The Good, the Bad, and the P-Touch Labeler

So after working a total of six shifts I now have a new manager. I'm not sure how much I talked about this in the last post but the place where I'm working now is really poorly managed. At first I didn't like it but once I figured out that everyone does things their own way and nobody really cares means that since I already know how to work in a restaurant I'm just gonna do things the way I was taught and so far that's been going great.
Super Bowl Sunday was my old manager Matt's last night and today I got to meet Ken for the first time. Matt was this really chill dude from Chicago that really didn't give a fuck as long as it didn't make his job harder. Favorite liquor is Sailor Jerry, which he had us do shots of when the Steelers scored. Ken on the other hand is the exact opposite. He's worked in the the restaurant business for 20 years including six years of setting up new Applebee's. While today was the first day that I met him he actually spent the last couple of days watching us on the camera upstairs. The first thing that he's doing is creating handbooks for all of the jobs followed by busting out his own personal P-Touch Labeler.
Should be interesting, I'll keep you guys posted.

 www.freebiesms.co.uk

Time to Work

So I finally got a job which means that I have something to write about again. It seemed like I applied for every possible job in the Bay Area and for a while I really thought I wasn't going to find anything but I had an interview last Friday and got hired by the Cable Car City Pub and Cafe. I actually applied as a Busser/Server (shows how desperate I was) but they like my resume and started me out as a Bartender filling in as a Server when needed.
I showed up on Sunday not sure what to expect, the only thing I knew was that I had to wear all black, so I'm still wearing the same uniform that I wore while working up in Gillette. The place is located in downtown San Francisco so a lot of the business depends on tourists and Jan/Feb really aren't traveling much so the three shifts that I've worked have been pretty dead. I think it's good though because I didn't get overwhelmed and felt like I was able to ease into the new job a bit easier. The other thing is that minimum wage in San Francisco is $9.88 (even for servers) so even when it's dead I feel like I'm making decent money. The other thing is that they are understaffed right now so I was able to start earning money right away instead of training for a few weeks. On Monday everyone else actually ended up getting cut so I was the only person in the whole restaurant for a couple of hours, except for one chef, so I served and bartended at the same time and prayed that I didn't make a mistake because there wasn't a manager around if I messed up. I think it's crazy that they would just leave someone who just started alone in the restaurant but it worked out alright so I'm not complaining. The only thing I really don't like about the place is that it opens at 8:00 am for breakfast so every now and then I need to work a morning shift which means I need to be there by 7:30. I had to do that today and I didn't get my first customer for a couple of hours but there really isn't any sidework so I just chilled and watched TV so it wasn't too bad. Other than that the only other thing is that I wish I worked with more people because I'm trying to meet more people in the area but I figure now that I have a job I can also go out more and meet people.
Since hearing back from this company on Friday I've already had three places call me asking me to come in for an interview or a job offer which I feel like happens to everybody when they're looking for a job. Every time I'm just like where were you three weeks ago when I was desperate enough to consider getting a real job.
I'll end this post with a picture I took the other day when I was walking around San Francisco. I wasn't able to get a good picture of how steep it really is there but to get an idea realize that instead of sidewalks they have steps in a lot of areas. I guess they're lucky that the roads don't ice over, otherwise cars would be slipping all over the place. In the picture the island in the middle of the bay is Alcatraz which I still haven't had a chance to check out so when you guys come and visit we'll have to go.

View of the North Bay

That's all I got right now. Peace

Oh I tried finding an image online to show you guys where I work but the Street View picture was taken before this place opened up. Street View has this creepy feature though where it searches through everyone's pictures and finds similar ones and while I wasn't able to find a picture of the restaurant what I did find was a picture taken from the 2007 Gay Pride Parade. I'm pretty sure it's two chicks on the bike, enjoy.

New Year New Resolve

So I'm finally back in Berkeley, gotta admit it feels good to sleep in my own bed again, even though I didn't have a bed for 6 months before that. Now it's time to start looking for a job so I can get back to ballin out. I basically just went restaurant to restaurant today to see if anyone was hiring, it always seems like it's better to show up in person but most places just told me to go online. I'll keep an eye out for an engineering job too but not really trying to do the whole 9-5 thing right now but if it's something I'm really interested in I could see myself joining the rat race.

