How things change in 6 weeks

Sandra and I in Death Valley

Well where do I start?? Sandra came and stayed with me from January 21 to the 31. We went to Vegas, Death Valley, Palm Springs, LA, Orange County (twice), saw a drive-in, did some shopping, and dog sat for my boss. We both had a great time and I was definitely sad to see her go. But I will see my girlfriend in a few months in Australia hopefully so its not too far away.

I was hired by Carmax last week as a Sales Consultant which means I will be leaving my current job at Beacon in the next 2 weeks. I am really excited for this opportunity for a new challenge and to make some money to save up for my future.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading and am almost finished with Down and Out in Paris and London which is great, I also finished Uncle Tom's Cabin, Bear Grylls book about climing Mt. Everest, and Kevin Elko's book "The Pep Talk". I started playing tennis with john this week and we played 5 days! I got the best of him the first 3 but the last 2 he beat me, so its nice to see how competitive it is.

My sister and Rob are getting married in about a month a half! crazy! Im really excited for them. And then my Uncle Brendan and Jennie are getting married at the end of May so its a happy spring for the Riley family.

Thats about it for now, hope everyone is good.

Welcome to 2011!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and new years! Mine were both low-key with my dad and I got some nice stuff. 100$ gift card to Jcpenney, 25$ itunes gift card, some candy, an ESPN trivia game, and 200$ towards a new digital camera since mine got stolen.

I got some nice things from other family members too: some books,  100$ for graduation, pajama pants, and a st. christophers medal, and my mom sent me 50$ too.

Not too much new to report. I beat Fable 3 and Halo Reach now, still haven't played Fallout 3 though. TCU beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl yesterday 21-19, which is awesome I think. I love when small schools bust the BCS.

Still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, but more than halfway through now. Also, Ive decided I am going to try to get a job as a car salesman after Sandra comes and visits because ill be able to make some good money doing that.

Talk to you soon!

I'm back!!!!

Me in Rio

Well after a blogging break of over three months, I decided it was time to get back on this thing. As some of you know, I was gone in South America for 10 weeks. I have been home for about a month (returned on November 18) and have just been readjusting to life back in the States.

I decided the old blog could use a little makeover, so I setup a new layout and put up a new profile picture from me in Bolivia.

So what can I say?? A lot has changed in my life in the past 3 months.

1. I officially am done with my masters degree, have received my thesis bound in a book, and have recently been notified that they have mailed out my paper diploma. Pretty exciting stuff eh?

2. I spent 10 of the most amazing weeks of my life traveling around South America and the Caribbean. This included visiting more than 10 countries, meeting many amazing people, and greatly improving my Spanish skills (at least I like to think so). If you are interested in reading about this and seeing pictures, check out the blog listed on the side of this one.

3. I decided that I want to move to Australia for a year (maximum because of the visa thing) and am planning to do that at the end of May after my sister and uncle get married.

Thats the main stuff.. pretty cool right? Since I have been home, I have just been lazy really. I am lucky enough that I had my job at Sonata to return too. I have been hitting the job hunting trail fairly hard, but with little luck. The job market is still really bad and for having sent out probably 100 applications in a month, I have only gotten 2 interview.

Also, my dad purchased and moved into a new house while I was gone, so that was really cool. I saw it once before I left, when it was empty. Its double the size of the old place and the yard is probably 6 to 7 times bigger. Definitely a nice upgrade. Nice to see my dad really happy too. I have been playing a lot of Xbox too, I spent so a lot of time reading while I traveled and writing beforehand, so its nice to just shut my brain off and relax. I finally got back on the fitness trail this past week and have started working out again. I haven't been able to play tennis (besides twice) because my friend John seems to have disappeared.. oh well.

Christmas is in 6 days, which is always exciting. I'm not as much in the Christmas spirit as normal I think because I was gone for so long. I can't believe its here already.

Also, I am really excited because my friend that I traveled with for 6 weeks will be coming to visit and stay for me at the end of January for 10 days on her way to Australia and I know we are going to have a great time!

That is about it for now, hope everyone is doing well.

Last Post for 2 Months

Please go to my other blog: http://worldswerver.livejournal.com/ as I travel and blog through South America for the next 2 months.

Just gonna cover some highlights from the last week:
1. Paid for my binding fees for my thesis, I am officially graduated and have completed my master's degree.
2. Got my passport back from the Surinamese Embassy with the Visa, arranged to have my car insurance suspended, will suspend my phone on tuesday, printed out my itinerary and flights, booked my first hostel in Cartagena, and arranged for my debit/credit cards to be unblocked for my trip. Basically all pre-trip preparations have been made except for packing.
3. I decided to postpone reading the Jungle and am about halfway through Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Its tremendous so far, and I also bought some other books. A few of these will make the journey with me to South America.
4. Had Sushi with a friend thursday night and visited another friend in Anaheim friday night.

That is about it. Just need to finish packing my bag and my room up so my dad can move my stuff for me while I am gone. Take care everyone, I'll see you in a few months!

