Andy's Blog

First of all I just realized I used the word “Eurotrip” which is actually one of my favorite, but incredibly stupid comedies. But anyways back to the important stuff.

Some minor updates on my trip to Europe. I’m still hoping to do this next year but I may have to push it back a few months due to some issues with my car. It seems to be getting in worse shape every day and I’m still so conflicted in whether or not it’s worth fixing or to just get a new car. But I’m still going to strive for next year probably fall.

But as far as the actual trip is concerned a friend of mine directed to me the Eurail website which they have some really cool deals called “Regional Passes” which is basically rail travel within and between one or two countries. The price seems pretty reasonable at around $200-$300 for a two week period. And one of the regions that they have is Italy-Greece which could influence my decision on where I want to go. But I still have a ton of time to make that decision but at least now I have different ideas in my head which is always a good idea.

Anyways just a small update just wanted to try and keep myself going with writing my thoughts down about this trip seeing as how excited I am about it. Happy 4th of July everyone!

So, I’m going to start getting into blogging again especially since I’m going to start planning a trip to Europe next year.

Personally I’ve never been out of the United States…ever. Not even to Mexico or Canada, so I’m really excited to start planning this trip. I know it’s WAY in advance considering I won’t be traveling until next year, but I think the more prepared I am for it, the less shock it will be a month before the trip. For now it’s pretty much getting mentally prepared of being on my own for a couple of weeks thousands of miles from home. My first concern for now is money which is probably the first thing anyone thinks about when taking a long trip anywhere. I’m not too worried about it as I plan to start saving now putting away $200 from each of my paychecks and I should have my goal of $4000 put away within 10 months. While I don’t plan on spending $4000 by any means I do want to have a surplus just in case. It’s always better to have more money than not enough. My plan with that is to have ~$2500-$3000 in my checking account as I will be primarily using a debit card not a credit card and leave the rest in my savings and let someone back stateside be able to transfer the money if need be. Not sure how much safer that is but it sounded good in my head.

My buddy Alex has written up a fantastic site that pretty much goes very in depth of what to expect, what to pack, and what to do in certain situations while traveling. The site is Ultimatepackinglist.com. I give major kudos to Alex on this one since I’m going to be basing most of my research from this site and the external resources it provides.

So why do I want to take this trip? Simple answer: because I never have. But that’s just the simple answer. As long as I can remember from social studies classes, history classes, and from the three years I took in French is that people are different. Learning about other people and cultures has always fascinated to me in some way shape or form. After all America only occupies ~5% of the world meaning there is so much to learn out there. You can only learn so much from textbooks and teachers. I honestly believe there is so much out in the world to discover and this trip I’m planning next year is just the beginning.

As far as where I want to go? I haven’t really decided on that yet. There are 4 main countries I would really like to visit in my lifetime. The United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, and Greece. Obviously those are just the ones I REALLY want to visit and of course I want to visit more but they are on the top of my list before I die. As far as this trip is concerned I would like to visit one of the four and possibly another (on the list or not, it doesn’t really matter just as long as I have a great time). So I would love to hear anybody’s experiences from anywhere in Europe to help make my own decision. Just as a guideline maybe I’ll pick something completly different. That’s the nice thing about starting to plan now…I have plenty of time to make the decision which I gotta say will probably not be easy.

Well thanks and I hope to hear from you all soon!

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So I pretty much got my mind set that I’m going to be getting a new car hopefully sooner than later. Now that I actually make enough money to make a monthly payment on one I can get something besides a filler car and actually get something that I want not something that I need. I did the math and it looks like I’ll be okay with a $350/month payment I would go up to $400 for the right car, but that is REALLY going to make my money tight at least through August while I’m still paying off some bills. After August I’m no longer paying an overdue charge to ASU. And through October I’ll finish off paying a small loan from my aunt. But after those two are paid off I’ll make more than enough money to make a $350 payment. The main reason I’m looking into a new car is that mine is just starting to fail. If I drive on the freeway the car starts to overheat when I slow down when getting off. Another reason is the axle is starting to go bad and I’d rather not have to fix that. I’ve already put $400 into this year and really don’t want to put anymore because I didn’t spend that much on it in the first place. I think this is the right time while the economy is still in the crapper and since I don’t have a paid vacation this year I probably won’t take any more than a few days off for a vacation. I’d really like to hear everyone’s thoughts about whether or not this is a good idea. Like I said I’ll be tight on money for the first few months, but not anything I can’t handle. Plus this will give me an opportunity to really see how I spend my money as I’m going to start keeping a day-to-day tab just to see how much I do spend.

