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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

HOORAY!

Well, needless to say, the second day of work was muchmuch better than the first... I guess technically after work was way better. Rory and I went to go look at a house and couldn't find where it was. On the ad it said the house was on a road that wasn't listed since it was so new. We searched the area and found what we though may be it, but it turns out that the address was wrong...and the place we found happened to be condemned and unliveable. That sucks. It looked super nice, but at least we know now and I can broaden my searching horizen.

After arriving home finally, around 8:00 pm from my day, I came to discover that I indeed got my birth certificate in the mail, also my dad sent me a graduation present, that I greatly appreciate. The last thing that would have completed my day would have been an email waiting for me from amanda...but it wasn't too be. I'm not too disappointed though, she's in the African wildlife so I'm sure she's having a blast. I hope I get an email from her soon though, after all this stress I really could use some encouragement from her. She's the best.

Pistons won, another great thing about May 31st 2006.

My training at work is so crazy. Today we had to make self "shields" or "crests" using four quadrants to depict our life. We had to draw...not write, but draw pictures and symbols that answered simple questions. Where are you from? What are you known for? What's your hidden talent? What's your best accomplishment? Then we did it as a whole lab. Basically, I made $60 for coloring at one point today. I love my job.

So, right, my job. There's 16 of us in my lab section. There's 8 lab sections full of other people, but we don't really get that much interaction with them. We all sit together in a lecture hall once in a while throughout the day, but we don't get to talk or anything. Today the Deputy UnderSecretary came to give us a talk. He was pretty interesting, very young for being the man in the government with the longest title. Not fair though, he has two official job titles rolled into one.

The job is fun, I'm going to really enjoy it. I'm very happy that I got all the paperwork I needed today, I would be severely upset if I was to lose this job, but it worked out great!

I still miss amanda, but she'll be back in about a week. I'm counting the days until I can fly home to see her, not that I know when that will be, but I'm excited for it. Maybe the 4th of July! I get that tuesday off, and I can use a personal day on Monday, I think. We only have a few times throughout our 8 month training that we can use personal time, so I'm going to take full advantage. I earn 4 hours of vacation time and 4 hours of sick leave every biweek, so I should have a day or two by then.

That's about it, everything is good on this end. I suffered from extreme nightmares last night again, it's really starting to hurt my sleep schedule. I don't know what it is, but I have a great idea that's it's the stress, plus the fact I miss amanda so much, since the nightmares always revolve around her. I know they're just dreams, but it's still terrifying. I'm in good spirits though, and I'm doing great. I only have great things to say at the moment, and I'll write again tomorrow, as is my style.

I love you all.

JMB

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

First day of class...I mean work!

Whellllp, before getting to writing about my first day of work, I remembered a few other things I'd like to share before continueing on! So here it goes...

Last saturday when Rory, Nate, Keith, Neil and I all went out for dinner and then to a bar to watch the UFC60 we had walked to the first bar/restaurant we went too. It was amazing! We walked down to Dupont circle and it took us passed the most amazing, absolutely amazing buildings/embassies! I never even thought about how cool ever single embassy would be to see. We passed tons ranging from Namibia to other ones like Colombia. It was quite the experience.

Secondly, I've discovered the best thing online! The internet phone! Skype! It's free for the rest of this year...it was recently bought by Ebay! It's got great quality! I really enjoy using it. I can call mom for free and talk as long as I want, and it doesn't use any cell phone minutes. I'm really excited for amanda to get back to the states so I can call her and we can talk for hours and it still won't use cell phone minutes! I can't get over the clarity though! I found it through an ad on my buddies webpage, The TechMentors! TechMentors, by the way, has a bunch of very smart people running it, including my buddy chris, and if you happen to have any computer problems, they offer free advice, and they answer pretty quick. In fact, I use it myself and I can reccomend it. Skype rocks, great quality, free, great quality...that's all.


Now...the moment we've all been waiting for...my first day of work! I'm officially employeed and I've actually worked a day. After what proved to be very trying, today and last night..after a scare that I may be fired because I don't have the proper paperwork available here in DC...(thanks again for shipping those out overnight to me mom) I was basically told if I couldn't give them my social secuirty card or official birth certificate by thursday...well, I'd be terminated... That's the way they put it anyway. I would be fired before I even worked a full week. Sucks...but mom went to the County Clerk and got a brand new one and over night shipped it. Barring anything unforseen dealing with FedEx, then I should have it for thursday and will keep my job. Also, I was extremely stressed all day today because I had the most awful dreams involving amanda and I...basically depressed me all day, but I know they were just dreams, so I'm ok. :) Those things combined with the extreme temperature and humidity caused a pretty stress filled sweaty day. Not very much fun.


