Time of my Life

Hello World!

I'm terribly sorry for the lack of posting but, as I said in my title, I've been very busy.

I guess if I were to have my own publication (where, much like Oprah, I would be the focus of every single cover) the headlining article would be titled, "Dominic and His Family Have Decided to Leave the Chilly State of Colorado in Search of Warmer Climates".

That's a bit wordy so let me just say this: We're moving to Los Angeles!

I know, I know... I've flip-flopped on this issue a hundred times (and even started a website about it that didn't go anywhere) but this time I'm as serious as those Tupperware containers in the back of your fridge are stinky.

I'm so serious about it this time that I've made sure I can't back out. I sold my Jeep, told my employer and started sending out my resume to every firm I can find in the Los Angeles area.

I'm really scared about moving but I figure if I don't take some kind crazy leap out of CO I'll regret it for the rest of my life. It's always easier to come back than move away isn't it?

I've got money saved, a wife graduating college in a week, and a dog who won't go outside when it's below 50 degrees. It's the perfect time to move.

I will be having an inexpensive goodbye party for anyone who would like to attend once I know more details about the specifics of my move.

Hope all is good in your hood!

I had one of the most enjoyable workouts of my life today.

I ran close to 5.5 miles today without stopping. It's the farthest I've run continuously in years and running felt so good I almost didn't want to stop. I think my training for the Bolder Boulder is beginning to pay off. The race is a little over 6 miles and I've literally been running scared. Scared I won't be able to make it. My workout today has given me new confidence and I think I can handle the Bolder Boulder without any problems.

Hooray for fitness!

I began submitting my resume to firms in LA around two weeks ago. I figured by this point I would have at least gotten a call back... I haven't been so lucky. That's what I get for thinking I had a pretty good resume. Now I'm beginning to think that I won't get a job at all! I can't sleep and my head's a mess. I really hope I get a call soon.

I just completed my first interview (over the phone) and I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to get my armpits to stop sweating and hands to stop shaking.

I liken it to the feeling you get when you almost get in a car accident.

I interviewed for a firm in Costa Mesa, CA to be an assistant in store design... THREE BLOCKS FROM THE BEACH! Looking at the company portfolio I found they do contemporary store design for really big retail chains like Guess?, Home Depot Design Centers (not the big box store) and Lucky (jeans).

I can't imagine how awesome it would be to design for a client who is more worried about the integrity of the design than how much they can save by using stucco in place of fake brick.

I think the interview went really well. They were at ease enough to crack a couple jokes with me and I asked a couple questions they thought were great questions to ask even though they may have been out of place in an interview (I asked about one interviewers wife and the weather there today).

I was lacking in my skill level of the drafting program Revit and have no real commercial experience but one of the interviewers was telling the other that my multifamily experience and level of detailing in those projects would translate easily to commercial applications.

I'm so excited I can't sit still!

Summer feels like it is finally here! It's been in the 80s for the last couple days and there hasn't been a flake of snow or drop of cold rain.

I spent the better part of today riding my scooter around with my buddy Brian. We started at Sputnik where they have bottomless mimosas for five bucks (but I didn't drink any) and from there we went up though the Denver Highlands, looking at all the cool architecture, and had a cup of coffee at a cafe in a really awesome historic neighborhood.

It's been an awesome day and I only wish Nicole was here to spend it with me.

Hooray summer!

I didn't succumb to the whole 300 fever that seemed to have swept the nation a little over a year ago but last night I was hanging out with some people from work and a friend of one of my coworkers wouldn't shut up about what a cinematic masterpiece it was. She said it was her favorite movie and the best movie ever made.

I found a free movie site called rainlinks a while back and decided I would watch 300 today. I've managed to get through the first 13 minutes and I can't believe what an overly dramatic and flawed piece of shit it is. I understand that Hollywood likes to dramatize history but 300 is just ridiculous!

