I'm Back (This Time It's Lane, and It's for Real)

I have neglected this blog for a while and that's been bad.

I have decided to can the math posts for now.  They take too long to write well to fit into my schedule on a consistent basis.  They may reappear in the future or not, we'll have to see.  Regular running updates will resume, starting immediately:

The past couple weeks have been interesting.  I put in weeks of 65.5, 29.9, 70.0, 50.2, and 26.0.  Why the inconsistency?  The 29.9 mile week was done in three days (I took 4 off due to no power and dangerous conditions: I wasn't getting any kind of quality sleep and was just trying to survive) and the 50.2 was the first week of a taper for my two goal races of the "season", the Hot Coco 5k and Jarred's Run (a 5k/10k).  I took second in the Hot Coco 5k and earned my first cash prize of $50.  I suppose I won't quit my day job.

I had anticipated a quicker race than actual materialized.  I had planned to stay comfortable the first mile and start picking people off in the second and third miles.  Instead, a pack of 4 ended up running at a pace that was fairly comfortable for me nearly the entire way and the race didn't break open until about half a mile from the finish.  I was caught a bit flat-footed but still managed to take second with a near-PR in 16:26.

Leading up to Thanksgiving morning, I had won the 5k at Jarred's Run twice, won the 10k once, and taken second in the 5k once.  I had decided on the 10k to try to break my relatively soft PR (35:11).  I assumed the race would be a lonely time-trial.  I started out quick, with one of my high school teammates who was running the 5k flying out of the gates.  I wanted to keep up with him and when he started to fall behind, I pressed on, passing the half-mile in 2:27 and mile in 5:07.  I knew these were too fast so eased off a little.  I got to the 2.5k mark in 8:26 and the 5k in 17:18, around 30 seconds ahead of my first 5k the previous year.  I had slowed down quite a bit and when I turned around I was surprised to see someone relatively close behind.  My mind somehow made me think the lead was only 20 seconds (unlikely...) so I really started to push myself.  I ended up putting the next 2.5k in 8:18 and the second 5k in 16:50 for a total time of 34:08.  I was really moving and pushing myself through the second half.  Second place came in around 37:50, so I don't think the estimated lead of 20 seconds was very accurate.  I decided to take the rest of the week off as if I had just finished a running "season".

I will write about the lessons learned from this summer and fall of training and racing soon.

Until then...

 Alex: cue blogging montage

In Like a Lion, Out Like... Well, You Know

Running: I ran 7.33 miles this week in 53:46 (7:21/mile).  It wasn't hard because I only ran one day (Sunday).  I decided to take it (very) easy this week because I was sick on Monday and Tuesday and wanted to make sure that I was feeling good enough before I started running again so that I didn't reset my recovery.

Writing: Didn't write another word.  I should have written more, I just have some sort of block about writing more in the month of September.  I am accepting failure on the 50,000 words in one month challenge, but I am going to keep the beginning of the story around in the hopes that I'll pick it up again and write some more.  I don't think that it was a complete failure because I think that I learned a bit about writing and I'm impressed with the amount that I did write.

So what's next?  I am going to break my 5k PR on November 19th.  It will be very difficult.  Everyone I've mentioned it to has said so.  I ran my current personal best (16:23.79) on a track while I was in probably the best shape I've ever been in.  I have sketched out an ambitious plan for the next 9-10 weeks and am determined to put the work in and take a shot at running under 16 minutes.  Then, depending on the results, I'll be running either a 5k or 10k on Thanksgiving.  And then?  I don't know.  I'll probably start trying to get into longer races.  Until then, I'm taking things one step at a time (no pun intended).  Only 491.3 miles until glory.

-Lane

The Challenge Begins

A little while back, I issued a challenge to my best friend and associate blogger, Alex.  He politely declined, despite my best efforts to goad him into accepting.  Nevertheless, I have decided to forge on ahead and undertake this task of Herculean proportions:  I will write a 50,000 word work of fiction starting today and ending on or before September 30^th, 2011.  Furthermore, I will (as stated in the original challenge) start the work off with the sentence “He could not grow a very good beard”.  I will be focusing on quantity of words over quality of story (as you might imagine, 50,000 words is a lot to try to create in only 30 days).  I will be trying to create an interesting story, though I have not decided how and if I will distribute said story.

