Live from Windsor Lane

So I've been in Key West for 3 days now...so much to write about!

The first picture is Higgs Beach. Now, Key West is not known for its beaches. If what you're after is beautiful beaches, you would be much better off in a bunch of other south Florida towns. That being said, there still are a lot of great spots to go by the water. This one is called Higgs Beach, and its the closest one to my house. So far, my morning routine in town consists of getting a large con leche at sandy's (its a cuban coffee drink), then walking for about 5 minutes to the end of white street, where the beach and the white street pier are. The pier is a great place to sit and have coffee, and the beach, like so much of key west, has so much history to it...

At night I have a few favorite spots. Saturday night, went to Captain Tony's for a few beers before bed. Captain Tony's became famous in Jimmy Buffett's song "Last Mango in Paris". When Jimmy was just getting started in music, he used to play for tourists at Captain Tony's for 10 bucks and a 6 pack of beer a night. Every time a big-time celebrity comes in, they put his/her name on a barstool so you can tell people something like "I'm sitting on Jerry Seinfeld right now". The walls are covered in business cards people have left there over the years, and its fun to look at some of the older ones from the 60's and 70's.

Last night I went to the Rum Barrel for dinner and to watch the Phillies game. The Rum Barrel is owned by Pat Croce, who is a legend around Philly. He spoke at my elementary school in Jersey when I was 9. Because if this, the Rum Barrel is the location of the Southernmost Phillies Club. During the game, I tried the philly cheese steak, which is actually the recipe from Geno's in philly, apparently Pat bought the rights to use the recipe in Key West. As anyone from philly knows, a real philly is made with cheeze whiz (thats right), fried onions, and served on an italian hoagie roll. Nothing else...no peppers, etc. It was excellent! I thought I was sitting at Geno's again. A great way to watch the phillies! And we won 11-5.

And last but certainly not least, tonight I went to perhaps my favorite place in town, the schooner wharf. The schoner wharf is at the end of the marina, right on the water. I absolutely love he atmosphere of this place. Its mostly locals who hang out there, so I went down there to mingle and take in the view. I ordered the seafood sampler, and WOW! It came with a mahi filet, caught right off the coast in KW, unbelievably fresh! Also 4 fried and 4 grilled shrimp, which key west is famous for. Last were 2 conch fritters, and they were the best I've had so far. There are a lot of places you can get fresh seafood, but conch fritters are unique to key west. There are several places here that claim to have the best, but so far schooner wharf is the winner in my eyes. Good food, good company, just a great time!

Thats about it for tonight...I'm calling it an early night because I actually have to be productive tomorrow! Goodnight everyone! I'll leave you a picture of windsor lane, taken from in front of the house, looking toward the cemetary at the end of the street.

Finally here!

Its been an exhausting day of driving and moving, but I'm finally settled in. I was gonna go out and explore a bit, but I'm feeling like being lazy for a little while!

I got up bright and early in Ft. Lauderdale, went to Einstein's for a bagel with Jordan, then off I went. Got to Key West at 3:00 or so and found the key John had hidden for me by the door. Sidenote: both of my housemates are named John, so for future clarification, this is how I'll differentiate;

1) Chef John : The guy who owns the house, he's also the chef at the golf course here. He was telling me when I first met him how the recession had particularly hit luxury services such as catered meals at country clubs, and as a result, he had been working very part time for the past few years. He said business has picked up tremendously recently, so much so that he's working 12 hour days for most of this week, then going to Islamorada for 4 nights for a super catering job. Good for him!

2) Writer John: The guy who is renting the other room. He's in the process of writing a book right now and stays in his room a lot. Hopefully whenever I talk to him next I'll find out what its about!

So I got all settled in, and then went for a quick late lunch/ early dinner at Guy Harvey's. Some of you have probably seen the Guy Harvey shirts everyone has nowadays, with the fish and stuff all over them. Well, Guy Harvey opened a restaurant down here, so I wanted to try it out. I wasn't in a beer drinking mood yet, so I started with an iced tea and a cup of their seafood chowder. The chowder was great, it had full shrimp and bitesize chunks of several fish in it. I recognized snapper and grouper. Then I got a half-pound of steamed shrimp. Key West is famous for its shrimp, and these did not dissapoint. Plus the place is very reasonably priced, especially for Key West. All that stuff for $15.50 plus tip is almost like Columbia prices. Anyways, if you ever come down here, I'd highly recommend Guy Harvey's.

