m i c h a e l t o l o s a . c o m
a b o u t  m e

I just recently started a new job. I have to commute using mass transit for the first time in my life. Instead of steadily moving further and further west, as I’ve done all my life—isolating myself from the hustle & bustle of civilization—I’ve decided to do an about face and head towards the chaos. I now work in Pentagon City (where I’ll have a great view of the next big terrorist attack on D.C.) and will soon be living close to the Metro station in Vienna. I’m a real Washingtonian now. …Well, an East Virginian, at least.

Working for a government agency in Arlington has made me a real nerd. Because of my commute and the stuffiness of government offices, I now get up at 6 AM, put on boring dress clothes, ride public transportation, do my work (which is still interesting web work), try to catch an early train home that I won’t have to stand up on for the duration of the return trip, spend three hours of “personal time” at home, and then go to sleep at 10 PM, so I can do it all over again.

Three hours of free time each day isn’t quite enough time for me to workout, write my novel, work on my photography, self-educate myself on web marketing, go out for happy hours, sell stuff on eBay, do my laundry, watch my favorite television shows, peruse MySpace blogs, listen to Podcasts, pay bills, eat dinner, or do any of the things I used to do during the week, when my work schedule & short commute allowed much more free time. Something has to give. Maybe I’ll stop eating dinner.

I wish there was more to my life right now than what there really is. I honestly only go to work during the week. I try to squeeze in some education/entertainment by listening to audio books on my iPod, while riding the bus/subway. My weekends are spent getting up at 6 AM, doing all the chores & tasks I don’t have time for during the week, and going to bed at 10 PM.

See, I told you I was a nerd.

My only saving grace is that I haven’t become so much of a nerd, that I wear a suit & tie to work. The government has a dress code of suit & tie. But I’m a contractor. I’m a web guy—an artist. “I.A.” doesn’t just stand for Information Architecture. It stands for Information Arts. I’m a web content architect/artist. We web guys live by different rules. If the government can’t take a little casual business culture, then I’m in the wrong place.

I’d love to meet other professionals in the D.C. area, who’d like to get together for a drink they don’t have time for and bitch about their lives other people would die for. Come talk to me on the Metro sometime. I’m the tall half-Filipino man in black, who just gave up his seat to an older woman.

<< RETURN