#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay

G'day folks! So, today is the big day, part one of my fantasy football draft kit. Part two will obviously be next week. In this post I am going to detail my advice for rounds 1-5 and next week will be 6-16. It is important that you prepare for all 16 rounds, often times newer players will study a lot of the first five rounds and then become lost once round 11 is here. Most leagues only allow 90 seconds for you to choose so preparation and confidence in your picks that comes from preparation is more important than you think. Don't forget you can tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay to discuss this post or anything else sports related with me.

I am going to begin all of this with general fantasy advice. (#1) The most important thing is to have a blast playing this game, there are so many numbers, stats and injuries in fantasy football that sometimes you are going to lose no matter what you do. Don't forget that a lot of this is just luck of the draw! Who is going to get injured? Who is going to have a breakout year? Who is going to underperform and bury their team? *cough* Chris Johnson *cough* Shit is going to happen (injuries mostly), but if you stay calm and use your knowledge to make the best replacement pick off of the Free Agent market that you can, then you may find someone who can replace that lost production.

(#2) Use the mock draft lobbies that ESPN.com provides for you! This is easily the best tool that will help you improve your draft when the big day comes. The word "mock" means that it is a fake league, people will join and draft for the sole purpose of practice and then the league is deleted by ESPN.com once the mock draft is over. Every player and stat is given to you while you draft so it is also a perfect time to research. Google is also useful, you will find that searching "(Player Name Here) stats" will do wonders. You can join these mock drafts as many times as you want. It is important that you pay attention to all of the trends that occur while you are in these mock drafts because most of the time people try to pretend this is a real draft and see what their options will be during the real thing. You also need to be a little cautious, if you get stuck in a mock draft with a bunch of idiots taking the Broncos defense at first overall pick, just leave and find a better one. You can find these draft lobbies by going to this link, http://games.espn.g0o.com/ffl/mockdraftlobby. If you don't use this, you will wish you did later.

Really quick, I will break down some of the simple stuff. (1) Each standard ESPN.com league has ten teams, each team has one pick per round and is able to start one QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 FLEX spot which holds a WR or RB, 1 TE, 1 K and one Defense/Special Teams per week along with 7 bench spots. (2) There is a Free Agent market where you can choose any players that were not drafted to be on your team, but each team can only have 16 players meaning if you add you have to drop. (3) There are trades which you can find on any teams page, but the trade deadline for standard ESPN.com leagues is Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 12pm ET.

Here we go.

My initial analysis of this years draft class showed me that the amount of good running backs that you "know" you can count on has decreased greatly from last year. Let us start with Maurice Jones-Drew, many could argue that he is the best running back in the league who is just stuck on a bad team, but this year he is even more stuck in contract negotiations. Since he knows that the Jaguars have no chance in hell at winning a Super Bowl, especially without him, why would he return without getting the most money possible? He gets beat up year in and year out with a ton of carries, but he still finds a way to put up incredible numbers; meanwhile the Jaguars are in last place. Odds are you cannot count on MJD for game one of the seaosn. Next, a player I believed was going to be a top 5 RB at the end of the season, Ryan Matthews, broke his clavicle in the Chargers first preseason game. There is talk he might return from his 4-6 week healing period early, but that just scares me more. He is already considered injury prone, and an early return screams "re-injury!". QBs are deep and so are WRs, but TEs are always sparse.

Let us begin by taking a look at my first round draft projections. These are not the ESPN rankings, rather these are my rankings and I will be putting the ESPN draft position in parenthesis. For example, #1 (4) Aaron Rodgers QB. That means I rank him as the number one pick, but ESPN believes he is the fourth overall pick.  #1 (4) Aaron Rodgers QB, #2 (1) Arian Foster RB, #3 (2) Ray Rice RB, #4 (3) LeSean McCoy RB, #5 (6) Tom Brady QB, #6 Calvin Johnson WR, #7 (8) Drew Brees QB, #8 (13) Rob Gronkowski TE, #9 (9) Chris Johnson RB, #10 (10) Larry Fitzgerald WR. Count them up and that is 4 RB, 3 QB, 2 WR and 1 TE. This is probably an accurate assessment of the value of each position. You will want to save your K and DE/ST for much later rounds. These rankings shouldn't surprise many, but some will probably disagree with Gronkowski at 8. Listen, he had a record setting year last year at a position that is known for it's fantasy ineptitude. He is a huge target in the red zone, and barring injury I do not see a reason Gronk won't return to form. Some argue that he will be double teamed, but they already double teamed him last year and it barely stopped him! Chris Johnson was out of shape and stuck in contract disputes last season. That caused him to have a career worst fantasy year, but after an offseason of workouts he could return to his number one pick form and be a huge late first round value pick. Overall, if you don't get Rodgers you may want to look RB no matter what.

This is the part that scares me, especially for people who don't draft a RB first round. These are my RB rankings for those left after the first round. Matt Forte, Marshawn Lynch, Maurice Jones-Drew*, DeMarco Murray, Jamaal Charles*, Darren McFadden*, Steven Jackson, Adrian Peterson*, Ryan Matthews*. Those with asterisks* by their names are recovering from serious injuries last season or are in contract negotiations. My point is, after the first or maybe second round, depending on how your league drafts their may not be any quality starting RBs left. Also, serious injuries such as the ACL tear Adrian Peterson experienced can often times cause an athlete to lose his speed and fantasy value. It's a gamble, be wary.

Second Round. #11 (12) Matthew Stafford QB, #12 (17) Matt Forte RB, #13 (16) Marshawn Lynch RB, #14 (11) Andre Johnson WR, #15 (14) Roddy White WR, #16 (15) Greg Jennings WR, #17 (20) Wes Welker WR, #18 (18) Demarco Murray RB, #19 (19) Mike Wallace WR, #20 (5) Maurice Jones-Drew RB. I believe that Lynch has turned a corner after a great 2011 campaign, but there is some risk that his O-line won't support him and/or he returns to his lazier form. Matt Forte is a RB1 in my opinion, his injury at the end of last season was minor and he is sitting pretty with a nice contract. Johnson appears to be healthy after a groin injury in 2011, and if you research Murray he has some incredible potential.

Third Round. #21 (22) Jimmy Graham TE, #22 (28) Darren McFadden RB, #23 (21) Jamaal Charles RB, #24 (31) Steven Jackson RB, #25 (24) Adrian Peterson RB, #26 (23) Cam Newton QB, #27 (25) Hakeem Nicks WR, #28 (27) Eli Manning QB, #29 (29) Victor Cruz WR, #30 (26) AJ Green WR. I cannot understate how valuable I believe great TEs are. That is why I place Graham a bit higher than ESPN. Peterson is coming off an ACL tear later in the season last year so he will be limite early, but his potential around week 3 is huge!

Fourth Round. #31 (32) Michael Vick QB, #32 (34) Fred Jackson, #33 (38) Frank Gore, #34 (37) Michael Turner, #35 (30) Ryan Matthews RB, #36 (33) Julio Jones WR, #37 (35) Brandon Marshall WR, #38 (39) Jordy Nelson WR, #39 (40) Steve Smith WR, #40 (45) Tony Romo QB. Jackson is old for a RB at the age of 31, but he has a chance for a very quality year. Don't let Matthews' pre-season injury fool you, he is still a valuable pick. He was a guaranteed mid second round pick at worst before his injury, and now there is even talk that he will come back early and be ready week 1 likely with limited snaps. I am probably undervaluing him because of his injury and him being injury prone, but there is something to be said about a RB who can't stay on the field. I think Romo is a great QB for a fourth round pick. He may have a career year, but if he just has a career average year he is still a solid fantasy producer.

Fifth Round. #41 (49) Peyton Manning QB, #42 (36) Trent Richardson RB, #43 (47) Brandon Lloyd WR, #44 (43) Ahmad Bradshaw RB, #45 (42) Darren Sproles RB, #46 (46) Marques Colston WR, #47 (44) Willis McGahee RB, #48 (51) Reggie Bush RB, #49 (53) Vincent Jackson WR, #50 (52) BenJarvus Green-Ellis RB. Peyton is going to be Peyton, he has had a tough preseason but those games do not count. Richardson is a scary pick to me, he is a rookie who is coming off of surgery. I think Brandon Lloyd is a great pick, a sharpshooter in Tom Brady throwing to him will add to his TD count and all he needs is one offensive injury to be a key part of that offense.

Tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay to discuss anything sports! Thanks for reading and remember part two is next week!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Derek on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: A change in the path is a test of strength

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Eric. He is a MAASSTTEERRR social dynamics expert that will be talking about his experiences in the field from both an expert, and experience perspective. He's not just saying "this is how to get the girl" he's here to share his actual life stories and lessons learned from them. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ERIC !!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Redolpho

Here I am sitting at Starbucks again without a home. If you’ve read my last blog piece then you may be wondering what the hell happened. I woke up Monday with a smile on my face. I had found the perfect job. I was going to have the opportunity to work in a hostel where I could exchange work for a room, wifi and a shower. But alas the world would change my path once again.

The night prior I had spent what I thought would be my last night of homelessness on my friends couch. I went to bed and set my alarm. I had been asked to get there early so that I could lay my bag down in the room that I would be staying and find a place to situate my bike. When you move as much as I have over the last year and a half your stuff dwindles down with every relocation.  I have removed everything that I do not need and that I can’t carry with me so my life fits in a backpack.

As I entered Hollywood and approached the hostel my heart pounded as I heard backpackers speaking in their native language. I approached the converted Hollywood mansion and one after the next backpackers moved in and out, some leaving for the day’s adventure, some leaving for the next city, and some headed home. I smiled from ear to ear as I imagined leading these amazing explorers on adventures around my city and being around the backpacker energy every day.

I entered the hostel, set my stuff down and found the girl who was going to be training me.  We talked for a minute and then I asked where I could get a drink of water. She directed me to the local grocery store that was just around the corner. I walked around to what would be my grocery store to get familiar with the layout and scope the deals. I was pleased to see that the bananas were really cheap so I purchased a gallon of water and two bananas and headed back to the hostel.

I entered and sat in the lobby. I looked towards the front desk and made eye contact with my trainer. She quickly broke eye contact and in a rushed whisper looked at the manager and said,

 “Hey, Eric’s here”. I knew something was wrong and my heart fell just a little.

The manager then said, “Eric, did you get a text from the owner?”

I had received a text from the owner the night before so I thought that this was what she was referring to and replied that I had received the text. I sat there for another couple minutes and then I checked my phone as I habitually do and there was another text. I had received it while I was in the grocery store ten minutes before I was scheduled to start training. Here is what it said.

My heart fell to the floor. I buried my face in my shoulder and tried to hold back the tears. It had been about five minutes now since the manager had addressed the infamous text. As uncomfortable as I was sitting there basking in the awkwardness I couldn’t move. I continued to try and muster the strength to leave the lobby but I was devastated. I didn’t know how to exit at this point but I needed to get out. I managed to grab my bag and my bike and make it out the front door. I had no idea where the fuck I was supposed to go, where I was going to sleep, what I was going to do for work. I stopped at the steps directly outside of the door and the tears started to flow. More travelers moved in and out of the door and as they looked at me I knew how palpable my sadness was by their reaction to seeing my face.

 As I sat there I thought about my next move. I knew that I was going to have to get off those steps and do something but I had no idea what that thing was. I scrolled through my phone and looked at the names in my contact list. I imagined the types of reactions that I would get. Some would console, some would empathize, some would sympathize, but none of those reactions would get me moving again. I needed solutions because I was too emotional to think clearly.

I came across Jen’s number and sent her a copy of the text. Without saying sorry or asking more about the situation she told me exactly what I needed to hear.

“Go find other hostels, spend your day going from door to door asking for a work exchange. This isn’t going to stop you – it’s just taking you down a different path.”

I had to let go and move on. There was nothing that I could do except to start moving towards the next opportunity so I did. I stopped crying and put my backpack on. I grabbed my bike and got on my phone to search for other hostels and for the next 6 hours I traveled around Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice but the day had not proven fortuitous.

It’s now the next day and I have one lead in Venice that I’ll continue to follow up with. I have no idea what the future is going to hold for me but I’ve been repeating this quote in my head when everything seems insurmountable.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it is the little voice inside your head that says ‘I will try again tomorrow.”

Thank you to the reader that sent this to me, it is keeping me going right now. Who knows what’s going to happen with my life but I am unwilling to give up. I can’t, I have already come too far to turn back now and I feel strength in the support that I have received from this community. So I am going to throw something out to the universe. If you’re reading this, your social life is lacking and you have a couch then reach out to me and let’s do an exchange. I am in Los Angeles but you don’t need to be. My social dynamics course has already changed the lives of everyone who’s participated. You’ll meet more amazing people then you ever have, meet more amazing women and lead a more meaningful life. I promise that you’ll be a better version or the different version of yourself you’ve wanted to see by the time that I leave.

This is my reality, my adventure and my path and I must stay present and manifest something great. I must continue to change lives because I feel it’s my purpose. Although I’m scared and unsure of the future I am just going to try again today and then tomorrow and then the next day. Thanks for reading and for your continued support I don’t know that I could keep going without you.

#thatisall

If you’d like to share your stories please feel free to tweet me at @redolpho or email me at eric dot rudolph dot carrillo at gmail dot com

#NerdsUnite: Comfort zone be gone!

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Chelsea. She's a newbie to our loverly state of California and is currently trying to find her own voice and find her own way. Gosh, aren't we all??? She's here today to talk about her journey in life, love, and all things nerd.  I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT CHELSEA!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @chelofthesea

“After a series of guys who left me high and dry and questioning why the hell I wasn’t just a lesbian instead (though, trust me, I know ladies aren’t a cake walk either) all of my friends asked me why I continued to go out with people from OkCupid. At first my answer was just that it was fun and gave me something to do on nights I would otherwise just stay home. But as I thought about it more, and began to write about coming out of my comfort zone, I realized that the reason I keep going out on OkCupid dates is because I keep learning about myself. Every date, every awkward encounter, every rejection, and every lovely goodnight kiss – I learn something new about myself and get nudged a little more farther away from my normal.”

I wrote that paragraph over a month ago. While most of it is still applicable I have actually deleted my OkCupid profile. There are a few reasons for this. One being that I am just overall tired of getting the same, lame messages. And two being that my time as of late has been very much occupied and I don’t have the time or the desire to go out with anyone else.  (I was actually given permission to write about that on the site but for my own sanity will not be doing so as of yet!) Anyway, as I say goodbye to OkCupid for the moment, I wanted to write out what exactly I’d learned about myself from my last year of using the site…

 1.    I’m incredibly awkward but somehow it works.           
I don’t think I was ever awkward as a kid. I was always the one who talked a bunch and made friends with everyone. But for some reason as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more and more strange. I no longer know how to strike up conversations with strangers. I no longer understand that some people don’t want to hear all the randomness that comes into my head. And I don’t seem to understand that others aren’t okay with long periods of total silence. But what I do know, thanks to the world of dating, is that my awkwardness, in some strange way, works. I have been on dates where I could literally feel the awkwardness seeping out of my pours but for some reason the guys eat it up and think I’m charming and not a total freak. Thank you nerdy girls before me! Paving the way for awkwardness to be labeled as quirkiness and allowing my weirdness to not be an immediate deal breaker.

2.    I don’t care about physical attraction, but instead about physical chemistry.
I always say to people that I don’t care about appearance. If you just rolled your eyes, I get it. Nobody ever believes me. And I never really had a good way to explain it. I would just say that I didn’t really care because when a hot dude ends up being boring and dumb, he immediately transforms from Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid Love to Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. But on the flip side of that, when I meet a guy who I’m not physically attracted to but he ends up turning my brain on and making my face hurt from laughter, he becomes so freaking handsome in my eyes. This is where people argue “but if you’re REALLY not into ____, personality can’t change it.” Fill that blank in with short guys, fat guys, black guys, whatever… What I’m here to say is that for me, that’s not true. I’ve realized that this theoretical not-so-attractive dude not only has to have a good personality, but we also have to have sexual chemistry. We have to like the same things and when we kiss there has to be something more. I need to want him in a primal way. I’m scared my dad might one day find this blog…so that’s enough about that. But in summation what I’ve learned is that my eyes are not what turn me on.

3.    I’m not as terrible of a flirt as I think I am.
I have to start this off saying one thing… THANK YOU INTERNET. Basically, I have never been a flirty girl. I've discussed this before on the site -- I was always the friendgirl and never the girlfriend. Though I was in a really long term, serious relationship the beginning of that had almost nothing to do with flirting and almost everything to do with us both being young and looking for affection. So when I dived back into the dating scene out here, I wasn't sure I would know how to flirt. When guys compliment me, I get pretty awkward (shocker) and don't really know how to respond. It's almost nearly impossible for me to give compliments. Seriously, it's sad. The guy I'm currently seeing and I were having a talk and it took everything in me to tell him the things I like about him... The struggle was so apparent on my face. Luckily it didn't scare him away! But the Internet has helped me so much in my flirting. How you ask? Well, I, like many others, am much wittier with written words than spoken words. And having the chance to talk to guys digitally before meeting them in person gives me a chance to flirt and build up the witty banter before being dropped into a date. Also, I think getting the small talk out of the way has done wonders to my flirting. I’m much better with substantial conversation, than the bullshit you have to talk about when you first meet someone.  

4.    I don’t care what a guy does, I just need someone with passion and drive.  
Before really getting into “dating” I thought I had a list of deal breakers. A guy had to have a car, a job, and a place to live… Without those things, there was no way I would even think about dating them. Hey guys, wanna know what happens when you make a list of rules for yourself? You break them. About a million times. In a row. On OkCupid I’ve gone out with LA hotshots, who make lots of money and have TV shows on big fancy TV stations, who take me out to places I could never afford on my own. I’ve also gone out with dudes who live at home, have no car, and can barely afford their own lives, let alone taking me out on fancy dates. Of course, the majority have been somewhere between these two extremes. To be honest, I never thought I’d be super into the fancy LA guys. I don’t live that type of life, and while of course it’s fun, having excessive money and spending it on dumb shit is not something I can relate to. But what I found fascinating was that among all these guys, I didn’t really care how much money they made or if they had the stability I thought I was looking for… All I cared about was whether or not they were passionate about what they were doing. He could be a stand-up comedian, who pours every bit of his heart and soul into the sets he’s doing almost every night of the week or a dog walker, who believes in the importance of his work and loves each dog like his own – I don’t care! I’m passionate about my work and I need you to have something that consumes your whole heart sometimes. Something bigger than yourself that you’re willing to give yourself up to. Something you fight for. Something you can talk to me about and teach me about for hours.

5.    I have bigger balls than most dudes when it comes to rejecting someone.
This is the lamest of the lessons I have learned. From my experience, dudes don’t have balls when it comes to rejecting girls. I believe this partly has to do with guys being taught that women are crazy. Now before all the male readers get pissed off, let me admit – bitches can DEFINITEY be crazy. But hey, guess what? Stop dating those! Most of us are level-headed, rational beings who would prefer the truth to some bullshit excuse or you just disappearing. And guess what? We won’t flip out on you and text you non-stop! Choose better women and you will deal with better rejections. And guess what? Maybe you can even stay friends. Basically what I’m saying is that even in situations where I’ve had to reject a guy who I could tell was really liking me and who I had no real reason not to like except a lack of “chemistry,” I do it and I’m honest and I don’t beat around the bush. What I’ve learned to do to make this easier is make sure my body language on the date matches how I’m feeling. There have been times I’ve given someone a goodnight kiss when I knew I didn’t want to go out again, but I will not do that anymore! In coming out of my comfort zone, I’ve learned it’s okay to know what I do and do not want, and if people get pissed at you for you making it clear – well, that’s on them. All I can worry about is being honest about how I feel. Speaking my truth, right Jen?

So… Thank you men of OkCupid. Thank you for the drinks, the dinners, the stories, the great (and not-so-great) hook ups, the late night conversations, the texts you sent too often, the days at Disney, the games of pool, the karaoke singing, and so much more. Thank you for teaching me so much about myself. You have made my last year more memorable and don’t you worry your pretty little faces, I’ll probably be back. Or on the other hand, don’t worry, if you pop in my Quiver or suggested matches, I’ll click right past you. Maybe even hide you or block you! Whenever the day comes I find myself back in the crazy world that is online dating, know the girl behind the screen won’t be the same as the one who signed up last year because my comfort zone is getting nothing but further away!

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Chelsea on twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

Thursday night was my friend Michelle's first art gallery in Downtown Orlando. It was at a club/lounge place called 57 West. They have been having gallery hops downtown every third Thursday of the month and this club is one of their stops. It helps local artists get their work out there and they only pay commission if they sell any pieces. We had an awesome time! It didn’t go quite how I thought it would but it was an incredible yet short night--good thing as Michelle and I had to work at the clinic at 730am the next day.

My boyfriend David and I got there right around 6pm which was when the gallery showing was. It was supposed to be 6-9p but the place was also a bar/lounge so they were open for more than the exhibit. Michelle showed us around and pointed out where all her paintings were. There weren’t many people there yet so we got a drink and sat down to chat as we waited for others to arrive.

Once more people arrived and the rest of our group I started to walk around and took some photos but since it was also a lounge the lighting was pretty terrible. Good thing a friend came who is in school for photography so she had a better camera and skills. I played with several settings and got a few good shots but I soon left it to the more experienced--plus the band finally came! That was the first interesting thing that happened: the band playing was melodic dissent (local band) and it turned out that David knew the lead singer. The play sublime-reggae sounding stuff (love!) and promised to open with "Badfish". They had to do sound check and as we were waiting Michelle's husband G arrived. David and I were getting hungry and thought about leaving but apparently the party hadn’t started. G was over at the bar and as we went to say bye he brought over a bottle of vodka, bucket of ice, and mixers. He came over and counted heads, went back to the bar, and brought back enough glasses for us all.  He asked us all to grab a few things and head upstairs to the loft area. I saw Michelle as I was carrying a mixer and glasses, gave her a silly grin,  and mouthed "oh no!"

