Baby Finances

AZ is really nice. Very different than the northeast/midwest. Everything is spread far apart - and they don't make good use of highways. They seem to think that they are for long distanst traffic only - and have no place for the local commute. Unlike rochester -- which is like highway happy. Way to many highways -- way to few people. I checked out the city and a couple different apartment complexes. None of them have panned out so far. They are nice places -- but they're filled with old people. I looked at the kids splashing and laughing in the pool -- the lady was like "don't worry -- they're just someone's gradkids and they won't be here for more than a couple weeks." That was definitely the nail in the coffin. It's been a little hard figuring out where a nice place to live is - near some people my own age. I did find one cool area that would be nice to live in -- though it's a little far from work. But you know what they say. Eit...

So, it looks like everything is set for me to interview at this place in Tucson on Monday. (FINALLY!) I got all the travel stuff done flight, hotel, rental car. I've done some research on the company, I've got to do a bit more research on the products and technology yet... but nothing major. Basically I need to pack and print off some stuff to read on the plane. I've even emailed a couple of apartments to set up times to see the places on Sunday. (I'm going to get into Tucson at 10:30am Sunday and won't be leaving until 10:30pm Monday.) Unfortunately there's a 30% chance of rain on Sunday... but it's still going to be 85!!!! Yeah for warm weather. I've even set everything up at work for me to call in sick on Monday. I've had a touch of the flul but nothing bad. A little bit of a fever -- maybe like 99.8F tops -- seeing as my normal temp is 96.8F (yes that's right a couple degrees below "normal." I've made it sound way worse...

I've got a number of things to do up my sleeve for this summer. Though on a sunny saturday like this, but not quite summer yet, finding things to do is still a little difficult. I think I might get a job selling beer and food at a local rec park this summer to take up some free time. That way while I'm wasting the hours away - I'm also earning a couple more bucks. I think I'm going to take a class to learn how to row -- like on the Erie Canal. There's a place out in one of the suburbs that does it - and you can choose either one or two nights a week to go. The latter will depend entirely on the amount of hours at the former. I've also got another wedding and maybe a bachelorette party this summer. So, hopefully this warm weather will keep and it will be a good summer. I'm supposed to go to AZ to interview at that company I've been going back and forth for the last couple of months on the 30th. I'm trying to nail down times and flight schedule...

I didn't really realize until this last weekend (Joe's Wedding) about certain things in life. Namely that my position - though in name sounds the same - is very different in responsibility than others. It's amazing how wrapped up in your own world you can be sometimes. The realization really hit me in the face when I was talking to some old high school friends. I hadn't really thought about the fact that in a larger company that if you make a mistake it doesn't have the same effect on the bottom line of the company like a mistake I make would. I realized very quickly that it's not okay to make mistakes anymore. In school they always said that you can make mistakes in real life. That was a big fat lie. You can't make mistakes. If you make mistakes the company could be on the line and in turn other people's lives could be in your hands. If I screw something up that means that my company might have to fire someone b/c there's not enough money ...

I've definately been in productive mode lately. For all of you that don't know me very well I'll explain. I have two "modes" (modes, moods, you know whatever you want to call them...) The first one is "lazy mode." It's were I do nothing, get nothing accomplished more than what is absolutely necessary, and generally am not productive outside of work. Then there is "productive mode" where I get huge amounts of things done in a very short period of time (think Jessica planning her entire wedding in two weeks kind of productive.) I've definitely been in the latter recently. Take tonight for example. I found someone to take clarinet lessons from and set up an appointment to meet him, applied for a couple of part time jobs, waiting on how those turn out to see if I can take lessons on how to row (a boat -- like on a crew team.) I tried to go out and do something when I got back from Toledo this afternoon - but I didn't really have ...

Every spring seems like a good time to not only clean up the apartment and git rid of anything that is no longer useful -- or I don't use it enough to be useful. It's also a good time to clean up other parts of your life that have felt lacking. Lately I've actually been playing my clarinet again. I haven't played or practiced on a regular basis since probably first year of college. I've started getting back into it -- but I'm still really horrible and no where near where I could be. I might start taking lessons -- but that will highly depend on the job search. I don't want to take lessons and then find another job in two weeks. But maybe I should because then I will find a new job.... that's a thought. There are a lot of good musicians in this area because of the local university has a well known music program. I've done some very useful things today and it's only noon. I took a shower, made breakfast, put away my laundry from like two we...