Settling In

Oh my goodness it's been a while since I've last given an update via this lovely blogsite of mine. And to think of all that has occurred.

I guess the good news that comes with the fact that I haven't been writing is that I've made some really wonderful friends over the last month and the relationships have just blossomed into adventures!

It all started with a wonderful trip to Anastasia State Park on the Atlantic Coast. A group of nearly 20 of us carpooled there (about 1.5 hours) and after lugging a massive cooler about half of a mile to get to the perfect beach spot, we set up shop for a day of ocean wave wading, volleyball, sunshine and fun.  While I did receive a bit of a sun burn (the sun in Florida is like nothing I've ever experienced) the day was excellent.

I've also done some more Gainesville exploring. Trying not only the local Mexican place owned by the drummer from ___, but I got a gym membership (purely for yoga-class taking purposes), I've started to enjoy a few of the other local restaurants, and I've become very good friends with a checkout lady at the local grocery store Wards. 

My apartment is finally looking like a functional home. I now even have a very nice set of silverware courtesy of my mom :)  My paintings that were stored in San Diego have now arrived and I even have barstools at my kitchen counter. I'm all sorts of established in my little apartment now.

The long weekend was really excellent here. Not only did my new large group of friends have a great night out on Friday. We then took another day for the beach on Saturday, followed by an awesome and loud dinner that evening. The next day a few of us rose early to go to a local farm and pick peaches ($1.50 per pound) and we ended up with about $25 dollars worth of them between three of us (I have eaten So many peaches, and created so many random peach recipes in the last week it's quite silly).  Later we attended a big Brazilian barbecue hosted at a friends house that's referred to as the "swinger" pad due to it's 1990's sprawling yet geometric architecture.  That night concluded with an art sale at the house. Monday was the day of recovery and at the end of it I was fortunate to have a few friends come over to my place where I lead a sunset yoga session on the grass.  What a beautiful life!


As I said, Florida has more SUN than I've ever experienced. It's ALWAYS sunny. You may laugh and think how I lived in San Diego for all those years and how it must be sunny there. But it wasn't. San Diego gets the June gloom, the summer days always start off with the marine layer blocking out most sun. So while it's bright, it's not sunny.  Here in Florida the sun shines without fail ALL the time. Seriously, there's very rarely a cloud to block the sun, and when there is it's a massive torrential downpour, so you aren't outside anyway.  While it's been quite warm (upper 80's on average), I've still managed to only turn on my air conditioning on rare occasions, so I'm proud to be doing my best to conserve there (though the car is another story)

Work has been challenging of late, but I'm really starting to feel more comfortable in my role and with the company (I think I actually understand most of what we do now) so I'm really jumping into some projects now. As was determined, I get to focus on the youth initiatives, so I've been working hard to help the team develop and plan for the SkillsUSA National Carpentry competition, which our company hosts. I'm a double duty attendee of the conference this year, working both my normal job with the confrence VIP's and media but also helping my company with its hosting of the competition. It should be a great new way to experience the conference and I'm learning a whole new aspect of what it takes to run the national conference. An excellent learning experience all around.

With so much time to cover I could go on, but I think I've covered the most recent highlights. All in all, things are wonderful, people are excellent, and while I miss my friends from all the other places in the world, I think I'll be happy calling this little tree town of Gainesville my home for a few years :)

12 Hours on the Water-A Sailing Race Adventure

It was a busy week at work last week. We're in the final stages of creating a 'relationship management' database through which we can begin to track and be accountable for, well, the relationships that we form and develop as a  Workforce Development Team. So I was very much looking foward to a lazy weekend of cleaning up the house and reading some classics through iBooks on my brand new IPhone (yes I finally made the switch from the old Blackberry, and while I miss my keyboard, the accessibility of applications via the IPhone are much worth it)

So there I was having a nice evening in on Friday evening. I cooked up a stirfy ensemble of fresh green beans, yellow squash, corn, celery, green bell peppers (my coworkers and I all pitched in for a weekly box of vegetables from local farms, very cool, check it out at http://homegrowngainesville.wordpress.com) and was watching the latest Harry Potter film when I got a call from a recent acquaintance that I had made through the Gainesville Power and Sail Squadron (a group here in Gainesville that hosts events and educational opportunities for people with boat). He happened to be entered in a "Mug Race" (http://www.rudderclub.com/mug.html), which also happens to be "the longest sailboat river race in the country". At a wopping 38.5 nautical miles, he informed me that there were many years that, due to lack of wind, no one would finish the entire race. And most years, it would take people nearly 12 hours to finish.  So, did I want to come along and crew his Sirius 21 foot sailboat with him?

