MY NEW APARTMENT AT LAST!

Well… It’s been a few weeks since I last posted something and this posting won’t be very long (mostly just pretty pictures).  Work has been going great.  I’m working on a project for Sonic which is exciting.  Again, the other employees are great… so far (I will list the ones I work with directly so they feel special: Courtney, Haley, Kelly, Laura, Eric, Soledad [PM], Stephanie [PM] and Mitch [VP]). 

I moved into my apartment last Saturday night which is the single greatest thing that has happened to me recently.  I love having my own place to call home.  While it’s small, it’s my small.  It was sad, however, leaving the comfort and friendship of Fred, Marina, Cortez and Alonza behind in NJ.  But they are just a short bus ride away (which I know very well after having commuted from there forever).  They all helped me move in Saturday, followed by a nice dinner and walk around Brooklyn.  They used to live in Park Slope so it was a nice trip for them, being able to show their kids where they used to live.  The commute from my new apartment in roughly 40 minutes one way and is 100x better than the bus from NJ (which could take upwards to 2.5 hours one way).

If you feel the desire to send me any sort of mail/care package, my address is now: 757A Union Street, Apt. #2, Brooklyn, NY 11215.    

Scroll down for some photos of my apartment!  CLICK HERE to be directed to my Facebook page to see a video of my new place! 

This is it.  Not too much to it.  Small space but cozy.  I'm only one person anyway.

My air mattress bed until I order a real one from IKEA.

The entrance and spunky book ledge above.

My bathroom entry way.  How fun!

High ceilings and large windows.

My kitchen.

My "office."

The small yet functional bathroom.

And no apartment is complete without a Gyarados to protect it.

Week 1 of Work

Week one of work?  Check. 

Stressful.  Exciting.  New.  Interesting.  Boring (at times).  Entertaining.  Nerve-racking.  Overwhelming.  Amazing.

 

First day!  All ready to go!  Crazy cousin Cortez in the background.

I could go on listing adjectives that describe how my first week of work went.  However, I have better things to do with my life and so do you.  Let me just start by saying that, overall, work thus far has been great!

View from our office on 3rd Ave and 49th.  We're way up high on the 33rd floor.

Another shot of Manhattan from our floor.

Here’s the rundown:

Fellow Employees:  I work with six other analysts directly.  They are all roughly my age with two of them being recent graduates (one from MSU).  The other four are younger than 30 years of age.  They are very friendly, out-going, inclusive and willing to help (which I need a lot of right now).  What makes me feel a little weird is that they graduated from places like Harvard, Cornell, NYU and Columbia while I graduated from Concordia.  Is Concordia the next Ivy League caliber school? Haha.

This is were we can chill if need be.  Nice and relaxing couches with a good view of the city.

My bosses:  My bosses are two project managers, to whom I report depending on which project I am working, and one vice president, to whom everyone on our team reports.  The PMs and VP are really great people who are extremely knowledgeable and dedicated not only to their work but also their employees. 

Stephanie, one of the PMs, flew in from San Diego to help with my training.  She basically led me through all the formal training I received.  However, since the company this past week was racing to meet two deadlines (one for Toyota and the other for Pfizer), I had to get my hands dirty quickly, diving into ‘real’ work almost after the first day. 

This is our conference room.

The work:  The things I have done this past week, while small, have been real work for the company.  Of course everything I do is under supervision and checked thoroughly after I complete it, but I do feel as though I have been able to contribute to the company and team right away.

One of the hallways with the larger offices on the right.  I'm around the corner on the left with all the other analysts in the middle.  No fancy offices for us.

For those of you who do not know what I do as an analyst, here’s the skinny.  Basically, our company is hired by other companies to produce reports for them.  Whether it’s ESPN, Toyota, Campbell’s, Hertz, Panera Bread, Verizon, Sonic or Procter and Gamble (or one of the many other companies we have and still work for), we devise strategic questionnaires and surveys to help answer their hardest and deepest questions.  Our company also does work for politicians, although I am not involved on this side of the business.  Most notably, in 2008, our company was the leading pollster for Barack Obama and other leading democratic politicians. 

My view of my desk.  I get two screens because I'm special.

Moving on and getting back to what I do.  As an analyst in collaboration with my team, we are responsible for devising the proposal of the project for the company.  We write, format, and prepare the questionnaires, surveys and/or focus group studies.  We program and check the surveys, etc.  We add weights to our data and create banners to better read/analyze the data.  And finally, after all the preparation, analysis and recording have been done, we produce a deck (PowerPoint) or memo and present it to the client.  As an analyst, I will be helping with all of these aspects.

