What I've been up to...

I've made good on last week's threats and decided to do this comprehensive "what I've been up to" for everyone who is interested. Since I haven't talked regularly to much of the group of people I used to hang out with, we're going to cover a lot of ground and its going to be general, if you're particularly interested in anything, feel free to email me and we'll chat.

~Fall 2007
Moved to Livermore, CA.

If you've never been, (or heard of it) its a town in the edge of what is called the "Bay Area", and they (meaning the local yokels) refer to the towns of Livermore, Dublin, and Pleasanton as the Tri-Valley. As much as I love to shit on the place for being boring, I do like the town because it is similar in a lot of ways to the town I grew up in (York, PA), but it has those characteristics of California that are why I moved here; Vinyards/Wineries, great restaurants, plenty of outdoorsy stuff, short drive to Santa Cruz...all good stuff.

Specifically Sept. 2007 (or when I descended to Hell)
I got a job working with a recruiting firm in San Francisco. Living at home did have advantages (laundry, free food/rent), but a solid 60% of the reason I moved into the city when I did was because I couldn't handle the 3 hours of round-trip commuting I was doing daily. Not to mention the total disintegration of my personal health and socal life, which comprised the other 40%.

October 2007
Kim and Sean got married in October. Drinks were consumed, old bars were visited, people I hated from college were told to die, and I left Pittsburgh with a renewed sense of heartache for the stability and normalcy/regularity that life provided.

To sum of Fall of 2007, it largely sucked with a few signs of life getting better. Regular employment and a fresh start basically kept me sane until I moved into the city.

~All of 2008
Moved to San Francisco, CA.

At this point in life, about 8 months post-graduation and fallout from moving to CA, I had moved twice in 4 months and was feeling really displaced. My parents had moved from the house I grew up in about 18 months prior and I had no good friends left in York, and I had left all my friends and a horrible break up in Pittsburgh, so I was excited to live in a place with so many things to do and to live with roommates my own age. By May '08, I had finally finished putting myself through all the personal hell I could muster and finally adjusted to life in SF, made some new friends, and actually embraced the full kickass-status of San Francisco.

Personal Achievements:

• Adjusting to life in San Francisco (until you've spent enough time here, don't scoff)
• Learning to Surf
• Figured out that whole financial responsibility thing (those of you who have known me longer can attest that this is a medium accomplishment)

To Summarize 2008, I can't really say anything amazing happened (to me). I traveled for business, saw another family members get married, moved to a new city, leared to surf, and finally got a peek under the hood of what it means (in a larger sense of the word) to be an adult.

~2009 Thus far...

2009 has been a whirlwind of craziness so far. All the economic downturn, and its related effects on my job/cash flow, have certainly made their mark. There's been a huge increase in job related stress, and a major decrease in comission. Preferable situation? Obviously not. However, during the last year of cyclical boot-strapping I experienced, I saw the potential positives in this and here's what I've come up with.

Personal Achievements:

• Learning to live on less...everything. Being smarter with money, doing things that are free/cheap and still fun, and generally using less (see any 'green living' guide) has really brought noticble improvements to life. I worry less, live more simply, and find that that the things I do enjoy are now more enjoyable because I'm not trying to handle 200 things at the same time and figure how I'm going to pay for it all.
• Fitness. After losing weight steadily over the course of 2008, I decided to take it a step further and take a marked interest in my personal fitness/health. After keeping an overly detailed spreadsheet tracking my intake as closely as possible, I evened out my diet to what it should be and I've bought a gym membership that starts in a few weeks (for billing purposes with all my other stuff).
• Figuring out more of that 'adult' thing. It really sort of all dawned on me when I was at a house party for a friend's birthday and his brother and a few friends (students at UC) were there and acting the typical college sophmore (guilty as charged, so did I...). When I realized that the guy was being really immature and I kinda wanted to kick his ass, I finally got that whole 'the college years are over' hammer hit on the head. So now, I don't want to say I'm acting my age because I don't ever feel like I haven't, but rather I feel more grown up.

Since I can't summarize a year in progress, I'll say that of the 1.5ish years that I've spent here, this is the one that I really feel is going to be the base for the next 10 years or so. I'm planning to take another European vacation, I'm doing things for myself that I want to achieve, and I'm feeling the best I have in years.

So for everyone who has asked "How are you?/What have you been up to?" since I've left Pittsburgh...there ya go.

Enjoy.