With an opportunity like that, of course I said yes! So I planned to rise at 5:30 the next morning and hit the road to Palatka (about an hour away) where I'd meet him at a marina and jump on the boat to start the race at 7:30. 

Sunrise on the drive west to the St.

His boat is a definite fixer-upper. The two days prior, he had sailed the race course going the opposite direction and had found he had some problems taking on water. So we had some bailing out to plan to do if things got too windy. Other than that he explained that she sailed fine and that the jib (little front sail) was mine to man.

At 7:30 we were off, and after some initial complications with some of the rigging not being up correctly, we were on our way.  Partway through the course, Bill (the man I was sailing with) decided to go wide through one of the bends in the river and then cut across the top section. As crew I just followed along, but in my head, I knew that even if the wind was excellent we'd be putting ourselves way off course and likely fall behind anyway.  Well, it turned out the wind wasn't good like he had projected, putting us about 45 minutes behind the other boats. On a 12 hour course, that's understandable, but it still didn't feel good.

Notice how flat the water is-sailing on glass! Not a good thing!

And then...the wind died. We were sailing on glass, which essentially meant we were not sailing at all but sitting on the water and waiting.  Here and there for the next 4 hours we had some good runs with wind. But when we arrived at a long stretch that we expected to be blowing with wind it was totally dead.  Bill called a friend who was on land and asked him what kind of time we were making (if there was any way we'd make it by the 8:30pm race end time).



After some calculations, he reported that at the rate we were going, we'd make it to the finish in approximately 38 hours.

Ouch. So, with neither of us having a true agenda to be competitive in the race, we decided to sail a bit longer, and then motor on back to our start marina and then take my car to Jacksonville (30 minutes by road) and celebrate with those who had finished (not that we were expecting there to be many people).  After a free spaghetti dinner and some beer, 8pm rolled around and the first boats started to come in (remember, that's after over 12 hours on the water). The only people that ended up finishing the race by the cutoff were about 10 catamarans (who are always faster than monohaul boats) and the other 180+ boats were at various intervals along the river.

To say the race were a success would be false, but even without success I had a wonderful time and made a few new friends (and boy am I tan!)

I'm so happy to be involved in sailing here in Florida. It's definitely one community that I'll continue to be a part of throughout my time here. :)

A little bit of an update

I find myself in a bit of a funny position because in many ways I don't feel like I've been up to a whole lot since I've arrived here in Gainesiville and started working. But then again, I've been doing so so very much!

Every day after work I find myself running errands to various hardware, home and grocery stores to pick up little things that will make life a little bit easier. (A spatula being the most recent necessary acquisition). Nearly every day after work I'm off running errands or picking things up until nearly 7pm before I come home to cook myself a nice meal (in my one skillet or single sauce pan). I will say that as far as the techniques of cooking, having few tools to work with sure makes one become creative (think cutting up a pineapple with a butter knife and pair of scissors).  I've started to do the actual sewing on the few fabric projects that I purchased materials for, and while the 1960's sewing machine that I bought for $20 on Craigslist is winning against me in my struggles to make it work, I've gotten a bit better at hand stitching and have already completed a curtain and finished a few small pillows.

Really, everything so far has been a fun challenge in seeing how I could make do without the tools I'm used to using to complete the projects and daily operations that I'm accustomed to doing. I still need to buy some hangers and a small dresser, but in the meantime have found the boxes that some of my belongings were shipped in to be excellent substitute drawers and sometimes tables. It's really a story of making due with what I have.

You may be curious why I haven't just gone and bought all of these basic 'necessities'. Well, for start, I'm trying to be a responsible budgeter. But on top of that, Gainesville stores just do not have the quality or diversity of things that I would choose to purchase for my home! It's fascinating to me the amount of effort it took me just to find a pair of sheets that I really wanted! Now, maybe I'm a little bit picky, but never before have I had such a hard time finding things I like. And to top both of these things off, I find that I still have a large aversion to owning 'stuff'. It's somewhat funny, but I'm still having a hard time unpacking the last of my things from the suitcases that I've lived out of for the past year. I'm now in a place where I can do some real-time getting-settled-in-one-place-for-a-while, but it freaks me out to think of a life so...stable! It may seem silly, but the last year that I spent living out of a backpack with few things really worked for me!

