Graduation Pictures

Well, here you go...

see the full set here.

This is William, my roomie for two years.


















This is Chen, my roomie from China.









And if you still haven't seen the video I made...

My 50 States

As a break in the monotony at the office yesterday, I decided to

a) see if I could list all 50 states from memory and,
b) see how many I've been to.

Well, I did it. I remembered them all. Then I realized I hadn't been to as many as I thought. 30 of 50. That's 60% folks.

Some I may never have a reason to go to except if I get sent there on business. Sorry Idaho and Montana. Others, I have high on my list. I'd like to take a 10 day trip to Florida in 2008 or 2009 and see all the major sites/sights...mainly Miami and Orlando.

Then, when I have accrued three weeks vaca, I'd like to use 14 days to hit up New England.

Once those are out of the way, I need a Hawaii trip in there somewhere. Then comes international travel for the rest of my life.

Sound good? I actually would like to spend some 4 day weekends around this great state I now live in. Wine Country, the Bay Area, San Diego...plus, there are dozens upon dozens of things to still see in the LA/OC area.

Okay, okay...first things first. I need to get a couch.

Phoenix is Hot

When I say hot, I don't mean the Paris Hilton, "that's hot" type hot. I mean 113 degrees Fahrenheit hot. Like, HOT.

That would be the word to describe my week in Phoenix. That, and food. More precisely, overeating. Overall, the week went really well. I learned a lot; it wasn't nearly what I expected. Mainly in a good way. The days cruised by. We ate out twice a day. On the company's dime. You can't beat that.

I guess I don't have much else to say about that. It would be nice to give you some boring details, but I'm afraid that's not a possibility. All I know is that I am NOT looking forward to going back to Phoenix in August for another week. It's likely going to be monsoon season, which is awfully awful I hear.

Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to my buddy Jay. He and I went out for dinner Wednesday night. Good stuff.

Seven more round-trips on Southwest and I get a free one! That's going to add up sooner rather than later.

I'm Going on a Business Trip

After my second week of being a professional, I'm going on my first business trip. It wasn't really real sounding to me until this morning. I went to the bank to deposit my first check (!!!), and the teller (who was gorgeous, I might have to cancel my direct deposit) asked me what I had planned this weekend. I said, "well, I'm going to Phoenix on business all next week, so I'm just getting ready for that." It sounded silly to me. I'm going on a business trip? Okay. Sure.

I think it's going to be a good time. I'm going with other new guy, and two senior auditors. We're all in our 20s, so that's cool. We'll work from 8-530 or so and then have our nights to do whatever. When the sun goes down, it will still be a balmy 85 degrees every night. Not bad.

The best part is, my car will sit all week not using gas and my apartment will sit all week not using kilowatts! It will be my first time flying Southwest. We each get our own room at the Crowne Plaza. And I get more than enough per diem to satisfy my hunger. I even get to check a suitcase full of files from last years audit. How cool.

I picked up a garment bag from Goodwill this afternoon for $9.99. Samsonite. You can't beat that. Junky brands at Target were $30. Nice ones were $99. Take that!!

File Under: Only in L.A.

Saw this in Friday's Los Angeles Times:



I don't know who the Darling Family is?

In other "news", I forgot how much I love the movie Sideways. One of my favorites. I don't add many favorites to the list very often. In fact, I'm trying to think of one since this 2004 release. One that I would watch with a smile. Hmm...

I've put my finger on why it doesn't feel like I've moved. It's because I don't feel like I'm new to the area. I knew where stuff was before I moved here. I'd been nearly a dozen times. That's why. Now I feel better.

Red Bull Illume - Huntington Beach

After nearly two weeks in California, I finally went to the beach. At least to verify the Pacific Ocean's existence, and that I live 20 minutes from it. I went to the Red Bull Illume exhibit in Huntington Beach. From the website:

Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2006 is the first-ever international photography competition that celebrates the world of action and adventure sports. The spirit, the grit, the edgy perfection - that's what we're here to honor. The top 50 finalists will get their work exhibited in bigger-than-life outdoor venues across the globe, providing the most dramatic compilation of action and adventure sports images ever assembled.

Well, this one was ON the beach. It was so cool. And so cold. I left my apartment at around 7 so I could make it in time for the sunset on the ocean. Well, what's clear sky inland, can quickly turn to sea strata (I may have made that term up) on the coast. So yeah, the clouds covered the sun. It's what they call "June Gloom" around here. Anyways...downtown Huntington Beach is a lot of fun at night. Lots of people. Lots to see. I spent some time in a couple surf shops, and got myself a Jamba Juice and my first ever shot of wheat grass. Whoa!

