New Year, New City, New Job

2014 is upon us.

Just as 1814 saw the Congress of Vienna redraw the landscape of Europe and the colonial world.

Just as 1914 saw a world war break out that changed the identities of nations and framed the struggle for peace in the 20th century.

Just as 2014 will see a period change from me that will forever be linked with the future of world as we know it. (I suppose this is technically true.)

Last year saw complacency break down into chaos as I left everything and spent 40 weeks wandering (part of which time I was in a desert). This year will see a return to the normality of life, but in a new and improved framework. Yes friends, I am moving away from Seattle and relocating to San Diego. I have accepted a job in San Diego with - surprise - The Navy.  I'm getting back on the same horse, but this time in a different organization doing different work. So it's all the thrill of a new job, but without restarting at the bottom of the totem pole.

I was offered the job right before Christmas and accepted it, and I'm moving down there next week. My girlfriend Carly will stay up in Seattle for the time being and eventually come down when she finds a job. But this means that I need to find a place to live again. So I'm back on the craigslist looking for places. I realized this might be my last new roommate for awhile and I've had quite a few roommates in the past.

In my first "Roommates" post I counted I lived with 20 people over the course of college. That number didn't change much post college until this summer when I moved back into a house in Ann Arbor. So I think it is time for a new count of my total number of roommates. Remember I only count people that I lived with for at least 2 or 3 months so summer sublets count. Someone staying at our place while they were between leases for a couple of weeks doesn't count. Live-in girlfriends don't count either unless they really lived there.

Roommate count by year we started living together:

Pre-2005: Laura, Julie, Mom, Dad - 4

2005: Max -1

2006: Jake, Sara, Rachel, Ross, Pete, Aaron, James, Fritz - 8

2007: Sara, Paul, Courtney, Emily, Brett, Al - 6

2008: Brick, Andy, Jay, Max, Paul, Matt, Zola, - 7

2009: N/A

2010: Tyler - 1

2011: N/A

2012: N/A

2013: Kevin, Tyler, Carly - 3

2014: ?

So I'm at a cool 30 different roommates.  Only five of which I've chronicled in "Roommates" posts. Some may not be worthy, but perhaps I should do a few more of those posts. They are awkward and fun. 

But overall I'm excited about the new job and moving to sunny San Diego. It has all happened pretty suddenly, but I think it will be an exciting life change. So California here I come.

Post College Plan 7

In 2 months I will graduate college and become a productive member of the work force.

I know this, because I have accepted a real job. I am moving to Seattle to start working as a civilian for the Navy. I will be working at the Navy's Strategic Weapons Facility. The downside to this job is that I will be far away from Ann Arbor. This means that I might only be able to make it back one weekend next year. On the other hand, this also means that I will have a real job that pays very real money, so I can now drink my PBR out of a bottle.

I think it beats out my other PCP7 which was to make to scale replica's of the Aggrocrag and sell them on Ebay.

Post College Plan 6

In about 3 months I will graduate college and supposedly become a productive member of the work force. This scares me. I really don't want to wake up everyday at 7 AM and go to a job for 8 hours. To avoid this I have be thinking of ways that I can still do whatever I want but not be forced to work 48 weeks a year.

I get my big break. My Lloyd Dobbler "dare to be great" situation. I make a novelty invention and then I can really live the Peter Gibbons dream. Here are my first two ideas.

1) Build a laser pointer into a remote control. So when you're watching the TV and you want to point something out onscreen you can simply point to it and hold down a button and bring attention to the guy in the background that totally looks like Newman.

2) The concealing beer coozy. This one is great for places with open intoxicant laws. It would be a thin coozy with a metal outer sheath that would be printed to look like a can of Coke. Thus reducing suspicion, and probable cause.

I have a few more of these, such as an umbrella that also covers a friend/backpack. They come to me, and if I don't write them down I forget them in a few days.

Post College Plan 5

In about 4 months I will graduate college and supposedly become a productive member of the work force. This scares me. I really don't want to wake up everyday at 7 AM and go to a job for 8 hours. To avoid this I have be thinking of ways that I can still do whatever I want but not be forced to work 48 weeks a year.

I want to start a business, maybe a side business business of the bar. It would be an ice cream truck, but along with serving ice cream it would sell booze. It would drive around at night and sell booze to all of the college kids. Imagine if every night a truck drove down the street playing a tune, and you would walk outside and buy a fifth, or case or whatever you wanted that night. On the night of the greenwood block party, I could park across the street, and then drive to South U around midnight to get the bar crowd. It would be brilliant.

