Survey time

I need to start smoking so I can quit. Think of the money I’ll save.

… A year ago I mentioned that Stockton, Calif. – the hub of San Joaquin County and where I grew up – was ranked No. 2 by Forbes Magazine in its Most Miserable City in America survey behind Detroit and ahead of Flint, Mich.

This year, there is no one above them. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse it did. Forbes calls Stockton the “… ground zero of the housing boom and now the subsequent bust,” and thus is “honored” with the Most Miserable City in America title.

While I knew the house bust was in Stockton, this is what I didn’t know – only 15 percent of adults have college degrees, one of the lowest rates in the country. I find this a bit odd since the University of the Pacific is there and is considered a good college. I guess people wise up after graduating.

In a way I’m kind of sad since it is where I grew up and they were trying to improve its image. The strange this is Stockton has won an All-America City Award, given by the National Civic League, twice since 1999. The way things look; they might not win another for a while.

Another survey I found recently said my car was one of the top 10 automobiles to get tickets. It was ranked No. 7. The Hummer H2 was No. 1 followed by the Scion Tc and Scion Xb.

When I thought about it, it made sense. I got a ticket within a month of getting my Scion Xa. I then got another ticket in 17 months later.

I’m not that worried about it, however. I love my car.

… In celebration of my friend’s upcoming wedding, they had a Laser Tag party. It’s been about 11 years since I played and it showed as I finished last out of 22 people in the “everyone for themselves” round. And just so you know, that included women and children.

I fared much better over the next two rounds, both team competitions. My team won the second round as I finished in sixth overall. Then in the third round my team lost, but I finished in third. What can I say, I’m a team player.

It was fun until my right hamstring cramped up at dinner, twice. The first time I was able play it off. The second time it hurt really bad. So I had everyone laughing at my pain – it wouldn’t have been the first time.

In less than two weeks, my friend gets married. I have the privilege to be the DJ at the wedding. My handle will be DJ takenorequests, I think it is pretty clear why.

I did buy a new suit for the wedding. I found a Ralph Lauren sports coat at Macy’s marked down from $225 to $28 in excellent condition. I got new slacks and a tie, both on sale. I have a styling new suit for $76. Plus, I had a gift card for $50 so I didn’t spend much out of pocket.

… February is half over and there is still a month and a half to go in my private hell. I know for a fact that my newspaper’s sister publication in Woodland Hills is going to transfer over in March to West Covina meaning our paper will probably move over in April. I’m still trying to get out by then. I also need to find a new place to live too.

… Ah, baseball season is here. I like my San Francisco Giants’ chances this season. They have strong pitching; they just need to find someone that can hit a home run more frequently than every other week.

It’s only until we’ve lost everything …

January sucked, and it usually gets worse this time of year.

… Two weeks ago, my friend Eric and I continued a tradition of going to Las Vegas for his birthday. We would have left on the day of his birthday but since his it fell on the date of the Inauguration, we thought it would be better to watch it and delay the trip for a day. In fact, we had thoughts about going to Washington D.C. to see it in person, but could not secure any tickets.

We stayed at the Luxor and it was pretty nice. We pretty much hung around the hotel, except for a few excursions. We went to the top of the Hotel at Mandalay Bay for a free view of the strip. Well it wasn’t really free since we bought $5 Pepsi drinks.

We also went to The Pinball Hall of Fame where we played a variety of pinball games from the 40s to today. I got to play a lot of games I remember playing when I was younger. It took me back.

I was down for a while but won $60 dollars playing craps then another $40 on nickel slots to put my losses on the trip down to about $40.

… However, I couldn’t really escape all the problems at home. In fact, they got me while I was still in Las Vegas when my roommate sent me a text saying she had news for me. I instantly figured that our rent was going to go up. What I didn’t expect, as I found out the next day, was that it would go up $450 total by April.

What I feared came true. The owner of the property died a couple of months ago and knew the person taking over would know this place is worth more. They are fixing up the place, painting and will eventually fix up the inside.

My roommate would then inform me a few days later that it was time for her to buy a house. If I could, I would and hopefully it works out for her. As for me, I need to find a new place by April.

… January refused to die easy. Almost a week later I received news that I would be forced to take a week furlough. Basically, take an unpaid vacation anytime during the months of February and March. You can’t help but get the feeling that you are working in the engine room of the Titanic.

