If there's one thing I've had plenty of this year, it's change (and sadly not the kind you keep in your pocket). Good change, bad change and every kind of change in the middle. Some changes I asked for, some changes I surely did not. October brought a bit of each.



The project I had been assigned to at KP had come to a close and we were finally told what our new assignments were going to be. Although I didn't get my first choice, I didn't get my last choice either so I can't complain. However, in making this switch I've been faced with many many changes. Instead of a 3 hour a day commute, I now have a 3 hour a week commute. Instead of sleeping in my own bed every night, I now will be sleeping in a hotel room 5 nights a week. Instead of budgeting my meals from week to week, I can now pretty much eat whatever I want 15 times a week and not pay a penny. Instead of having some sort of idea what my job entails, I now know nothing again. I'm sure there will be more pros and cons to come, I'm taking them all as they come.



But wait, that's not all! Just mere days before the above commenced, some wonderful law abiding citizen decided that it was a nice day to break some rules and t-boned into my car right as I was turning into work and then took off. Fortunately they hit the passenger side and I was not injured, but my car definitely didn't make it out unscathed. A couple days later I dropped it off to get repaired. A week later I got a call from my insurance company to tell me that instead of a repaired car I was going to get a check. Taking into account that I did not need to start making car payments or taking on any more debt than I already had accrued, I bought a used economy car that I hope will last me until I can afford something decent. I'll probably post a picture of the deceased vehicle and the "new" vehicle by the close of the weekend.



So that was my last few weeks. The last few months have their own stories, but I won't get to those tonight. Tomorrow I head back home for 48 hours and then it's back to the next hotel on Sunday night. Hopefully when I get home my cats will still be alive and will only hate me for a little bit.

It's official, I can now call California "home". It took a little longer than expected, but as of August 30th, I'm no longer a Georgia homeowner! I think it will probably be at least 3 years before I consider taking on another mortgage.



I've been employed by Kaiser Permanente since August 6th. I'm working on a team which is responsible for the rollout of a fairly new software program called KP HealthConnect. Once the program is fully implemented almost every aspect of health care at Kaiser will be handled electronically. Medical Records are available to providers any time from anywhere, test results can be viewed online, you can schedule appointments and send your doctor messages online, all kinds of cool stuff. We had four weeks of training which ended on Friday and tomorrow is my first real day out in the field (we had two days of shadowing last week). I have an 18-24 month contract and may be required to travel anywhere within a range of about 225+ miles. It's nice to be doing something different and to no longer have the stresses of life at IBM.



In my opinion though, my most exciting news is that I found my own place to live!

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Carol had been gracious enough to let me stay with them for the last six months, but now that the condo was off my hands I was able to afford to start renting something. It just so happened that I had applied for a guest house in Redondo Beach and the day before the condo closed I was offered the property. Friday after work I drove down and signed the lease and was able to get everything moved in that night (with the exception of the stuff that is still in Georgia). The beach is only a mere two miles to the west. There's even a mall with a movie theater half a mile up the block. And since utilities are included, I should be paying about the same amount I was paying in Georgia.



I took a few pictures before I moved anything in for those who want to get a sneak peek.

I'll take some more once I get everything else out here and unpacked.

There's about 10, so if you want to check them out just click the cut link below.







This is the front of the main house. My apartment is attached to the back of it, but not connected. In order to get to my apartment you enter through the side gate next to the garage





This is what you see once you open said gate...





This is what you see when you turn the corner. The two windows are the windows of my apartment.





This is the back courtyard. The stairs on the left go to the main house and the stairs to the right go to my apartment.





The aforementioned steps to my apartment and the view looking in the door...





As soon as you walk in, you are in the kitchen...





If you are standing in the kitchen, the bathroom is to the left...





Past the kitchen is the living room...





If you are standing in the living room and make a left you enter the bedroom...







And there you have it!



I'm able to access the internet via wireless only for the moment.

I should have full direct access within the next week to two weeks and then you can harass me if I don't call you or make enough LiveJournal updates.



Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day.