So I came across a strange realization today. Seat belt laws are stupid. I’m not saying wearing a seat belt is stupid by any means. I always wear mine, but the idea that you should be fined for not wearing one seems kind of ridiculous to me. People SHOULD have the choice to wear one or not. Just the same as someone chooses to ride a motorcycle or not and realistically what’s more dangerous under most circumstances…getting into an accident in a car not wearing a seat belt, or getting into an accident on a motorcycle. Which one is more likely to cause permanent damage?

Like I said I wear my seat belt and no it’s not because I’m “scared” into doing it in fear that I will receive a ticket, I do it because it’s the smart thing to do in the event that I were to get into a crash. I guess this post was meant to get you thinking…why do you wear a seat belt…is it because you’re scared of getting a ticket? Is it because you know you’re probably safer in the event of a crash with it on versus not? But it also is to get you thinking why do some laws get passed?

So I’m going to be creating a new website called Ballroom Dance Connection .net It won’t be only for ballroom dancing however Ballroom/Latin/Salsa will all be included. It’s basically going to be a resource where people can find places to dance, where they can learn, etiquette, and links to online stores. There will also be a blog feature where people can post about their ballroom experiences and hopefully everyone will become really interactive with it. I’m really excited about getting this project started so if anyone has any ideas let me know right away!

Well here I am 16 days into 2009 still reflecting on what went wrong/what went right in 2008. And I am in no way “emo” but I must say that the “what went wrong” outweighs the “what went right”. Towards the end of 2007 I moved in with some people that at the time I didn’t know would change my life. This was definitely one of the “what went right”s. The became my best friends and my second family pretty much and even though roommates came and gone I developed new friendships and found myself doing different things. I was starting to go out a lot more and just having more fun in general which is what I was lacking for a long time in my college life. I happened to move in with Nathan who was an avid dancer at ASU. He took me with him one day and things changed for me from there on too. I really started getting into dancing around August when I took a class. This was one of the best choices that I’ve made in a long time. It kept me happy and was a cheap way to have fun for the whole night. Those were the best things that happened to me in 2008.

Well sadly 2008, wasn’t all good as some people could probably guess. Besides on a global scale all the economies of the world starting to fail affected all of us. As far as work is concerned I couldn’t find anything when I most desperately needed it. I always had a job where I worked from home on web pages and etc, but that could only go so far as to how much money I could make and how much I needed…sadly the amount I needed way outweighed the amount I could make. Other than money I turned 21 this year which I’m still trying to determine if that is a good or bad thing. Sure it’s fun to go out to the bars and stuff, but it’s extremely expensive and I’ve made some poor choices that I’m bettering myself on now. As far as my personal life goes I ended a relationship that I have yet to this day figure out why I did and I feel like an idiot still and am always wondering. My grandmother that I was extremely close to passed away this year which was probably the hardest part of the year because it was just like that and suddenly she was gone. I also had mono and pneumonia at the same time which forced me to withdraw from the spring semester at ASU.

Well 2008 wasn’t the best year of my life, and I’m not sure if it’s the worst and if it’s not it’s definitely in the top 2. I’m hoping 2009 will be much better but so far it’s been good. I have an amazing job that’s going to help me get out of the debt I’m in, in no time. Thanks for ready and comment I hope to talk to everyone soon!

Andy

This was supposed to be a scary movie? I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting older or what, but this movie was like the exorcist, it made me laugh way more than scare me. I guess the movie itself wasn’t terrible but I would consider it more of a thriller than a “scary” or “horror” movie.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-01-11-headline-of-the-week-weak-319#more-40744

So I think I have skin condition. I’m hoping its allergies of some sort which is what I’ve been finding on the internet. It only happens when I’m in Chicago which isn’t a huge issue to me except now that I’m here to stay it is.

It happens whenever I get hot or start to sweat my body primarily my back gets extremely itchy and drives me nuts. If anyone has heard of this or has any suggestions let me know. I’m going to try getting anti-histamines to try that first.

So it decided to snow last night, and the plow trucks decided not to plow. Driving to work this morning as a HUGE pain in the ass as you can imagine. I had to go 10 mph and I was still sliding all over the place….I need an SUV