Killer Cars

Eventually it would happen sooner or later, in this case later than I expected. The software running my blog will soon be upgraded from Movable Type to Wordpress. Couple of reasons:

Movable Type is fairly outdated and has gone the way of the fax machine since the licensing system. New plugins are few and far between, rebuilding entire websites is cumbersome, and the amount of comment spam shows that this is an aging workhorse. Time to say bye bye. Wordpress however is open source, free and will always be in development. Wordpress is a child of the Web 2.0 generation, and the amount of users backing it up and making it great is encouraging me to jump ship.

More importantly, Wordpress seems to have taken personal web design to a whole new level. I’ve tinkered my layout by hand to my liking, but Wordpress has made it simple to change the look of your entire site with several clicks of a button. A Google search for ‘Wordpress Themes‘ gives you entire depositories dedicated to the art CSS and user friendly design. I will never have to worry about my site looking dull.

Wordpress is made to be entirely simple. And folks, I’m hoping this simplicity will cause me to blog more.

If you subscribed to my feedburner link, do nothing, I will update my feedburner settings accordingly. For those who are using the other site feeds, please switch over to the feedburner feed right now so the move won’t affect your RSS reader. If not, just come to this site in the next few days and grab the new RSS feed, whatever it may be.

Typical conversation about my job:

“How’s da job in Boston?”

“Eh”, I respond.

“Whaddya mean eh?

“Eh, it’s Boston.”

“Yep…”

Moving to Boston has been its own story. This entry is about working in Boston, more specifically, how it owned up to my last gig with the Peace Corps. I was expecting that working in Boston has perks, and would be more enjoyable than working anywhere else I have been so far. It turns out the truth is very much altered after leaving a comfortable volunteering gig abroad. It turns out working in a city is not as exciting as it sounds. If the work sounds boring, it will probably still be boring in a tall glass skyscraper.

But of course, comparing work in Boston to work in Cape Verde, West Africa is like comparing fruits and veggies. However, the bottom line still matters. Is it enjoyable, satisfiable, or in this case, what the imagination entailed? Still curious perhaps?

As I was grunting about this current frustration, I tossed up a few points. Points that people look for a job, or maybe what I see are essential. Point for point, here’s how things break down.

Facilities

Boston - I get to work in one of the most well known buildings in all of New England, the John Hancock Tower, currently the tallest building in Boston. One subway trip takes me from my home in Allston, to Copley square and I’m already at work. The building is climate controlled, tight with security, full range cafeteria, has its own ATM lobbies, a gift shop and corporate gym. Plus, my 15th floor location offers great views of downtown Boston, Back Bay neighborhood, Boston Common and the infamous Citgo sign over Kenmore.

CV – I get assigned to a dusty small youth center on the outskirts of town that has the worst 200 meter sun-drenched walk to work I’ve had ever. At least half an hour in the morning is spent trying to cool off from the blaring sun and another hour cleaning the dust in the building. It is one of the few internet access locations in town, which gives it a plus, but the lack of TP or lack of quiet spots to take a nap means this work environment should be avoided at all costs. The view, oh just the view of the Atlantic ocean. Nothing to see here, move on. The only thing really fun about this location is gathering together to watch American movies in the afternoon with dozens of curious teenagers.

Advantage - Boston’s got it here with the most pimp of addresses in New England.

Lunchtime

Boston – There are many eateries around the area that cater to the working population. In immediate walking distance there is numerous eateries plus normal full serve restaurants that might offer take-out. The amount of options are huge, although eating on a $5 budget is very limited. The best part, Newbury St dining.

The only drawback about eating, is that virtually everybody in the company eats at the desk. Hence I am working for 8 straight hours in a day squeezing in bites to eat when I get the chance. Unfortunately this practice will never change.

CV – Right behind the youth center, hidden in the bushes and past the dying pig is a food shack that caters to the teachers working in the high school next door. There is almost a lack of seating, except that I usually squeeze in wherever I can. Every dish on the menu is only $1.50 and there is more than enough food to go around (either tuna steak, roast chicken, beef liver, grouper fish or beef stew) and all are served with rice and homemade French fries. The tight quarters almost forces conversation, and here is the only place where I can finally escape work.