Everything is great now though. We (Rory and I) went grociery shopping twice because the first store, Whole Foods, a great store that sells basically all organic food, didn't have some of things we wanted. We came home, changed out of work clothes and then walked over to Safeway to pick up an extra few items. We grilled burgers on the grill and they were great! We even cooked up some french fries to go with it. Quite tasty and filling. We're just relaxing around the place now before doing it all over. Hopefully my birth certificate shows up tomorrow, that'd definitely take most my worries away. If it doesn't show up, I'm fired...but I've been over that already.

I can wear short sleeves at work, my tatoos aren't a problem. My spe (supervisor) laughed when I asked if it was ok and replied, "Of course? Why wouldn't it be? Did someone tell you you had to wear long sleeves?" Great lady.

My computer work station is great!!!!!!! I sit in a little cubicle (only for my 8 months of training, then I get an office) with my own phone, stapler, staple remover, computer! My computer is the best part. My display is awesome! I have two 21" LCD monitors side by side. They're awesome! Apparently each one costs about $1500, see what your taxes are paying for me? Only kidding, I actually learned about that today. The USPTO is actually a self sustaining department of the government. All the money they make comes from the fees it takes to get a patent. In fact, they make a lot more than they spend and they're one of only a few departments that have to give money back to the government. So really, the people out there patenting things are paying for my new kick ass monitors! :)

I suppose I'm running on more, I should probably finish up. I'll write again tomorrow, like always and I'll either a) have recieved money and my birth certificate in the mail and happily tell you about my day or b) panic and freak out because FedEx lost my package and I'm about to get fired and move back to Michigan... But either way I'll write tomorrow. :)

Goodnight.

John

PS. Amanda and I have a child and he's a cute little hamster named Owen, pictured above.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Finally Some Pictures!



Not a lot, but a few pictures! I figured I might as well add them so everyone knows where I'm living now! To the right is our building. I really like the way the side and front looks. I couldn't get a better picture because when I took this picture I had just returned from grociery shopping and didn't really want to cross the street for a better pic, so this will have to do for now.








This the the front entrance of our building. You can see where the pictures overlap. It's a real nice place. Basically from where I'm standing to take this picture, if I look to the left up the street I can see the Washington Monument, that's so cool! It's the only monument I've seen so far and I can see it from my own front door!









This is a picture of our lobby! It looks amazing in here! It's all marble with mirrors and great lighting. I can see why this little studio apartment is so expensive now. Our apartment is definitely cramped but the rest of the building is super nice! :)

Sweden Job

Today I'm all alone hanging out around the apartment because Rory was far behind in his work, he had to go in today to catch up...then again, by the sounds of it, he's pretty much behind all the time, since he started 9 months ago. I hope he doesn't go crazy, but he doesn't seem to mind. I think he'll get time and a half today anyway, so it's good for him.

Anyway, checking my email first thing I found an email from the Swedish Company I applied for maybe 6 months ago! Crazy, I was basically applying to at least 10 jobs per day no matter the location or what the job was..this was one of those. Most of the time I don't hear anything, so getting an email several months later was a surprise. Here's the email.

 Vi har nu tillsatt tjänsten som Logistikchef på Sandvik Rotary Tools i
Köping

Vi tackar för ditt intresse för vårt företag och den aktuella tjänsten och
hoppas att du är intresserad av att söka andra tjänster hos oss längre
fram.

Med vänlig hälsning/
Accenture Services AB / AB Sandvik Rotary Tools


Crazy! Luckily I have lots of swedish friends online that I'm able to communicate with. So I emailed it to one of the guys I know, Sven, and he read it aloud in an online "Voice over IP" software thing. It's basically a free telephone but it's easy to communicate with anyone in any country. Anyway, Sven told me that it says, basically, "Thanks for applying to Sandvik, we're sorry but we've just hired someone else for the position you applied for. However, thank you for applying and if you want to apply for other positions we'll keep you in consideration." Awesome. I think it'd be fun to work and live in Sweden (during the summer.)

That's about it for now, I'm going to go finish all the paperwork I have to take to work tomorrow. I've already prepared all my clothes and stuff so I'm just about ready. Hopefully I'll be tired enough by about 10:00pm tonight to go to sleep, since I have to be up and ready to go at 6:30am. Ouch, anyway, more tonight if something happens, else tomorrow after work!