I have been thinking a lot about how to accomplish such a momentous task.  My strategy is thus: I will attempt to write between 2000 and 1700 words per day.  The minimum average daily word count is 1,667 and so if I can stay at the top of that range (close to 2000) I will be able to accrue a cushion so that I can take days off from writing if need be.  This will be something that I will be trying to avoid but sometimes life gets in the way of hobbies (just look at my ability to run with anything resembling consistency.

I have also done some thinking and outlining of the story, though the proof is obviously in the pudding.  I could start and decide to take the story in an entirely different direction as I originally thought as the characters begin to develop (and hopefully, take on a life of their own).  At least for now, I know where I am standing and in which direction I am facing.  I don’t want to give anything away, but I will be writing a science fiction piece.  Writing entertaining stories has never been my strong suit but this is mostly for my own enjoyment so the story will be what it is, however good that might be.

Wish me luck!


-Lane


Edit: Day 1 is finished.  I started around 9:00pm after procrastinating.  It took me quite a bit longer than I expected but I wrote 1,729 words in about 2.5 hours.  Hopefully when the story gets rolling it will be quicker!  I have also learned the cost of procrastinating and will work harder to avoid it in the future.

A Challenge/Open Letter to Alex

Dear Alex:

This is a challenge.  What are the terms?  I challenge you to write a work of fiction of at least 50,000 words.  It doesn't have to be good, just relatively long.

Seems pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

In addition, it must start with the sentence "He could not grow a beard".  You must not start before 12:01am September 1, 2011 (EST).  You must finish before 11:59pm September 30 (EST).  You may plan out/outline your story before then as well as choose a title.

If you agree, I will complete the challenge with you and we can trade novels afterwards.  I also agree to work within the rules written above.  There are a thousand excuses, but only one reason to accept: it will be awesome.  You should have plenty of time while you're commuting, like you mentioned here.

I am eagerly awaiting your reply,
Yours Sincerely,

Lane

Work Starts!

This post is only half about one of the topics that I said I was going to post about last time. That's because there has been plenty going on this week to write about, so I'm going to let most of the stuff go.

The one topic that I do want to mention though is Professionalism. I was going to write a whole post about the professionalism (or lack thereof) of my peers during our orientation, but I'll just gloss over it quickly. In short, I was much less than impressed with the profession conduct of many of my peers. The most noticeable problem was punctuality. Training was scheduled to start at 8:00AM sharp everyday, yet people (who were staying in the same hotel as the training) were utterly unable to arrive on time. Additionally, throughout the day we would have breaks to go to the bathroom, get coffee, etc.. These breaks were usually 10-15 minutes, but invariable turned into 20-30 minute breaks when people simply did not return to the training. Not only were many people terrible at arriving on time, they also enjoyed going out drinking on some nights. This resulted in more than one morning where there was a sizable portion of the group that was hung over for training the next day. All in all, I was disappointed in my peers and a bit worried how my workplace would actually work when I arrived there. Fortunately, when I arrived at work on Monday I was greeted with a very professional and respectful group. Everyone in the team has been welcoming and helpful as I try to rapidly learn all the systems, acronyms, and processes that are already in place.

Which brings me to the other half of this post, my thoughts on my new job. So far it has been a lot of fun, but really crazy. My team is stretched a bit thin right now as we just had a very good employee (coincidentally the guy who hired me) take a different job within the firm. We are also in the process of developing a new system while still trying to support the existing systems. So, I've been learning a lot, but much of it has been sort of trial by fire. I'm simply given small tasks and projects and told to do them. The good thing is, unlike engineering where I would have to learn a proprietary programming language or figure out the proper equation to use, much of my job is looking at a system and determining what needs to be changed or updated to make it easier to use. This is good because I am generally good at looking at a project and seeing what needs to be changed, but I tend not to be quite as good at actually implementing the change. In short, the job seems to be exactly what I thought it would, and what I hoped it would. The strange thing though is how little I understand about the system as a whole, or the firm for that matter. My degree doesn't give me any background in software, finance, or business analysis. The main applicable skill is that I know how to learn and think critically. That part I am making very good use of. To make a long story short, my job has been great so far and I'm looking forward to learning lots more about the industry.