First, the movie starts with the Spartans training in the snow. Snow? In Greece? WTF? That's like seeing snow in Malibu! Second, a Persian messenger shows up (dressed in traditional ancient Persian clothing) in Sparta to demand their surrender but there's just one little problem with him: He's black!! A black Iranian is possible I suppose (even though very unusual) but not when it's been recorded that Xerxes messenger was a white Aryan Persian. I could go on all day about how the Spartans weren't ancient body builders or underwear models but I'll list my third and final annoyance with the movie: Every other scene is a dramatic slow motion, black and white shot where only select objects are in color. I think this technique was first used in Schindler's List to make certain elements more dramatic. I thought it worked well and I really liked it but in 300 they've completely abused it beyond dramatic belief.

The only thing I liked about the whole film was the oracle's boobies. Everything else was crap.

I give 300 a negative four stars and two thumbs down. What a horrific and pretentious bastardization of history.

Holy moly my shins hurt after my run today. I wasn't sure I would be able to get my grocery shopping done because I couldn't even get off the couch. I dragged myself to my scooter and hobbled into walgreens looking for a cure. Luckily, the pharmacist knew exactly what I needed: Stopain Spray. The stuff is AMAZING! It helped almost immediately and I was able to scooter to the grocery store.

Nicole is always really good about complaining when we are running low on groceries but without her around I decided to see how far I could stretch it. I think it's fun to see what you can come up with out of the stuff that's been sitting the in cabinet and freezer for months and months. This time I was fortunate to make something entirely delicious! So delicious in fact that I went back to the store to buy more ingredients to make it again!

Dom's Super Simple Fake Chicken Lettuce Wrap Recipe

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
Any kind of whole large leaf lettuce (I used the stuff with purple tips, slightly rotten)
Morning Star Farms Chik'n Strips (1/2 package, freezer burned)
Soy Sauce (I used Kikkoman packets left over from ordering chinese food)
Sesame Seed Oil (Don't know why we even have it)

To prepare:
Heat oil in pan
Toss in freezer burned fake chicken
Add a couple packets of soy sauce
Cook chik'n until brown
Remove from heat and let cool

Break off whole leaves of lettuce and rinse (and remove any rotten part)
Place chik'n strips in lettuce leaf
Fold carefully and stuff it in your face

I think next time I might add a little white minute rice to make the chik'n go a little farther but that easily triples the preparation time and who's got an additional 10 minutes?

I really started freaking out at about 4:30 this morning. I don't know why but I woke up and immediately knew the firm I interviewed for over the phone last week wasn't going to call me. I wondered what could possibly be done about it and then I decided to just give them a call. After all, the nice lady setting up the interview slipped the interviewer's cell number to me just in case I wanted to give him a call about anything. As I was picking up my phone to make the call it rang and it was another firm looking to talk to me about an interview. I made the arrangements, called the firm I initially picked up the phone for and scheduled myself an interview.

Is it really that easy? What the hell have I been waiting around for? And the interviewer was so receptive... Maybe he was just shocked I called him on his cell.

I leave on Wednesday night (5/29) for Los Angeles and return Sunday (6/1).

I think things are starting to come together a little bit. I picked up my suit from the tailor yesterday and came home today to find the spread collar dress shirts I ordered online.

I haven't put it all together yet but I'm hoping I look pretty sharp.

Life is exciting!

I didn't go for a run tonight because I was way too tired. I couldn't fall asleep last night for a thousand different reasons.

Anyway, as I sit here getting bored with "So You Think You Can Dance" and spending way, way too much time on suicidegirls.com I realize that it's these bored little moments that I take advantage of always having a great woman around. Granted, I do really immature things like squeezing certain parts of her during moments of male weakness and boredom but since she isn't here I've taken to picking on the dog and he's had about enough of me... Now that I think about it, that's probably the way Nicole always feels. Oh well. She signed up for it. The dog didn't really get to decide for himself. I'll stop picking on him now.