I've done a pretty bad job at reporting on my days, weeks, and months (now approaching four) since I moved out to California.  There are many factors that contributed to the lack of journal entries.  There were periods of infrequent internet access, there were periods of being busy, some of it was laziness, some of it was slight mental exhaustion and a good bit of it is just because it's not easy to get in a routine and stick to it when you are looking for a job, figuring out where your next check is going to come from, trying to sell your house that's in another state, and not having a place of your own in the state that you've moved to.  None of those were meant to be excuses, but that's just what's been going on.  And with that being said, here's the latest... (if you aren't in the mood for story reading, skip to the third paragraph)



So very much has happened in the last week.  My grandparents (my mom's parents) from Ft. Lauderdale came to Las Vegas last Sunday for a business conference my Grandpa had to attend.  I had heard that Vegas was only three hours from Los Angeles, so I decided to drive out and join them.  Turns out it was four and a half hours since I'm north of Los Angeles, but that's about the same length as Atlanta to Nashville, so it wasn't too rough.  Sunday wasn't terribly eventful as it consisted pretty much of my picking them up from the airport and us getting settled into our room at the Rio.  Monday however, started of pleasant and bit by bit turned into the day from hell.   My Grandma had forgot to bring a sweater and was getting cold off and on, so we went out looking for a sweater.  Finding a sweater in June in Nevada turned out to be as productive as looking for snow tires in South Florida.  The second we returned to the casino (sweaterless), steam started coming out from under my hood.  I parked the car a decided to let it cool off before I decided to see what was going on.  After an hour or two rest, I got the address for the nearest Target and we went out sweater shopping again.  Before we left I checked under the hood and saw some blue/green residue and decided I should get some radiator coolant while we were out.  We left, we found Target, no sweaters.  Advanced Auto was right across the street.   But of course it couldn't be that easy.  Granny started not feeling well and I couldn't run the air conditioner because of the car issues.  I was able to get the coolant but since I couldn't get Granny out of the car I had to get her back to the hotel.  For the next 5.5 miles I was in complete panic as the engine gage was past the highest hot point.  We made it back, but barely.  Grandpa got Grandma back inside and I sat with my in front of the lobby for an hour before I could get the coolant filled up.  I wasn't going to drive back to California without knowing it was safe, so I took it to a Honda dealership in Las Vegas the next day to get it checked out.  Honda drove me back to the Rio and I took Granny to see the Bellagio.  Shortly after we arrived at Bellagio, I won $35 on a 2 cent slot machine and as I went to go find a cashout machine, I got the call from Honda.  I need a new radiator, the one in it is spewing everywhere.  I can't drive it anywhere as is.  $918 to get a new radiator put in.  Fantastic.  As I have no choice in the matter, I tell them to go ahead and do it.  They'll call me the next morning to tell me when I can pick it up.  I am now officially grumpy.  Time to go find lunch.  During lunch, I call my mother and she tells me someone is coming to look at my condo that evening and that it sounds like the perspective buyer is ready to close on something ASAP.  Ok, not so grumpy anymore.  We make our way back to the Rio and later on that night I have a yummy veggie plate at a fancy restaurant in the casino.  The next morning Honda calls me, now I need a new fan as well, another $300+.  Apparently someone didn't get the message that I'm jobless and don't have a dollar to my name.  Cut to lunch time, the car is ready.  I go pick it up, come back to the Rio, get my stuff from the hotel room, say goodbye to my grandparents and start the trip back to California.  Oh, did I mention I have a third interview the next morning at 9AM?  I make it back by 9PM that night as I made a small detour to check out the Mojave desert.



Thursday morning I have my interview, I'm told I'll have an answer by the next day.  I call my mother and sounds like an offer is being made on my condo.  That being said, Thursday wasn't too bad.  Friday morning rolls around, house offer was received.  Finally, things are going the right way.  Friday early afternoon I get the call about the job, I'm offered employment, I happily accept.  And there you have it, in less than 48 hours I've paid $1,300 in car repairs and have a job and offer on my condo.  The job will start in August and hopefully the condo will close by July 12th.  Back in April the condo was under contract and fell through 2 days before closing, so I'm hoping this one will stick.  