JMB

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Boring day

As I anticipated, it was very hot today so I tried to stay inside the A/C as long as possible. I left the apartment a few times, to do some random errands and to go grociery shopping. That was about it. Cleaned the place, which was nice...we had lots of glasses and plates that were dirty, so it was nice to have a clean kitchen again. Rory and I made taco's for dinner which were pretty tasty.

While shopping I bought hot dogs and things for lunch sandwiches, and other quick meal things that I can eat this week. I start the day after tomorrow at work, and I'm pretty sure my free time is going to go down the drain.

Wednesday after work Rory and I are going to check out a house between 7:00-9:00. It's a real nice looking place, in a real great neighborhood right near work. It'll only be $750/month/person which is a great price for the area, especially for the amount of house we'll get. There's pictures of it if you follow that link I gave. We'll see after Wednesday I guess. There's a few things we're waiting on before we start looking at houses hard. Rory may get a job in Seattle for Microsoft and may be moving soon, plus we're not exactly sure when Nick and Keith will start work at the Patent Office. Jon will start work about a month after I do, and we'd like to have a place lined up before that, so he can move down and right into our new house. We'll have to see I guess, take every day at a time. I'm planning for every stipulation that can occur and covering my tush so I don't get stuck with a $3000/month bill all on my own. Not that having that much house to myself wouldn't be fun, but I can't even have a little kitty, which for me is a big downside. The major upside is the 10-15 commute to work, the nice neighborhood and simply the look and quality of the house itself. As it stands now we have about a 1 hour commute to work between walking to the metro, taking one train to a stop and transfering to another, it's a pretty long time. 2 hours of my day will be wasted in traveling.

Tomorrow I have to prep for work, fill out some paperwork and that's about it. Nothing else planned until I start getting some paychecks. The FIFA World Cup starts in about two weeks too. I enjoy soccer so it's nice it's coming up, since it's only on every four years. Anyway, I guess that's all for now. I'll write more tomorrow or I may wait until Tuesday night so I can report how my first day of work went! Woohoo!

JMB

Weekend Adventures

Last night we went to this house party and then out to the bar. It was pretty fun! We grilled out and had brats and shish kabobs with steak and peppers and mushrooms! It was delicious! The club/bar we went to was in Adams Morgan which is quickly becoming my favorite part of town. There's so many different kinds of foods and so many people, it's real fun.

Today Rory and I got up fairly early and walked over to a restaurant called PotBelly's. It was delicious! I loved every bite! We walked back home, watched a movie while we ate and then cleaned the apartment.

One of Rory's buddies from high school lives near here down in Virginia and his brother was in town with another friend for vacation. They were out and about all day doing their own DC thing but after a Nationals baseball game they headed to our place. We went to a bar for dinner called..well, I guess I can't remember what the place was called, but the area was super nice! The area is Duponte Circle, there were tons of people all around, live music on the streets, people in parks, all in all a very nice atmosphere. The restaurant was real nice too, we sat up on the roof, there were a bunch of tables up there, it was really cool. Service was bad but the food was decent and pretty cheap. Tip included I paid $13 for a nice chicken sandwich, fries, and a soda. It was real weird though, if you bought a pop you get one free refill then you have to buy a whole other soda to have more. We didn't know this so with 2 refills we each basically bought two sodas...and then wasted our second free refill, very strange.

After that we took a Taxi uptown to what I think is called the Cleveland Park area. I wasn't real sure, but we went to yet another bar/club to catch the Ultimate Fighting Championship 60 event on Pay Per View. It was a long way but a quick drive...amazed me though to think we spent $19 for a cab ride...which by the way was my first time in a Taxi in my entire life. Not bad though, our taxi driver was from some african country and had a cool accent...he was a nice guy, he must make a killing. There was a $15 cover but I figured that's a small price to pay since the event itself is way more to order yourself. The fights were great! Had a great time. We then decided to walk back since it was such a nice area. We were walking south and came to Adams Morgan area and all the guys wanted to go drinking and hang out, but I felt tired already and didn't feel like being out anymore so I walked home, it was only maybe 5 blocks. Here I am.

I'm pretty sad about my other hard drive. It had basically my ENTIRE music collection. No big deal right? It is to me. I copied all my actual cds onto the computer then basically didn't care about the CD anymore. Some I gave away to friends and others have just been lost. I'm complaining..but I'm getting over it. I have lots of other things to complain about, but for once in my life, the impending paycheck has me worrying about other little things, and I don't even think about money as a problem anymore. It's real nice. Well, all the other guys just showed up so I'm going to stop here. Life is good, but I miss everyone, especially amanda..I miss her terribly and hope she's having fun in South Africa. I'll write more tomorrow, the other guys leave the DC area tomorrow night or monday I believe, so they're going out walking from our place to check out the white house and other monuments...and since I haven't seen anything touristy yet, I may tag along. I'll update tomorrow though, like I said...I may have nothing to report as it's going to be 86 degrees we may stay inside in the AC and hang out for the day. I have paperwork to do before I start work on tuesday, so I can get that done tomorrow...anyway, until then.