On another note, I've kept to beign myself and have been sure to have a few adventures since I've arrived here. My first weekend I drove from Gainesville to the Atlantic coast and drove down along the water with my coworker Miriam. Last weekend I traveled to the Florida Key, Marathon, to spend the long Easter weekend with my good San Diego friend Kat, and this weekend I adventured out to St. Augustine, the US's oldest city, to explore cobbled streets and visit old lighthouses.

Work is going well as I'm getting more used to the company and the ways that it works, I'm still learning and waiting to find where I fit into the whole organization, but I can only say good things about my coworkers, the company, and their reception of me so far. I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Soon I'll have some updates on my travels (the Florida Keys were Amazing!) and some more insider scoops on Gainesville (and the groups I'm getting involved with including the Power and Sail Squadron and Alachua County Emerging Leaders). Hopefully I'll be out on my road bike soon (it's arrived but I have to pump up the tires) and possibly I'll be visiting some 'long lost' family in Alabama in not too long!  Lots to look forward to!

The 9-5 life (or should I say 8-6:30?)

I’ve now completed two full weeks of work. And boy have I been soaking up a lot!  I don’t know that I can go into too much detail on specificities, but I’d like to share a little about what kind of role I’m evolving into at work.

First, I am the newest addition to an amazing team of individuals that makes up the National Center for Construction Education and Research, Workforce Development team. Our role is primarily business development, outreaching to schools, companies, and groups to encourage the use of the NCCER educational programs that offer standardized curriculum and a portable credential in nearly 60 construction fields (ranging from crane operations to bricklaying). It’s a system through which both construction companies benefit (they have skilled and trained workers) and individuals benefit (their credential proves that they have certain skills, so when the start work for a new company, they don’t have to start in entry level positions). It’s really a wonderful program of standardization for training within the industry and it is supported by the leading construction companies in the world. A very cool partnership really.

The Workforce development team that I am part of is made up of 4 individuals and myself. All of us come from very different backgrounds. One was in construction and then taught construction trades at the high school and university level, another came from managing the workforce development for one of the largest construction companies in the US, another worked their way up from mail room clerk to Executive Assistant for the President of the organization, and then was brought onto the WFD team, and yet another has been there for years and knows more about the employment/unemployment and construction industry data than probably any person out there.  Everyone comes together wonderfully with our different strengths and I really see our team being a force as we learn to work together and assist each other even more throughout our time as a team.

It felt like things started off pretty slow as during my first week the focus was for me to simply meet everyone in the office and read every piece of literature we produce to get familiar with it. But by Monday of week two we found lots of work to do on the basic research for a white paper (essentially an industry research paper) that we’re supposed to have for publication by April 18^th! Such a fast deadline, but our team has come together in an amazing way and I think that we’ll at least have a draft in time.

It started off slow, but I’ve now had an orientation with every department in the company and my collaborative drive is already whirring with ways that we can all work together more. I’m excited to continue diving in and understanding more as I’m continually introduced to new aspects of the company.

And did I mention that I have my own office? It's slowly becoming mine

In the near future I’ll begin traveling (I’m going to be doing quite a lot of it), starting with attending a Master Trainer class (it’s our required “train the trainer” program that every company must send one individual to in order to start certifying educators to teach NCCER curriculum). I’ve already gotten a brief introduction to how our organization supports SkillsUSA (something very close to my heart) and I’m excited to get to play a part in how our relationship works with the organization (we currently sponsor the National Carpentry competition for SkillsUSA).

So much learning. Wonderful people to work with and learn from. And some excellent challenges. I’m very excited to be here and be working!

You Should Probably buy a New Bed

So here I was with a real job and an apartment and absolutely no furniture or the makings of what you need to live in an empty house.  I went on a drive with one of my coworkers to go visit the historic Florida town of St. Augustine and in our conversation, she offered me the use of a futon type piece of furniture that I could use to sleep on until I had the bed situation figured out. I had to buy some pillows for it, but overall it was a great place to sleep for the first few days.

But still, I needed to get a real bed. Still being in the college living expenses state of thinking, I thought to go to Craigslist but upon mentioning this was warned of the rampant bed bug problem in Gainesville and told I should just buy a new bed.

