The Last Month

The month of September ended in a whirlwind of vacationing, moving and surviving the slew of mosquito bites that I suffered both from Nicaragua and Atlanta. The last week in September was dedicated to moving, but after a great night of splurging at Taco Mac with some good pilot buddies, my roommate and I still hadn't made a final decision on where we would end up. Eventually being forced to move out of our apartment because the management ended up renting it out to a couple of college girls, we were lucky to be able to negotiate for a "non-upgraded" 2 bedroom, two bath for even cheaper than what we were paying in the same complex! The non-upgraded tag once specifies that it has black appliances rather than white ones, but you can't tell the difference at all anyways. We now have a pool view, and a 1-year lease for $818/mo (that's actually $750 + their fees for water / sewer / garbage, etc). I think we definitely scored as we're also closer to the front of the property making it so much easier to access the huge trashbin, Starbucks across the street, my favorite Cuban restaurant Coco-Loco, as well as Best Buy and the MARTA. I'm happy with the place and I'm just happy that my roommate, Mark Russell and I have a place that we both like a lot. Dealing with Comcast in trying to get the cable line activated was a little bit of a cluster, but apparently, it was disconnected within our apartment!? I guess it would have made sense for them to send out a mechanic guy to our apartment rather than just assuming turning it on from the outside was all they would need to do.

I finally made it back to San Diego by way of ATL-PHX-SAN and the last leg was great. Southwest is always just really friendly, but I have to admit that the two Delta pilots were great company for the 3.8 hrs in the jumpseat. Thanks for the ride guys!

For now, I'm just excited to be back home but there is so much to do when it comes to cleaning up my desk space, taking my bike out for a ride and hanging out with my favorite girl!

In the meantime, check out my new favorite drink at http://elijahnicolas.posterous.com/favorite-new-drink-and-turtwig-on-a-couch-at and the relaunch of the "peak interest" podcast at www.peakinterest.net or via iTunes.

Passport Renewal / Red Eye / Moving

All of the above (Passport Renewal / Red Eye / Moving) followed by a two day trip (not that bad) and a 4 day trip is going to make for a long, laborious next 7 days. I'm "caffeinating" while waiting for my passport to be ready at 1300.  It's great that I get a 1 day turn around but that consisted, so far, waking up at 3:30AM, driving to the LA Federal Buidling at 4:00 arriving at 6AM & hanging out till a little past noon then driving back to San Diego.  Def. not looking forward to the drive back.  This Starbucks, btw, has a TON of traffic.  Not just any regular traffic, but you see all kind of peeps from LA trendy, UCLA students both undergrad and med, scrubbie (litterally dressed in hospital scrubs) to peeps like me burning time.  It's a good place to people watch. *drinking venti caramel mach w/ soy and extra caramel*

I had to reserve a uHaul truck [deets: 10ft / in-town for $19.99 plus $0.99/mile] which stinks because all I'm really moving is a couch and television and a few boxes.  Maybe more than just a few (13 or so) but I'm going to have to pack, load, unload once I get in from the red eye at 6:00AM, pick up the truck at 8AM and try to complete the cleaning up process by noon on Saturday.  That's not to mention the fact that I have to setup shop in the crashpad forcing a trip to IKEA to buy a twin bed set.  This business is all going to be accomplished w/ little sleep due to a red eye schedule (DL 1048 SAN-ATL) Glorious day without a doubt. Going to have to run on some Red Bull and 5-hour energy.  Where's a retail FRS shop when you need one? <-- not that I've taken FRS yet, but it seems like it's a great product?!

Knowing and Missing Out

Life is precious.  The people around you that love you, that do the small things that sometimes you may overlook, really add that extra little spice.  We may not know it (as we probably don't), but without those little additives, our souffle that our life is would just soften up and sink. 

Over the last couple of days, I've spent a lot of time hanging out with one of my buddies who just had his mother pass away.  With enough lamenting and reminiscing, one can't help but think about an imminent possibility.  It's truly saddening that it takes something of this magnitude to realize life's lessons and sort out one's priorities but I guess, it's what makes us humans. 

The language of our love varies from one individual to another, but all we can do is take the time to patiently learn, understand and listen.  I have been blessed with a mother that has been selfless throughout her trials in the recent years and I know deep in my heart, she lives on for us.  A mother's love is stronger than anything known to man and I can attest to that. 

I've been flying back and forth quite a bit and of course, after all this, it's more than worth it.  Now, only if I could just start to organize the family's move and get going with sorting and throwing things away.  It'll be a lot of work, but I'm sure by Halloween it'll be what I've been imagining since the beginning of this whole summer mess. 

I love you mom.