Trying to make this into a positive I quickly budgeted to make sure that unpaid week off wasn’t going to hurt me financially and, if I could, make it into a positive some way. I told my supervisor that I would take a day off soon then wait until the end of March to take off the other four days, that way I can use the time to move.

We also moved into the new building finally. It’s a nice place but the problem is: How much longer will I be there before being transferred to a central location?

… I had the honor to write a letter of recommendation for one of my college professors who was up for the Distinguished Facility Advising Award at CSULB. I considered it a great honor. His advice helped me a lot during my time as a student and he kept helping me after college.

I hope I helped.

… I went to Las Vegas again for the UFC Pay-Per-View, but I think it was the last time. My friend that covered the UFC for my newspaper was laid off. It was sad because I remember bringing James to these events and the fun we would have at the event and later on gambling in the casino.

I gambled and won $55. I won $9 on penny slots and the rest playing craps. I was actually down $40 when it was my turn roll and I made my winnings. The best thing about craps is that when you are on a roll, you win people money and that is a good feeling. I even got tipped from one of the players for rolling a hard six, which I also cashed in on.

… I head into what is typically the worst months for me, February and March. For those that didn’t believe me and what can happen to me learned last year when I: was transferred, found out my father had cancer (which he beat), saw my Giants lose on opening day to the Dodgers, and had someone do $150 damage to my car in the form of staining it (to this day I don’t know what they did, but it looked like paint and it wouldn’t come off with soap and water.)

While I did win money the first couple days in February last year, it didn’t prove to be a positive omen. So I consider my winnings and anomaly.

My focus over the next two months is to find a new place to live and look for a new job, in that order. Of the two things, looking for shelter is definitely going to happen. I think if I don’t find work, I hopefully will still be working at my current job and stick it out there.

I had an interesting thought. My job search in a way was kind of limited since I was looking around Long Beach. Since I have to move, however, I can pretty much uproot myself now. I had mentioned in my last blog that I would want to stay in Southern California since I’ll be close to family and friends and still plan on doing that. Now, I can expand the search to beyond the Long Beach area while a part of me thinks it is a sign to live elsewhere.

I’m reminded of the quote, “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.” Losing this apartment and working a job that could go away at any time somehow gives me a freeing feeling. Maybe it is because I’m delusional, or maybe it’s because now is the time to do something else and not be afraid to leave because I have to anyway.

Darkest before dawn

I’m 18 days into the 2009 and I am already for next year to start.

… Just when I thought things at work couldn’t get any worse, it did. A week after being told that the design and copy editing desk would be moved for all of LANG to one centralized location, there were layoffs.

Two of my good friends were laid off. They both have children and their wives are a semester away from their college graduation. It doesn’t seem fair, but we all know how the rest of that goes.

Moments like this only feed my desire to leave. I’ve contemplated taking the buyout and filing for unemployment if and when it is made available just because I don’t want to be there.
Although I have friends also telling me, just leave when you have a certain thing because you just really never know what can happen, especially with this economy.

I consider loyalty as one of my strongest suits, borderline blind faith almost. But why should I have loyalty to a company that doesn’t seem loyal to its employees. They’ve only been really up front about one thing in the last two years; everything else has been dropped on us with relative haste. It doesn’t seem right.

One of my many brother-in-laws once told me “The only person you have to be loyal to in this business is yourself.” It’s true. It’s clear now they have no loyalty towards the people working for them.

It’s not fair … but you know.

… At the same time, I see some hope coming. After years of wallowing with a President that: started a war on false accusations with no real plan on ending it; allowed a major U.S city and its people to be almost forgotten underwater; and that at one point had an approval rating as high as 90 percent only to see it fall to one of the worst ratings in history, change is finally coming.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about watching an Inauguration than I am now and it is still a day away. I’m even getting up early to watch it, and I always sleep until at least 9 a.m.
I’ll be there watching it on television, just like a lot of people not only in the United States but around the world.

Like I said before, I’ve been looking forward to this day since Obama gave his speech at the DNC in 2004. I wouldn’t go all this way just to over sleep on history.

… I did have dreams of going to Washington D.C. and witness history in person. However, my friends and I couldn’t get tickets to the Inauguration. So instead of going to Washington D.C., I’ll be heading to Las Vegas on January 21 for the fourth annual Eric Johnson Birthday Bash. This year, we’ll be staying at the Luxor mainly because I had a coupon for $50 off a two night stay.

