saraxmazing sent me a message stating something like "OMG Adam someone just tweeted from your phone." I had to look at my twitter page and I saw the tweet. It stated something along the lines of "If you know whose phone this is and how to get a hold of this person tell them to call it." So I called my phone. Went and picked it up from the Highlands. I decided that I must have dropped it or something like that.

When I picked up my phone I was thinking damn I must have a weak password on my BlackBerry if they were able to tweet from my phone. So I went up to the door to retrieve my phone from those peeps. As I walked to their apartment it smelled like they were hot boxing the entire apartment.

I looked through my phone and they completely reset my phone. So when they tweeted from my phone they had no idea what this 40404 number was that kept sending them random text messages. It was hilarious. I am thankful I follow certain peeps on my phone or they would have kept it and twitter just freaked those pot head stoners out.

The story gets interesting the next day though because you all are wondering "Adam you have your phone back but that doesn't explain the new number"

Now I shall explain that. I was in class all day the next day and my phone just kept ringing off the hook. I didn't recognize any of the numbers yet because I had done the back-up on my BlackBerry from my computer yet. Once I checked my voice mail all of the messages where off the hook weird' One said "I am just calling you back about that pokemon ball"

I was explaining this to my mother who works and substance abuse. The minute I said pokemon ball she said "You are getting a new phone number right now." It made no sense to me but I went ahead and got the new number. I asked my mother why and she informed me that a pokemon ball is 6 hits of meth.

So essentially drug dealers or druggies stole my phone, where extremely high as fuck, the 40404 twitter number scared the living hell out of them so they tweeted from my phone and then I got it back. That is how twitter saved my phone. Thank you twitter.

Glued Together By Food And Politics

Hello Readers! So this blog is actually a paper I just wrote about discovering my culture. It is a paper I had to write for my Intercultural Communications class. Hope you like it.

Glued Together By Food And Politics

You want to know who I am? Where I came from? What my culture is? Why my culture is the way it is? Then I suppose that we need to start by letting you know that I am an American. I don’t like being called anything else. People always ask, “What is your heritage?” My answer will never change, “I am American, but my ancestors come from Whales, Ireland, England, France, Scotland and America.” Many people like to believe that culture is where your ancestors come from, but it isn’t. My family on my paternal side came to America in 1620 and the rest were natives. My family on my maternal side came to America in the early 1700s. This is why I say I am an American because my family was among the first settlers. I do identify my culture more so on my maternal side.

The glue of my culture is food and politics. This holds my family together, even the extended side of the family that lives in various places in the United States. Our family also consists with a revolving door; we accept strays, those friends who have no other family than that at my father’s dinner table. Most of my family conversations take place while the ladies are cooking and everybody else is gathered around waiting to eat. Mother or one of the Aunts is always yelling at someone to stop picking at their ingredients as they are preparing for a meal. Our meals always differ from one another. We eat very diverse meals. One day it could be steak and potatoes for those in my family who eat meat. A few of us, myself included, are vegetarian. The next day we could be eating tofu and beans. One thing for sure is that the ingredients in our meals never get boring. Our meals are never mundane so we see know reason to eat out. We love our home cooked meals from scratch.

The conversation while cooking and eating tends to always be family gossip such as who is fighting with whom or who is getting married/divorced, etc. If we aren’t gossiping about each other then we are talking politics and that is the one topic that we all mostly agree.

Politics in my family is multi-generational. We are all very opinionated and our opinions tend to be on the more liberal side of politics. Ever since I can remember my family has always taught us that it is our civic duty to participate in the American democracy. We have also been taught to show respect to the President of the United States regardless of political party; that was until George W. Bush won his second term. There are a few members in the family that are republican; we accept it and most of the time we let them eat.

Through these conversations of politics my family has I learned that being politically active is one of my greatest passions. Having this passion I was eager to learn more. During the 2004 election my parents let me ditch class to listen to John Kerry deliver a speech, I was only 16. This was a very positive experience for me. I started to volunteer with the state party to get Kerry elected; we know how that turned out. I continued to volunteer and the next thing I knew it was 2006 mid-term election and I was a paid canvasser for the Nevada State Democratic Party. That election came and went. Then 2007 came and I was interning for the John Edward for President campaign for the caucus. Then 2008 came and my family encouraged me to apply to be a field organizer for the Mark Begich for US Senate. I got the job and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska.

If my family didn’t push me so hard to go after this job opportunity I would have missed out on one of the most influential experiences in my life. While I was away from my family I realized that they affected my life in many different ways. I missed all of those home cooked meals because I was constantly eating out while on the campaign trail. It was then that I realized that food, the way my family does it, is part of the glue to my culture. I had the politics but not the food. The first thing I asked for when I got home towards the end of November 2008 was a home cooked meal. We sat around, ate and talked about my adventure in Alaska.

