Out West Update

Dear Readers,

It's been a busy few weeks since moving in. I promised my friend and yours, Bob Colgan, that I'd give the blog the old update, so here it goes.

Two weekends ago we went to San Francisco to see the sights. As you may or may not know, the classic show Full House was based in SF. We did what I called the "Danny Tanner Tour" before stopping off at Fisherman's Wharf for a seafood dinner.
(Check out the Full House link above and the pics below will make more sense)










On days that I wasn't hot on Uncle Jesse's trail, I've been working at Peel-- a start up company that's changing the way you surf TV with their new app. Check out peel.com for more info. Right now I'm rotating through different teams, doing some marketing, some customer service, and some product research. If you've got any ideas about how to improve the app or their Twitter page (PeelTV) I'd love to hear it.

Aside from the office wide Go-Karting, beach days, party buses, and happy hours, it's been a delicious treat to learn what a successful start up looks like, as Jonfan would say, from the inside out (Everything is Illuminated). I'm working with a real smart bunch of fellas. Listening to conversations about how they design the interface to help users understand certain functions and encourage users to use certain buttons is as interesting as Aubie's house is boring. But I digest...


A pooch at the office during happy hour!

I've also been taking after Basil and learning how to cook. Now I'm no Emeril Live but I'm not afraid to lay some hurt on the stove.





The only problem is that certain vision impairments prevent me from being able to tell when the meat is cooked and Mike, my eyes in the kitchen, isn't quite sure what amount of red/pink is acceptable (can pork be a little pink in the middle?) As a result, we've been taking after Shelman and stocking up on the TP (any brand suggestions, Sheltodd? Shoot me a text). Also, no more pork for while.

Speaking of Shelman, the man himself was in to visit last weekend on his way home from Australia. We did some nice catching up and walked around San Jose a bit and he did some party tricks to pass the time, you know the usual.

Anyways, that's about it for now. Today we went to the lovely Santa Cruz, hung out on the beach for a bit and got some chow at a burger shack. But I mean what else can I say--the weather's been lovely (never a cloud in the sky) and we've more or less still got our health. Plus, we picked up a chair from the Salvation Army so sitting has become a relatively popular pastime around the apartment. I'll be flying home on July 29th (just booked my flight) so I'll see y'all then!

Good day, dear readers. And until that day comes... keep your ear to the grindstone.

-Pete

Out West

The sun is setting and there is are only two lights in my otherwise-barren apartment, neither of which is in my room. So, with nothing else to do, I figured I might as well update those who don't know (namely Aubie and Galen) what it's like to go Out West.

I guess we'll start at the top. My journey started at 4:00 am on Saturday. After double checking the date of my flight and making sure to avoid another Euro-mishap, Pops and I set off for Laguardia Airport. Upon arrival, I saw this guy:



Baldie rocking a mustache literally ear to ear. Classic.

How could my day get any better?
Well, I passed out for most of the flight and woke up on the plane in sunny San Jose with a wittle tut sitting in the seat in front of me! How'd you get there little guy?

Anyways, I arrived at my apartment at around noon and checked out the courtyard and the pool area. They were as nice as my apartment was empty:



This should tell you something about how nice the pool area is...

So I settled in, blew up my air mattress, unpacked, took a shower, and fell asleep.

The three hour difference makes it easy to wake up early. I was happy to discover that my apartment had a porch. However, since I'm on the ground floor, the porch is more like a cement area with a tall fence. We don't even get any sun because there's a deck above us.



How lucky am I, to be able to start every morning off by standing in this little area for 5 minutes and enjoy the Cali sun? It might not be the same as waking up to see an ear-to-ear mustache, but it's somethin!

I got up at about 9 OWT (Out West Time) to explore the town. I was happy to see that there was a Rite Aid just across the street, but happier to find a McDonald's on the corner. Yahtzee.

I walked about a mile to pick up some groceries from Grocery Outlet. The place is awesome--good service, better bargains! I picked up two loaves of bread, 32 slices of cheese, endless amounts of chicken patties, a pack of dogs, and two POUNDS of butter, for only ten bucks. Can you say chicken sandwiches for days?? If that's not a deal, I don't know what is.

I brought the shopping basket home with me to use as a trash can or maybe a shelf or something. However, after talking to Danny, I took his suggestion and set it up as a chair, making it the first piece of furniture in my place besides my blow up bed.



As you can see, the room looks much nicer than it did before. Also, now if I get tired on the walk from the kitchen to my room, I have a place to rest. Keep those suggestions flowing, Dan!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. An awkward pig roast, a trip to the Salvation Army store, and another trip to McDonald's. The sun's pretty much gone now, and I may or may not have to get up tomorrow to start work. It's actually a bit of a problem, but we all have problems and there's no time like the present.


All for now,

Sneaky Pete

Update from McDonalds: In order to make my endless chicken sandwiches less bland, I've gone to McDonald's to acquire sauces and ketchup. One McDouble and forty ketchup packets, please. Oh, and some buffalo and ranch sauce also.

Mission successful