The commute:  Where to start… Put bluntly, the commute blows.  The bus ride in the morning starts at 7am and lasts until roughly 8:30am.  From there, I take a subway ride and then a short walk.  I reach the office around 9am.  After working until 7 or 8pm, I catch the bus (hopefully I time it correctly or I have to wait another hour for the next one to get home).  The bus ride home takes about another 1-1½ hours.  However, I have saved lots of money by not paying rent this month.  But trust me when I say, I am ready for the bus to die a hundred deaths.  I am looking forward to my own apartment in the city with a much shorter commute.

A nice view of the subway.  Just waiting for my train to arrive to take me to the bus station.

The home life:  Living with uncle Fred, aunt Marina and cousins Cortez and Alonza has been one of the best things that has happened to me with this whole NY thing.  Yes, I want to get into my new apartment (which will actually happen next weekend), but I also love living here with them.  It has been great to get to know them better, forming deeper relationships, inside jokes, stories together, etc.  Beside the commute in to NY, I would seriously consider just being their permanent son.  Hehe.  They are wonderful people and give so freely of their space, time and energy.  The Lord has blessed me with them in my life.  Just recently Cortez, Fred and I went for a hike in a nearby park.  Sadly we didn’t see any bears but I am still determined to see one before I leave for NY.

Well that’s my week in a nut shell.  Tune back in next week to see pictures of my apartment and a recap of week two!  Check out some of the hiking pictures below!

We could see Manhattan from the mountain top!

Cortez overlooking the lake alongside the trail.

This is called tripod rock.  I don't know how it doesn't fall over.

Cortez was prepared for rain.

The three amigos!

I'm pretty sure Fred got a hernia from holding the rock up from falling.

NYC: Broken Leases and Scooter Rides

For those of you who did not read my last post, I was offered a job at Benenson Strategy Group in New York as an Analyst, which I accepted.  After getting my affairs in order, I told the company that I would be all moved in to NY and ready to work by September 12^th.  To find an apartment, I went online at home in Ohio, hitting up sites such as good old Craigslist, etc.  Needless to say, apartments in NYC go quickly and without actually being in NY, it was difficult to nail down one that I wanted without actually viewing it in person and checking out the neighborhood, again, in person.

Solution: pack up all my belongings, load them in the van and hit the road with daddio down to NY to find a place and move in.  Thankfully, we have family who live in New Jersey who are not a long commute from NY.  So, last Monday, after driving 8 hours to get to NJ, my dad and I made uncle Freddie and aunt Marina’s house base camp for our apartment-hunting extravaganza.

Our first day in NYC looking for places to live was “meh.”  In other words, it didn’t produce much fruit.  I only had one person call me back from the 10 plus phone calls I made to landlords, owners, etc.  This person, Chris, was very helpful and showed me an apartment with his friend, a native New Yorker.  The apartment was very very small and quite dirty.  However, it was in a very nice neighborhood in Brooklyn, Park Slope, and I needed a place to live since I was under a time crunch.  To spare everyone the nitty gritty details, which were in some ways extremely unpleasant and a wee bit embarrassing to our manhoods, I ended up signing a lease for this apartment and writing two checks.  Then, after detecting some shenaniganery or, if you’d prefer, tomfoolery on the landlord’s and “brokers’” end of things, I decided to opt out of the lease since my comfort level with the whole deal didn’t sit well with me.  So, in less than 24 hours, I successfully had an apartment and lost an apartment (and don’t worry we got the checks back).

With Tuesday and most of Wednesday resulting in only a busted lease deal and frustration, things, in my mind, weren’t looking up.  My father was leaving Friday morning and I still had to find a place to live!  But, like always, the Lord was looking out for his sheep.

Marina, my aunt in NJ, made a few calls on my behalf to her realtor friends in Brooklyn.  These calls put me in contact with Alessandra, a realtor in the Park Slope area (the area in which I wanted to reside).  Alessandra had a wonderful studio apartment in Park Slope for only $100 more than the studio apartment I was in a lease with before.  Only problem was that I wouldn’t be able to view the inside of the apartment until after my dad left and that I also wouldn’t be able to move into that apartment (if I ended up liking it) until October 1^st.