T-Minus 9 Days...

until South America!

I had a great week! I finally finished my thesis WOOHOO!!! I got it signed off by both Dr. Chau in Huntington Beach and Pytell at the university. I had really good talks with both about future plans and my upcoming trip, Dr. Chau gave me a little journal to use for notes and stuff which will come in really handy. Anyways, I printed my thesis on the official cotton paper, made 3 extra copies of it, and turned it into the university. As long as it all passes on final review, I should be heading up there next week to pay for the binding fees and I am 100% done with my masters degree!!

What else.. picked up my passport from the Brazil consulate and mailed it to the Surinamese embassy in DC in order to get their visa. I saw my old friend Josh from high school while I was in LA, I hadn't seen him in 2 years or so. Packed up most of my room and prepared most of the documents and stuff for my trip. Got a fleece sleeping bag and toiletries so I have basically everything I need. Also, I got my Colombian and Peruvian currency from my bank so I have some cash when I first get to these countries. I finished Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad; both were really good books. I am going to start The Jungle by Upton Sinclair next.

I have been having a really good time with my sister and niece, my niece cried yesterday when I left for work lol shes adorable. I only have two more days with them which is sad, but it has been a good visit. Yesterday we all went to Brendan's in palm desert and hung out which was a lot of fun.

Thats about it on my end. Things are good, starting to get ANXIOUS! Take care

Family from Illinois

My younger sister and niece are out visiting for about 13 days, I picked them up from the airport on Wednesday night. Madi (my niece) is adorable and as you can see loves playing xbox with her uncle! She is so ridiculously cute, it makes me sad they don't live closer and I know I am going to be sad when they leave.

I had a lot of fun in SD; played some tennis, hung out with my buddy and his girl who just moved to Point Loma, my other friend Mike, and got to have dinner with another friend who I haven't seen in a bit. It was a nice relaxing trip.

I heard back from AEON finally, didn't get offered a position. No big deal there, just glad to finally have heard back from them. I got my Yellow Fever vaccination tuesday, pick up my passport tomorrow with my brazil visa, and will mail it off to the Surinamese embassy for their visa. I finished the last books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, which was a great read, all 7 books. Now I am reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which is really good and disturbing so far.

I got my waterproof shoes and money belt in the mail, checked both of those out and they should work perfect. My dad had a poncho too so I will be borrowing that. All in all the last purchase I need to make is a sleeping bag and as much as I hate walmart, I think i'll get it there just because they sell them so cheap.

Thesis is finally nearly done. I did a second review with the university and have met all university guidelines and standards for formatting which is nice. Yesterday I went through the pre-pages, chapter 1 and chapter 2 just editing it. I found about 8 sources in my document that weren't in my references, it appears that in all the different drafst, my reference list got out of touch. Just fixing some small spelling and grammer errors too. I am going to do Chapter 3 and 4 after I finish writing this.

Still waiting to hear back from Dr. Pytell, which is making me nervous, its only been a little over 2 weeks. However, I found out that I need to turn the cotton paper copies into the university by this upcoming thursday and I need to coordinate meeting with Dr. Chau in LA to get him to sign off on it. Hopefully he gets back to me by tonight or tomorrow..

Anyways, hope everyone is well; oh ya I wrote a second travel-related post on my other blog so go check it out!

Sunny San Diego

Hey all,

Hope everyone is doing just grand. Things are good here, just hanging out at work for another hour then heading down to San Diego. I haven't been down in a while, so it should be good fun: see some friends, play some tennis, maybe hit up the beach?

My little sister and niece will be here in 3 days, really stoked for that! I know my niece is going to look huge compared to a year ago (she's 1 and a half). Pretty exciting times this last week. I finally got my copies of the journal in which I got an article on arms control in West Africa published. Been doing more preparations for my trip, which includes buying a money belt, water proof walking/hiking shoes, testing out my backpack (passed with flying colors), finished buying the rest of my flights, and I dropped my visa off to get my Brazil visa. I need to go pick it up on August 23rd, then mail it off to get my Suriname visa. I still need to take care of my Yellow Fever Vaccination too. Talked to my main job and got the time off, still haven't notified my second boss yet I should probably get on that...

What else.. oh I rebooted my old travel blog http://worldswerver.livejournal.com/. Also, I listed it on the right side of this blog. That is the blog that I will be updating as I travel and to start it off, I am doing a series of posts on how to prepare for a trip. I still haven't heard back from AEON and its been 3.5 weeks, not sure if that is good or bad but it is what it is. OH! other good news: my thesis has been approved by Dr. Jones and Dr. Chau, so I am just waiting to hear back from Dr. Pytell and if he gives it the green light I am in the clear wahoo! Also, my dad got approved on his bid for a house, so he is a new homeowner! This means I need to pack all my crap up for him because he will be moving in October while I'm gone. It will be really weird to come home to a new house, but I am excited especially for him, he has waited a long time for this.

Well, thats about it. Don't forget to check the other blog for travel-related posts and information! 23 days and counting!