It was really cute because she hadn’t seen her sister in a long time and the family surprised her by arranging to have her sister show up from New York!

Drinks were made and passed around, they didn’t taste very strong at all. I still had a buzz from my martini when I first arrived but I really wasn’t feeling anything from these drinks. In fact, the bottle was almost gone already! G said he thought it had been watered down. He took a swig right from the bottle and immediately knew they had diluted it!!

They went downtowns to talk to the bartenders and manager--the situation was remedied and a replacement bottle was sent back up. The band was awesome, I knew all the songs they covered and really enjoyed their original. The drinks, finally fully alcoholic, left us silly and smiling. I felt like we all connected really well, especially because we stayed almost all night with Michelle and her family. Not to mention when we tried to leave G convinced us to stay another half an hour. David and G really hit it off and will probably goof around in G's home studio sometime. When Michelle and I talk about our dudes they always have so much in common.

One of the artists/rich dudes/gallery hopper/reiki-dude was crazy trashed and super hilarious as he walked around talking to everyone with his girlfriend’s bright blue silk scarf around his neck. He was talking about light from within and making it big. He was a funny soul--strange but nice.

Finally we could no longer ignore our hunger and grabbed some pizza a few blocks away. I was in bed by 1230a and back at work by 7:40a. A little tired but ok.

Great night, art, people, music. Ah, happiness.

#nerdsunite

Check out my etsy shop!
www.etsy.com/shop/craftafarian

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Learning to let go

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Eric. He is a MAASSTTEERRR social dynamics expert that will be talking about his experiences in the field from both an expert, and experience perspective. He's not just saying "this is how to get the girl" he's here to share his actual life stories and lessons learned from them. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ERIC !!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Redolpho

Not even a week after I finally let go of all the pain I was feeling life has hooked it up. For me life is about traveling and it probably doesn’t come as any surprise, since I’m a social dynamics coach, that people fuel me. Backpackers and entrepreneurs are pretty much my favorite people on the planet. 

For the last week I have been really homeless. For the majority of the last year and half I have been fortunate enough to have temporary places to live. This last week, not so much, I spent my days trying get some work done while also figuring out where I was going to lay my head that night. Armed with my computer, phone, bike and a few sets of clothes in my backpack I begun my adventure.

With all that being said the homeless diet is suuuuper effective. I think I lost 10 pounds, all of which I hope I gained back with my latest pie (pizza pie) binge. I’m a huge slut for pizza btw. The pizza was part of a celebration because I am going to be homeless no longer and the job I found couldn’t be more perfect for me. I’ll be working for a hostel starting next week.

Ever since I quit my job for a major retail bank I knew that corporate life wasn’t for me. I don’t want to work my whole life only to actually live for the last third of it. “Living” means different things to different people but traveling is the most alive that I’ve ever felt. I recently heard a quote that said, “You either start planting your roots or start spreading your wings.” This week I started spreading my wings and it feels so good to stretch them out.

At the hostel I’ll just be working in exchange for a room, shower, breakfast and wifi. DREAM!!! That’s almost all I need. That and enough money to buy my next plane ticket and pay my couple bills each month. Oh yea and I don’t know if I mentioned this but I. LOVE. FOREIGN WOMEN. They are definitely my favorite and I’ll have to consult the manual to see what the hostels policy is on sexual relations with the guests. Judging by my past (I used to get girls cell phone numbers from the banks records if I thought they’d be into me shhhhhhhh) I’m sure I won’t care either way so let’s pray that I can control my libido long enough to have a place to live for a while. I met some of the staff and they all seem great, I can’t wait to start.

I have a question for the TNTML readers. Do you know anyone who has hostel hopped around the world? By hostel hopping I mean working from hostel to hostel.

Thanks again to everyone who’s taken the time to read my blog pieces so far. It’s already been such a crazy journey since I started revealing all my secrets to you although I know I’ll have more to share.

#thatisall

If you’d like to share your stories please feel free to tweet me at @redolpho or email me at eric dot rudolph dot carrillo at gmail dot com