This was another expense I wasn’t particularly expecting, and shoot, how much do brand new beds even cost?  So it was off to a bed supply store for me. I went with the first place that turned up on a Google search for “mattress store” and while the outside looked a bit dingy, inside they had a beautiful display of beds. After a brief introduction of the layout of the showroom, I went bed by bed and found those that felt the best. Going back and forth, laying on different beds, I narrowed it down to two and then started to look into the prices. They were much more than I wanted to pay, but I really needed a bed. I beckoned the salesman and told him that I wanted ‘this’ bed but that I was only looking to pay around $600 (it was priced $825).  He brought it down to $670 for me and with a look of indecision from me he took to his pricing book. He told me that the absolute lowest he could go was $620 out the door and I said “excellent”.

He let me know that the price included a frame, box spring, mattress and free delivery, so it turns out I did even better than I expected! Because they didn’t have the bed in stock it would take till Friday (this was on Sunday) for the bed to come in. I had the futon so I told him not to worry.

They delivered the bed Friday during my lunch break and had it set up in a matter of minutes.  I signed some paperwork and then ate my quick lunch on the bed, contemplating the color scheme I would soon be moving forward with as my apartment was finally starting to take shape!

And yes, the bed is wonderfully comfortable. I hadn’t had a new-new bed since I was a child so I’ve been feeling very spoiled (thank goodness for tax returns to make it possible!)

Setting up life

My goodness, I can’t believe that nearly two weeks have now passed of me living and working here in Gainesville! In this post I’m going to explain the process of me getting set up with an apartment, and car, though I may have to expand into tangential posts to explain everything because they’re just been so much!

Work had flown me out to Gainesville three days prior to my official start date so that I had some time to start getting my life settled before starting to work. I enjoyed a number of café’s and restaurants and even made my very first friend while watching a soccer game at a local bar called Mothers (excellent spot).

Apartment Hunt

In the first two days I think I visited every apartment complex in the city that had open units. It’s a really interesting dynamic here. First, cost of living is much lower than what I am used to (thanks for the inflated sense of apartment value SD) but prices still are high in some areas due to proximity to the University of Florida. The range of apartments is huge. Some are tall towers resembling hotels, others are little bungalows spread out around “ponds” (which honestly are enormous puddles that stick around all year because of the mass amounts of rain). Some are renovated and beautiful, others are very obviously used and lived in. And most of the one bedrooms’ are shaped exactly the same way—more of a long mobile home than an apartment, so as you walk in from the door you pass through each living space individually.

For me it came down between two quite different but individually beautiful places. It turned out the smaller of the two one based on proximity to things and price, and after a week here I’m so so glad with the decision.  While I’m not currently in my exact apartment that I’ll live in for the year (I wanted one surrounding the inner lawn with a pool, they said it would be open, then the people didn’t move out when expected so I said I’d take another apartment till they move out. Well, they’re out and I’m just waiting for the okay for me to switch places!)  It’s wonderful because the community is ultra quiet, the place is small but very cozy, and I even got out to enjoy the pool and sunshine today (though I didn’t last long in the 90 degree heat!)

Vehicle

I really wanted to get a vespa when I moved here. They’re extremely affordable, fun, and the weather is usually nice enough to warrant riding one. While I had much family opposed to such an idea, I was just not feeling the whole “buy a junky used car” option that seemed like my only other choice. But, before I moved to Florida I had done some research on car leasing, just in case I’d need a car after all.

So here I was, set on a vespa, and then in talks with my boss (wonderful guy) he made it very clear that a manager level employee should probably have an enclosed vehicle, particularly as I may be looked to travel in it occasionally. I wasn’t really interested in buying an old used car and I sure don’t have the funds to buy new, but I had looked into leasing as a viable option. The only problem there is that leases usually require a few thousand dollars down and really excellent credit. Fortunately for me, I heard of this thing called Swap-a-lease, where you take over other people’s leases, getting out of all the multi-thousand dollars of origination and lease fees. You simply apply for a swap and then start taking over payments.  I had spoken with a number of car owners and was ready to move forward with a lease option with someone but they kept falling through.

Finally, I got fed up with waiting around on people and decided to just go to the dealer.  I changed from my after-work running clothes and called the Toyota dealer to ask if they’d be willing to talk with me about leasing if I showed up about 5 minutes before close. They said come on in and so I did.

I sat down with a gentleman named Mike and told him what I wanted. I specified a monthly payment, told him I didn’t want to make a down payment but if necessary I could, and that I wanted to walk out the door tonight with a car.  Of course, car dealers love to hear that so we discussed car options (thought thinking back I just told him “get me a car at this price”, so when he came back with a Camry at the exact prices I asked).  The reason I got it so cheap (this payment was less than anything I had heard of for a lease, let alone a brand new upgraded Camry—he asked if I planned on coming in on the last day of the month and told me that’s the only reason I got such an amazing payment! Talk about fortune!

