Recently I've been thinking about the fact that it's been about exactly a year since I made the move out to CA. If you would have asked me what my future plans were even a few months before I moved, I would have probably have just shrugged and said something about staying in New York and trying to get a better job. No real plans. Not worried too much about the future. Needless to say, things are extremely different that I could possibly have pictured during those days. And so it's time for me to take a look back and think about how life is (in my experience) on the west coast vs the east coast. More specifically, where I have lived on the east coast vs where I live now in California.
Mode of Transportation:
NYC: Subway
The good: reasonable cost, can catch up on some reading or just rest and listen to whatever on the ipod.
The bad: you are at the whims of weather, construction, and if you're out late at night, the wait and ride is going to take a while. Also, eff the E train.
CA: Car
The good: you can leave whenever you want, drive right up to where you're going, and the chances you have to sit next to someone who smells are greatly reduced.
The bad: insurance, gas, backing into poles outside of your carport, basically tons of money and maintenance. Oh, and traffic.
Overall, both have their good and bad points. The public transportation system in NYC is great, and makes it easy and cheap to get around, even if you sometimes have to wait for excruiatingly long periods of time for your train to come. Your own vehicle is equally amazing because you don't have to worry about waiting, it is ready to go when you are.
Okay, so I started this entry a couple of weeks ago, intending to finish it up with more hilarious observations about life on each coast, but then I completely blew off writing anymore. So, the plan is to make this one a two-parter.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Goings on in 09
It's a new year, everybody.
New things are happening.
During xmas break, I actually was hired by a hybrid television station! So that's pretty exciting. I get to operate camera during the live newscast, and do some light editing of video footage. The live-ness of it all makes it pretty fun because sometimes things don't work properly and you have to stay on your toes. ..and you might not get your shot set up properly until a few seconds before air. But that all makes it fun. The worst part about the job so far is that there is a 2 hour break between when I need to be there for the weekend newscasts. And since home is about 25 minutes away, it doesn't really make sense to drive home. The only good thing about this is that I get to watch some tv while I'm hanging out at the station. I get to check out wsop episodes on espn, or old high stakes poker shows. I also get to brush up on my trivia with lots of Jeopardy!.
I actually just took the online quiz to try and actually get on the show. Here's a tip: if you actually try this, you should probably practice a bit because it's INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT. Holy moly, there is NO WAY that I passed. I guess I'll have to wait until next time and brush up on my history and geography in the meantime!
Another amazing show that I started to watch during my breaks is Man v. Food. Seriously, it is crazy awesome. Basically, this guy just goes around to a ton of great places to eat and chows down on delicious comfort food. Then towards the end of the show he usually engages in some sort of eating challenge: like eating a 7lb hamburger (in one hour!! - he failed), or consuming the 'world's hottest curry,' or whatever gigantic portions you can think of. Basically for this guy to stay even slightly chubby and not grotesquely obese is to work out the whole time he's not on camera. Or purge. But seriously, with all of that awesome comfort food, you gotta be on some sort of workout plan. I guess the show makes it look like he eats all the time, but I'm sure it's laid out over several days and of course he only has to record so many episodes. But STILL. Anyway, I'm totally jealous of this dude. I mean, what an awesome job, right? Heck, I'd even like to be part of the crew or something. Basically it's an awesome show as you can tell from this whole huge paragraph of nothing that I have dedicated to it. I swear, it can make you hungry if you watch it, even if you just ate. It's that good. Check it out.
Besides poker and food shows, I just turn the tv to whatever sometimes just to have for background noise while I chow down my lunch. I'm actually glad that I don't get any channels on the tv at home, because it can be a HUGE time-waster. And besides, Julie and I have Netflix and we get movies all the time and use the 'watch instantly' feature all the time. So we definitely do not need any more media diversions in the house. Also, the Wii on a huge tv is super fun.
A little shout out to my brother-in-law, Chris, who bought a new huge LCD HD tv and gave Julie and I his old one. Zelda looks awesome on the big screen!
So I guess I should have labeled this entry 'all about television' cause that's really all I've been talking about. Oh well. Deal with it.
Best pickup line never used of the week: 'I'm partial to romaine.'
New things are happening.
During xmas break, I actually was hired by a hybrid television station! So that's pretty exciting. I get to operate camera during the live newscast, and do some light editing of video footage. The live-ness of it all makes it pretty fun because sometimes things don't work properly and you have to stay on your toes. ..and you might not get your shot set up properly until a few seconds before air. But that all makes it fun. The worst part about the job so far is that there is a 2 hour break between when I need to be there for the weekend newscasts. And since home is about 25 minutes away, it doesn't really make sense to drive home. The only good thing about this is that I get to watch some tv while I'm hanging out at the station. I get to check out wsop episodes on espn, or old high stakes poker shows. I also get to brush up on my trivia with lots of Jeopardy!.
I actually just took the online quiz to try and actually get on the show. Here's a tip: if you actually try this, you should probably practice a bit because it's INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT. Holy moly, there is NO WAY that I passed. I guess I'll have to wait until next time and brush up on my history and geography in the meantime!
Another amazing show that I started to watch during my breaks is Man v. Food. Seriously, it is crazy awesome. Basically, this guy just goes around to a ton of great places to eat and chows down on delicious comfort food. Then towards the end of the show he usually engages in some sort of eating challenge: like eating a 7lb hamburger (in one hour!! - he failed), or consuming the 'world's hottest curry,' or whatever gigantic portions you can think of. Basically for this guy to stay even slightly chubby and not grotesquely obese is to work out the whole time he's not on camera. Or purge. But seriously, with all of that awesome comfort food, you gotta be on some sort of workout plan. I guess the show makes it look like he eats all the time, but I'm sure it's laid out over several days and of course he only has to record so many episodes. But STILL. Anyway, I'm totally jealous of this dude. I mean, what an awesome job, right? Heck, I'd even like to be part of the crew or something. Basically it's an awesome show as you can tell from this whole huge paragraph of nothing that I have dedicated to it. I swear, it can make you hungry if you watch it, even if you just ate. It's that good. Check it out.
Besides poker and food shows, I just turn the tv to whatever sometimes just to have for background noise while I chow down my lunch. I'm actually glad that I don't get any channels on the tv at home, because it can be a HUGE time-waster. And besides, Julie and I have Netflix and we get movies all the time and use the 'watch instantly' feature all the time. So we definitely do not need any more media diversions in the house. Also, the Wii on a huge tv is super fun.
A little shout out to my brother-in-law, Chris, who bought a new huge LCD HD tv and gave Julie and I his old one. Zelda looks awesome on the big screen!
So I guess I should have labeled this entry 'all about television' cause that's really all I've been talking about. Oh well. Deal with it.
Best pickup line never used of the week: 'I'm partial to romaine.'
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