A view from my balcony

So here is a pic as the sunset last night. I really like where my apartment is at, being in Howard Beach makes for an easy commute. I would have shown some pictures from inside but it isn't too clean and I don't want to brag about a dirty apartment, besides it is just temporary anyway.

It has been a busy week with work and I haven't gotten a chance to see anything that fun. I did go into Jersy a couple times and had dinner with the Ellis family on Tuesday but then David was off to judo so I dropped in on the Ortiz family for a couple hours.

With it being conference weekend, I am not sure what my plans will be. I do have a couple audits I am doing tomorrow morning way out at the end of Long Island, not the tip but pretty close. It will be nice just to see what life is like out there, from what I hear it is a bunch of rednecks and millionaires.

NYC's best italian....

Alright, well I am happy to say that I am back from Georgia. The classes that I were attneding were basicly a review of serving a mission. How to resolve personality conflicts... Giving praise... Teambuilding... Setting goals... Motivating... There were a couple things that I found useful and those were interviewing techniques. I had no idea so much went into a proper interview. Mostly I learned what not to say that would lead to any legal conflicts regarding discrimination.

I got back Friday night and ran straight over to NJ for an institute class, it was long but the teachers are good people so I want to support them. Saturday was a blast. I woke up early just so I could check in here at the office and see how much work would have to get done and what I could sort through quickly. i then met up with some girls from Jersey for lunch at The Olive Garden in Times Square.... Really, don't even ask. If the girls want olive garden, give them olive garden. I don't get it especially because there was a huge street fair on 7th ave from times square all the way up to central park. They had every sorts of meat and bbq and veggies smoothies candies and treats, but we had eaten our overpriced salad and pasta. Enough said.

We walked up to central park and met up with some more people on our way to Belvadere Castle. It's a cool plce to visit and it gives a nice quiet view of the park so we hung out there for awhile. Dinner time came and a few of us that were staying longer found a diner across from Madison Square Garden that was decent and stayed there for a bit until a couple more people showed up from Jersey. Then we spent the rest of the night making our way downtown and over to the Brooklyn Bridge. I really enjoy speding time there and I am not sure why. It's just a relaxing venue to spend some time with friends I guess.

I am happy to be social again after spending all week with a bunch of old men who all have an opinion on everything. Of course, there is quite a bit of work for me to catch up on but that should make the days go a little faster.

What the????

I got back to my room this afternoon and found 2 miller lights on the desk. Honestly, I had no idea how they got there. I asked the other guys at dinner if they had anything and it turns out they did. Appearently, here in Atlanta, they don't give you a mint on the pillow, its beer on the desk.

Mmmmmmm

I found a decent smoothie shop a few blocks away from the hotel here in Georgia. That is about the only good thing about being here. The classes I am attending remind me of an episode from The Office. I am surrounded by management.... Enough said. A few more days left and I will be back in Queens where I can buy pizza anytime and anywhere I want.

Waiting at JFK

Just waiting here for my flight to Atlanta.... Very very bored. I think this whole week is going to be a drag but I had a fun weekend in New Jersey so I am hoping that's enough to get me through Friday.

Samo

Here is a picture of the new nephew. From what I have heard, he is doing well but he still needs a few more days in the thingy before they will let him go home. No one has really gotten a chance to hold him yet so I am not too jealous. He is really just like Dano as a newborn, it cracks me up.

I do have a ticket for a visit to Utah. I finally decided the other day that if I kept putting it off I would ever be going so i got a flight in October. I am making it a long weekend so I won't miss too much work in a row. I get in the morning of the 19th and take of the afternoon of the 24th. Really short so I am in the middle of making plans to see the most people in the shortest time. There is a YSA activity that weekend so I will attend that and between a pizza party and dinner with family I will have plenty of time to spend with Dano and Moo.

Sunday night, I had a chance to hang out with some of the other people in the branch I am attending and I am glad to say that they are cool fun people to spen time with. Of course I also drove to NJ that night too, had I known that the people here were going to as cool as they were, I would have dropped NJ like an ugly baby... Making new friends is a lot like dating, you just have to let some time go by to see if it is a match, or my way is just call everyone crazy and spend a lot of time alone riding a motorcycle.

