I've got more quick news for everyone out there:
1: Katie was accepted into yet another school, in Chicago. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
2: My childhood friend Joe Westra recently became engaged to his long-time gf, Keri Kingma. Congrats.
Today, is my day off and I am enjoying it greatly.
As for experiences in Chicago......hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Nothing too exciting but I'll make sure I have a story soon.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Grad Schools and Such
This is more of an update for everyone about Katie.
Recently she was invited by the Boston School of Professional Psychology for an interview into the Masters program. Her flight and hotel are booked and she is taking off this weekend for an adventure, by herself, to the east coast.
Also, she was invited for an interview by "Alliant." This is a similar professional school of psychology in........wait for it..................San Diego. So, as of now the list of potential destinations for Katie and I is Boston, Chicago, or San Diego. Awesome.
On my end, things are going well. I am enjoying the new job but it has presented some stress that I wasn't prepared for. I guess you never know what your gonna get.
Recently she was invited by the Boston School of Professional Psychology for an interview into the Masters program. Her flight and hotel are booked and she is taking off this weekend for an adventure, by herself, to the east coast.
Also, she was invited for an interview by "Alliant." This is a similar professional school of psychology in........wait for it..................San Diego. So, as of now the list of potential destinations for Katie and I is Boston, Chicago, or San Diego. Awesome.
On my end, things are going well. I am enjoying the new job but it has presented some stress that I wasn't prepared for. I guess you never know what your gonna get.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
City Experiences
Well, I received a suggestion from a reader that they would like to hear more about my city experiences.
The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I moved down here in the middle of August and already am on my second job. Changing jobs that quick is weird to an extent but the fact that I somehow ended up renting apartments?!?!?!?! I hardly even know this city and I am driving people around in my car pretending that I know exactly what I'm doing. To me, that is kind of ironic. People wonder how long I've lived in the city or how long I've been renting apartments..... My response? Something along the lines of"Long enough," or "quite a while." Which, to some, could seem like a lie but I don't think so. As any salesman knows you learn to stretch the truth or say certain things that are by no way a lie. If I told a client that I just got this job and have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, they would retreat. I know I would. I tell people about how cool the neighborhoods are and what restaurants are good. This is because I have heard they are cool and good, not because I have experienced them first hand. Call me a liar. I don't mind.
How is the city from Katie's experience right now? A good way to sum up the way she feels about the windy city is, surprised. She has had some horrendous experiences with the public transit. Now she has her car and is realizing how absolutely ridiculously difficult they make it on drivers.
Funny city experience of the day: I drove a client to 2 properties today and had absolutely no idea where I was going the entire time. Needless to say, he didn't rent. Do not worry loved ones, that doesn't happen a lot. I am learning the city extremely fast.
Professionally,
Dark Maniel
The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I moved down here in the middle of August and already am on my second job. Changing jobs that quick is weird to an extent but the fact that I somehow ended up renting apartments?!?!?!?! I hardly even know this city and I am driving people around in my car pretending that I know exactly what I'm doing. To me, that is kind of ironic. People wonder how long I've lived in the city or how long I've been renting apartments..... My response? Something along the lines of"Long enough," or "quite a while." Which, to some, could seem like a lie but I don't think so. As any salesman knows you learn to stretch the truth or say certain things that are by no way a lie. If I told a client that I just got this job and have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, they would retreat. I know I would. I tell people about how cool the neighborhoods are and what restaurants are good. This is because I have heard they are cool and good, not because I have experienced them first hand. Call me a liar. I don't mind.
How is the city from Katie's experience right now? A good way to sum up the way she feels about the windy city is, surprised. She has had some horrendous experiences with the public transit. Now she has her car and is realizing how absolutely ridiculously difficult they make it on drivers.
Funny city experience of the day: I drove a client to 2 properties today and had absolutely no idea where I was going the entire time. Needless to say, he didn't rent. Do not worry loved ones, that doesn't happen a lot. I am learning the city extremely fast.
Professionally,
Dark Maniel
Sunday, February 10, 2008
A lot has happened
Well folks I am starting to definitely slip with the blog postings and I apologize. A lot has been happening in the life of Mark Tigchelaar and I thought I would update all of my faithful followers.
The rental market is still a bit slow but starting to pick up a little bit. Today, with the wind chill, it was -30 degrees and people definitely do not want to be searching for apartments in that kind of weather. Thus, this weekend was slow. Enough about work
Last weekend I went and visited some buddies in Denver. Actually, a huge portion of my friends live in that city. Joe Westra, Kyle Hollemans, Tyler VanEps, Andy Draayer, and most recently Dan Feenstra and Drew DeVries. Three of those guys are standing up in my wedding. What is it about Denver????? Well, let's see........Mountains and sunshine are what did it for me. I arrived in Joe's apartment at about 3 AM after a horrrrrrible traveling experience and, after we did some catching up, fell asleep at about 3:45 only to wake up 10 seconds later (at about 6:30 AM) to Joe clambering around the bedroom gathering up everything we needed to make the trip up to the infamous VAIL SKI RESORT. The weather was bad but we made it and I became closer to God on that mountain. The skiing (snowboarding) was something I will never forget. There was about 2 feet of powder over the entire mountain.
Joe had been out about 30 times since he had moved to Denver and said this was the best skiing he has ever seen. By far. I picked a good weekend to go. The picture is what we enjoyed the entire day. WOOOOOOOW.
The rest of the weekend was good. Lots of hanging out and relaxing with friends. We also went snowshoeing but that doesn't even hold a candle to snowboarding.