Just don't get me started on having a consistent place to sit...over the past 4 days I've sat at 3 different desks in two different buildings. Another story for another post though.

~Alex

Training Ends

Whew...haven't been here for longer than I would have liked. The last week of training for my new job was absolutely crazy. It took place at three different locations around Manhattan, and involved a couple new topics that were both brand new to me and very technical in nature. The long and short of it was that I did not have time for much more than just a quick run, dinner, and bed. Thus, no posts from Alex...

Anyway, the last three weeks of training have generally been good. I gained a solid foundation in basic financial instruments, and introduction to the programming language Python, and an overview of the main initiative that I will be a part of as I start actual work. I learned a lot through the training and met a bunch of people who will help to build my network as I start. However, I am glad that it is done and that I can now move on to learning my role in my actual job, which starts tomorrow morning.

I will likely post a couple more posts about the training to relay some of my observations about both the training and all the people I spent the last 3 weeks with. Topics might include: professionalism, networking, learning, etc. Not exactly sure what, but there is certainly more to come.

~Alex

Racing?

I know that Lane gives weekly updates about his training (and, in fact, just gave one this evening), but I haven't been doing that for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that I really have not been running much or consistently this summer (or for a while for that matter). A bit of background: in December of 2009 I was at the start of an awesome indoor track season. We had our first meet and I had a huger Personal Record (PR) in the 5K (16:56). This was finally an indication that I was headed in the right direction. Training had been going excellently and I was pumped about the rest of the season. However, an issue arose shortly after we went home for our winter break. While out doing a hill workout my right knee started to bother me. The next day when I went running it was pretty painful, but I could still run on it. By the third day I could not run on it at all. It just felt like a knife was stabbed into the side of my knee. After a month, a bunch of doctor visits, and an MRI it was finally determined that I had IT band friction syndrome. Basically, the large tendon that runs from my hip down the outside of my leg to my knee was tight and was rubbing over a bone point in my knee, causing pain. That ended my season and set me up for the last year and a half where, other than a brief return in XC last fall, I have been either unable to run or slowly rebuilding fitness.

That brings us to now... I am currently back in the process of rebuilding fitness and trying to get both my knee and the rest of my body back in shape. The approach that I had planned on for this recovery involved focusing on slowly building a base back and avoiding speed work/racing. However, this recovery has not been going as smoothly as I would have hoped. The first reason for this was that at the end of May I was tapped to fill in on the first leg of the Vermont City Marathon. I figured it couldn't hurt to at least tempo the leg since my team wasn't gunning for an incredibly fast time, so I ran the leg (there goes the no racing bit...). The second reason is that I have been fairly inconsistent in my running, especially now that I have started work. Some days I just can't kick myself out the door when I get home, other days I simply get home to late.

Finally, that brings us to the real point of the post. Today, I ran a 5K race in a neighboring town. While my recovery plan was pretty clear that I did not want to do fast stuff or race, I also wanted to meet people around where I live who run. So, while searching for running groups I found a series of Tuesday night XC races nearby. I figured this would be a good way to meet some of the local runners. I headed up after work and found the park (which was really nice, I am probably going to go back just to do training runs). There I met a scene that was very much like the old Tuesday night XC races I used to run at the Catamount Family Center back in VT. I registered and got out and ran. I didn't run a great time (20:25), but I had fun, met a few people afterward, and got some pointers to websites to find other races and gatherings of runners.

So, with that race it seems that the best way to meet other runners around here is to go to the races. I figure that I should plan on attending a few of them over the next weeks and meeting people. Even if I don't race them all out, I can use them as training/tempo runs and a great chance to meet people.

Well, out with the no racing bit I guess, in with meeting new people and setting up a new life.

~Alex

I Has a Happy

Unfortunately because I have written this post after Alex's more coherent, information, and better organized post about his super-exciting life, mine appears above his.  If you would rather skip the post that follows these comments, by all means, please skip it and go directly to Alex's post on New York City (you will come back and read this, won't you?).