After talking it over with my dad, my relatives and God, my aunt and uncle overwhelmingly told me that I was more than welcome to stay with them until I found a place to live.  Best decision of my life!

Not only have I been able to get to know my aunt and uncle better than I ever have before but I have also been able to interact and play with their two kids, my two cousins, Alonza (12) and Cortez (10).  This past Friday afternoon, after my dad left to return home to Ohio, I got a call from Alessandra telling me I could view the apartment that day.  I took the hour-long bus ride in from Jersey and then the 40 minutes subway ride to get down to Park Slope to view the studio.  In short, I love the place.  I was able to talk to the tenant who is moving out (of all the places in the world he’s from Ohio too) and look at the apartment/building.  Afterwards I told Alessandra that I wanted the place, plain and simple.  She and I went down to her office and I got started on the paper work towards signing the lease. 

Hopefully, if the landlord repaints, installs a new kitchen countertop and bathroom vanity quickly, I may be able to get into the apartment before October 1^st.  It would be nice to get in as soon as possible so that I can settle down.  Plus, I start work on September 12^th and the commute to NYC from Jersey will be long.  However, I know that I have a home here with the Klopfers as long as I need one.  They are truly amazing people and great Christian role models for their kids.  I’m really beginning to love it here with them. 

Cortez and I rode scooters the other day for 2 hours, played in the woods, played ping pong, played Wii, and so much more these past few days.  In fact, Alonza, Cortez and I just got done playing Mario Kart together.  My uncle, Fred, and I just took down their above-ground pool for the winter today.  Since I want to pull my weight around the house, Fred has tasked me with installing blinds in the house next week as well as scraping and painting a portion of their deck.  While I know I don’t have to do these things to stay with them, I very much want to do so.  I want to help them like they are helping me.

By the way, I absolutely love New York City, the subways, the plethora of races, accents, languages, and styles – everything.  I’ve got a good feel for the city already.  My apartment (I call it this but really I still have not signed anything official) is a mere 3 blocks from Prospect Park, a block and a half from a subway station and 2 blocks from all the restaurants, stores, bars, and shops of which you could think.  The neighborhood is extremely safe and family-oriented and the buildings are awesome old brownstones.  The picture below is my front door and building.

The steps leading up to my apartment building.

 I am constantly amazed how the Lord takes something, like a broken and shattered lease deal, and turns it into something as amazing as time well spent with relatives, a new outlook on life and a much much better apartment.  As I move and get settled in, I will be sure to share my address and more pictures of my neighborhood, apartment, and exciting New York City adventures.  I will also be blogging about my first week of work coming up soon!

Share your comments please!  Or heck, ask me a question.

Working in NYC? Sure, I'll take it!

The Lord always has a plan.  Turns out, that plan has me in New York City.

As some of you may have already heard from my happy and talkative parents/relatives, it’s official, I have been offered and have accepted a job with Benenson Strategy Group, a marketing research and consulting firm in Manhattan, NY.  I will be the company’s newest Corporate Market Research Analyst.  (Pause for obnoxious cheering and brief celebration).

Now that all the partying and hooting is out of your system, spread your merriment for me to others around you.  Give your dog a hug.  Tickle a squirrel.  “Flounder” a walrus or some such nonsense.

All that is left to do now is find a place to live in NY.  I have already started apartment hunting and would love to live somewhere in Queens but honestly, as long as it’s cheap, safe and not a long commute I’d take it.  If any of you happen to know of friends or family who live in NYC and know of people who need a roommate or know of a cheap apartment for rent, please please let me know.  Having too many leads is not a bad thing.  Hopefully, if all goes as planned, I will be moved out of Ohio and settled down in NY somewhere within a few weeks (the sooner the better).

I want to thank those who helped me on this job hunt endeavor, whether you provided me with leads, ideas, support or just prayers.  I appreciated every bit of it.  I also want to encourage you to continue to keep me in your prayers since this is a big and different step for me.

Once I get an apartment, I’ll be sure to share my address with everyone, as well as pictures of my adventures and city living hoopla.  And, for my bilingual readership: Tengo un trabajo!  Por fin!  Yo voy a vivir y trabajar en Nuevo York ahora.  Gracias a Dios.

Peace and love.  Paz y amor.

Busy Three Months? I Think So!

Chapter 1:  Worldly Perfection

College graduation.  A time of inner pride.  A time of family and friends.  A time of getting gifts and that much needed financial boost (mostly from distant friends and relatives that you sent an announcement to merely for the money, of course).  A rite of passage, a step into the next chapter of your earthly life.

