He's single

Here's David!!! I had a fun weekend and I can thank David for that. There was a singles dance Saturday night in the Caldwell stake and he was a hit with a few of the ladies. I really don't know how he pulls it off but he does and that is all that matters. After the dance, we found a diner where we just ate for awhile and talked until 1 or so in the morning. I can't get too specific on the time because it was the end of daylight savings and there is the whole spring ahead fall back thing to figure out and that just gets too complicated.

On my way out to Jersey, I drove through canal street to pick up a couple more watches. I was driving down the street until I saw a guy standing alone with bulging pockets. As soon as I went 4 steps on the street I had another guy ask me if I wanted a watch! I love that place. I haggled for about 20 minutes until I got a couple good watches at a good price. By the time I was done, there were a couple of tourists watching the whole thing and wanting to learn the art of yelling. One guy wanted to know if it was real and I told him most likely not but for 20 bucks, who cares!

Yesterday, I decided to go to a singles branch that I had heard about out on long island. Yesterday was also the day the singles branch decided to go to DC! There were about 10 people there so I stayed for sacrament but took off right after, the people that were there seemed really nice so I will give it a try in a couple weeks. Of course, I am still heading to Jersey a lot but I figure that even though these people are far away at least they are in NY.

I am excited for Tuesday, that is when we are heading to see Wicked. There will be a lot going on with work this week so i am hoping that I will be able to get out of work early enough to get into the city. Of course, every week there is a lot going on with work... there is always something that pops up and makes me wonder why i left Utah in the first place but the wierd thing is that I am really glad i amde the move out here, go figure.

Moo still cuddles!

Spikes

Nick

What a weekend! Time went by too fast and there were far too many people to see to get it all in just a few days. Long story made short, I saw friends family and ate a lot of food. I got a chance to catch up with Nick Saturday morning and just like old times, he slept in and I had to pound on his window and call his house a few times to wake him up. I can't tease him too much about it because I still have a hard time waking up.

Do I miss Utah? Yes. Am I glad to be back in New York? Yes. Going back was great just to see people and enjoy some good compnay. It also reminded me of how clean the state is and how little traffic is on the roads. I forgot that there isn't a stop light on every corner and it doesn't take an hour to go a few miles. Of course I am glad to be abck home here in Queens; loud neighbors, traffic at 6:20 this morning, working with the team here at Orkin... Now it is just a matter of getting all my Utah friends to come out here and see my new way of life.

What am I missing most about Utah? Daniel, Amelia and Samuel. those are some cute kids and I am glad that they haven't completely forgotten me. The singles scene is much more active in Utah but that goes without saying. While home, I recieved a tip about some fun singles out on Long Island so i am thinking about giving it a try. All in all, it was a great time and I am very very tired and want to go to sleep early tonight just so I can start to catch up from my social marathon last week.

My New Buddy

I have arrived in Utah and I am tired. I woke up around four in the morning so I could finish packing and get to the airport with enough time to do the whole securoty thing. I don't know how some people are able to sleep on the plane but they can and i hate them for it. I saw the family yesterday and it was great, I just wsh that I would have been more awake so I could have been more talkative.

This is a picture of little Samuel, he is a calm baby. When he gets fussy he doesn't even cry that loud, of course that is compared to Moo who can be heard across the valley. He is just a small little package that likes to be held...

I jumped on the motorcycle yesterday and made the rounds to visit a few people, I forgot my sunglasses in NY so I dropped be a store to pick up a pair and bought some bue ones by mistake.... This does not make me gay. At least I don't think that it does. I didn't even realize they were blue until a few hours later. I should buy some new ones but I am hoping that noone will notice and I can get by with them until I go home then I will just throw them away.

There are a ton of things to do now that I am here andI don't know if I have enough time to get to them all but I will try.

$20 special on Canal Street

So here's my latest purchase on the streets of Manhattan. My boss really like it so when I come back from Utah, I will schedule an audit close to Canal street that I can take him with. I like the idea of buying from the guys hiding their goods. It is as close to buying drugs as I will ever get so I am enjoying the rush.

On a work issue Vinny, the other Service Manager, had a heart attack on Sunday and is very sick. He won't be back to work for about 6 weeks depending on how another surgery goes. I have cancelled my next training class in Atlanta but my vacation to Utah is still on. I am glad that he will be alright, in a way this will be good for me to juggle most of the responsibilities because when he comes back I will hopefully have this whole learning curve thing behind me.

It has been a rainy day here in NY and I have spent most of it driving from Brooklyn to Long Island... There are some really rich people that live out there. Nice house nice cars and deep pockets. It makes me realize that I am in the wrong business but this is what I am best at so why change now? Besides, this is a great learning experience for when I am ready to start my next big adventure.

Tonight, I really should go to the gym but I think that it will be chinese food and a couple movies for me. Tomorrow is going to be another long day and I just want to get it over with so I can take a nice little vacation.

Dancin' fools

Here is a picture from the dance here in Queens Friday night. I was happy to see my Jersey friends show up even though I was pretty much out of energy the whole night. I have to admit that even though i was tired, it was a very fun dance. The DJ kept things going and going and had a ton of good songs to keep the floor moving. I even met Erica... She is the girl between David and I and she is not only cute but nice!! Which as we all know is a hard combo to find here in NY. Of course, she is from brazil and lives in Jersey so i guess that explains it. David did have an interesting night driving everyone over and back home but that is his story to share and for me to laugh at. Once I am in my apartment, I can have everyone sleep over so they don't have to drive home too late, especially through Brooklyn.

