Welcome To The Weekend Getaway

This weekend I went up to Connecticut to visit one of my cousins. We had a lot of fun and my cousin showed me around his home town of New Heaven. It was a lot of fun and Connecticut pizza is amazing.

Visiting my cousin was my first big trip in the area and it was worth it. I was nervous about driving in a completely new area, but thankfully my roommate lent me her GPS. It worked great on the way to my cousin's house, but on the way back today I kept loosing the satellite signal. I just kept praying that I'd eventually find my way home.

Part of the fun of weekend getaways is exploring new places. Being new to the area allows for a chance to meet as many new people as possible and go to tons of new places. I still haven't seen a lot of New York City and Sleepy Hollow is about a 15 minute drive.

Weekend getaways can be planned out way in advanced or decided on in half a second. There's a guy who lives in my building who takes his motorcycle, picks a direction and just goes. I wish I could do stuff like that, but I'm a planner.

Some tips for a weekend getaway (for those who are on there own or with a friend).

1) Check for toll roads - if you don't have an EZ Pass or cash on hand things can get tricky. Also tolls in general just start to add up. It's almost 30 dollars to go from Baltimore Maryland to Ridgewood New Jersey. That's more than a tank of gas.

2) Where to sleep - this is more important if you are doing a spontaneous getaway. For the out door adventurer,  it might be a good idea to have a tent and spare air mattress in left in the car. Hopefully a camp ground can be found. Otherwise, hope a decent hotel has a vacancy. These are the days I'm so glad we have Yelp.

3) Avoid getting lost - at least avoid getting lost for too long. Investing in a good smart phone or GPS (for those of us who are technologically challenged) is extremely helpful. Sometimes you can even program them to avoid tolls and major highways.

4) Take chances - if there are a lot of cars in the restaurant parking lot, or a line around the corner. It might be worth it to stop in and try the food. It could be a tourist trap or it could be a great life time experience. Either way, there will be a story out of it.

5) Forget about work on Monday (or which ever day you have to go back to work) - yeah it'll still be there when you wake up bright and early Monday morning, but just for that moment pretend you don't have to worry about anything. Let yourself be in the moment and enjoy it.

I'd like to thank my cousin and his wife for having me this weekend. Until next week.

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Welcome To Points of View

Happy Father's Day! It's the day  role to celebrate the dad in your life. It doesn't matter if they are biologically related to you or were just a great role model in your life, they are someone you call dad. I love and appreciate my dad (even when he's driving me crazy). If I were able to visit him today, I'd give him a big hug.

My parents taught me a lot of things. One of those was that you might not agree with everyone you meet. In these cases its good to listen to the other person's ideas and what they think and then tell them your point of view. Well, that's the ideal world any way.

Hearing other people's points of view, especially if they are very different from yours, can be very challenging. Often to avoid a fight, the person least likely to start a fight will just nod their head and hope that the subject changes soon. Other times an argument is inevitable. Those are the worst.

It's also hard to put yourself in someone else shoes. Until something is perceived it is hard to be aware of or understand it. It can be hard to relate to someone who has a very different way of viewing the world. It's best to be as respectful as possible.


Of course, sometimes no one in the party agrees to listen. Or they've both listened so much, but can't get their point of view across. This is typically when I have to walk away.

The only way to proceed is with an open mind and the ability to listen. Hopefully the both parties will be able to learn from each other.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post, or if really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and hopefully you guys like hearing from me. Being a grown up and acting like one is really hard.

Welcome to the Heat

I saw "Jurassic World" today. It was a great monster flick, but holds no candle to the original. I liked the kids. They weren't annoying at all. I liked Chris Pratt and the girl he was with. It was just so easy for me to predict who was going to live and who was going to die. I also missed the sense of aww and wonderment when seeing the dinosaurs. There wasn't a "look it's a dinosaur" moment where I felt like I was five again.

I've ranted too long...

Since moving to New Jersey, I would say the third thing that I miss the most (behind my friends and family) is the lack of central AC in my apartment. Oh we do have AC, it's just not on all the time and it doesn't cover the whole apartment. If I'm cooking in the kichen, then it's like I'm being cooked with the food.

Anyway, next weekend it will officially be summer and boy do I wish it was over already. I can't stand the heat. Yesterday I was in Newark for a festival, it was so hot I slid off the chair I had been sitting in. I felt so gross. 

And of course if you want to go from outside to any restaurant/store/movie theater you freeze your butt off. I just went to the movies in shorts and a T-shirt and I really should have packed a sweater as well.

Several ways I have been beating the heat this June (and will probably carry on through July and August) are as follows:

1) A fan - my fan is awesome. It circulates the air and I get cooled down. I use it with the air conditioning sometimes to help the cold air move faster.

2) Making iced drinks - I make a pot of coffee at some point during the day. Either pour fresh coffee over ice or stick it in the fridge for a few hours to overnight. Yeah refrigerated coffee gets a bit stale. But at least you have cold coffee for breakfast.

3) Go out in the morning or at night - it's the coolest time of the day and plenty of people are out at those times to talk to.