Yep, nothing like the weird 26 year old driving around college towns selling beer out of the back of his van. Cool!

Post College Plan 4

In about 6 months I will graduate college and supposedly become a productive member of the work force. This scares me. I really don't want to wake up everyday at 7 AM and go to a job for 8 hours. To avoid this I have be thinking of ways that I can still do whatever I want but not be forced to work 48 weeks a year.

This one is great because once I do it, I will never have to work again. All I need to do is hunt down Osama Bin Laden. It won't be easy, but if I can do it I will get $50 million from the State Department, $2 million from the pilots association and possibly $1 million from Bruce Willis. The best part is that I don't even have to capture him. All I need to do is give information that leads to his arrest or capture. I can already narrow the list down to a handful of probable countries. Then all I need to do is follow the insulin that he needs for his diabeetus. The insulin goes into a cave, I call the CIA, $53 million, drinks on me.

Post College Plan 3

In about 6 months I will graduate college and supposedly become a productive member of the work force. This scares me. I really don't want to wake up everyday at 7 AM and go to a job for 8 hours. To avoid this I have be thinking of ways that I can still do whatever I want but not be forced to work 48 weeks a year.

This is by far my favorite and most feasible plan. It also involves the most work and risk.

I have talked for the past 2 years about opening a bar at the corner of State St. and Packard. I have told most of the people I know about what a great idea it is.

Most of the student population lives in the area south of Hill St. Yet the nearest bars are located up on State Street and South University Ave. For a students living at East U. and Greenwood they have to walk 2,200 feet to get to the closest bar (Charlie's). For a student living at Mary and Benjamin they are 3,500 feet away. There are lots of times when my friends and I want to go out to the bars, but convince ourselves not to because they are so far away. This gets even worse in the winter.

I've been to quite a few other schools. One thing I always notice is the quility of the bar scene. I think for a school of our size we should really have a couple more bars. My nights are usually spent between Charlie's and the Jug with occasional trips to the Blue Lep, BDubs, Mitch's and Rick's. When there is a 15 minute line at every bar on South U, I wish there were a few more bars.

Opening a bar at State and Packard would be ideal. It is in the heart of the off-campus housing population and at a big intersection. Also, it would be the perfect place to have a bar on football gamedays and hockey nights. There isn't a single bar within a half mile of Yost.

When I first started thinking about it, my tentative plan was to move into the vacant Saki Bombs. But then Get Your Game On moved in. But in another turn of event the proprietors of Atlanta Bread Company decided they did not like making money and turned their store into Artisan Organic Bistro. They are open about 4 hours a day and I am taking bets on weather it or Get Your Game On will close first. I heard that the Organic Bistro isn't supposed to make it past the end of the year. Artisan Organic Bistro is nearly ready to be a bar. It has an open layout and with a couple of TV's it could be a bar as is, even though I would definitely make some changes.

My only fear is that I could become that creepy old dude that still thinks he is in college. I saw Mitch of Mitch's Place in an alley behind a dumpster smoking cigarettes. He is like 40 years old now. But then again I see BTB Adam at the bank all the time and he seems to be making lots of money. I bet owning a bar isn't as glamorous as it seems. You probably have to do a lot of work, but you would be soooo drunk all of the time it wouldn't matter. I've seen It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, that looks like fun. I hear the hours kinda suck, but as long as I'm not doing Charlie work I think I'll be fine.

I have a few names in mind. The Narwhal is the current leader.

Post College Plan 2

In about 6 months I will graduate college and supposedly become a productive member of the work force. This scares me. I really don't want to wake up everyday at 7 AM and go to a job for 8 hours. To avoid this I have be thinking of ways that I can still do whatever I want but not be forced to work 48 weeks a year.

I am already planning a trip to Alaska to prospect gold. So my second post college plan involves me striking it rich in the gold fields. Lets say I stumble upon the motherlode (that's a golden pun (ohh that's rich)) I then can really do nothing all year. My work would involved going camping for a few weeks a year and just collecting more money from the ground. I figure that I would only need to gather 7 or 8 pounds of gold a year to make just as much or more money than I would working a full time job. Sounds pretty easy to me.