Saturday I worked a few hours in the morning here in the office and hated every second of it. There is something about office work that I really hate. I got out and met up with a couple girls in Manhattan and did a little of everything. We went through Chinatown the shipyard the financial district, across canal street(where I bought a watch I really will never wear just because I talked the guy down to a price I thought he would never go for) Then we went up to central park and hung out there just to get some energy back. I did have a ny moment though because there was a man selling poems. After listening to his story I decided that it would be worth helping him out. He goes by Willie G., the poet of NY. He was homeless but now lives in a mens shelter and by day he writes poems and then sells them. They are not the greatest prose ever written but if and when i see him again, I will buy a few more.

I went to bed early last night and watched a little of Sleepless in Seattle... I am a nerd but it is a cute movie. I am not sure what is happening today yet. I am giving a talk in church later but with the weather staying like this i might ditch the rest and head back into the city for another afternoon in the park.

Central Park

I had to meet up with a technician in Manhattan last night and he was running a few minutes late so I went for a walk around Central Park. I was close to the Met and went up to the resivior there and got this picture. It was a cold day but great for a stroll.

Now I am here at work being swarmed.... Work is just a party

Long overdue

Considering for the last few days I have been a total slob and done nothing but lay in bed wearing my cowboy pjs and watching episodes of NYPD Blue, I started a gym membership. I went to the one around the corner from my office and I got it for one month just to see how I would like it. They don't have everything that I am used to but the have some good cardio equipment and that is the most important for me. I startd with some weights just to get loosened up again and then got on an eliptical for about 30 minutes. I am used to doing 45 to an hour but since it has been a long time 30 minutes was enough to kick my butt. It feels good though and I am hoping that I can get back to going 6 days a week just to cut a few more pounds. On the scale I was still under 285 but that mostly means that i ahve lost some muscle mass. I will check will David to get his agreement. Long story made short, it's time to stop being lazy.

I was given a church talk assignment last Sunday for the 15th, it should be fun. I like how they do it in this branch. A guy walks around church handing out letters. We read the letters and confirm our availability. It kind of feels like Mission Impossible so I feel all stealth. I am thinking that I won't sit on the stand but hide somewhere until it is my turn then drop from the ceiling or something.

I also checked out an apartment that is looking very promising. It is in Glendale which is a nice quiet neighborhood. It is not the greatest place but it is a good size and they only want 850 a month. They are keeping it cheap so that they can get someone that they like and trust to live there. It should be available in about 1 month then I can move in and start getting furniture and having some friends over for movie nights. It will be fun to have a social pad again.

Morning in Manhattan

This morning, I met up with one of my technicians to do an audit of his work. The appointment was on 71st street between Lexington and 3rd ave. It's a nice part of the city and I got lucky and found an open parking spot right near the building. Too bad for Orkin, by the time we finished up I had recieved a parking ticket for not moving before the sweepers came in.

The last few days have been crazy but I am getting used to it. Now after work i go home and eat some dinner than fall asleep. It feels nice to get caught up on all my rest.

Two words.... Sausage Bread!! I had never heard of the stuff before but it is the best thing next to pizza and mexican food. Its a loaf of bread stuffed with sausage peperoni and ham. The bread is really soft too and taste like a crescent. I loved it, good bread and meat... I need to find some more places that sell it, I got this stuff from a place down the street from the office so there are bound to be better Italian bakeries somewhere that will have it.

No big plans for me other than running around the city again this Saturday and I am thinking that I want to see the central park zoo. Just counting the days until I get back to Utah for a visit and to see those kids.

A quick hello

I can say that this was the best weekend that I have had since moving to NYC. Apart from finding the Rotel tomatoes, I had a great time running around and seeing some family.

Saturday, I worked a few hours in the morning by driving out to Riverhead which is out on Long Island and I was able to go early enough to not have to deal with any traffic. For the afternoon, I met up with my friend Shawnee and ran around manhattan with her. Mostly being the nice man and waiting while she did some shopping. We had some good thai food for lunch at Yum Thai Food. Catchy name. It was in Midtown, then we made our way down to Canal street and worked through the crowds and vendors to reach Chinatown. We ended up down on broadway by battery park to get a picture with the bull but it was pretty crowded there so we sat at a park for a while and just hung out in NYC. That has to be my favorte thing to do here. With all the parks they have, it's hard to choose just one.

Sunday, I was getting ready to head into NJ for the afternoon and I got a call from my parent's, they had a few hours with a layover at JFK so I ran over and picked them up. I showed them my apartment and office then took them for a drive around Queens. I think that my driving style scared them a little but hey, it's New York. I even got a couple souveniers from their trip to Europe, lucky me. I got them back to the airport and made my way to Jersey. i stopped in on the Ellis family for a little bit then went to the Ortiz's. Lucky for me Liz was there and David and I were able to ruffle her feathers a little. i really enjoy acting like a 12 year old kid. I guess because it comes so naturally.

Work today is a killer but it will be over soon enough. it is just tough to get back to work after having such a good weekend. This week shouldn't be too bad, I just need to think of something to look forward to.... Maybe more dip.

Eureka!

I know this doesn't seem that great to some people but I have found Rotel in NJ!!! After looking in just about every grocery store in NJ and NY and not finding it, I tried to make my favorite dip using Del Monte tomatoes... It was horrible. When i was in NJ friday night I stopped and some stupid grocery store to get some candy and went to check the tomato aisle to see if they had it and they did, I was shocked and bought 4 cans. Saturday night I bought the velveeta and had myself some great chips and dip. It was great. Enough said.

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.