Work is great other than one bonehead. He is older and has been used to not having any supervision. So now I have this 60 year old man questioning everything I say. Lucky for me I have the termite experience so everytime he tries to tell me why something won't work I can explain how it can. I really don't mind an argument every morning but it is starting to take up the time I need to spend with the other guys. Sooner or later he will fall in line, if not..... At least my office is comfortable now, I have a bunch of pictures around and could always use some more but I really like it and so does everyone who steps in.

I tried another pizza place down the street and it was crap. Enough said. Around the corner from there and within walking distance of my office, I found a decent gym i can workout in. A 1 month membership is 35 dollars but if I buy for the year it goes to 200! A lot cheaper than golds or ballys. It is small but has everything that I will need to use plus, I can get there easy for a mid-day workout and just stay longer at the office that day to make up for the time. I really need to get this moving weight off, I have been lazy for too long to be comfortable.

A wedding in Jersey

These were taken at Grant and Lisa's wedding back in August. The first is of David giving a toast to the new couple and he did a great job of it by keeping everyone laughing. The next has me in it so of course I like it... It has mom and dad ortiz in it as well so I might as well let everyone else get to know them. The wedding was great and even had some fun dancing going on.

Other than a lot of work, not too much has been happening here. I went up to Albany a few days ago for a meeting with some other Orkin managers so we could learn some more about the DEC regulations. I am so used to the Dept. of Ag. in Utah being laid back that this was a shock to see how many regulations there are in the pest control business. I guess it is a good thing but when there is a big company like Orkin, there are bound to be a few employees that make it hard for the entire company. There really weren't any major violations just a bunch of small things. It is always best to be on the good side of the regulators so we will keep up the work.

I did make a few contacts from Western, a sister company to Orkin. They were cool guys from NY and NJ. I will have to drop by their offices sometime just to keep in touch, connections are a must in this business. I have already had a friend from Jersey asking about employment and I was able to point him to the right people, hopefully things work well for him.

I bought a ticket to Utah yesterday. I figured that I just had to do it, the more I delayed, the more the ticket would cost. i will be back from October 19th to the 24th. Just a quick trip to say hi. Mostly I want to see Dano and Moo and the new one.... I just miss them a ton. I am not sure if i will make it back for Christmas just because of work and it would be easier to take a week off in January or February. We will see how things go.

I am off to Jersey for the day in a few minutes. It is fun just hanging out with Davd and acting like an idiot, of course I don't have to act too hard.

A work in progress

This is my office. Not much to look at but you should have seen it before. It was the file room and had been flooded out so the carpet was old and rusty from the cabinets. There was a musty smell in the whole place and it was dingy. I got to work by clearing everything out and pulling up the carpet. Then I had to chip up all the tiles that were glued down to the floor. Next came glueing down some carpet of my own and getting some odds and ends for furniture until my real desk and chair arrive. I put up my license plate picture and my Dale Murphy stickball poster and once my tackboard arrives, I will get some more pictures of the family up as well. I am proud of it. Of course, the phone and computer are not hooked up yet so whenever I get a call I have to run out of my office to the nearest available phone but at least that will count as some excercise.

Speaking of working out, I went into Jersey esterday and spent the day with David. We started off with some weights at his place. Then did some manly work at his brother and sister-in-law's condo and got fed. We went back to his house to chill a little bit before going to a ward bbq. I gave him a refresher course on riding a motorcycle and even let him get some practice time in on driving a clutch. All in all it was a very nice Labor day. I even got to see Sister Ortiz, my mom here in the east and she told me that I spend too much time talking. I have no idea what she is refering to..... It was fun driving home last night because there were some fireworks going off at Coney Island so as I was getting off the Verrazanno bridge and driving across the belt parkway I could see them going off behind all the huge tankers out on the water. It was a really pretty sight.

I have had a few leads on apartments. Just as I am getting settled into my place, the mailman here told me he has a friend that is renting out a 1 bedroom apartment for a very nice price. I will take a look but I really just want to relax for a couple more months before moving again. That is just the lazy man talking. I will take a look at it and see what he has to offer. If it is worth taking, I will just have to take it.

Things I really miss right now: A new baby nephew, cold summer nights, mountains, home cooked meals. Other than that I still love the city and am especially glad to have gotten a package from Becky and my Mom today. I got pictures and some goodies, not to mention some bday money as well.... pizza time.

Well, i am going home and getting to bed. This job is getting to me. I stayed up last night stressing everything that had to get done today and now that it is done I can look forward to tomorrow. Sort of.