I had an eventful weekend!  Saturday I met my family at a hotel nearby and we enjoyed a nice lunch.  The most exciting thing is that in this case, I can include my Uncle Bryan, Aunt Mikiko, and my two cousins in the phrase "my family"!  Even more exciting was that more family was on the way and that we were all headed to the wedding of another cousin of mine!

It was a very beautiful wedding.  I suspect all weddings are beautiful in their own way, but this one definitely made sitting outside in the record heat worth it (by far!).  There was a great party afterwards with lots of good food, dancing, and fun.  I was lucky enough that my fiancé was invited as well and though I joked about my extended family being on "double-secret probation" based on their behavior, we did see things that we liked and were able to get some ideas about what we like.  It also upped the level of excitement, both for the two of us and the whole rest of the family.

I stayed in the hotel with my family and returned to my apartment after a big, noisy, fun brunch with everyone who had come from out of town.  It made me really happy to see everyone but it's always a little sad to see them go.  Fortunately I get to see them again soon!  Now I have to go grocery shopping and do laundry... the return to real life is always a little disappointing.

-Lane

p.s. the fantastic picture at the top of the page comes from a webcomic called nataliedee.  There are all kinds of images like this one.  I would have liked to make a link directly from the picture but am unable with my level of computer ineptitude.

p.p.s. the usual "Training, Week of..." post will happen tomorrow.  I haven't run yet (I need to do that too!) and I don't want to post twice in one day, so I promise that will be up after work tomorrow.

The Big Apple Post

So, finally, the big summary of my first week in NYC... I'm going to go on for a while on this one, but, I'll make sections to keep it organized.

The Final Weekend

Last weekend was my final weekend in VT. It was great fun, but really crazy. I had a bunch of friends from both college and high school as well as some of their parents over on Saturday. We started by going to the Vermont Brewer's Festival. This festival is a great gathering of many of the excellent brewers in VT at the waterfront in Burlington. Admission gets you tickets to go around to the brewers and sample the beers. It's a great opportunity to try beers that you wouldn't necessarily buy a six pack of, or that are not bottled. After the festival was over, we returned to my house and had a cookout through the evening. It was really hot all day, so most of us were pretty well fried by the end of the day. But, it seemed to me that a good time was had by all. For me, it was a great way to end my residence in Vermont.

The Trip to Connecticut

On Sunday I packed the last of my stuff into my car and Lane and I drove together (separate cars, same route) to his apartment. I got to check that out and grab a bite of dinner with him. I then continued along the way to my apartment. I got all my stuff moved in, my computer set up, and went to bed to be ready for the start of what was sure to be a crazy week.

Orientation Starts

The first day of orientation was a bit disappointing. It essentially amounted to a set of ~30-45 minute sessions punctuated by two hours of unplanned time in which we could "explore the city." While this might have been fine for the people who had been flown in from other sites and were staying at the hotel. These people could just go up to their rooms and take a nap, watch TV, read a book, go out and about--basically, lots of options. However, for those of us who are NYC based and had to commute in for the day, it left us with a lot of downtime and not much to do.

Once we got through this though there was a bus tour of Manhattan scheduled for the evening, and I figured that since I am not from NYC I might as well go and learn some of the area. Additionally, it was a good way to meet some more people, and dinner was included to boot (Pizza, salad, cheesecake, and an open bar). So, it was definitely worth it. The major downside though was that I didn't get back to my apartment until ~11:15PM. Since I had to be back in the city by 7:30 the next morning for breakfast I had to get up at 5:30. So, not much sleep to kick the week off...

The Rest of this Week's Orientation Program

Once Tuesday started we managed started on a schedule that would be relatively consistent through the week. The morning is set as a hard skills time, essentially financial training (amounting to Finance 101 as I gather). For some people with a heavy finance background this time is excruciatingly boring and repetitive, but for the relatively large portion of us who have a technical background (engineering or computer science, generally) it is a really useful session. The afternoon is then soft skills training. These training sessions have been on a mixture of topics. The first day was building a roller-coaster for a marble in a very large team, the second was on generational differences in the workplace, the third was about working in global and virtual teams, finally today's session was about you Professional Brand (business etiquette, dress, networking, introductions, etc.). All in all, these have also been interesting and informative. My understanding is that this pattern will continue through next week as well.