Adv. – Cheaper, more tasteful food, plus eating around the siesta gives Cape Verde a huge advantage.

Pay

Boston - In 2004, the Boston metropolitan area had the highest cost of living in the nation. Combine that with entry level, recent college graduate pay and I am struggling to live on my own. I am one of the few individuals I know that live away from their parents, and is so broke for that reason that I can’t feasibly afford a car. Once I decide to start paying back my school loans, having a car won’t be an option. I seriously had more spending money in college.

CV - How about never having to pay rent, $25 in utilities, living in a tax free country and all your healthcare is on the US Government’s tab. I can get anywhere on the island for less than $2.00 and it is amazing how much free food you can get by getting to know your neighbors. Since there is nothing here, there is nothing to buy!

Adv. – Cape Verde wins because the spending is always guilt free. A night out in Boston always comes back to bite you once you get your monthly statement.

Job usefullness

Boston - Handling credit operations for rich clients needing the funds to buy a home.

CV - Teaching computers and English to youth living on islands stuck in the middle of the ocean.

Adv. - I’ve explained that volunteering for the youth center and teaching computers was as useful as teaching a starving man how to fish in the desert. However I am opposed to the rich getting richer so CV wins by default.

Social life

Boston - Here is where I overestimated Boston. I have the job, and that’s about it. My life does not revolve around it 24/7. I am still dealing with the fact that I am just another number in Boston. There are social aspects with my job, but there isn’t going to be happy hours or conference lunches anytime soon.

CV - I get the full rockstar treatment with my job. Dinner is easily attained by mooching off the neighbors and lines are pushed out of the way when that funny Asian guy is trying to pay his bills. My job directly affects the community I live in, so there is never a time when I am not working. Because of this, I get invited to every function, meeting everybody and getting VIP access whether its the local music festival, a conference with the UN or thanksgiving at the US ambassador’s house. Being a local celebrity does get very fun. Plus, there is no other social group quite like the Peace Corps volunteer network. I will forever love these guys.

Adv. - Cape Verde wins over Boston’s lack of strength in numbers. Even though I played over 3 hours a day of Nintendo, I never felt just like a number. Sometimes the popularity does come too much.

The reality of time

Boston - Time flies faster than anything, months fly by like weeks, and the seasons change as often as changing a pair of shoes. It’s almost time to start receiving payments on my 401k.

CV - Time slows to a ridiculous standstill. Hours pass like days and you only worry about the immediate hours ahead. If you are bored sitting on the porch watching the day go by, all you can do is… sit on the porch and watch the day go by. There is only one season (hot as fuck) and you unfortunately packed one pair of sandals that will last for 2 years. Sounds like a heatwave is coming through.

Adv. - Neither

Vacation

Boston - Only 2 weeks vacation for the newbie. Again, your low pay means even a trip to Canada is a major financial decision.

CV - Uncle Sam treats you well! 3 and a half weeks of vacation and free weekends in country! Again, your really ridiculous high pay affords you an opportunity to fly across the pond and visit ‘real’ Africa. Welcome to the land of $10 hostels, dollar beers and all the free medications you could ever need.

Adv. - Absolute ownage by Cape Verde

It is of little surprise that any job I could have gotten after the Peace Corps will look small. There were hardships, enough for me to throw in the towel, but the Peace Corps was an experience. Something that not many jobs could possibly give me. And maybe it has gotten me numb to the point that following the norm and not delaying the real world is a safe bet. Considering that this is my first real job ever, I am fairly certain I tried to allow the job to give me an experience and failed miserably. The Peace Corps was an experience, I got to travel, learn new cultures, make new friends, and feel at home at another part of the world. I expected my life to be just as exciting as it was a year ago. For an after PC job, a career in banking was probably not the best choice. I guess I still need time to think things through.