I really miss my wife. Only 10 more days until I get to see her pretty face again.

I didn't shower last night and didn't feel like showering this morning. I figure I've got absolutely no one to impress and the dog only likes me more when I'm smelly. I just ran four miles and definitely don't feel like showering so I think I'll go another night without it.

It's going to be awesome. The victories are small when your wife is out of town but they're still victories.

Oh man do I have a bad mom. I normally avoid contact with her by just not answering my phone when it comes up "Unknown Number" but I was duped today because Nicole had been calling from an unknown number. Damn, suckered into a late night drunken conversation with her again.

I can only take so much of her slandering my loved ones before I stop and ask her why she's such a terrible person. Tonight I tried to get her to realize she needs professional help but I was met with the drunken repetition, "I singed the house over to your father in the divorce". Don't ask. It's a long story but mostly it's her standard "change the subject" response she gives when anything true or meaningful (and therefore very painful) comes up in the conversation. I did score a few points though when I actually managed to get her to hang up on me before I hung up on her. About half way through the conversation it became a goal of mine.

I know it sounds awful but it's actually better than what she does when we end the conversation on good terms: She will force me to say I love her. Oh, how painful, and she's done it to me my whole life. I think that's the biggest reason why I really dislike telling anyone I love them at the end of a phone conversation.

I still hold out hope that some day she will find a reason to be a kind and functioning member of society.

I ran the Bolder Boulder today. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Right when I started to get tired I ran by Ben and Kate and they cheered me on which actually helped me get over it. I ran 10 kilometers, which is a little over 6 miles. I'm not sure of my time yet but I think it was somewhere right around an hour. I'm very tired but glad I did it.

Time to eat a whole lot of pizza because I earned it.

Bolder Boulder Personal Results

division place: 290 out of 412
gender place: 12375 out of 22100
mile 1: 0:10:55.44
mile 2: 0:10:40.06
mile 3: 0:10:38.44
mile 4: 0:10:13.82
mile 5: 0:10:01.48
mile 6: 0:10:11.40
net time: 1:04:46.45
pace: 10:26 (based on net time)

Not the best but I did it!

I recently discovered Muse. They fucking rock. I hated the Starlight song when it hit the radio but I shouldn't have been so quick to judge. AMAZING musicians. I can't believe how much sound they can make with only three of them.

I think I just finished my portfolio!

Wow what a journey! I left work late, hit traffic on 225, couldn't find parking, had the bus from parking break down, had to wait in a huge security line and made it to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. Holy shit!

Then I get to LAX and they're out of the economy size rental car so I have to convince the guy to give me an upgrade for free.

Believe it or not I can't find any Starbucks or fast food near my hotel in Costa Mesa (which isn't entirely a bad thing) and I wanted to get some coffee and a bite to eat before my interview at 9:00am. I'll make do with the my banana and the free coffee in the room.

I did sleep well last night because I was so tired from traveling which was nice. I am refreshed and ready to go this morning. Interview number one is about to be history!

I don't think I've ever wanted a job more. It's perfect!

The office was amazing, the work was amazing, the PEOPLE were amazing!!

I think my interview went well. I wasn't nervous once the interview started and they listened intently to my little presentation on the projects I brought with me and I was able to answer all of their questions. I think I asked appropriate questions and spoke with clarity.

I was a little overdressed however. The interviewers were both in jeans and we sat in a very informal meeting space with a large, round coffee table and short, white contemporary chairs. I'm glad I kept my jacket on because I sweat right through my dress shirt.

Well, one down and two to go. I'm off to Hollywood.

I am currently sitting in the car near the intersection above and in the perfect spot to get full signal free wifi. Crazy, so I thought I would post since I've got three hours to kill before my next interview. This interview is for a really high end interior design firm in a prime LA location. I really like the area and think it would be a really awesome place to live.

Anyway, I'm hungry so I'm going to get something to eat.

Wish me luck.