4) Cold showers - not only do they help with getting cooled down if your overheating, they help get rid of excess sweat.

5) Go to a coffee shop/the library - hear me out. You buy a drink or just sit down and enjoy a good book. It's also where a lot of creative things happen. You never know who you might meet there as well.

If the heat has you down, you can also find the local pool, head to the beach/lake or participate in other water related activities. Just have someone with you that knows water safety.

Hopefully I don't get too pink this summer. Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Have a good week.

Welcome To A Scary Reality

It Started With A Fairly Normal Saturday...

Yesterday was scary, different, and thankfully ended with everyone alright.

It started out as any Saturday. I had to drag my sleepy self out of bed to go to the DMV and finally change my plates to New Jersey plates (guess I'm officially from New Jersey now). It took forever to go through the lines and finally hand over all of the paper work.

I finally made it home, put the plates on, grabbed some grocery bags and headed to the food store. As I was leaving a cop car pulled into our complex. I didn't think too much about, someone had pulled the fire alarm in the building next to us last weekend. Maybe the cop was following up on that.

If only things had been that simple.

I get back to my apartment complex after shopping for an hour to see cops everywhere. I was told I couldn't go near my apartment. I called my roommate who was still in our apartment.

The Story

From what I understand, a young man who lived in the apartment building next to mine was threatening to commit suicide and claimed he had a bomb. We did not know about the bomb threat until much later. They wouldn't let my roommate and our friends who had lived next door to the young man leave the second apartment building until nearly an hour after the whole thing started. By then, I had been watching the SWAT team suite up (which was very intimidating). I decided to just get out of the area.

I ended up going to a friend's place to wait. Nearly two and a half hours later I got another text from my roommate telling me we could go home. However, our friend couldn't go home yet, so they stayed over at our apartment until the police left.

We found out through a local new source that the young man had been taken to a hospital for treatment. I am glad he is getting help. It was a nerve racking couple of hours. Especially since information was shaky at best and I had no idea what was going on. I at least knew my roommate and friend were okay, but nothing outside of that.

I am thankful that everything turned out alright. I pray that the young man gets the help he needs and that he will one day be okay.

Being new in town, I felt helpless not being able to get home, I was worried about my roommate and friend and frustrated that the police wouldn't give me a clear picture of what was going on. I'm thankful that a friend was able to help me out.

It was an experience I hope I never have to go through again, but I can't know that I will. No one plans for these kinds of things.

I do encourage anyone who is feeling depressed, anxious and/or suicidal to please reach out to someone. If you don't feel comfortable going to a therapist or social worker at first, that's understandable, but please reach out to someone. Friends and family (blood related or not) are there for you. There is also the National Suicide Prevention Hotline available 24/7 in both Spanish and English at 1 (800) 273-8255. Do not hesitate to call.

If you enjoyed this post (or possibly found it informative), please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Remember someone is always there for you, even if they are a million miles away.

Until next week.

Welcome To The Social Life

I'm gonna party all night long...

This weekend was crazy. It was nice to take it easy today and do some cooking and cleaning. I even set up my GameCube and started Luigi's Mansion. How can a Mario game be so scary while being so ridiculous? 

I started the weekend by going to a party on Friday. My roommate invited me along to their old roommate's graduation party. I said sure, I'd love to meet some new friends. The party was at a family's house. Of course the first thing I am asked is if I'm 21. I'm not 21. I'm a few years passed 21. I don't think I'll ever stop looking like I'm teenager.

The party ended around midnight. Where did we go next? A bar of course.

Now I'm normally not the most social person you will meet (I'm an introvert, I like my quiet time). I stayed out til almost 3am. It's been a while since I did that (I think Las Vegas, but definitely college). It was fantastic.

Yesterday evening I went out to a bar to watch the first part of the hockey game (how the hell did the Blackhawks score 3 minutes into the $&@% game?!?!). I was on my own and the bar is less than a 15 minute walk. I stayed about an hour and a half just talking with random people and watching the game. I left after the Blackhawks ($&@% them) scored 2 minutes into the second period. There was no way the Ducks were going to recover after that beating.

Now contrary to what has been said about introverts, I am not shy. I like meeting new people. It just needs to be on my terms. I might hold back at first, get to know the environment and then strike up a conversation with the person closest to me.

"Where everyone knows your name."

While at the bar I met several couples. One man called me a "browd". That's a new one. Honestly I didn't actually believe the accent here would be that pronounced. Like many other things, I was wrong. I also got a lot of "where are you from" questions, as my "accent" becomes easier to hear when I'm tired/more relaxed/have been drinking. No one here says y'all, that's weird.

If you're new and town and want to go out, go out. How else will you meet anyone? If you don't like bars, try hanging out in coffee shops, see if there's a farmers market or go to the library. Meeting people online is also an option as there are a lot of groups who post events online. 

You never know who you'll meet until you strike up a conversation.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all love hearing from me.

Welcome To The Village

Happy Holiday Weekend everyone! I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend and take a few moments to thank everyone you know (and maybe not know) who helped protect and shape our country. If you're in the DC area, maybe go to Arlington National Cemetery for a visit.