JMB

Friday, May 26, 2006

Today's events

My shipment of stuff arrived today! Hooray! I have my computer and the rest of my clothes now, and all my DVDs! The only thing I own that is still in MI are all my books and my bed. I'm really happy everything arrived..however, there's a hole in one of the boxes so I'm hoping nothing is missing, I haven't had a chance to open the boxes up yet.

Today is another beautiful day! I just noticed that we can see the washington monument from the sidewalk in front of our building..that made me smile. We're right on 16th street about 1.5 miles north of the white house. We're in pretty much the dead center of DC and it's wonderful. Another surprising thing about this area to me is the trees! Since I basically only have experience being in San Francisco, and what I can see of NYC (oh, and detroit) on the television I was under the impression most cities of this size are barren wastelands of cement. There are trees everywhere though! They even drape over the sidewalk in some places. It's really quite cool. Even the townhouses usually have a little tiny yard in the front, but most have replaced grass with plants so there's less to maintain.

I went to the post office to mail something for Rory as a favor...because he asked. I figure he's giving me a roof over my head, I might as well be as helpful as possible.

Tonight we're going to a house party somewhere kind of close by I think. That should be fun, I'll get a chance to meet some people other than Rory in the area. That's about it I guess. I'm going to go shower and then unpack my boxes and stuff, enjoy the AC inside :) Until tomorrow,

JMB

Error!

Sorry I didn't post any pictures today! I tried but there was an error adding the pictures to the entry...they just wouldn't show up, stupid blogger.

Today was fun, I went out and experienced more of the town. I ate lunch, looked at new cell phones and even went grociery shopping. I made dinner tonight to repay Rory for buying me dinner last night, and it turned out delicious! I made one of my moms dishes that quickly became my favorite, beef stroganoff. I loved it, Rory loved it and we ate it all.

At the very second we finished dinner we realized The Da Vinci code was playing at a time that we could leave right then and make it so we walked over to the metro and took a quick train ride down to "China Town." It's a super nice part of town right there, I was very impressed by the shops and restaurants in that area...way over my price range for the moment. We made the movie with time to spare and we were the first people in the theater, so we got first choice in seats. The movie was pretty good, but obviously the book was better. Taken in stride though, I don't know why the movie got bad reviews, we both liked it.

I'm going into the patent office with Rory tomorrow to get a tour and see the area. He has to stay and work for the whole day but I'll be leaving shortly after arriving. That's the plan and I'm sticking to it...

Speaking of which, tomorrow morning is going to come way to fast so I'll hit the hay...

Goodnight!

John

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Arrived in DC, safe and sound

I'm sitting here at Rory's at about 1:00am. We're watching TV and just hanging out, it's going great so far. I can tell already that Rory and I will get along great. My flight was uneventful and quick. The flight from Detroit to DC is roughly one hour six minutes. In no time I was on the ground in my new home town. We came home and had a couple India Pale Ales, I unpacked a little bit then we went out to a Falafel restaurant for dinner. Rory treated me as a welcome to the city and it was delicious! I loved Falafel already but I already have a little favorite restaurant. It was pretty cool, I can tell the night life is going to be fun here. It's a Wednesday night and this certain area of town called Adam's Morgan which from what I can tell is just one section of a street was absolutely full of people! All the bars were full with tons of laughing and good times inside. One "Metal Bar" had a cool band playing that we could see while walking by. The food was great, the area is super nice, and I fell in love instantly.

There are lots of things that are different, some obvious, some I wasn't expecting. The people here are quite "cold" and actually resemble stereotypical New Yorkers. On the same hand, but other side, some are quite friendly and personable. The couple in front of us at the restaurant asked us all about it because they'd never had Falafel...but we set them straight and they appeared to enjoy their meal. The cost of living is obviously higher, I was aware of this. For two wraps, two sodas and one large Frites (French Fries) it cost $23, including a tip. Wow...luckily I'm making the big bucks.

Rory and I talked for hours already and laughed and joked and remembered the old days and the new days to come. It's going to be great. I'll post pictures of the area and apartment where I live tomorrow if I think of it...maybe a few pictures of me at a museum or white house or something. Rory said he won't be back from work until about 7:00pm so I'll have all day to myself. He left his camera out for me and we paid to get a second key..I'll get it tomorrow morning. It cost me $50 because they switched to some new high tech method of entry. The doors are always locked but this little knob that you carry on your keys detects that you live in the building and unlocks the doors as you approach, or as you swipe it. Cool, secure, but an extra cost I don't need...