Hopefully my luck – along with the luck of my friends that need it the most – will change, especially in Las Vegas. But I know that February and March are getting closer, and if the first 18 days of the year are the better times, then I might be in serious trouble until April 1. At least this is not a leap year unlike last year.

I am reminded of a Chinese Proverb, however: “A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind.”

Looking for stability in 2009

I was looking for a change this year, I just didn’t know it would come that fast.

… The last weeks of 2008 were much like the rest of the year, same ol’, same ol’. I gave out my gifts to my nieces and nephews that I see on a regular basis and others that came down to Southern California. I also had presents for other friends to give out.

I enjoyed my usual Christmas traditions of watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story,” the latter watching several times on TBS.

I spent New Year’s with the family, especially since one of my sisters was in town. Of the five possible holidays I can get off at the end of the year from work – Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day – I only asked for and got NYE off. Which is fine, I can always use the overtime.

… It wasn’t more than two days into 2009 when I was told life was going change again for me. It was announced that the copy editing/design desk where I work will be merging with all the other desks in LANG in San Gabriel sometime in the next couple of months.

If this sounds familiar it is because less than 11 months ago I had to do the same thing and move to Torrance. Now it’s happening again. The funny thing is I knew it was going to happen. I just thought: A) I had more time, and; B) It would be Woodland Hills and the Daily News.

This is obviously developing as you can tell by the fact that I don’t have a date when the move will take place. But it is going to happen and it is going to happen by my next birthday.

… So this leads me to what I wanted this blog to be originally about: My goals for 2009.

Well, as I said before in the last blog, I’d like to start eating better. That hasn’t happened, but at the same time, things have changed. I’m going to continue to exercise and maybe I can lose 10 more pounds and get down to 200.

As for love, it seems like I have other burners that need my attention like work. I think it’s time to all my focus on starting a new career and maybe even move somewhere else.

The only real thing I can do next is work in public relations. I have no real problem with that. It’ll be more stable, at least I think it will be more stable.

However, it’s where I want to be next that I have to figure out. Let me run down a list of places that interest me or people have asked where I’d go with the plus and minuses of each area.

The Central Valley: Friends have asked me, “Would you go home?” I say, “I’ve never really thought about it and Stockton is ranked No. 2 by Forbes as the most miserable city in America.” Going home really doesn’t entice me.

The Bay Area: It would be much easier for my sports fan life to be in an area where I can root freely for the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, for the most part. At least the ratio would be a lot better than here. The three problems I have with the Bay Area are: A) It’s too cramped; B) It’s more expensive, and; C) Traffic is a nightmare.

San Diego: It is a beautiful area but it is also kind of pricy. I feel the same about San Diego as I do about the Bay Area, but with less Giants/49er fans.

Las Vegas: If there was one place where I think newspapers are still going to do well for the next couple of years it is here only because tourism is the key to the city’s survival and where else to vacationers get their news. The hot weather in the summer is a big reason why I wouldn’t move there. Also, I think Las Vegas is a fun place to visit, I just don’t know about living there.

Phoenix: When I first went to college, I had originally had thoughts about moving there after graduation. A year into school, I began a long relationship that continued after graduation and the person I was with didn’t want to leave Southern California long term. Now I can do that, but I’m reminded of the line “I’d rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona,” from the show “Arrested Development.” Plus, it’s too hot.

Portland, Ore.: I spent a day and a half here in the Summer of 2000 on my way to a college journalism conference and loved the city and the surrounding areas as the conference was in Cannon Beach. I wanted to go back to visit, but still haven’t. However, does wanting to live somewhere based on a day of looking around something I want to do?

The East Coast (Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.): These are the ultimate places for me to start over. I didn’t choose New York because it’s just too big. All these places are different from what I’m used to and that is what attracts me. The problem, it’s far away from family and friends and if things don’t work out career wise, I’m really stuck.

(I didn’t choose the Midwest and South for obvious reasons. I would consider Chicago; however, its distance is a bit much.)

Going nowhere and staying: If I am going to start on a new career path, I might want to start here and have one less thing to worry about. However, this is the time for me to pick up and leave.

So what do I do? This is where I was going to use the first couple of the months of the year to think about things. Now, I have to think about things sooner rather than later because buyout time will be coming in the next couple of months and I can use the money to start over.

We’ll see. I mean if I don’t find anything, I feel fairly confident that I could be picked up to work at the universal desk while I continue looking for another job.

But I really hope I can find a new job by then.