Author: Isaac

For those of you not familiar with where I live, allow me to fill you in. I live Springfield, a suburb of Washington DC. Drive due south on 395 and you’ll hit it. Actually, drive south on 495 (in either direction), 95, or 395 and you’ll hit it. The locals call the nexus of all of these interstates “the mixing bowl.” As far as I can tell, it is why Springfield exists at all. They have done a good job in making the traffic flow better so the mixing bowl isn’t as bad as its reputation has been.

So being close to all of those interstates makes getting anywhere you’d want to go in the NoVA area pretty easy. It’s also the end of the blue line of the metro. I live about a mile from that. The blue line gives me a straight shot into the District, and more importantly, to Pentagon city where I work.

Springfield seems to have inherited or extended the low rent areas of South Arlington and Annandale. That makes for nicer rent payments, but there are some issues. I don’t have to worry about the schools, but I’m sure they’re not as good as they are in Falls Church, Fairfax, etc. I have the impression that crime is higher as well, but I haven’t experienced any. The good thing about this is that I live with a bunch of immigrants. That’s good? Sure it is. I got used to a lot of ethnic diversity when I was in Yemen and it’s nice to get back to that.

Consider this. Both of my neighbors are from muslim countries (Afghanistan and some other, unidentified country). This means that they are much less likely to have a dog. That’s nothing but a plus in my book! In my experience, immigrant communities tend to be hard working and down to earth, and my current neighborhood seems to fit that to a tee.

Of course the real reason you want to live in an immigrant rich area is for the food. I went up to the local strip mall today and Holy ethnic dining Bat Man! There were Indian, South Indian, Thai, and several kabob places (with the innovative names of Kabob house II and Kabob house III). That, along with several latin grocery stores makes me wonder what else is around this area. If I ever make enough money to go out to eat again, I’ll be eating well!

So I’m digging the new place so far. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, it has good food, what else can you ask for in a place to live?

So like I said, my neighbors on each side are muslims and are clearly immigrants. I’ve made the effort to wish them a happy Ramadan in Arabic hoping that we can start up a conversation. One of them just smiled and waved as he went in. I got the distinct impression that he doesn’t know Arabic. I briefly talked with the patriarch on the other side. He doesn’t know Arabic and his English is spotty. I did find out that he’s from Afghanistan.

While I was sitting on my stoop looking for a wireless signal, a much younger guy came up to the door of the Afghan neighbor and I wished him a happy Ramadan. He saw me using my computer and we struck up a conversation. I was going crazy trying to track down a wireless signal that wasn’t mine, it turns out that he wants someone to set up a wireless network, so we struck up a deal. I’ll set up his wireless system and he’ll let me use it. Now that’s a good deal!

Setting up the router is no big deal really. I’m a little worried about setting up his computer, but I’m sure I can muddle through, even if it’s windows. Things are looking good… maybe I’ll get to try one of their Ramadan Samosas too!:-)

My first night and day at the new place went by without incident. Happily, the place is pretty quiet, I slept like a baby. My housemates (so far) are decent enough. Living here reminds me of my time in Yemen a bit. There is an Afghan family to one side of me and on the other is an Arabic family from an as yet unidentified place. One of my current housemates is from El Salvador and the other is from Nicaragua. There will be a Bolivian family moving in as well in a couple of months. I love all of the international elements here, maybe I’ll pick up some Spanish as well as get to practice my Arabic…

I love the location, the bus stop is literally right around the corner and I think that even I can make the walk to the metro in good weather. There is plenty of shopping and restaurants along the bus line (along Backlick road) and everything is pretty convenient.

Mom has left her car up here until I can bring it down. I’m of two minds on the car. Yes, it is handy. On the other hand, I am on a serious austerity budget and it isn’t clear to me that I can afford car insurance, gas, taxes, etc. right now. The other ironic thing is that it is easier to walk back from the bus stop than it is to walk back from where I end up parking the car. Parking spaces are at a t here, come back at night and you might be in for a bit of a hike.

I still need to get some basic stuff to make living here easy. Stuff like salt and pepper shakers, a spoon, a plate, etc. I’ll round those things up over the next couple of days. Tomorrow, I get familiar with the bus routes…

Everything went very smoothly, well almost everything. Kelly, Pat, mom and Rick helped me move into the new place. Thank God they were there. There was no way on earth I could have gotten my bed out of Rick’s place and up into my new place without their help. So all my stuff is now there and I am going to spend my first night there tonight!

