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Last Day of Work August 16, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : San Diego, House, Travel, Pittsburgh , 1 comment so far

Tomorrow marks the last day of my almost five year stint at my current employer. It’s unreal to think that I spent more time working there than I did either at college or high school. It will be bitter sweet to leave. I developed a lot of good relationships over the past years, so it will be sad to leave everybody. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to a change and a new chapter. Everything will be different - new place, new culture, new job, new church, new serious relationship, etc. Though some things won’t change. Colin, rest assured that the Pirates are still my home team.

One of the really recent developments over the last couple of weeks is that I rented out my apartment. It was my first time advertising and showing the place. I put the place on craigslist and within twenty-four hours, I showed it to seven different people, with the last one wanting it. It’s a huge relief to get that piece over with, so now I can concentrate on moving and house improvements.

In case anyone is wondering what I’m going to do with the place, my friend will be the property manager. And I hope to collect some handymen in the meantime so issues can be handled.

On Monday, I head to Seattle to spend eight days hiking in the Pacific Northwest.  For the majority of the time, we’ll hike through Olympic National Park’s diverse landscapes. We’re pretty psyched for the trip. After that, it’s off to San Diego for a week to visit Chelsea and take an interview.

Exciting times ahead…I’ll keep you posted.

European trip planning with Google MyMaps May 24, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Travel , 5 comments

I finally checked out Google’s My Maps feature to try and plan a tentative Europe trip that two friends and I plan to do in August. We’re not sure about the time frame (or if we’re actually going or not), but I thought the sooner we devise a plan, the sooner we’ll purchase a ticket. I also hope to garner some wisdom from the blogosphere. None of us have seen much of Europe, so we’re not sure where to visit. Our current thoughts are Eastern Europe, and it would hopefully span two weeks.

Here’s the map. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts.

One Ticket to Paradise April 4, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Friends , 5 comments

In a somewhat impulsive decision a couple of days ago, I bought a ticket to San Diego this weekend to spend four days out there to visit a friend. It looks like the trip will come at a great time because it’s supposed to snow in Pittsburgh this weekend.

The price for the ticket ended up being a Godsend. I started looking at 5 PM on Monday evening and prices were well above $500 for a round trip ticket for Saturday to Tuesday. I continued to scour the net, hoping for a better deal. Two hours later, I found a round trip on Expedia for $210 for the exact dates I wanted.

And then I found out later that my friend was praying for ticket logistics and a cheap fare so that I would still be a good steward of my money and not blow several hundred dollars on a plane ticket. Imagine that!

Claudia Died March 8, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Cycling , 2 comments

After countless recommendations from friends and family about getting a new car, Walter’s automotive confirmed their fear last Monday. My car has been past due for an inspection for a while now, and I knew there would be some issues bringing it in. I didn’t expect the car to be that bad. Unfortunately, the mechanic found that part of the subframe had rusted out which would be incredibly expensive to fix for an 11-year old Mercury Sable that had 167k miles on it.

The car has done me well, so it’s bitter sweet to part with it. The engine and transmission are still running great which makes it bitter. But the recent issues with it will be sweet to finally be rid of it. I’ll probably end up donating it.

This leads me to figure out what to do for transportation. In a rather rushed decision, I declared March to be a bus/bike month. I just bought a new furnace for one of my tenants and I’m not looking to invest (rather divest) in a car. With Spring around the corner, the idea of bussing and biking around is not that bad of an idea.

Getting to work is suprisingily convenient. The pickup for the bus is a seven minute walk from my house, and it drops me off right in front of my workplace. I’ve taken it the last few days and I enjoy it immensely. I’ve been able to sleep, chat with passengers and the busdriver, read, and stare into the ether. Also, it’s about the same amount of time as driving because it uses the busway. So there’s no traffic for the first third of the route!

And I’ve also tuned up the bike so I can start biking places. I finally fixed my flat tube that I had from last year. It turned out to be a small chip in the tire. So, I took it out to the North Side last night for landlord class. The temperature dropped considerbly last night. The other day, I purchased a balcava from the new Trek store near my house, which helped out tremendously.

The ride to class wasn’t that bad. It was the ride home that was the killer. For my hands, all I had were my fingerless bike gloves. I thought I was going to get frostbite on the way home. But I thankfully made it home and enjoyed some half-off appetizers with Chad at the Sharp Edge.

The tricky circumstances that I still have to iron out is picking up big things (like say, from Home Depot) and visiting my parents. Stay tuned!

New Year’s Recap January 6, 2007

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Photography , 4 comments

Two new sets are available on my picasaweb site. The wedding that I photographed a year ago was put up. I didn’t upload all the photos yet, but hope to get some of the better ones up. An opportunity to shoot a wedding in July has just sprung up, so I wanted to post some of my previous work.

