originally posted december 31, 2003
my year as a grown-up
For me, this is the first year that ran from January to December -- not September to June or August to May. This is the first year where I spent almost every weekday at a full-time job. This is the year I learned how to cook, to keep an apartment, and to live a 9-to-5 existence. For me, 2003 was the year I became a grown-up.
this is my home
I live in the Brake House Lofts, a three-story apartment building that was once a Westinghouse Air Brake factory. It takes less than 15 minutes to walk to work from here. There are lots of nice shops within walking distance, although nearly all of them close at 6:00 PM or earlier on weekdays.
This is my first apartment, so I spent untold thousands of dollars on housewares, furniture, and kitchen supplies. Some purchases didn't live up to the aspirations I had for them: a stud finder I've used once, an egg beater that I've never used, and a few pots and pans that have not been used yet. Some decisions were very good: I almost never cooked meat before buying a George Foreman grill, I make waffles every week, and my coworkers were as shocked as I was to learn that I can make cookies.
this is my city
I went to school for three and a half years in Pittsburgh, but I only brought my car to town during the final semester. Like many Carnegie Mellon students, my only exposure to Pittsburgh was in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the campus. This year, I got lost in just about every neighborhood I could find. The suburbs immediately outside the city proved useful for shopping, and they're a lot closer than I thought before. Of the 10,000 miles I put on my car this year, over half of them were from travels within and around Pittsburgh. That's a lot considering that I usually don't drive to work.
these are my goals
Going from school to work wasn't without its challenges. Here are a few that I plan to address in 2004.
lose the weight
This was also the year that I stopped hustling from class to class, and started sitting in a cubicle for eight or more hours a day. My office also provides free lunch at least once a week, 25-cent cans of soda, and lots of free snacks all the time. This was the year when I gained about 30 pounds in weight. In 2004, I'll need to work out some kind of decent exercise program -- maybe joining a gym, maybe starting to jog around the neighborhood in the morning -- to avoid the embarrassing need to buy a whole new wardrobe.
make the apartment better
Early this year, I filled my apartment with pieces of cleverly named particle-board furniture. Next year, I need to spruce up the apartment with some plants, posters, and other decorative things. My walls are still bare except for my diploma, a corkboard, and a couple of small posters. The next time the Three Rivers Arts Festival rolls around, I should pick up some better things to hang on my walls and put around this place.
cut back on caffeine
"Where's Jason?" "He's talking with his friends."
"Where's Jason?" "He's getting coffee."
One of those sounds more professional than the other. That was the reason why in 2001, I began drinking coffee while I was an intern. This year at work, I got in the habit of filling one of my four 16-ounce coffee mugs every morning. It's a bad habit to go from a zombie-like state at 9:00 to an hyperactive 3-year-old's energy level at 9:02. It's addictive overkill: I don't need 16 ounces of coffee every morning. I won't swear off coffee in 2004, but I will cut back to one cup or less in the morning.
normalize my schedule
My company is gracious enough to allow engineers to sleep in. As long as I'm in the office or available via IM no later than 12:00 noon, everything is OK. This starts a bad cycle: I stay up late on Sunday night, which means I come in late on Monday, which means I leave later on Monday, which means I don't get to bed until very late Monday night. This cycle keeps going clear through to the weekend.
Living alone means that I can set my own sleep schedule: it's tempting to stay up until 2:00 AM like when I was in college, but my 9-to-5 has become a 10-to-6 or 11-to-7 far too often this year. In 2004, I need to get back on a decent sleep schedule.
meet the neighbors
So I've been living in this building for a year, and I barely know any of my neighbors. Aside from the one co-worker who used to live here, I haven't said more than "hi" to anyone else in my building. Now that my lease has been renewed until June of 2005, I should at least get to know some people who live around me.
Well, that's 2003. No huge travels or singularly life-changing experiences. I'm a grown-up now.
Back to December 2003, or to the year 2003.
![[weill aspects]](/aspects/small-logo.png){kind=logo}
![[Back to home]](/GLOBE.GIF){kind=small}