While it is regular habit of mine to dismiss the joys of living in Boston, this situation is more or less my job. While I still prefer cities, there’s not much fun if you’re just starting out. As I stated before, if it sounds boring, it won’t get less boring in a city. My life in the real world hasn’t taken on good terms as of yet, and I’m still kicking in the water to enjoy myself. Realistically this sounds like I might be in the mood for another career. Or maybe this is just one of those forums where I just vent my frustrations.

Comments, if any, please leave them.

I mention about giving you updates on the site and then I ignore you again completely. Funny how time flies when you work just as much as everybody else. Well instead of giving you bit by bit, here is the last 6 months of my life in the most concise way possible. This is mainly for those who have lost me after the whole Cape Verde/ Cambodia thing. Also for any visitors who am wondering what I’m doing, post Peace Corps life. As many of you know, I have relocated and settled into the great American city of Boston. These paragraphs below show you how.

After giving up on moving to New York, I decided to take a stab at getting a job in Boston. I was having some good luck on from several recruiters and job fairs in very short amount of time however the job I would finally take would be an operations rep role in a custody bank in Boston’s Back Bay. I was referred from one of my childhood friends from Providence and soon that is me, finally going to work in the 15th floor of the tallest building in New England, the John Hancock tower (what a huge step from working at some fishing town in Cape Verde).

My job, without going into great detail, is credit operations for custody and trust accounts. My day consists of seizing control of assets for the bank’s clients in order to insure we can offer them credit for real estate purchase or even purchases of more assets or god knows what rich folks are doing with their money. The majority of the day has me reviewing portfolios of clients, most of them 2 million dollars or more, and picking the best stocks, funds, and bonds to hold as collateral. The other reminding tasks will be approving withdrawal requests and accepting payments on their credit bills. Real exciting stuff right? Yeah, don’t hold your breath.

Working in Boston, but living in Rhode Island, proved to be challenging. I was paying around $300 alone in commuting costs, plus spending 3 hours everyday in traffic. I knew I could only handle the commute for so long, so I moved to Allston, a neighborhood west of Boston after 3 weeks of intensive apartment searching (an hour or 2 of apartment searching directly after work). The big deal here was not necessarily the move to a city, but the signifying that I was finally away from the womb of parents or the Peace Corps, and for the 3rd time in my life, living without a car.

Moving to Allston reminded me of how little stuff I can live with, but moving in with a 32 inch flatscreen tv, a beirut table, my own fridge and double bed wasn’t convincing anybody. I was fortunate to live in a very spacious room with an office attached in a 6 bedroom apartment. My office was useful for about 4 days, before I convinced myself that it was big enough to fit my bed, and I could do my living in the other big room (since I called it my closet from now on, Phil exclaims that every morning, I come out of the closet). Since the house was chock full of students, it was cool to have my own (air conditioned!) space. However the TV wouldn’t get every channel I wanted it to.

I chose Allston because of the heavy student/20 something population and the cheap rents for a reasonable location. Mostly everybody is here for school (numerous colleges in Boston) and everybody else makes up the immigrants and racial diversity of the city. You can find markets and restaurants from all corners of the world, and I have yet to not find some international cuisine that isn’t represented here yet. Besides the ethnic businesses flourishing, I got to meet and live with many different people since moving here in Allston.

In my first apartment, I lived with a half French, half Nigerian who also speaks Spanish, 3 different Irish exchange students, a Polish immigrant from the Bronx NY, along with 2 other Americans from the Midwest. I would not have had the same living situation had I moved within Rhode Island or back up to New Hampshire. Fast forward to today, and now I am living with 2 Indians who are here for work. So far, the diversity of people I have lived with and met is very fascinating and my open eyes wants to experience more of this melting pot of a country.

Not surprisingly, living in Boston without a car helped me improvise on every situation that required a car. Going home or up to New Hampshire required an Amtrak ride (they serve beer on the train!), shopping consists of keeping it local or close to work, and a coffee run actually meant a run. I seriously did not mind living without a car, and there is no other way to see Boston besides walking or cycling. Many will agree Boston is not the best for cars or drivers, and I’d rather live without the headaches. Instead, I invested in a Boston guidebook that had about 25 up close maps of the city, and it has helped me when I am out getting lost in the city, on foot, in running shoes, or on a bicycle.

