Sorry about the lack of posts this past week. It's been an adventurous time with lots of exciting moments and some good news. First off, I had 2 interviews scheduled for early Tuesday the 27th, so my brother Albert and I set off for California on Sunday morning around 5:30 am...we had a few delays with the car trailer, but we were still able to avoid major traffic during the day. We had planned to stop to rest somewhere in Tucson before heading out again on Tuesday, but after driving past the city we decided to head towards Phoenix and look for a place to stop on the way. We attempted to stop at a shady hotel in the middle of nowhere, but made a quick u-turn after realizing it looked like one of those creepy places out of a hitchcock movie. After talking to mom on the phone, we made a determined decision to just drive the full way through. I wasn't too tired at the time, and when I began feeling a little drowsy, we pulled over to a truck stop for a quick nap. Just as I was setting my phone alarm for an hour later, Guillaume called in to let me know he was home from San Francisco. He also told me that someone had broken the back window of his car while it was parked at his office in Cerritos. I was pissed! Who does that?? It's obvious the person driving his 1995 P.O.S. Saturn isn't someone who has money to throw away on buying a new window! Grrrrrr. So, needless to say, I was no longer in the mood to sleep at this point and we headed back out on the road. We finally made it to LA after a nice traffic-filled freeway commute from the north at 4 AM!!! Yes, even at 4 AM, LA has freakin' traffic! When we finally made it home, our truck and trailer were too big to fit down our little one-way street, which resulted in another adventure that took us around the neighborhood, down alley-ways and finally in our driveway to unload the junk from the truck. Phew!! What a day! At 9 AM Albert and I were finally able to catch some zees, but I couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours before I had to get up to organize the new mess in our living room and kitchen. Fun, fun!

Since our arrival, we've found a nice restaurant and bar that serves amazing seafood just down the street, we've done some grocery shopping at the famous Ralph's (not my favorite place; I think we'll try Trader Joe's next time), completely organized our new living space, and done a bit of exploration around the 'hood - including a stop at Carl's ,Jr. Today, I'm taking my little bro to the beach that's a few blocks from our apt. I'll give a full report of that later.

As for my interviews....they both went really well. My first interview was with my preferred job, and I was really stoked about it. It was a pretty informal conversation, with typical questions about past experiences and such. It ended well, and a 2nd interview was scheduled for Wed. My other interview on Tuesday was with an asset management company, which went unexpectedly well, too. It was a very laid-back interview, and the job seemed to be much cooler than I had originally thought it would be. They told me they'd defintely be in touch for a second interview and thought I was the best candidate that they'd seen so far. I was really excited for both jobs!! But, yesterday I had the 2nd interview with my preferred job and it seemed to really go well. While I was making dinner with Guillaume last night, I got a phone call from my interviewer who offered me the job (which I readily accepted)! It's such a great feeling to be employed again and in the job that I had set my hopes on attaining when I moved here! It's sure to be a company I'll grow with and one that I expect to be very happy working for. So, I'll start with orientation tomorrow and begin training for the next 7 weeks on Tuesday. The store will be opening in the Westfield Mall in Topanga, and will be a 2-story store with over 100 employees. It's not very close to where we're living now, but I plan to be closer to that area after a few months. Exciting times are ahead!