The Angolan (Angolian?) Embassy is 3 buildings over! I hadn't expected embassies, but that was probably silly of me! Of course the city is going to be full of them! There's also a really nice park right across the street. You'll see in the pictures I take tomorrow :) Tomorrow, since Rory bought dinner tonight, I thought I'd cook for him to repay the favor. It's the least I can do, plus I want to learn to cook...I hope we don't end up like an old married couple...that'd be hard to explain to the girlfriend. Anyway, I'm excited to check out the markets and stores within' walking distance and I'll do that tomorrow.

Friday I'm going into work with Rory in the morning so I can learn where to go and all that good stuff. Should be eventful, he's going to show me around work too. The metro is quite nice, I'm already appreciating it and I only road it from the airport to our place...which by the way looks like an embassy itself. I'll show a picture of the Foyer/Lobby of our apartment building. It rocks.

Anyway, enough is enough for tonight. I'll write more tomorrow after a full day of enjoying the scenes.

JMB

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Tomorrow is the day!

It's finally here! I fly out of MBS airport tomorrow at 3:30pm and arrive in DC at the Ronald Reagon Airport at 7:00pm sharp. I have a layover in Detroit but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm not worried.

I'm living with my friend Rory, he graduated last year and also works the PTO, and he's meeting me at the airport. He only has a little studio apartment so it's going to be cramped, however, we'll make due. We're going to start looking for a new house immediately as our other friend Jon moves down 4 weeks after I do to start the same job. We'll all be working and living together! I have high hopes that all goes well.

Work is actually located in Alexandria, VA and not DC proper. Fine by me, I here Alexandria is very nice and beautiful. We're looking for houses in the Alexandria area as opposed to in DC. Should make the commute shorter and it'll be a lot safer and cheaper. Cheap is good...not that we're not making money, but I'd rather not spend over $1000/month for rent (that's per person.) Regardless, I have absolutely no idea until I actually get there and look around and learn the area. I start May 30 and I'm actually kind of excited. I'm normally adverse to any kind of work, but the pay is well and that's a good motivator. Plus doing something physics related, and using this degree I spent $40,000 on will make work much more enjoyable (I hope.) Lastly, if I hate it, hunger is another great motivator. I'm sure I'll love it though.

Work has more benefits than pay, insurance, and vacation time. For those of you that don't know yet, they'll pay for graduate studies and/or law school after two years of work. This means I can go back to school, get a law degree and then work in patent law and never switch companies! Who knows? Maybe I'll put in my 25 years and retire from my first entry level position out of college. That'd be something, that's for sure.

I'm packing two suitcases of clothes and shoes and shipping my PC tomorrow morning before I go. I'm leaving most of my things here but I plan on UHAULing them out to DC once my other buddies start moving out. Living light until then, but I dont' mind.

Rory and I are going to be good for each other. We're going to help each other get into shape, develop better sleep and work habits. He needs to cut down on the thicker beers and I need to cut down on soda...badly. I think that's where most of my newly gained weight came from...or maybe it was the eatting fast food almost everyday because my roommates were so messy our kitchen was a biohazard...I'm looking forward to getting into shape, it's been years since i've been adequately active on a day to day basis and I miss the way it makes me feel.

Leaving isn't all fun and games either...I'm sure going to miss grandpa and mom and amanda. Amanda is still in Africa for the time being but will be back June 8th, I'm really looking forward to that. I'm going to fly her out to DC for a while, I hope, assuming she can take even more time off work herself. I can't leave for any amount of time since I go through 8 months of training, I think they only let us take vacation during certain times, but I'll find out more next tuesday during my orientation.

I had better cut this short (not that it isn't too long already) as I have more packing to do and it's already 12:30am. I imagine 10:00am, when mom is waking me up, will come too soon. Adios amigos, my next post will be from DC!

JMB

I got a job!

I landed a great job at the United States Patent and Trademark office! I start May 30th 2006 and that's only a couple weeks away! I'll be moving out there a short time before I start and that's scary but exciting none-the-less. I'm really pumped.

My grades during my last 60 credits at MSU were a lot better than I had thought and that means I got a raise right off the bat! I'm starting at about $57,000/year but I'm eligible for two raises during the first 12 months! I could be near $74,000/year after a measily 365 days!

I'm pretty excited about this, and I'll try to update this often to let everyone know how life is going, how the move went, and all about my new job.

JMB