One of the best things of living in a city (or maybe just Boston) is the easier access to outdoor recreation (and indoor recreation is closer if you want to think that way). I still remember that feeling, right when I first moved into town, of tightening those laces on the running shoes, excited to go run in a city that was alive and moving (rather than running in the woods). It was such a great rush to be disoriented and lost, excited to be independent finally, and running through a place that was still new but running back to a place that was called home. In addition to running, riding on a bicycle opens up the city to farther distances, and the bike still sees great use for those days when I’m feeling like a speed freak.

My last entry mentioned that I just recently ran in a half marathon, my first competitive race ever. I spent basically most of the summer, training for that race, which was enjoyable considering the weather. In addition, the running helped keep me healthy in a summer that became almost like a reintroduction to drinking. Going out to bars, throwing keg parties, and going away every weekend made for a great summer that I don’t think other summers matched (and all this without a car). After spending time abroad, these acts of drinking, partying and seeing friends was exactly what I needed to come home to. Moving to Boston has become a blessing in more ways than one. I am healthier than I have ever been, yet still have a drive to party and live it up with my friends from New England like nothing has changed. In many ways, I didn’t imagine moving to Boston would be enjoyable at first, but the city and my friends have made it so.

And now the situation today. I moved out of my first apartment to get more for my money and to be closer to the B subway train that I take to go to work. Living with a bunch of students proved to be an ongoing headache, and with having too much room came a less is more mentality. I started to look for smaller and more featured apartments with a closer commute and settled on the first one that fit me well. And now that students are back in town and not in my house, Boston has become even more enjoyable and liveable.

I now live on Quint Avenue, close to the Harvard ave T stop, with 2 Indians living abroad previously mentioned above, Sridhar and Sunni (very nice guys offering a cultural lesson or two), and my other new roommate Scott from Seattle. My first 2 months I have been out of touch mainly because the summer is over, and I have been getting to know these 3 guys more than anybody I knew back at my first apartment. The apartment feels like a better collective unit and having less roommates feels much more personal.

And that is my move to Boston in a nutshell. This story is still young and we’ll see how this story plays out. I’m expecting to be here for another few years if I stay with the company I am with right now. I do know that every time I visit home, I get sickened into forcing myself into the car culture and the lack of diversity/things to do even when I have a vehicle. Suffice to say, I will never move anywhere that is less diverse or less exciting that having a car is a social necessity. Livable communities is seriously where its at. But apart from that, I still have a desire to move to New York, or travel some more. Of course, the money and debt situation is not having me do either, but so far so good in this part of New England.

Update 11-9-06 : As was pointed out by a friend Danielle, my feelings towards Boston as written in this entry are rather positive, and not negative as usual. I was aiming to be non influential and keep my bragging for another time. Well, it is going to take a lot of entries to voice the displeasures I encounter to help sway the balance back to the negative, but it seems like bitching about Boston is the chic thing to do (just visit Universal Hub). While I have spent enough time to enjoy the city the way I want to, I am far from in love and I seriously hope I don’t spend too much time here.

On a side note, I would also like to thank Danielle for the numerous occasions as the keg picker upper for this summer’s parties. It was such a huge favor from one Bostonian to another, and something I needed to adjust to living in this huge melting pot.

Before I get back to updating this site, here’s current news.

On October 8th 2006, on a clear day in Boston, over 3500 runners answered to the 8am gunstart of the annual Boston Half Marathon. I was there competing myself in what is (and will be the hardest to beat) the most beautiful course in all of Boston.

My official time was 1 hour and 55 minutes (use the link and search for my name). Just under the 2 hour mark.

Running the race was awesome and I felt all the training got what it deserved. However running the race is not completely fun for sure. It sucked waking up at 5:30 only to scarf down bagels and drink water in desperation. And then, it sucked having knee pain at the 11 mile mark. But finishing afterwards, besides the obvious limp I felt really good. Since the 13.5 mile distance is also a new high for me, I’m suprised I didn’t add any new injuries or pains to my body. This morning I woke up just sore and will be so for a few days.