I've been in New Jersey for three short weeks. There's a lot to do. I moved to a village that actually kind of resembled a village (though more like one in Europe as oppose to an M. Night Shyamalan film). I would say that the two is three streets by five streets (take that as you will) with the train station cutting through the upper third.

It's a nice village. There are gaggles of teenage girls wondering around without parent supervision, so I think it's safe to say that the area is very safe, even at night. It reminds me a lot of the town my college was in.

I've basically made it my mission to try every coffee shop in town. So far I've found five coffee shops by design. Only two of those are national chains. One is technically a french pastry shop, but they're practically the same thing right? I would also, happily make the argument that the doughnut shop qualifies as a great place to get a cup of coffee, along with maple bacon doughnuts (yes, they do exist).

The first coffee shop I went to in the area had a very hipster vibe. They play different styles of music, but I've mostly heard alternative rock when I've gone in. They have pictures of the Beatles and Stones all over the walls and a few arm chairs.

The second was, well, Starbucks. They have good breakfast sandwiches. They are also the closest to the privately owned bookstore that has authors come in for book signings. A lot of people frequent it.

The next would be the french pastry shop. Not only do they have amazing breakfast sandwiches and desserts, but you can watch them make the crepes fresh. I can't wait to take my sister there. It's absolutely delicious. My roommate, their significant other and I went there last night for dessert. (I started the day out with sugar and ended it with sugar).

The forth shop I tried had a distinct health theme. I tried one of their glutton free, dairy free muffins. It was good and not very sweet. They also had a service dog working there. I enjoyed all of the different rooms in the shop as well. It is easy to find a secluded corner for reading at this shop. It's also right across from the train station.

Finally I tried the donuts shop yesterday. They make all of their doughnuts fresh at one of their locations and there is coffee. They have a lot of flavors. I tried their maple bacon doughnut and their chocolate version of Twinkies (it's not called that...I can't remember what its called).

I haven't been to the two bagel shops yet. The people of New Jersey seem to be obsessed with bagels. My office has a bagel breakfast every other week. They complain when they get more pastries than they want, saying it takes away from the bagels. Since they serve bagels, I assume they also serve coffee. Therefore they are on my places to try.

There are a few other larger breakfast places (both of which I have been to for lunch/dinner). One of them has amazing flavored marshmallows for hot chocolate. I've had the strawberry flavored. The other is a pancake house that serves you so much food, you'll have left overs for days afterward. I have not tried the coffee at either place though.

I was hoping for a few more non-chain stores (there's a Dunkin Donuts, but I haven't been there yet as I'm not fond of their coffee). However the town is small and the fact that there are any is wonderful. I love being able to walk to all of them too. It really is like being in college again, except there's no college or college students (though there are tons of teenagers).

Moving is tough, but exploring my new environment is helping with the adjustments. If only everything wasn't so expensive. Ah well, until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if you ever have questions about my Wonderland.

Welcome To New Jersey

A Comparison To The Great State Of Maryland

An artists liberal interpretation

At this time last year I was on vacation in the state of Hawaii. I had a significant other, a job in Maryland, and my own apartment. I had no idea that (fast forward one year) I would eventually move to New Jersey and pretty much start from square one. (Okay, the job is the same, but that's about it).

First things first, both states are expensive. Though in Maryland I could afford to live on my own, New Jersey not so much. Luckily I found a nice roommate with a great apartment. This (oddly enough) lowered my rent. My insurance rates also went down (again odd as far as stereo types go). That doesn't mean I'm still not spending a lot of money. Food and other merchandize are also at a mark up.Thus say that New Jersey is the more expensive.

Point goes to Maryland.

Now as for going to the DMV, driving to work, and having the convenience of shopping centers pretty much everywhere, it depends on where in the state you are. Where I am in New Jersey there is a ton of shopping, plenty of (moderately priced) public transportation and I can walk all over the place. There are also a few DMV locations that are friendlier and faster than in Maryland.

Where I was in Maryland the public transportation was cheap (like dirt cheap, I think that's where all my taxes went to), but shopping centers weren't as frequent and I had to do a lot of driving in heavy DC-Baltimore traffic.

Oddly point goes to New Jersey.

 My commute is incredible here. There's no traffic (except for the odd school bus). I have a reverse commute that gets me to my office between 15 - 20 minutes. This is comparable to the distance I have to drive daily. Maryland, ha, no such luck. Traffic is cruel in Central Maryland. I typically just doubled the driving time anywhere out of sheer habit.

So with such a great commute, what do I have to complain about the New Jersey highway system? Well, New Jersey seems to like tolls. To the point that going anywhere out of the state equals paying a fee. Heck, most roads to the airport seem to include a fee.

I'm going to call this one a tie.

That brings our count to:

New Jersey 2
Maryland 2

Huh, that was supposed to be my tie breaker. I guess my overall opinion is that New Jersey and Maryland are pretty comparable. Or at least as far as I can tell.

But Virginia is still the best!

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all love hearing from me (or at find me mildly amusing).