Take off those Velcro shoes; you’re going to be a big boy now!  You’re going to get a real job, an apartment, a salary, a new life with new experiences.  But a giant problem stands in your way from all of this career newness and money-making excitement – actually getting a job.

Yes, yes, we all know unemployment is 9-something percent and the economy smells like something rancid that would be found in the back of a dorm room frig.  Plus, there are tens of thousands of recent college graduates like me hoping to secure a job right out of school.  But for some reason, these facts didn’t seem to faze me.  Deep down, I felt I was going to have a job lined up right out of college, move out of my parents’ house this summer and begin working within weeks of walking across that stage.  Ha!  Egad Batman was I mistaken!  The Lord had other plans for me.

If you read any of my other blog postings, you know that for my last semester of college I was in wonderful and warm Costa Rica studying abroad, living with a Costa Rican host family and soaking up new experiences every day.  When I returned home from Costa Rica (sniff, sniff), I had to be in Michigan to graduate a week later… I left a lot of time to settle back down, right? 

Since I wanted a job lined up right after graduation, I had to search for one while in Costa Rica.  Let me tell you, finding a job while in another country is tough stuff.  However, thanks to a lead and introduction by a friend, I got my foot in the door with a company in Toledo.  After interviewing with the company via phone and in person three days after I returned home in May, the company was all but ready to offer me the position.  Perfect.  I was about ready to graduate and already had a job lined up.  My dream was coming true.  Things were looking groovy.

Maybe it was stupidity, maybe it was sanity or maybe it was just God’s hand in it all (I prefer to believe the latter), but I turned down the job offer in Toledo.  Doh!  I turned down the perfect set-up, the ideal situation for any recent college graduate.  In all honesty though, I don’t believe the job was the right fit for me.  I think God knew this and helped me make my decision accordingly.  However, now I was without any job offers.  Having just graduated, I was forced to do what I dreaded most, move back home with the ‘rents.  Ugh.

Chapter 2: Godly Perfection

Now, almost three months after graduation, I am still fervently on the job hunt, picking up leads here and there, being interviewed by a few companies every once and a while.  Yet, I have still not had another job offer.  I face rejection daily, something that seems painless from far away but really starts to hurt after a time.  Being unwanted is never a good feeling.  But with optimism as my shield and determination and motivation as my weapons, I will not be defeated so easily.  I will and have been searching every day and will continue to do so until I land a job that is right for me.  I am not one to back away after setting a goal.

Having a negative mindset at first towards the notion of living at home, not being able to live on my own and fully support myself, I have done a complete mental 180.  Sure, my family and I argue sometimes; we butt heads and sometimes step on toes, but we are a family.  At home I am wanted.  Here I am loved.  Here I am listened to and respected.  What more could a young man ask for than friendship?

These past few months after graduation have taught me a lot and allowed me to do things I would not have been able to do with a full-time job.  I was able to take a week and visit my grandparents in Hawaii with my little brother, Peter.  Our brotherhood bond became much stronger and closer over that week.  I have been able to help my parents out around the house, cleaning, mowing, washing, etc.  Now, they both don’t have to stress and toil when they get back from work.  They can merely relax and enjoy the company of their family.

I have been able to be there for my family emotionally, psychologically and spiritually as well, helping them work through issues and sometimes just merely being an ear to listen.  Personally, I feel sometimes just having someone to listen to you talk makes all the difference in the world. 

I have also been able to stay connected with friends from Costa Rica, using my down time (i.e. when I get burnt out sometimes from applying and following up on leads) to talk with or visit them.  For example, I recently took a road trip to visit my friend in Chicago, Laura, and I daily Skype with my friend from Costa Rica, Sofy.  Would I give up the stronger relationships and friendships I formed over these months with these people for a full-time job?  No, I would not.  What a silly notion.

Spending time in Costa Rica helped show my hypocritical self that schedules, plans and work work work aren’t always the important things in life.  Spending time with others, forming relationships and spreading the Good Word of Christ are what matter most. 

Yes, in my mind I have the ideal path I want to take in life.  But what trumps my path, what I should constantly be on the lookout for and open to, is the path of Christ.  I need to listen to Him, hear what he wants me to do and obey.  Easier said then done, right?  I guess, whether or not I get a job soon, I will continuously pray, always looking for the good in things, always looking for what the Lord is trying to teach me, trusting in Him to show me His path.