Also, Albert and I visited New York right before New Year’s. We left for NY on Friday evening and exited NY on New Year’s Eve for a party in Allentown. We had a good trip. We spent most of the time walking around the city. The first night, we slept at my brother’s place which is between Chinatown and SoHo. It’s sort of like the real world there. He has nine roommates and there were ten people visiting that weekend. So, there were about twenty people in all crammed in a ten bedroom dormitoryish apartment.

On Saturday, we visited the MoMA with one of Albert’s friends. The place was packed and it was difficult to view some of the more famous pieces. Their collection is impressive. Some of their modern pieces were incredibly challenging and I didn’t understand them. Someone needs to help me with that. For instance, one of their pieces was an empty room with the lights switching on and off every five seconds. It’s difficult because you cannot appreciate the subject itself unless you know the artist’s statement. And even then, it’s a stretch sometimes.

We ate dinner at a place in West Village called Sushi Samba, which fused Japanese and South American cuisine. For dessert, we ate some of the most delicious cakes at a place in Little Italy - Lo Spuntino Cafe. We stayed at a new friend’s place. She was incredibly hospitable to us - the procastinating day trippers. Thanks Liz!

On Sunday, we visited the Village Church in Greenwich Village. As some of the community pointed out, the church was half its size because of the holiday. They take a great interest in outsiders, which refreshed us. Multiple people sought to accomodate us to their community even though we were just visiting for the weekend. We accompanied some of them out for brunch and I ended up talking at length to one of the elders for a couple hours. When I visit NY next time, I hope to visit again.

We finished the day off by walking around Brooklyn. Around 5 PM, we left the city and celebrated with some of my friends from college. It was great seeing and spending time with them. It was a good trip.

Some promised pictures October 22, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Photography , 6 comments

I uploaded some of my recent photos to picasa. Two sets were added. My trip to Minneapolis for the Desiring God conference has been posted. Also, I took a tour through my new place yesterday. There’s more work to do than I first thought. Plus, it’s a bit smaller than I remembered. But, I think everything should work out. The location will definitely be sweet. Trader Joe’s opens within a week and Borders should move in by Christmas. Not to mention that Pittsburgh’s greatest beer selection will be three doors down from me. That might be dangerous.

Lancaster bound October 13, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Pittsburgh , add a comment

A good friend from sophomore year of college is getting married this Saturday around Lancaster. So, I’m headed there this weekend. I’m looking forward to staying at my friends’ Tim & Brianne, and seeing some other people that I haven’t seen in a while.

In other news, the house that I purchased is still moving along. I settled on a mortgage yesterday. If I had any advice on the matter: go with a local bank. They seemed to have the best rates available. A mortgage broker tried to help me out, but his rate was considerably higher than all the other ones that I found. I’m still expected to close the first week of November. My realtor and I will go through the house again next week, so I hope to take some photos.

Desiring God conference recap October 6, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Christianity, Travel , add a comment

The Desiring God conference was more than I could have bargained for. First, my plane ticket was free because of a volunteered seat a couple months back. Next, a fourth degree of a friend let me stay at his place. And he lived about a mile from the convention center. So basically, I just had to pay for the conference and food while I was out there.

I’ll list some highlights, but the icing on the cake was that I got to hang out at John Piper’s house on Sunday afternoon, right after the conference. I got there by spotting a friend of mine from college in the choir. After the last plenary session of the night, I looked for her in the flood of people outside the auditorium. Within ten minutes, we spotted each other and caught up.

Now, I ran into her a few years ago and she was engaged to one of John Piper’s sons at the time. So I kind of guessed that she would be at the conference. But as we caught up, she invited me out to her husband’s parents house for lunch on Sunday. Giddy up!

So I went and had a blast. At one point it was just John Piper, another pastor from North Carolina, and me. We mainly talked about the conference, Emergent, and C.S. Lewis. Definitely the highlight of the trip.

Here are some others:

I’m still processing everything from the weekend. They already have the audio up on their website. Go here to download everything.

One year and one day September 19, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Travel , 3 comments

This blog has been running for a year and a day now. It seems longer than a year. To celebrate, here’s a list of last week’s highlights:

Back and gone again September 16, 2006

Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Pittsburgh , 2 comments

I returned from Canada on Wednesday night and am off again in several hours to Penn State. My parents procured four tickets to the Youngstown State game. Earlier today, I ate at Tessaro’s again with my old roommate. Afterwards, I saw my friend Jeff play at Friday Night Improv.

Friday Night Improv is a blast. It’s sort of like Whose Line Is It Anyway? I volunteered for the last skit which proved to be difficult. The scenario was a subordinate explaining to his boss why he was late to work. The subordinate had to give an excuse that another girl and I mimed. He had to guess what it was. The sequence was the following: I partied too much at a Metallica concert, then drove my car and wrecked it in a landslide. So I was trapped and later mistakenly picked up by the police as a kidnapper. Next time, I’m going to try something a little more easier.