Andy’s Blog

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.

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

So first of all Merry Christmas / Hannukah(sp) / Kwanza or what ever you celebrate that time of year!  It’s a bit belated, but it happens.  Happy new year as well seeing as that has come and go already.  2008 wasn’t the best year for me, but I’m hoping to change some things around this year in 2009.  As some of you know or maybe don’t know I’ve moved back to Chicago probably not for good but at least for the year.  I got myself into some pretty serious debt issues and I knew that I either had to get a job or join the military (yes I was seriously considering the second as a possiblity).  I figured getting a job would be better because joining the military would only postpone the inevitable that I owed a lot of money.  Well the job serach in Arizona turned up completly dry besides jobs where I’d be making at most 1000 a month and with rent and phone bills leaving me with not much left to pay off my debt.

I have always had a job here in Chicago with NextEra media working with web pages which I really enjoy so I figured it would be the best bet.  The took me on full time and are compensating me very well.  Plus I have the advantage of living at home which no offense to mom (I’m sure she’ll read this) isn’t the most ideal situation for someone who is 21 .  But the rent is free and I pay her off by making dinner when she doesn’t want too .  I’m pretty sad about leaving Arizona seeing as I made a lot of friends recently and always had a great time with them.  It was a rough decision but it was one that had to be made.

I am taking a semester off of school to work 40 hours a week, but I am not dropping out of school.  I plan to attend the University of Illinois in Chicago come fall of 2009 and finishing up there.  I put in my application and I have been accepted once before so I’m not too worried about getting accepted.  I’m hoping that I will be able to continue dancing as I very much enjoyed it when I did it in Arizona.  If anyone knows of any places in Chicago or the Chicago area let me know!

As far as the trip from Arizona is concerened…I don’t even want to talk about it.  The first day was really good I went from Tempe to Forth Worth and decided to stay at a Motel 6 for the night because they allow dogs and of course I brough Ellie with me.  So I slept great and actually slept in longer than I wanted to but whatever I got a much needed night’s sleep.  So I go to my car to leave and somebody broke into it and stole over $2000 worth of stuff.  The stole my Xbox, Playstation, my computer and monitor, and the worst thing they stole was the box I had all of my important papers in including my birth certificate and my car title.  So I had to get LifeLock in order to protect some low life from stealing my identity.  Oh well I guess that’s life.  I’d love to hear from everyone so post your comments!

Andy

First of all I’m just getting over a cold it wasn’t really too bad just a little thing but I ended up leaving school yesterday after I took my exam which I got a 26/30 on which I was pretty happy about.  Yesterday I went to bed feeling pretty crappy but this morning I woke up feeling a lot better, but that soon changed.  I started to feel crappy as the day went on and since I don’t have class until 1:30 I didn’t go to dance today either which is the first time I’ve missed that class.  Apparently we learned a few new things in Salsa today which makes me sad.  But in general I’m starting to feel better now so hopefully it’ll carry out for tomorrow.  The one thing that sucked about being sick at the time I was is I missed a good friend’s 21st birthday last night and surprise party today.  Oh well shit happens I guess.

The next main thing on my mind is money.  I think this is on everyone’s mind especially with the economy in the situation that it’s in right now.  I have a job that I enjoy doing and the people I work with, but the biggest problem is that I work from home and don’t have scheduled hours or anything like that so it gets hard to coordinate with them especially since they’re in Chicago and I’m in Arizona.  At least it’s not as bad as it was now that there is only a 1 hour time difference versus the 2 that was in effect before.  But I am looking for something more steady not that I would quit the job I’m at now, but this is proving to be a nightmare with the state the economy is in.  Sure I could probably easily get myself into a McDonalds or Burger King, but no offense to people who work there but I think I could definitely get something better than that.  I’ve been looking on Monster and CraigsList, but this isn’t really working since everyone wants full time people or people that only work during the day.  I think I’m going to have to expand my horizons to restaurants and see what I can.  The biggest road block I’ve noticed with restaurants is 99% of them really want somebody that has some kind of experience.  Yeah I worked at a pizza place for a few months and worked catering with Joe a few times, but it’s not much.  

I guess the last thing on my mind is school.  I’d have to say this semester is a little rough, and I’m not doing as good as I thought I would be and I’m not really sure why that is.  Maybe it’s because I just turned 21?  Who knows, but I have found better study habits.  Instead of studying the night or even two nights before an exam I found it much much much more useful to go over the material for the week on the weekends even if it’s glancing over my notes which is why I think I did a lot better on the exam that I mentioned above.  Anyways I think that’s all I have on my mind for now. 

I’ll keep everyone updated and let me know your thoughts as well!
Andy

Hey everyone I haven’t updated since oh beginning of September and seeing as a whole month has gone by I really want to start this thing up again.  First of all school is going good nothing really new to report just taking each class day by day.  A little annoyed that Veteran’s Day happens to be tomorrow instead of today.  I would much rather have had today off considering tomorrow I only have genetics and dance both classes I don’t mind going to since they start so late in the day versus today which I have a class at 9:30 and one at 5:00 so I have to wake up early and stay late.  It’s all good though I respect our veterans and what they’ve done for us.  Now that I’m somewhat on politics.  I’m so glad this election is over and I didn’t end up voting for who I thought I would in the end, but I think Obama will do a fine job in office.  Home life is going pretty good not really spending too much at home with all the school and dancing I’ve been doing.  Dance is going great and I’m so glad that I’m doing it.  It gives me something to do on the weekends besides going out and drinking, which don’t get me wrong is a lot of fun, but it’s ridiculously expensive especially if you go out.  Dancing costs me $4 for the whole night and is an amazing workout!  I’ll try to update this every day or as things happen at least.  Leave me comments I’d love to hear what you’re up to!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a long time!  I’ve been busy with school and the fact that I don’t have internet at home doesn’t help either!  Hopefully I’ll post something after this weekend.

Andy

So I’ve gotten a lot done as far as the move is considered.  Everything is packed up except for dishes in the kitchen which will probably be a last minute kind of thing.  I got my new mattress and I must say it is so comfortable I’ve slept on it two nights so far and I slept so good both those nights.  Next I’ll probably get the bed frame, but of course my loan hasn’t been processed yet so this is setting me back a little bit more than I wanted too.  At least I got September’s rent covered so I don’t really have a problem there.  Just thought I’d keep you guys posted on the move and I’ll write again soon!

Alright so for my 9 months of living in South Phoenix (and the 5 months I spent working in South Phoenix a few years ago), I’ve seen some pretty ghetto things.  This, however, tops them all by a long shot.  So I’m heading home from Subway after getting my spicy italian sub which, by the way was average at best, I see this kid walking down the street.  This kid is wearing a basketball trophy around his neck.  If that’s not ghetto enough the “necklace” was made out of shoe laces.  I’m pretty sure that’s one of the most ghetto things I’ve ever seen in my life.

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So anyone that knows anything at all about the 2008 Olympics has heard about Michael Phelps.  I’ve read a really interesting article about his eating habits.   He eats 12,000 calories that’s right 12 thousand calories per day.  What I find even more interesting about this 12,000 calorie-a-day diet is that it is in no way “health” food.  Check out the article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/michaelphelps.swimming1

I can’t wait to get out of here seriously.  Everyday it seems to get worse here and I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s because the sliding door to get to the backyard is really messed up, or perhaps it’s because the toilet clogs EVERYTIME you don’t pee.  Or maybe it’s because I so desperately need a new bed, and can’t wait to get a new one.  Either way I can’t wait to get out of this house in 8 days.  I’m so excited I don’t know how to describe it.