Courtyard Shmooze

New Work

2010-11-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

Starting a new job has many challenges, but it's a lot of fun as well. You have new coworkers to bring a different dynamic to life, you meet interesting people along the way, and there is always the challenge of learning the new job.

I don't want to give away too many details so people can come stalk me, but I'll tell you a little about it. I'm working at the front desk of a hotel in New York City. it's a nice sized hotel that's been around for a while so lots of people come stay here. We're consistently sold out or on the cusp of being sold out, and we have guests from every walk of life. It's always a treat when guests come up to the desk and either can't speak English very well or just say silly things.

In order to get back into blogging, I'm going to post some fun interaction I've had with the guest during my time at the hotel. So here's the most recent one that happened tonight:
Guest: "I forgot my toothbrush."

Me: "We have extras down here if you need."

Guest: "Are they used?"

::FACEPALM::

Sometimes I wonder if people just don't think or if they really wonder some of the things they say out loud. It's quite entertaining.

I'm out for now. As one of the guests that just walked out said...howdy!

Change of Scenery

2010-08-30T05:09:00.001-04:00

I haven't had much to write about over the last few months. I'm still unemployed and haven't had much excitement in my life. In fact, I'm as broke as anything and I'm actually moving back home because I can't afford rent.

But this post isn't a sad post. It's about the good times I've had and the good friends I've made. They made these seven months here awesome. There's a core group of seven extremely close friends that has kept me sane. They let me invade their apartments and their lives, and I owe them so incredibly much. We don't lead normal New York City lives. We don't go out drinking and dancing, or seeing shows or the sights. No, that's not how we roll.

They understood my situation. They could have gone out and done all those things together, but they are such fantastic friends that they tried to include me in just about everything they could. Heck, they even fed me when they thought I needed it. We stayed in and had more movie nights than I can count. We barbecued, sat and hung out, played video games, did lots of nothing, and who knows what else. We didn't need much to entertain us. The fact that we were together and hanging out and kept each other laughing was enough.

THAT, my friends, is what friendship really is. They are all incredibly special people and I want them all to know it. I want to show them off to anyone that doesn't know them yet and rub it in their face. I am the one they chose to see on a daily basis. I was welcomed in to this otterific group of friends with open arms.

This is just one of my ways of saying thank you to them. I know they will all see this at some point in the future, and this is a reminder to them of the awesome times we spent together. I know I won't forget a moment of it.

Thank you all for everything you've done for me.

I can't wait to get back here for good and reciprocate the love you guys showed for me...you're in for a real treat.

On The Hunt

2010-04-28T03:42:00.000-04:00

Why do people make it so difficult for us unemployed folk to get a job? I've been looking for a job for the last three months. That's three months of no income, living in New York and paying off my student loans, rent, car insurance, and putting gas in the car. Oh. I can't forget groceries so I can live. Minor details. But seriously, companies post these job ads that specify that the applicant had to have gone to a 4-year college, graduated with a certain GPA (usually 3.0 or better), 2+ years of experience, etc etc.

I don't really understand what they want. Do they expect the best of the best to be unemployed and currently looking for jobs? I really hope they don't expect to get what they're looking for. The people they're looking for are already secured with jobs from before the recession. They've all gone and looked through the job boards online before, picked out where they want to work, and are now happily (or upset, but stay because of the money) working for whatever company they are with. What's left are the rest of us. The kids who grew up in middle class homes whose parents couldn't afford to put them through a 4-year college, so we had to put ourselves through community college.

Now don't get my wrong, I'm extremely happy I went to community college. Originally, I didn't want to get a college education. I thought it was a waste of time and money. I went to college and dropped out after a semester. After working for a year and a half in a hotel, I decided I was going to get an associates degree in Hotel Management from my local community college. I took out the necessary loans because I didn't have that kind of money, registered for classes, and worked my ass off to get through. I was a C student in high school, but that was my parents money that I was wasting. This was totally different. I was doing this for myself, and I wanted to get the most out of it. After 2 grueling years, I graduated with a solid 3.15 GPA (stupid Banquet Management class!!) and felt proud of myself for going through it. I thought I could take on the field and was ready to do so, until I realized I graduated at the worst possible time in recent history.

Now back to the topic at hand. What the hell am I supposed to do when even the lowest jobs on the totem pole 'require' 4-year degrees? I'm looking on CareerBuilder.com and I barely qualify for what they're looking for in a Greyhound bus driver! All because I have a silly 2-year degree. I guess I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing for 3 months. Apply to all the jobs I both qualify for and don't qualify for, and wait for someone to call back for an interview. What a waste of time and money after all.

AWESOME!

2010-04-20T18:10:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the Introduction, I have been following a bunch of blogs for a while now. One of the blogs I have followed consistently is 1000 Awesome Things. It's an amazing site that brings a smile to your face pretty much every time you visit. Neil Pasricha, the author of the site, has done an incredible job with it, and recently came out with a book titled "The Book of Awesome".

I just bought the book yesterday and I keep picking it up and opening to a random page and loving what I see. To sum it up without giving too much away, it's a 400 page book of things that just about everyone loves. Unless you're not human. But even then you should love them. The examples that Pasricha put on the book jacket are "Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket, and Other Simple, Brilliant things." And that's exactly what it is. Other simple, brilliant things.

I showed it to a few of my friends last night and they all loved it. As someone said so brilliantly, "it's the perfect coffee table book for the new table we just got in our apartment!"

Now, I didn't want this to sound like a book review, or me telling you to go buy it (although I am saying that. It's awesome!), but I just wanted to give a shout out to Pasricha because his site and book had a lot to do with me starting this blog. So thank you Neil. Thank you for your entertainment, reminders of the good times that passed by and were forgotten, and for the inspiration.

Introduction

2010-04-20T15:48:00.001-04:00

Hello all! Please feel free to welcome me to the wonderful world of blogging. For years now, I have been reading stories, jokes, news, and anything my friends decide to write about. I felt a bit left out. Why shouldn't I voice my thoughts and fun stories, I thought. So here it goes. Prepare yourself for a bumpy road that is the life of a 24 year old male living in New York.

You'll find that I like to make fun of people's mistakes, talk about hostile neighbors, post funny conversations with my roommates and friends, and just rant about anything I enjoy. So please enjoy, comment, critique, and just feel free to offer your input on any subject. Maybe I'll answer you in private, or maybe I'll make a post about it. I might just ignore you completely because the idea is so ridiculously pointless. So let's get this madness started and see where life takes us.

And away we go!

Don't forget to feed the fish!