Friday late afternoon I went to the movies.  Both had otters.  First was Evan Almighty.  Not particularly funny, but mildly entertaining.  I think they made a mistake in making it PG, it didn't have much to offer to kids and if the made it PG-13 it would have been more entertaining for the adults.  The biblical tie-ins didn't start off too bad, but towards the end got kind of awkward in delivering the moral of the story.  It certainly wasn't worth the money they spent on it, especially since the majority of the big animal scenes were more of a backdrop then part of the movie.  But I had fun spotting the 2 river otters that showed up a bunch of times.  The I went to a different theatre to see Surfs Up, in which James Woods voiced a sea otter who was an event promoter.  I ended up quite enjoying it.  I thought it was a Disney movie and was glad they were starting to get back on track, but turns out it was Sony Pictures so Disney should take notes.  It had a couple nice score pieces by Mychael Danna, that of course aren't on the soundtrack. It also reminded me that I still want to go to Hawaii.  If anyone else happens to see it and has any kind of information on what the markings on most of the surfing penguins is called I'd appreciate it (it was most prominent in Tank and the Pen Gu tribesmen) .  I think it has something to do with old Hawaiian tribal history.  There is a large guy in the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie "50 First Dates" that has a bunch of tattoos in the same style.  I'm interested in learning the name of the style/history/and info about what kind of inking is used in those tattoos.



This afternoon I went and saw  Ocean's 13.  It was pretty solid, but a bit slower and a little less entertaining than the previous two.  It's worth seeing if you enjoyed the other ones.  I found it neat to spot out some of the places I had just seen a few days prior when I was actually in Las Vegas.



Next week I'm hoping to take care of a few things that need to be done before the job becomes officially official and then I can plan on making a return trip back to Georgia for a week or two since it looks like I'll have the time now.  I've not been going to a lot of concerts the last few weeks (although I've been to about 35 since I got here) and haven't been spending much time in L.A. because of the gas prices and my lack of money.  So it just makes more sense for me to spend time in Atlanta with family and friends rather than sitting around Santa Clarita waiting for August to get here.

I will stay here until at least July 8th though, I've got upcoming Andrew Bird and Squirrel Nut Zippers shows that I don't have to pay for.



Also of note, in addition to Alaska, I've now had a photo in print in Hong Kong. My friend Jeffrey Butzer from Atlanta was out there to do some shows in the beginning of the month and said it was in five newspapers that he saw. It's also online here. I've also been asked by two other musicians for permission to use some of my photos in an Italian magazine and also on a website, I'll let you know when I get word that either of those have happened.



I guess that's it for now. Until next time...

Some (but I'd wager few) of you might have known back in late 1999/early 2000 I was the photography editor and a photographer for Kennesaw State University's student newspaper "The Sentinel". I've had a handful of pictures featured on online blogs/entertainment news sites/musicians' websites and such since then, but I'm pretty sure it's mostly all been only on the internet. I'm proud to say that as of this week, I'm back in the ink again! One of my pictures from Erin McKeown's performance in Malibu last week has made it's way in to Alaska's "Homer Tribune". They are supposed to be mailing me a copy. Here's the article: http://www.homertribune.com/article.php?aid=1627 . It sure would be nice if this started turning into a source of income.



As an added bonus for you lovely LJ-readers, here's the video I took of her at the show:

My mom called me last night to let me know our bird Taz had passed away.

Apparantly she hadn't been feeling too well lately and wasn't eating much and it was just her time. Taz was a rescued wild Quaker Parakeet. When I was young (somewhere between 6 and 9) my Dad was delivering his mail route in South Florida when he found her on the ground. She was just learning how to fly and had fallen out of the nest. He took her to the vet and they re-broke her wing so it would heal correctly and we have had her ever since. A few years after we had her, for whatever reason that I can't remember, I got a blood sample from her toenail so we could tell what sex she was and although we thought it had been a he all those years it had been a she. Anyway, Taz loved me and my Mom. Half the time she was ok with my Dad, on a good day she let my sister bring her treats. Everyone else was liable to lose a finger. For the first half of her life she roamed in and out of her cage as she pleased, terrorizing the cats and hunting the guests. She gave my sisters friend Danielle a sneak attack which resulted in a small scar. She had a close call with my Grandma Jill's daschund once, but she made it out alive. She liked table food and demanded to be included during dinner at most times. Her favorite past times were bathing in a bowl, ripping up papers and snuggling with my mom or I. She will forever be remembered by both those who loved and hated her.



If you'd like to read more about her species, you can do so here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_Parakeet

http://www.qp-society.com/

http://www.monkparakeet.com/



If you'd like to honor her memory you should go rent "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill". It's a touching documentary about wild parrots and it addresses the pros and cons of them being both wild and domesticated.

The film's website is here: http://www.wildparrotsfilm.com/

Watch the trailer:





Here's one of the last pictures I took of her at Christmas 2006 and then her enjoying some "tree time" in May of 2005: