Hello again.

What a crazy few weeks I've had since my last post. In fact, tonight is really the first time I've been able to sit down in front of my computer in literally 3+ weeks. I hope to catch up to all the emails that I've received ASAP, so if you've sent me an email in the past few weeks, expect to see a message from me soon.

My last post was right before my final game as DJ EJ for the Sacramento River Cats. I had a great career with them at Raley Field, and it ended about as perfectly as possible.

The date: July 23^rd, 2011. It was a doubleheader. Normally I'd dread having to be there for a whole extra game, but on my final night I felt like I wanted to soak in as much of it as possible. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of throwing out the first pitch for the game, thanks to my boss Steven. I fired a strike to Lenny Dinardo. He congratulated me on my career advancement and gave me a great compliment “You do a great job with the music.”

The rest of the night was cool too. Multiple scoreboard shoutouts and a great emotional shoutout from on-field emcee “Mike on the Mic” at the end of the second game – which ended with a Josh Donaldson walkoff home run! (I think it was the very first game I’ve DJ’d that ended in a walkoff home run. An AWESOME way to end my RiverCats career).

Then I got to meet my mancrush Matt Carson during the postgame fireworks. He signed a baseball for me and wished me luck in my new venture. I hope he has a solid major league career (he was recently traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and like all Sacramento River Cats, I’m proud to have seen them in the beginning of their careers.

The next day started a whirlwind – dare I say a dust devil? – that wouldn’t stop until a few weeks later. I had one final week of work at Entravision, trying to close last minute proposals, helping with the transition of accounts, and saying goodbye to my work friends. I do have to send a shoutout to both Allyson and Jim for giving me the opportunity to shine in my Entravision chapter. I had a great run and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help bring some good successes to the Entravision family.

And so began my move. Not an easy feat, considering I own two houses spaced 100 miles apart, and I had to get each property ready for me to be more than 2,000 miles away.

I wrote out a plan of attack and I figured I had (at least) 60 things to accomplish in the 15 days I had before my targeted leave date of July 31^st.

Sample list of things I needed to do:

Get a storage locker
+ Clean Tahoe house
+ Clean Sacramento House
+ Take stuff from Sacramento house to Tahoe house
+ Take stuff from Tahoe house to Sacramento house
+ Take stuff from both Tahoe house and Sacramento house to storage
+ Sacramento house:
Pack up my stuff in Sacramento, donate a lot of it in an effort to downsize, execute home repairs like fixing the roof, landscaping, cleaning up the backyard, deep clean the entire house, sort all my stuff between take/donate/store, get it ready to rent out.

+ Tahoe house:
Deep clean the master bed/bath, deep clean the loft, clean the garage (hadn’t been cleaned in more than 10 years), make a mancave in the garage with a lot of the Sacramento stuff.

Well, I got about 90% of everything I needed to do done! Luckily, my friend Marcus accepted my offer to become my Sacramento property manager as I plan to rent it out full-time, and I decided to offer up the Tahoe place on a selective basis, so in the end everything worked out.

It’s funny. As I write this I can sum it up in less than three paragraphs and a few bullet points. But in reality it was a lot of sweat, blood, stains, and tears. I had a minor freakout while I was cleaning up the Tahoe place. I came to the harsh realization that I wouldn’t be able to make the mancave as I’d hoped. So I had to scrap those plans.

But for the most part, I’m VERY happy with what I was able to accomplish once I put my mind to it. I managed to move two full homes’ worth of stuff into a 6x12 U-Haul trailer and a 10x20 storage locker (with a lot of the remainder going to Goodwill). Mostly by myself, but I have to acknowledge my friends Ryan, Marcus, and my cousin Michael for helping me move stuff.

It literally came down to the 12^th hour, as I finally finished everything loading everything up in the U-haul and set out upon my journey at 12:00am on Monday, August 1^st.

I took one final walkthrough of the place in Sacramento, and thought of all the great memories I’ve had in the place, starting with Mom and I walking through it before I bought it, to moving in and hosting an epic Super Bowl/housewarming party, to bringing both Max and Moxxi home for a few happy years, to someone breaking into my backyard one night, to all the great stories of love and fun in that house, and so many more. It’s been a great place for me, no doubt about that, but now I’m moving on to another new adventure.

Moxxi jumped in the back of the new Tahoe, and we drove down to San Jose that night where I stayed with my friend Georgiana. Then we took off early in the morning. I drove to San Diego, where I met up with my great friends Kasey and Dion and we got caught up over pizza and pitchers. It was great to see them, especially together which is rare because both are now married.

Moxxi and I crashed on Kasey’s mom’s extra bed that night, then we took off the next morning for the long trip east. I made a quick stop in Algodones, Mexico (close to the Arizona border) to pick up some inhalers, tequila, and authentic hot sauce (you know, the necessities). I checked the on-board temp gauge and it was a measly 114 degrees. No sweat! Literally, because of the ice cold A/C in the new Chevy Tahoe.

Once we passed Yuma, I realized I was venturing into uncharted territory. I’d never driven past Yuma before going east, and thankfully my smartphone was my guiding light as Google Maps helped steer me on the right path.

I was making good time, and my original plan was to stop in Tucson for the night. But once I realized that the drive the next day would have been 15 hours, coupled with the fact that I wasn’t even close to tired, I decided to forge ahead.

Lo and behold, I ended up driving all the way through Las Cruces, New Mexico. I decided I would post up for the night at a truck stop in between Las Cruces and El Paso. I pulled into the lot, and unfurled the sleeping bag in the back of the Tahoe. Moxxi and I “roughed it” (ie: cuddled together) that night. Good times.

I woke up the next morning, filled up with gas for the 7^th time on the trip (in just over two days), and set off. Again, I made good time into the heart of Texas.

About 11 hours in, I decided I would stop in one of the towns along the highway and grab a bite to eat. Considering the time was about 8pm, I would quickly learn this was a big mistake. Apparently, many many businesses and towns shut down very early in these parts, as I drove through not one, but TWO small towns along Interstate 20 that were literally ghost towns. At 8pm.

Not a single person out and about. No cars driving around. No businesses open. Scary.

Eventually I found my way to a small diner where I was fortunate enough to learn another Texas custom: the BYOB restaurant. This concept is unheard of in California. After a long day, I don’t want to have to make an additional stop to enjoy an adult beverage. Sure, an inconvenience…but yet another adjustment I’d have to make in coming to an entirely new environment.

So I had a good meal (with water), and hopped into the car for the final leg of the journey. I ended up making it into Dallas at about 9pm that night.

My friend Matt, the one who hired me at the Dallas Cowboys, had a friend named Courtney who had an extra bedroom at her house. Not only that, but she was accommodating to Moxxi as well! How fortunate, right??!?

Yet another example of how all sees to fall into perfect place with absolutely everything regarding this decision/move/jobs/life/etc. I really focused a lot of positive energy into making everything happen as such, and it totally has so far.

*Knock on wood*

But it’s been a great first couple weeks here. I’ve DJ’d a soccer game with approximately 60,000 people – two days after I arrived – and we had our first Cowboys game last Thursday.

It went well, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. It was a day of constant adrenaline as DJing a football game is a very different animal from DJing baseball games. Combine that with the fact that I’m doing it on the biggest stage in American professional sports and you have a recipe for some serious nerves. But I did my thing and I think I exceeded expectations for the most part.

I look forward to having a better game this Sunday (August 21).

I also look forward to finally getting all moved in to my new place. During my first week in town, I spent most of the time I wasn’t at the stadium looking for places to live. Once I finally found a place, I’ve spent the majority of the second week getting moved into my place. And also at the stadium.

It’s been a great experience thus far, and seeing how I start my full time job on Monday August 22 and I’ll soon be all moved into my place, I feel like the best is yet to come.

On a final note, please please please keep sending me your emails/Guestbook comments/facebook shoutouts. I adore each and every one of them, and I promise I will return your emails soon! Internet doesn’t get hooked up at my house for another couple weeks, so I sit typing this at Buffalo Wild Wings, home of great wings and free wifi!

Thanks so much for keeping in touch. Please leave a comment below. Talk soon.

Erik