I just got done with several interviews over the past few weeks and was reminded of a question that I am OFTEN confronted with: Why do you live all the way out in Lancaster and work down here in Los Angeles?
I think the reason that I work down in LA is fairly clear to understand…there is work in LA and not in Lancaster (at least for software engineers any ways). After a handful of interviews over the course of a few weeks I landed a job. Normally I interview for a week and pick one of a few job offers the next week. While I can’t say that this last process was quite that picture perfect I still found a new job a couple weeks after looking. In this economy that is not too bad!
The other question is usually harder to answer: why do I live all the way up in Lancaster. I try all sorts of routes to explain to people why I live 75 miles away from where I work. I have 6 kids and don’t want to raise them any where near LA. The town that I live in is considerably more friendly than most towns in the valley. I want to own a ranch and owning a ranch in LA is either not possible or not financially possible. I have horses and like to ride them. So on and so forth.
Well – this evening I was reminded of one of my better reasons for living this far away from where I work.
I tacked up my Paso Fino, Chester. I then rode around the block to a friends house to pick her (DJ) and her Paso Fino (Bizan) up. We then headed south towards the park. Once there we cut through the park to head over to the Vons parking lot. Once in the Vons parking lot we crossed the street to a field that opens up to the national forest. Then we rode up towards the Aqueduct. The sun had started to set and there wasn’t going to be a moon. For this reason we turned around just before reaching the Aqueduct and started to head back home. On the way home we stopped at El Pollo Loco and picked up two orders of “3 piece dark, veggies, mash potatoes and gravy, and some soda”. We then walked to the center of the parking lot where we ate our food. As we ate some folks rolled up in their pimp car bumping some loud tunes. They asked “can we pet the horse?” “Sure!” So they got out and asked questions and so on while petting the horse. Then they left. Another fella walked up with his dogs and chatted us up for a bit. Also petting the horse! We finished up with our food, saddled up, and rode back across the street to the park. By this time it was very black outside so we did some full speed laps across an empty soccer field (this is very fun!!). Then we headed home.
Try doing this in LA! I would be afraid of someone trying to rob me and steal my horse shoes from me. Or worse, coming home to wash the spray paint off the backside of my horse. Sorry for the image quality…iPhones still don’t have flash or high ISO capability!