I filled out paperwork and he realized I just graduated from college. Turns out Toyota has a program for recent grads where there are no down payments or origination fees if you graduated within two years! So there went the biggest fee I was expecting to pay, I simply gave him my first month down payment in cash (I had it because I was expecting to move forward with a vespa purchase in cash)!  Then he sent my paperwork to be processed and we walked outside where I picked my exact vehicle from the lot.  After I chose it, we finalized paperwork and I made plans to go back the next day and get my car! It’s a 2011 Toyota Camry and it has all the perks, electric windows and locks and CD players and an AV hookup. It’s quite nice.

So there I was, papers signed for a brand new car and an apartment to move into whenever I was ready! My work was relieved when I told them I had signed a contract on a place-it meant I wasn't going to decide to leave anytime soon!

Getting grounded in Gainesville :)

As you may know, earlier this month I was given the choice between two wonderful job offers and I made my decision in the affirmative on the one that would take me to Gainesville, Florida.  Once the decision was made, moving plans were developed and I would have 2 weeks of time before my start date with the NCCER.

I spent a wonderful final week in Minneapolis, visiting many of the spots that had been my life during my four months there and soaking up as much time with Tom as I could.  But a decision was made that I would spend a week in Colorado before the move, giving me time to recoup around family and relax in the springtime mountain air.

My time at home was really wonderful. Not only did I get a weekend of fun with my sisters (we found an amazing playground), I spent lots of time reliving family stories with mom, was visited by two of my closest Wyomingite friends, and then I spent a full day in Cheyenne visiting friends, high school teachers, doctors, and even my junior high basketball coach!  It was great to be able to make the trip up to Wyoming and send my thanks yet again to all those people who inspired and encouraged my to aspire to the wonderful life I now live.

But after a week it was off to Florida for me!! The company brought me out a few days before I am to report to the office so that I'd have time without work to find a place to live and a vehicle to transport me around this bustling little college town.

On Gainesville
Gainesville is a college town in every sense of the word. The majority of the 100k residents are either students or individuals that work for the university (even my company is an affiliate of the school).  Everywhere one goes there are signs cheering on the college teams, the Gators (who are quite exception in their NCAA rankings).  Even the local grocery store chain, Publix, has blue and orange themed design.  The town has (as far as I've found) about four different "areas" that each come with their different vibes. First is a distinct and wonderful old(ish) brick and cobblestone downtown area, next a southern part which is dedicated to the mall and other chain-type businesses, the university campus which takes up the entire center of the town, and then a sprawling and heavily wooded northern residential and somewhat commercial area.

To be honest the entire town is heavily wooded. One can see very little when on a road or outside due to the immense and dense spreads of trees that tower upwards of thirty feet into the air.  I have a near feeling of claustrophobia at some points because from my life in the west I'm so used to the wide open skies and expansive ocean views.  What I love, however, is the beautiful green of the landscape, the smell of ever-blooming flowers, and the crispness of the morning air-I'm definitely not in a city here.

After two days of searching , I found an apartment that I know I will love.  While it's not in the downtown area that I've been spending all of my time, I know it will be a nice place to call home for my first year here (this was a very awkward time to look for an apartment as, in college towns, the big moving seasons are late May and early August) and it is only 5 miles from the office.  I'm pretty happy because I think I scored with this newly remodeled, adorable little one bedroom apartment that amazingly has some good natural light (the trees make it so hard!) and a very agreeable rental price. I won't be able to move in until next week due to the maintenance time needed so spruce the place up, but until then I'm being put up in a great little long-stay hotel equipped with a fridge and burners so that I can cook my own food :)

I'm now in the process of a vehicle hunt and, while I have considered and researched car leasing options, I've decided to go with a vespa (an Italian brand scooter/moped) for the beginning of my time here. As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of driving and/or vehicles, so a vespa seemed a good alternative to my bicycle and the local bus options (which I will often take weather permitting). What's wonderful that as a university town, the students too have embraced the little scooters as an affordable and fun way to get around town, so they fill the streets and parking lots, AND, to satisfy those that worry, that means that the cars are also used to looking out for the little guys, so it will be safer to drive them here.

So now, here I am on the Sunday before my first week of work in a "real job", enjoying a chai latte at a cafe called Maude's and enjoying the shade and breeze on their outdoor patio.  Tomorrow is my first day! Maybe I should go buy a new outfit so everything is new and fresh :)