Here are the pictures from the last three weeks:
So Cal:

Santa Monica Pier

Jägerschnitzel

Santa Monica Beach

Rufus

So these first four pics are from the time I spent in Santa Monica and Los Angeles. I gotta say that I don't really like So. Cal that much, everyone there just seemed really fake and the smog was pretty disgusting and can't be healthy. It seemed like everyone was talking about saving the environment and then driving around in a Porsche. I think both of those things are cool but not necessarily mutually exclusive. The reason I spent a couple of days down here was because my mom was giving a presentation at a conference and Julia and Jenelle came into town also. I need to admit that seeing the sunset over the ocean was pretty odd but it is a lot easier than staying up for the sunrise at the Jersey shore. Rufus was kind enough to let us stay with him in Santa Monica at my mother's friend's house. Before getting dropped off at the airport I had the Jägerschnitzel for a pre-birthday dinner with my mom because I wouldn't be able to spend my birthday with her.

So Fla

Oh Herro

Photo Shoot!

I left So Cal on the Dec 9 and flew the red eye to Boca Raton to celebrate Megan's 21st birthday. That's the only picture I have from when we went paddle boarding, which btw is awesome, but after that I kinda checked out for the rest of the weekend. There must be some kind of strange interaction between my body and 4 Lokos or Patron that sometimes causes me to forget things. We rented a hotel room on Saturday night and after free happy hour the two birthday kids decided to take a nap and before we knew it everyone was coming back from the club, so Cassey, Megan and I decided to go out on our own and at some point we made some friends from New Jersey. After a bit of confusion and about 20 minutes of getting in position (which happened to be in the middle of the road) this lady with her dress tucked into her underwear took this picture of us. I think it turned out pretty well.

Home:

"Well played little child"

Holiday Sweater Party

After South Florida there was a short layover back in New Jersey. It was great to see some people but I wish I had more time, felt like I was just saying Hi to everyone before I had to pack my bags again. Also it was during finals so Dom and everyone else still in school was pretty busy so it wasn't really the best week to come back, I guess that just means I'll have to do it again soon. Ian however was able to plan his Ugly Christmas Sweater Party perfectly and Megan and I knew we had to blow all other sweaters out of the water. While shopping we found this onesie which I really can only interpret in one way. The party itself was great, felt good to know I still had it as Megan and I went undefeated in beer pong. There were some hostilities at night but it's hard to take any argument seriously if the person yelling at you is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.

Western Washington:

Dolla Dolla Bill Ya'll...Literally

Fish Throwing

Christmas Tree

Emerald City

After too short of time in Jersey it was on to Seattle to visit Julia and celebrate Christmas. I got there a day earlier than mom and Dominik so my sister took me to this bar down the street from her called Vito's. This place was great because it reminded me of home and the overabundance of Italian restaurants that someone nowhere else can replicate, except for Vito's that is. Later on in the week Dom and I went shopping for some Christmas gifts and walked through Pike's Place Market where we got to see them throwing the fish, which really is something else. We then spent four days over the holiday in this town called Mossyrock which is located in the Cascade Mountains. It rained a lot while we were there (not really surprised) but it was still really nice, and we were actually able to find a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Also those are real candles on the tree, it's really not that dangerous and makes it so much more beautiful. When we got back to Seattle Julia took us sight seeing and I was able to snap a pretty nice shot of the skyline.

Back in Berkeley:

Golden Gate Bridge

NYE Supplies

I didn't get back to Berkeley until the 31st so I was pretty jet lagged for New Years and with everyone else celebrating at 9 my time I didn't make it that late into the night. Also it seemed like a half bottle of Patron wasn't enough so we got an extra one just in case, which then also got finished. There's still a couple of other bottles left over though so we might have to throw another party. I'll keep you guys updated on the job search or if anything else happens.

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