As far as results, I am personally pleased with my time and I did even better than I expected. When I was originally signing up for the race, since I was a first time runner my only goal was to finish the race first and not worry about time. In another way the under 2 hour mark is fairly high for a runner who never ran more than 4 miles back in June. In many ways, I am pleased that I was able to train my body from nothing to a lean rookie running machine in only 4 months. And I believe the training has been worth it.

But otherwise, it was a perfect day in Boston. The clear sunny weather made up for the cold start and I finished the race just in time to enjoy the rest of the day. The Emerald Necklace course was enjoyable (even though I was in my zone) where it was great to see nature on one side, and city on the other. Such an appealing contrast. I’m lucky my pains didn’t cause me to tap out and well I feel great that I can just walk after running 13.5 miles. It was such a great accomplishment, and I am happy to feel like I am in the best shape of my life.

Of course it’s not over! I say let’s get good at this for another year and start training for actual marathons. Do I see this in the future?

Anyway, I will be writing about how I trained for this run and what I learned in the process. Anybody can run, as long as they have discipline. Now go run fools!

New York City, it’s not that I can’t quit you, it’s that I don’t want to quit you.

March of this year was a pretty rough time. I was finally home from the Peace Corps and Cambodia, but yet I had no plan for the future. In some ways, I knew I had to find a job and get moving on the real world, and I knew I couldn’t stay at my parent’s house long. A part of me believed that I was to go back to the developing world and get back to interesting work abroad a la ‘Peace Corps’, But after spending all those months abroad in harsh conditions, I didn’t feel the need to leave my high speed internet as of yet. Since I was in transition phase between jobs and places to stay, I knew it was now the best time to try and fulfill a goal I have had for years. After living out of 2 backpacks for the past 8 months, now was the best time to move to the greatest city in the world, New York City.

My love affair with New York City happened sometime during senior year of college, ironically at the same time I was doing my thing with Peace Corps. I had been to New York in years past, but it wasn’t until now that I really started to recognize and enjoy it for what it was. In the US, this is the city that never sleeps, and never does anything slow. Two qualities that I truly respect and two principles I enjoy following as well. Even going further back, before I fell in love with the city, I never quite saw the big deal. Whereas most people get overwhelmed with New York on their first time (there is simply too much going on and the hectic pace is too much for first timers, so used to their suburban lifestyles) I never had a problem with the lifestyle but I did have a hard time trying to see why New York was as busy as it was. Was there some charm about NY that I was missing?

Eventually I found the big deal. After a few trips to the city, it was obvious reflecting back that New York City is the standard in which to compare other cities. I found myself comparing New York City to everything I had been to at the time and frankly New York City just does it better than everything else. It is the most diverse place in America and maybe the whole world, and it is a place where dreams are made and realized. I made a couple visits to the city before I left for abroad, but it was these trips that finally made it stick to me. After getting really acquainted with the city, I felt that I couldn’t enjoy living anywhere else. I was excited to move in the city and enjoy all the cultures and lifestyles that only New Yorkers get to enjoy.

However, back to the present. After getting back from the traveling, I was… tired and jetlagged. It took a little over a week to cure my jetlag that had me flying from the other side of the world in less than 24 hours. And until then was not able to do much of anything besides stare at the television. My body felt useless and my mind couldn’t think through all the reverse culture shock. My recollections sat in the journal untouched and my digital photos sat on the memory card, unnamed and not yet uploaded onto Flickr. Between days of 15 hour sleeping sessions and TV marathons, just the idea of looking for NYC jobs was exhausting. Considering I had just gotten back from the longest vacation I might ever take, looking for a job was the last thing I wanted to do right away. Luckily there was a season of LOST to catch up on, and the endless amounts of satellite TV at my mom’s house. Rather just for another case of the ‘back home blues’.

As far as being social, considering I saw most of everybody back in January, it wasn’t a big welcome back in some way. I did get to see more people I didn’t see the first time home, and eventually managed to join the cult and get a new cellphone fairly quickly. There were some gatherings in which I made the popup, but nothing too dramatic then. It was like the adjustment was already made and everybody has settled me in for the long term. Even I was too, because after a certain time I was more interested in myself than my friends.