Where am I again?

One of the strangest feelings that I have had during this orientation is the feeling that I am back in Australia. A bit of background, during my junior year of college I spent two months completing a project in Melbourne, Australia. Now, you might wonder why being in NYC would make me feel like I was back there, but it really does make sense. When I was in Melbourne I was experiencing a few things for the first time in my life. First was spending significant time in the center of a large city. Second was commuting by train to and from work everyday. Third was being surrounded by people with Australian accents almost all the time. By the time I left Australia, I actually found my self thinking in an Australian accent. So, how does this add up to me feeling like I am back there now? Well, the first two should be obvious, I commute by train to and from Manhattan everyday and I spend significant amounts of time in downtown Manhattan (thus, the first two points are covered). It is the third point that I think really seals it for me though. When I first got to orientation I tried to find a group to at least start to talk to, and I happened to find a large group of guys who will be based in London. So, obviously they speak with a British accent (well, except the two Scottish guys, but like the Australian accent it is close enough). Additionally, the instructor we have for our finance training is British. So, for much of the day I am hearing accents that are close to an Australian accent and doing activities that I have only ever done in Australia before. The result? I feel like I am in Australia, and have started thinking in a British accent again. Strange...

Did I live in the Right Place?

I came home on Tuesday night and was wondering if I had actually picked the right place to live. Maybe I should have lived in the City after all...my commute would have been shorter and I would be where all the action was. I was worried about it for a while, but also had to accept that I have signed a one year lease here, so I won't be moving for a year anyway. But, when I went out for a run and it cleared the issue up. I drove about 10 minutes across town where the city gives way to a far more country like feel. There I was able to start a run in a nice little park and run for a few miles entirely in trees. I even ran across a dirt road at one point. That helped my remember one of the main reasons that I did not want to live in the city: I wanted to be able to get out of it. Mission successful on that count. Though, it does segue well into my next topic...

Running

Running has been interesting since I started my job. Most notably because I haven't had much chance to. I haven't been getting home before about 6:30 at the earliest (and most times much later than that). This doesn't leave that much time to run. I was able to get out for 3 miles on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but did not manage to get out either yesterday or today. I don't know how likely this is to change. There will continue to be less daylight as the year progresses so I don't expect to get much outside running in. There is a fitness center in my building that I am hoping I can use to get a little bit of running and also start lifting to work on general strength. Additionally, I have found while I am not able to run much I am walking for 40-60 minutes a day, both to and from the train station on both ends, and sometimes around to other parts of the city as well. So I figure that should help keep me moving some in the very least.

Anyway, I think that is plenty for now. NYC has been crazy so far, but I am at least starting to get used to being down here and am settling down. Ivan is coming down for the weekend, so I am hoping to explore Stamford a bit more with him.

So, here's to my new place, new job, and new life. I'm looking forward to learning much more about finance and the city and I can't wait to share the experiences here.

~Alex

Vacation's Almost Over...

I guess I should come back and give another post...it has been long enough anyway. Since I have generally been sitting on my butt and enjoying my time off, I haven't found that I had a lot to write about.

But, that all changes soon. Lane, and some other friends from college are coming up this weekend for the Vermont Brewer's Festival. Basically, we all get to go to the waterfront of Burlington, VT and sample beer brewed by the many Vermont brewers. We went last year and it was a blast, so we are all looking forward to a repeat. But, after that, I drive to Connecticut and prepare to enter the Real World. My new job starts on Monday in New York City, and with that my days of lounging around screech to a halt.

As my start date approaches I've been thinking about what it means and what new things I will encounter and experience. I've realized that it has been really cool to be able to read Lane's posts on this blog and follow his adjustment to life in the working world, and I hope to be able to follow a similar process of documenting my transition here over the next few weeks.

The strangest part of this approaching change has been the fact that I don't actually start work on Monday...I know, it sounds strange, I start my job but I don't start work? Well, as with most jobs (especially entry level positions), there is orientation, but unlike many jobs, mine is three weeks long. Three Weeks! The whole process sounds like it will be a bit like school where I am basically attending training sessions all day and some networking sessions on some evenings. The nice difference though should be no homework (at least I hope not). I suppose it is all well and good though; since I am starting a job in finance, and have little to no experience in the field, it will be a good way to get up to speed on securities trading and the like. Besides, I get paid for it anyway, which is good.

