All Moved In November 2, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : San Diego , 3 commentsThis is where I’m spending about sixteen hours of my day since I sleep and work here.
From the Inferno October 24, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : San Diego, Christianity, Friends , 2 commentsSo, I finally made the leap from Pittsburgh to San Diego a week ago. The transition has been fairly smooth so far. I’m living with friends of Chelsea and mine in the Clairemont area and I work for the same company that I worked for in Pittsburgh. Albeit, remotely and temporarily.
My first week started relaxing and is ending surreal. Moving was fairly easy because I ended up mailing everything by US mail since most of my stuff was media. The latter part has been a little hairy because of the fire. Chelsea’s neighborhood was evacuated when I was visiting on Monday. We escaped to her relatives in El Cajon. Their family was able to return to their house earlier this afternoon.
As far as seeing the fire, we only saw lots of smoke. Chelsea’s school has the entire week off. She always wondered what a snow day would be like and I think she got her wish. Instead of snow, it’s ash. The sidewalks and roads have a light dusting of ash every where you go. It also smells like someone started a large bonfire.
The fires are spreading quickly because of high temperatures, extremely low humidity (<10%), and high Santa Ana winds. These winds start in the desert (east) and blow westward. Hence, the fires start and move very easily.
I’ll try to serve some photos of SD life in the ensuing weeks. Still have to get lots of stuff: a car, driver’s license, etc. I do have a church though, which I’m pretty excited about. I’ve known about the church for two years now because I’ve been reading one of the pastors’ blog since October of 2005. One of my first posts linked to his.
Last Day of Work August 16, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : San Diego, House, Travel, Pittsburgh , 1 comment so farTomorrow 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.
Moving to San Diego August 7, 2007
Posted by Patrick in : San Diego , 5 commentsSorry, I missed my cue from Colin a few days ago. As I wrote in his comment, life has been pretty busy and I’ve more or less pushed blogging to the side.
The big news is that in a month and a half, I will join Adrian and call California my home. It’s a state that I never imagined myself moving to. The weather was always attractive, but the traffic and the cost of living have always dissuaded me. Plus, my entire family lives on the east coast.
So why am I moving? As many of you can guess, I’m moving out there to live closer to my girlfriend Chelsea. We’re both pretty excited to live in the same city and not live on our cell phones anymore. BTW, unlimited in-network Verizon minutes were a Godsend.
I’ve waited this long to post the information because of my job. I’m not sure if anyone at my current employer reads this blog, but I wanted to wait till it was public there before I went public here.
You probably want to ask me for a lot of details and I unfortunately am asking the same questions. My target week to move out there is the last week of September. My last day of work is August 17th. In between my work in Pittsburgh and moving, I’m taking two trips: backpacking in the Pacific Northwest, and an annual fishing trip in Central Ontario with my family. Then, I’ll stay a week and a half in Pittsburgh and then move out. It looks like I’ll live in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.
I currently do not have a job in San Diego, though I do have some leads. So if you know anyone looking for an embedded software engineer, you know who to call. I’ll try to post developments as they come. It’s an exciting time because I never lived outside of Pennsylvania. I was born in Philadelphia, raised in Pittsburgh, and went to school in State College. San Diego will be quite different, but it will be good.
More details to come….