On the job front, immediately upon getting home I got an offer to work for my previous employer back at school for a full time benefits position. The pay was reasonable and the time off during the summer was key. However, it was way too soon to pass up on anything, anything from New York, so while I had a chance to return to the land of where I studied for 4 years, I really had no desire to go back.

My first plan of action was just to start applying in masses. After editing, cleaning and spiffing up my resume to my liking, I hit up www.indeed.com and started applying to jobs on average of about 10 an hour. As fast as I was home settling in, I was even faster applying to jobs that will send me out fast. I became obsessed, obsessed, and straight up dedicated to staring at the computer screen and applying to jobs en masse. I don’t know the exact number of applications I have submitted, but at the end of one week it was close to uncountable. Pretty soon the act of looking at a computer screen was enough to hurt my eyes from the stress. A 3 hour session of applying to jobs in the morning would require 5 hours of lounging around the house resting up my eyes from the abuse. My mom started wondering how far I was going to take this. And while I just kept quiet and doubled up on the visine, what I didn’t tell her was how far I was willing to take this.

Somehow in between resume submittals to job openings to NYC, I managed to get an interview and get accepted working for an AIDS activist organization in Providence, RI. The job purpose was fulfilling, and the office location was literally a stone throw’s away from my parents. However, the position wasn’t having me on the front line and more of a backend support for the group. Since the job didn’t seem too enriching on my part and the fact that I would be willing to do worse in NY, I passed on the offer in hopes I could still make it in New York.

After going through a week of no replies and dismissals, I was short of throwing in the towel of getting a job in New York City. I faced the facts I had in front of me, mainly being, I was a very inexperienced after college graduate, and that I required some time to move into the city and not be able to start right away. Going the way of applying jobs over the internet was probably not the best way especially since I don’t even live close to the area yet.

At a trip to Barnes & Noble, in between sips of coffee, I had that ambitious urge to buy a book that I have been holding off on buying for months so far. The book is simply called ‘Relocating to New York City’, and gives you essential information for making your move and full neighborhood descriptions of the busting metropolis. However even though the book as useful in helping me understand the neighborhoods better, it did nothing to help the job search. At least half of the temp agencies listed in the book closed up shop and I have already had bad luck with everything the book mentioned before I even got my hands on it.

I had started to entertain the idea of moving into New York City right away and hopefully temping my way up the ladder. Of course, finding a place to live without having a job is fairly difficult and the only places I could find were already starting to sound like a crackhouse.

It was inevitable. I was slowly losing grip on the idea of moving to New York with just a backpack. I could live in a crackhouse, I have nothing against crack, but the breaking decision that told me not to, was the fact that I didn’t have a slush fund that could help me bounce back had I not found a job in New York. I would have to ask my mother for cash to pay my deposits to move into the city and there is no way she would do it knowing that I don’t have a job in hand. I knew it was possible to temp, as long as I had a place to stay. Hence, no place to stay, no way to get money to stay, and I had to end my job search there. I had to stop trying to move into New York and be reasonable.

In the end, it was close to 2 weeks of constant no replies and denials when I realized my resume was both not strong enough and obvious that I was not living in commuting distance. I became so good at job searching I decided to try my habits to jobs in the Boston area. For the more obvious reason, I was getting finally getting phone calls. In fact the phone calls came so much, they became harder to sleep through. There may have been 5 companies that passed me up because I sounded like I was still in bed, which in fact I was. The phone calls made it clear though, that if I wake up everyday early and man my phone, I will soon have a job on my hand.

The big picture: New York, over 100 applications and nothing close to an interview. Boston, 9 sent, 5 calling the next day.

Since I was broke, I was able to return that book mentioned above for a full refund. As most of you know by now I settled on a job in Boston and will write about it here soon. However, I still have New York on my mind.

Oh New York, big city of dreams. You weren’t there when I wanted you to, but be warned. I have NOT given up.