I hope to have much more to share in the coming weeks as I adjust to work and life in New York City. But, until then I will be spending the last precious days of vacation celebrating the many wondrous varieties of beer at the VT Brew Fest.

Bottoms Up!

~Alex

Lane Thornton is Burning (Part 1 of 535)

I am luckier than most people.  Most people are sad about how much money they make until pay-day, when they are happy.  I am happy about how much money I make most days until pay-day, when I get incredibly angry about how much taxes I pay.  I have decided that instead of accepting this as inevitable, I will continue to be angry every time I pay taxes and to help remedy the situation, I will write a letter to a congressional representative.  This time, I wrote to Senator Bernie Sanders (I, VT) for two reasons: I am originally from Vermont and I have written to him before.  The text of my letter is below:


"Dear Senator Sanders:

A bit over four years ago, I wrote a letter to your office over concerns that money was being spent on helping Vermont students attend college that wasn't available to me because I dreamed of studying something not offered by any institution in Vermont.  Instead of addressing my concern, I received a form letter pointing me to a website with some scholarship applications on it.

Despite the lack of assistance, I decided to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute where I studied aerospace engineering and graduated with a GPA of 3.89.  Not only did I study hard, but I also worked a job and ran cross-country and indoor and outdoor track and field.  I interviewed for and was offered a very good job at a large aerospace company that I believe I earned through the years of hard work that I put into my education.

Here I am, writing to your more than four years later because again I feel like I am being failed by my government.  I have more than $50,000 in student debt and I now pay between a quarter and a third of my salary to the government in taxes.  I hear a lot about "the rich" paying "their fair share" but it seems like I'm paying a bit more than my fair share and I'm not sure the solution is to tax other people more, no matter how much money they have.  What upsets me is not how much money I have or don't have, but what percentage of the money I earn by my own hard work the government takes from me.

I have recently moved to Connecticut from Vermont and although you no longer directly represent me, in my heart I am still a Vermonter and I would like to know that someone hears my voice.

Thank you and I look forward to your reply.

Lane Thornton"

I don't expect any action from Senator Sanders, but it is a start.  I also don't expect to reach every senator and representative as they will continue to change and it would take over 20 years to contact each one at the rate of one every two weeks.  It does, however, make me feel like I'm more engaged in the political process.

-Lane

First Day At Work!

Today was my first day at my new job!  I got up at 5:30 to go for an easy run before work and was out the door and in the car by 7:25 at work by 7:50.  Did orientation-type things for a couple hours, learned some brief history about the company, and then headed out for my new office.  Got my new cubicle, met my co-workers, and found out what I'll be working on... etc.  Everything is so cool but it's weird and not yet quite comfortable to be a "real person".  I felt strange walking out of work at the end of the day without "checking out" with anyone like I've had to at every other job I've had.

Still, I think that I'm really going to love working at this job and can't wait to get up and do the same thing all over again tomorrow!

-Lane

Moving Out, Moving In

No internet at home means no serious blog posts for a while.  Fortunately, that has passed and I should hopefully be posting regularly again.  Why haven't I had internet?  In case I didn't mention it, I moved out of my apartment in Worcester to be closer to my new job!  The process looked something like this:

Morning of May 30th

Around noon, May 30th

Afternoon, May 30th

Morning, May 31st

Just before I left on May 31st

All moved in to the new apartment!  Thanks to my sister (pictured here) for helping!

What a crazy time!  Getting everything moved out of an apartment and into an new one in two days!  Since I moved in, I've been discovering all of the things that I'm missing.  Silverware has been a bit of an issue.  I'm lucky that Brianna gave me chopsticks for our anniversary!  I've been very busy trying to get my apartment ready to be lived in for the next year.  I will have to repeat the process again next year (to move in with Brianna) but after that I will hopefully be able to stay in one place for a while.

Unfortunately, my start date at work, which was set to be this Monday has been pushed back to Wednesday because there was a mix-up with my drug test results and I have to retake them.  As if I wasn't already nervous enough about starting at my new job, things needed to get more complicated.  Regardless, I'm still really excited about starting!