Back in Chicago: It has been great having Katie here. An adjustment of course, but great. We are learning how to talk to each other in person again, rather than through stupid wireless devices we call cellphones. Katie is adjusting to the city life. For those of you that don't know, its a challenge. The city will eat you up if you let it. Parking, Mass Transit, Prices, Directions, People. These are just some of the things that it takes time to figure out.
Thats it for know. Stay Tuned. I would like suggestions from people on what they like to hear about.
Toodles
The rental market is still a bit slow but starting to pick up a little bit. Today, with the wind chill, it was -30 degrees and people definitely do not want to be searching for apartments in that kind of weather. Thus, this weekend was slow. Enough about work
Last weekend I went and visited some buddies in Denver. Actually, a huge portion of my friends live in that city. Joe Westra, Kyle Hollemans, Tyler VanEps, Andy Draayer, and most recently Dan Feenstra and Drew DeVries. Three of those guys are standing up in my wedding. What is it about Denver????? Well, let's see........Mountains and sunshine are what did it for me. I arrived in Joe's apartment at about 3 AM after a horrrrrrible traveling experience and, after we did some catching up, fell asleep at about 3:45 only to wake up 10 seconds later (at about 6:30 AM) to Joe clambering around the bedroom gathering up everything we needed to make the trip up to the infamous VAIL SKI RESORT. The weather was bad but we made it and I became closer to God on that mountain. The skiing (snowboarding) was something I will never forget. There was about 2 feet of powder over the entire mountain.
Joe had been out about 30 times since he had moved to Denver and said this was the best skiing he has ever seen. By far. I picked a good weekend to go. The picture is what we enjoyed the entire day. WOOOOOOOW. The rest of the weekend was good. Lots of hanging out and relaxing with friends. We also went snowshoeing but that doesn't even hold a candle to snowboarding.
Back in Chicago: It has been great having Katie here. An adjustment of course, but great. We are learning how to talk to each other in person again, rather than through stupid wireless devices we call cellphones. Katie is adjusting to the city life. For those of you that don't know, its a challenge. The city will eat you up if you let it. Parking, Mass Transit, Prices, Directions, People. These are just some of the things that it takes time to figure out.
Thats it for know. Stay Tuned. I would like suggestions from people on what they like to hear about.
Toodles
Monday, January 28, 2008
My future mother in law reads this blog...
Uh oh!!! I better clean things up!! Just kidding.
Well Katie (the fiance) is officially in Chicago and I am really excited. This is the first time that we will be living in the same city in about 9 months. Just to know that I am a 10 minute train ride away rather than a 3 day drive is comforting.
The job is going well. There is some definite growing pains but I am doing well. I have received some good feedback from the superiors.
This Thursday I am going on a journey out to Denver to go snowboarding with Joe. I have a bunch of friends that live in Denver and I would really like to try and see everyone at least for a little while. I talked to Joe today and he said that the skiing at Vail is very good right now. I am going to try hard to get some pictures that I will post up here for everyone to see.
Well Katie (the fiance) is officially in Chicago and I am really excited. This is the first time that we will be living in the same city in about 9 months. Just to know that I am a 10 minute train ride away rather than a 3 day drive is comforting.
The job is going well. There is some definite growing pains but I am doing well. I have received some good feedback from the superiors.
This Thursday I am going on a journey out to Denver to go snowboarding with Joe. I have a bunch of friends that live in Denver and I would really like to try and see everyone at least for a little while. I talked to Joe today and he said that the skiing at Vail is very good right now. I am going to try hard to get some pictures that I will post up here for everyone to see.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Newbie
Today, again, I was the new guy.
I started my new job at The Homestead Group (office pictured below). I really enjoy new beginnings but they are also very stressful and the source of some anxiety (especially with me). I am excited though and cannot wait till I am all trained and ready to do things on my own. The biggest thing I am excited about this job is the freedom. You are not confined to 9-5, at a desk, check-in, check-out, etc. There is a large sense of ownership involved.
So, with that being said, does anyone need to or know anyone who needs to rent an apartment in Chicago? Call this guy... 616-540-4300. haha
I started my new job at The Homestead Group (office pictured below). I really enjoy new beginnings but they are also very stressful and the source of some anxiety (especially with me). I am excited though and cannot wait till I am all trained and ready to do things on my own. The biggest thing I am excited about this job is the freedom. You are not confined to 9-5, at a desk, check-in, check-out, etc. There is a large sense of ownership involved.
So, with that being said, does anyone need to or know anyone who needs to rent an apartment in Chicago? Call this guy... 616-540-4300. haha
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Rite of Passage
Today something happened to me that I consider to be my rite of passage into true Chicago residency. No, contrary to what you are thinking, I didn't get beat up by a Cabrini Green gang. While I was waiting for the Brown Line on my way to City Hall a stranger approached me and asked if he was headed in the right direction. I spit out the answer he was looking for in half a second.
To me, this means two things: First, for some reason, out of all the other people around, I looked like the best person to ask a question. Maybe just because I looked like a non-intimidating character or because I looked like I know the CTA. Second, I realized myself, how much more I know about Chicago (specifically public transportation) since I first moved here.
This was just as much a Rite of Passage as circumcision, the Bar Mitzvah, or the first haircut.
To me, this means two things: First, for some reason, out of all the other people around, I looked like the best person to ask a question. Maybe just because I looked like a non-intimidating character or because I looked like I know the CTA. Second, I realized myself, how much more I know about Chicago (specifically public transportation) since I first moved here.
This was just as much a Rite of Passage as circumcision, the Bar Mitzvah, or the first haircut.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)