By the time it was getting dark, I headed towards the exhibit. I didn't realize this was such a big deal. The line was LONG! Thankfully, I only waited about a half hour to get to the front. It wasn't bad. I had my Jamba Juice to drink. Did I mention since I'm the new guy and don' have much for friends, I went alone? Well, yeah, it's better than not going.

Once I got "inside", it was everything I hoped it would be. It took about an hour to get around the whole thing. You're basically in a line going around the circle, waiting for people to finish looking before you move to the next one. Good thing I'm a patient man.

I felt bad for the dumb-dumbs who think the beach is warm at night. It's not. It's colllld. It was probably still in the low 60s, but with that breeze, brrr.

Anyways, it was a good experience, and I'm glad I went. Now, here are my pictures.


The View from the Pier























It should be noted that I've never had a Red Bull in my life. Or any other energy drink, for that matter.

I'm an Accountant

Well folks, I've completed my first two days on the job. I can't go into much detail, mainly because I've signed these confidentiality deals, and I definitely cannot mention the names of any of our clients. Not that you care. All you need to know is that my firm specializes in auditing post-secondary schools.

Things have been going very well. The people are really great and not as boring as the stereotypes may have you think. I mean, I don't think of myself as boring, and if I enjoy working with these people, they must not be either.

I got taken out to lunch yesterday. Well, the whole audit team did, seven of us. Good stuff. Most days I plan on coming home for lunch though. I get an hour, and after driving there and back I'll still have a solid 30 minutes at home to eat and watch Newsradio. Love that. Breaks up the day pretty well.

We're doing pretty monotonous, tedious work right now. What should I expect, right? Well, I was told that it gets a lot better. There's just not a lot to do right now. My first trip is June 18th. It will be for one week. In Phoenix!! I've been to Phoenix, or at least through it, three times since last fall. This will make four. I have a friend there, so I hope to see him one night. That's when we'll get to really do what auditors do. Fieldwork, baby!! I think I'm going back again later this summer.

January through March, I'm told, I'll be gone nearly every week on trips. That should be crazy but kind of cool. One of my supervisors told me that awhile back, he was gone for a week and was in a different city every day. He basically had to go and see if the schools actually existed that the client was claiming financials for. Kinda dumb, right? Well, these days, you have to check this stuff out because people can make it up. Boston, Virginia Beach, New York. Way to rack up the frequent flyer miles.

Anyways, it might take me awhile to get used to working again. It's been over two years since I last had a job. I know, sob sob. But, well. It's still an adjustment. Honestly, the most stressful part is figuring out what to wear every day. It's business casual, which I love. Most every other accountant in the country has to wear business professional to work, but California is different. Don't know why. Dudes wear Hawaiian shirts to work sometimes. I told someone that if I worked in Texas or Minnesota, I'd be wearing a suit. The response I got was, "Dude, this is California."

I don't really feel like I've even moved. It's kind of weird. I think it's because I haven't done anything really Californy yet. All my previous trips here, I've been to the ocean or gone to Los Angeles to do tourist stuff. I might have to go to the ocean this weekend just to get a reality check. I'm in California!!

More later.

Bobby

It's pretty sad when it's taken me over four months and 86 movies to find another good movie since the last one. Well folks, you can't find the gems unless you go through the duds. The last really great movie I saw was back in January -- Joyeux Noël (2005). Today marked the end of my four month dry spell. The movie? Well, if I told you Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it, would you believe me? Neither would I. Well, the movie I watched was Bobby (2006) about the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the people who were in the room when it happened. It's actually not as depressing as it sounds because only the last ten minutes is the downer stuff. The rest is just...brilliant/genius/fantastic. I guess I shouldn't hype it too much. I just really enjoyed it.

In other news, for being a new customer with the electric company, I get the Los Angeles Times Sunday Edition for 52 weeks for $20. That's $0.39 an issue!! I'm pretty pumped. My first issue is supposed to come tomorrow. I hope it does.

I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End at the Block at Orange this afternoon. Orange isn't exactly close (it took me 30 minutes to get there), but I have AMC gift cards, and it was the nearest one. Don't ask me why. Orange County is overrun by Regal/Edwards, which is fine, but my gift cards don't agree wiht that. A new AMC is opening up this summer that's only about 10 minutes away tho. Problem solved.

As I was leaving the theatre, I noticed that you could sign up to test drive a Smart Car in the parking lot. All you had to do was sign a waiver. They are coming in 2008 I guess, and are very European, well, non USA looking. I'm sure I will see tons of them on the road around here because they are probably very green friendly. I thought about test driving one, but I guess I chickened out. Maybe if I wasn't there alone.