Apartment Hunting, Round 2

So, while I know Lane already posted about apartment hunting, I figured I would revisit it with my perspective. For starters, I don't start my job until July making it a bit less pressing than Lane's hunt. However, I do get the joy of moving into an entirely different market than Lane. Since I am working in New York City, I was looking for apartments within commuting distance of the city, which adds a whole different market and entirely different pricing.

I actually started my search back in April. I went with friend from school who is also going to be working in the city. We looked at two luxury apartment towers (operated by the same company though) in New Rochelle, NY. While we liked the apartments, and they had a ton of great features (laundry in unit, dish washer, across the street from the train station) they were expensive, charged for parking, and we found that New Rochelle wasn't the nicest of cities (better than Worcester, but still...) Additionally, she really wanted to live in NYC, which I was strongly opposed to (I wanted to be able to keep my car, which would not have been possible if I had to try to park it in NYC and pay NYC income tax), so we determined that we wouldn't room together after all.

Thus began my individual apartment search. I widened my search out to included White Plains, NY; Mamaroneck, NY; and even out on Long Island in Great Neck, NY. I searched around on the Internet using Google, finding agent listings, looking at Craig's List. But, none seemed to turn up anything noteworthy. Finally, a different roommate suggested I check Stamford, CT. He lived there for a while, and knows plenty of people who commute by train to NYC. After ~10 minutes of searching on Craig's List we found two places that seemed interested, both listed by the same real estate agent. So, I sent off an email and set up a time to view apartments.

I went down this past Tuesday and spent three hours having her show me around. We saw a number of different places in different parts of Stamford. Notably, a couple mid level studios and one bedroom apartments which were nice, but not stunning; two higher end 1 bedroom apartments, though one was a ways out and the other felt both cramped and a bit sterile (white lights, white walls, white carpet, etc.). Finally, we viewed a luxury studio near the train station. When I saw it, I was floored. The apartment is only 607 sq. ft. but has huge ceilings and huge windows, so it feels much more roomy. Additionally, it has a dishwasher, laundry in the unit, and is only 1/3 of a mile from the train station. Everything is gorgeous and it should be the perfect size for me. The only problem (and really the problem with most of the places in commuting distance to NYC) was price. They are expensive! But, that goes with the territory.

After returning home, and having a bit of a panic attack about committing to such an expensive place, I placed the call to the leasing office and put the place on hold. So, after all that I should (pending credit check, which should not be a problem) have a place to live lined up for July. A big step toward the real world.

Well, that's it for now, I'll try to keep updates on my life, running, and whatever else comes to mind. Also, I think I will start a series on city living from a small town perspective once I start work, but that is still a ways (though realistically, not as far as it feels) away.

~Alex

Finally...Another Introduction

Well, I suppose it is about time I get off my duff and introduce myself. I am the second of the two rocket scientists contributing to this blog (Lane is the first if you hadn't gathered). I graduated Worcester Polytechnic Institute with Lane this spring and have been going through many of the same events that he has: moving away from an awesome apartment, looking for a new apartment, getting excited about a new job (except the whole marriage thing-that's probably a ways off for me at this point). Unlike Lane though, I am not continuing my career in Aerospace Engineering, but will instead be heading to a prominent bank in New York City to do business analysis and systems development. Should be an interesting time.

Anyway, I doubt that I will post as often as Lane will, but I will try to get on occasionally and give life updates.

Thanks for reading, now get back to your homework, I'm sure Lane has another lesson already planned.

~Alex

College Graduation and The Comeback Begins

Two big things happened in the past couple days: I graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a bachelors degree in aerospace engineering and I took the first steps in my post-collegiate running career.

Graduation was awesome.  I spent the whole weekend surrounded by friends and family and received a diploma symbolizing all of the hard work I've put into my education.  For me, it represents not only the work I put in the past four years, but also the work that went into the previous 13 years of schooling to put me in the position I found myself in freshman year.