The only hiccup occurred when I gave my landlord my check. He looked down and pointed out that my checks still said “First Union” on them. First Union was bought out by Wachovia something like 6 years ago. Obviously, I don’t write checks very often… I’ll get some new ones from the now Wells Fargo bank that I use.

My new place doesn’t have internet just yet so I’ll be offline for a little while. I’ll go up to the library and get online in the nearish future. Till then, I’ll be learning the bus lines and starting my new job!!! I’ll post news when I have it.

My training has been postponed for a week due to the launch of the new operating system by Apple. They just don’t have the time to deal with a new person.. SIGH

But it’s not all bad. I can get stuff done this week. I already have a new phone, and I used it to set up a dental appointment with my dentist. I’m also going to start looking at places to move into. With any luck, I’ll have a place by the time I need to report to work.

So a slight delay, but things are going on. I feel like I’m starting a new life…

Yes, I am no longer unemployed. At long last, I was hired by Apple computer. Once I understood that I was not going to be able to do the teaching overseas thing, working at Apple became my next goal. The trouble was that as soon as I figured this out, the economy tanked and Apple put on a hiring freeze. As days stretched into weeks and then months, I started to despair. As I’ve written before, I had never been in the position of having to do a job search before. I had simply figured out what job I wanted to do, and then I went and got it. As it turns out, I have done it again, but it took quite a bit longer than I expected…

I have been hired as a “specialist.” That is Apple-speak for a salesperson. I have no doubts that I will totally kick ass at that. After all, I have actually sold 5 Macs this year without being in the store or even working at it. My enthusiasm was enough to convince those people that a Mac was the best idea for a new purchase. I’ll be working at the Pentagon city location, come and see me if you have some time!

I am beyond psyched at having a job, and one that I will enjoy at that. The downside is that I am starting over. No really, I am. I have been hired as a part time employee. From what I can tell, this is typical. They start people as part timers and “promote” them to full time once they have proven themselves. I won’t have any trouble getting the number of hours I want. Between back to school and the holiday season, there will be plenty of work to go around.

In addition to being a part timer, I will be paid essentially the same amount I got paid when I first joined Penn Camera back in ’97. That’s a huge pay cut as compared to what I was making before I left. On the other hand, it’s a hell of a lot more than I was getting being unemployed… No matter, I consider this a foot in the door. Apple gives me an opportunity to go places professionally that I just couldn’t go in the last company. In addition to going into management, there are all sorts of other opportunities to be had as well. I could become a trainer, I could go into tech support, I could go into the corporate world. The sky’s the limit!

So yeah, I can’t wait to start. I’m also excited at the prospect of starting a new chapter in my life. There’s no telling who I’ll meet, where I’ll go, or what opportunities I’ll come across. It’s good to have some excitement about life again!

I have always been thankful that I don’t need to shave that often. For a large part of my life, I would only need to shave once a week, nowadyas it’s every third day. Seeing guys that needed to shave twice a day to look decent made me even more aware of how lucky I am.

That’s changed a bit, now I actually look forward to shaving. No, seriously, I enjoy it now! It turns out that if you do it properly, it is quite pleasant. Use a real shaving soap or cream and throw away that canned goo! Use a proper single blade to shave with instead of those expensive multi bladed contraptions. Use a decent aftershave afterwards and your skin will feel great!

The best part of all of this is how cheap it is. Go to Amazon and buy the Van der Hagen shave set. It has a puck of shaving soap, a brush, and a bowl and runs around 12 bucks. Trust me, your face will thank me later on. Just using a proper shave soap will do wonders for your attitude about shaving. You can also go to Bath and Body Works and pick up a tube of the C.O. Bigilow shave cream. They say you can use your hands, but you should really use a brush…

The aftershave can be something as simple as witch hazel. I use a scented one from Ogallala, I love the lime and peppercorns. The main purpose of the aftershave is not for the scent. The scent should fade away fairly quickly with a decent aftershave. You want to use the aftershave to tone the skin and possibly moisturize it.

Seriously, just try them. I am now a little jealous of the guys that have to shave every day. If you want to know about razors, just drop me a line.