Although food and politics is the glue to my culture it isn’t my entire culture. Education is a major part of my culture. We constantly want to learn something new. This is particularly why we follow the news so closely. Some people in my culture, my mother included, feel that they don’t need a piece of paper saying they know something; that paper being a degree in higher education. Although my mother and my oldest sister are among the most intelligent people I know they study on their own. However, my Aunt Ellen and myself strive to continue our education in higher education. My aunt recently graduated from ASU with her PhD and I will be graduating with my BA in the next couple of semesters.

The college atmosphere has definitely influenced my culture. While I identify a lot with my family I also identify a lot with the college lifestyle and my generation. Part of the college culture that I participate in is being an extremely active student with organizations. As much as I work at school this lifestyle also offers a lot of play. My close friends and I love the Reno nightlife. Every Thursday and Friday we go out on the town. We like to have a good time in a variety of different bars that downtown offers. What never seems to fail when we go out though is at least one political conversation.

One of our favorite hangouts is Amendment 21 a sports bar. My friends and I went there one day because we loved the name. We then ordered some food and although it is not a home cooked meal by my mother, I love the food.

So my culture is my family, friends, food and politics. Without those key ingredients I wouldn’t know how to even start about defining my culture.

Adding school into the mix of Nightlife

Well I have completed my first week of school of my senior year. So far so good. My classes are very reading intense this semester, where I am forced to read due to those pop quizzes. So far all of the reading as been rather. German is going to kick my ass but I am not surprised by that at all. I don't understand why that class is so much harder than my 400-level capstone course.

Nightlife with school is going well too. Jessica (@jmestepa), Amy (@amylauder) and I went to Wolf-it-down. I gotta love free pancakes. Friday Festival sucked, there was no free food. Thanks ASUN! The only good thing about that is that a bunch of us who went to Friday Festival including Taylor (@Ander517) and Matt (@Silvam87) where drinking before hand. We then finished pre-gaming and headed downtown. Although this weekend was dead. That may very will be due to burning man. We did some major bar hopping.

Saturday I went to the Marilyn Manson concert with Niki (@nclinger). We had a blast, although we did get torn apart. Manson was amazing. The lighting in the concert was so bad ass. I loved it. He even burned a bible on stage which was pretty sweet. I did get my ass handed to me in the mosh pit when we all fell over during Manson's encore, but other than that it was pretty sweet.

Later that night I met-up with Alyssa (@alyssapants) at Vino. While sitting at Vino Alyssa, Ben and I decided that we are going to write a script called "The Bartender" because one of us is obsessed with a certain bartender at a certain bar. To save humility on us all I won't say who it is or what bar, even though all of our friends do know and so does the Bartender at Vino. Haha! So as we start to write the true life experience of our hunt to run into a certain bartender again we will let you know the outcome!

A Current Perspective on Friendship

According to dictionary.com friendship is "the state of being a friend" but what does being a friend mean? There are many different ways of figuring out what a determines an individual being a friend. There is also the saying "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." Does this imply that your best friend is actually your enemy or the people who claim to be your best friends are actually your enemies?

I ask this because I value friendship. To me I want my friends to not talk shit about me behind my back. If you have a problem with me let me know. When you talk shit about me that makes me feel like you are an enemy not a friend. It also shows me that you are still in high school not an upperclassman in college or a college graduate. I do admit their is a huge difference between venting about a person to another person and talking shit about them or spreading rumors. Those people are enemies. Another thing about friendship is understanding and willing to accept that your friends may have other friends that you may not like or care to see. Instead of constantly criticizing and stating how you dislike that person grow the fuck-up and deal. If you don't like that person then don't talk about them, especially don't talk shit about them because it makes you look like a school girl.

Also don't justify whether you will be going to a party, bar, movie or any other function based upon who else is going. I believe being in our early twenties we should have outgrown a lot of these immature actions that I seem to be surrounded by at the moment. Just because you "dislike" or "hate" someone doesn't mean you have to start drama and try to make that person's life hell. You just need to show other people respect. If you lack that then how can you ever call yourself a genuine friend.

A friend for me has respect for all people, whether you like them or not. A friend also shouldn't make their friends constantly feel stupid or make them feel like a duchebag on a constant basis. That is not what friendship is for. Friendship is so much more. It is about being there for your friends and having friends be there for you. Even if there is a larger tragedy in ones life than an other's the smaller one may need to be taken care of first. It isn't a competition of "whose life sucks more" it is a cumulative effort of making both lives equally great and having fun. Life only sucks if you want it to suck. You could look at Camus' example of Sisyphus and see how much his punishment sucked and how horrible it was but he was still happy.

Even of you think your life is the worst life in the world you could also get some pointers from Dostoevsky's character the Under Ground Man. His life was horrible and he knew it but he didn't care. He was only happy when he was miserable.

Friendship is a lot of stuff but mostly it is respect, love, caring, having fun, understanding, knowing when it is your place to be the shoulder, not to annoy your friends for always wanting to be up in their business (when they want to share with you they will), and not doing horrible things to the people you call friends. So if you call me your friend, treat me like one or tell me that you are my fucking enemy and let me know how you truly feel about me.