The ceremony itself was nice but nothing out of the ordinary for a graduation.  Speeches were given and the diplomas were handed out.  Everything went smoothly and I can't wait to see the pictures.  I was somewhat apprehensive as there had been some controversy regarding the speaker, Rex Tillerson.  Mr. Tillerson is an accomplished businessman (he's the CEO of ExxonMobile) and the President of the Boy Scouts of America and delivered a speech that was good, if somewhat clichéd.  A small but very vocal minority was upset that the CEO of a giant oil company was being brought in to speak and initially intended to disrupt the ceremony.  After negotiation with the administration, a compromise was reached: the students would be allowed to walk out before the keynote speech and then return after and receive their diplomas in a way that would not distract from the pomp and circumstance.  As it turns out, I couldn't even tell that anyone left (even though I looked) and only eight students left.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging around the apartment with my family, friends, and their families as well as eating at some of Worcester's best restaurants.  Over the weekend, we ate at 111 Chophouse and Bocado.  They were both delicious and I ate to extreme fullness both times.  The best part of the weekend, though, was seeing family I don't get to see nearly enough.

Today, the great comeback began!  After the end of my scholastic running career, I took about three weeks off from running.  I found that without running, I feel somewhat hyper-active and require several hours less sleep to feel rested.  My guess is that this is an adjustable thing that wouldn't last if I continued not running.  In any case, I ran 3 miles with my roommate, Alex in 22:36 which is a very easy effort for me. I have thought a lot about the next step over the past couple weeks and I think that in the next couple months I'll be focusing on trying to put some solid, non-specific training in and building a strong base.  This will require more steady and tempo runs and less interval work than I am used to, though I will be trying to incorporate regular strides into my running.

-Lane

Apartment Hunting

I've been looking for a new apartment.  I really like the one that I have right now: the room is great, the roommates are great, and the location is pretty good (read: walking distance from campus).  Unfortunately, it's not near my new job and my roommates are moving away anyways.  So I started looking for a new place to live.

The first step was determining what I was looking for in a new apartment.  I decided that I wanted my apartment to be reasonably close to my new workplace, relatively cheap, and also near where my fiancée will be living.  This narrowed the options down considerably.  The next step was to search the internet, which resulted in a number of different places.  I narrowed those down and decided on three to visit.

Yesterday, I set out for the apartments.  The first place I visited was my anticipated first choice.  It's a town-house style apartment in a very large complex for a reasonable price.  I was very excited though it wasn't initially what I had imagined.  I next stopped by a large tower of apartments, but that turned out to be a home for the elderly, so that was less desirable.  Finally, I drove to the next town down the interstate and visited an apartment complex there... and things got interesting:

The landlord met me in the lobby and took me to the available apartment.  It was "cozy" (read: small) and although cheaper than the other apartment I looked at, was not quite as nice.  Also, the landlord kept telling me things that I immediately recognized as bologna.  He changed the price, he said that he had a waiting list to get in but had "moved me to the top".  He also didn't do any sort of credit check or anything, which struck me as a bit strange.  In any case, I opted to go with the first option.

So I went back and filled out an application.  The woman I had been interacting with offered to run my credit immediately and I didn't have anything pressing to attend to, so I waited.  I didn't anticipate having anything, but it turns out I have credit that is pretty darn good.  I was accepted and brought the deposit today.  So I officially have a place to live!  That is one of the last things that required my attention before my job starts in June.  Now I have to figure out how to get health insurance between graduation and the start of my employer-sponsored insurance and get myself a drug test...

...and one other thing: graduate from college!

-Lane

The First Post (Again)

Okay... Now for try two. This is a blog about what's going on in my life and the lives of my roommates (if they ever get off their duffs and write posts of their own). Two of us are bona fide rocket scientists and we have varied interests and I'm sure a lot of different things to write about. As a preview, I suspect that there will probably be posts about home brewing beer, mathematics, running, and planning a wedding, and those will be just from me. One of my friends has a blog and he has been doing "series" of posts about one topic, roughly one post a week and I really like that, so I'll probably give it a try.

I like to think that I'm going through a pretty exciting time in my life right now. I'm about to graduate from college and I recently got engaged to my girlfriend. I'm headed to a pretty sweet job as an entry-level engineer in company that designs and builds jet engines. I am looking forward to sharing all kinds of new experiences.

-Lane