Thats about it for now. I'm about to take a walk over to Captain Tony's for a quick amber draft and then its back here to go to sleep. Captain Tony's is my favorite bar on the island, and talking about it could take a whole blog entry to get through. And I'll be sure to write about it tomorrow!

This is part of my room....I love all the artwork on the walls. The house has such a cool "Old Key West" feel to it.

2 days left...

2 more days till I leave!! I decided I wasn't going to work at the school this week...too much to do during the days! I tried to go to Jiffy Lube today to get my oil changed and get the car serviced before I leave. Now, the name Jiffy Lube would imply quickness, right? There were 3 other cars there when I arrived. Not 3 cars waiting, 3 cars total. The guy saw me pull up, walked over to my car, and said it would be at least an hour before they could get to it. My first thought was, "wow, those other three cars must have some serious problems if it'll take that long." I wasn't about to sit in their waiting room for "at least an hour", which in car-speak means about 2 hours, so I left. I'm gonna break down and bring it to wal-mart later, where if I have to wait, I can at least walk around the store and keep myself occupied.

On a positive note, I switched my car insurance from SC to Florida today, and to my surprise, my rates actually went down! I was always told that SC was the lowest insurance anywhere. Cool!

Anyways, still on the agenda today is packing some stuff, trying to figure out what to do with my furniture, the car service, and trying to change my address on everything important. Speaking of which, my new contact info in KW is:

Matt Frankel
705 Windsor Lane
Key West, FL 33040

I'll keep the same phone number for a little while for simplicity's sake.

The next time I'll update, I'll be down in the islands and I'll have more interesting things to say!

Reflections on the Ale House...

Only 4 more days till I hit the road! I just finished my last weekend at Ale House, and it went pretty well. Working during the UFC fights is something I definitely WILL NOT miss about the job. Sure, the place gets busy, but you get the same 4 tables all night long (people actually start showing up at 6 or 7 to get a table for a PPV fight that runs from 10-1), and a good portion of the people don't really spend any movey during the fight. I had one table this past week who drank rootbeer, didn't eat, and took up one of my 4 tables for 6 hours. Their bill was a whopping $8!

As much as I bitch about it, I really will miss that place. First of all, as far as waiting tables goes, you're not gonna find a place where you make more money in Columbia. I've worked at a total of 4 restaurants in the area over my college career, and trust me, there really is no comparison. As long as you don't mind late night hours, having your legs feel like they're made of Jell-O at the end of a friday night shift, and cleaning up puke on occasion, its the best serving job around. There's a reason that there was about a 6-month period where we didn't hire one new server. Nobody left, and that kind of low turnover is unheard of in most restaurants!

Money aside, there are other reasons I'll miss the Ale House. For one, there really is (for the most part), a great group of people working there. Of course there are one or two people I could do without, but I have made so many friends there and I hope we all stay in touch over the years. A lot of them say they'll come visit me in the keys, and I hope some actually do!

One thing I'm not looking forward to down in the keys is job-hunting. I absolutely hate not only looking for a job, but having to go through the initial period when you're trying to prove yourself as a good worker to everyone so they stop treating you like a newbie. With my experience and education, I'm pretty confident that I will find a job pretty easily, its just a matter of whether I'll like it or not. For those of you who remember, it was a random job search that resulted in me working at Damon's. God, that was awful!

On a side note, I'm planning to apply for a bunch of jobs in the next few weeks, both in restaurants and in education-related jobs. I could really use references, especially from those of you I've worked with and those who have know me for a while. If anyone finds the time to write me a short letter of reference saying how I'd be a good employee to hire, that would be the best going-away gift I could ask for! It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, just a few sentences with your name and contact info at the end. I would greatly appriciate the help, and if you are willing to do this, let me know! Thanks a bunch!!

matt

One week...

One week from today I'll be heading south on 95 toward the keys. I'm definitely starting to get nervous and excited at the same time. Today I officially changed my address on my bank accounts, car insurance, etc, and the move feels a whole lot more "real" now!

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely ready to be done with this insane work schedule I've been putting myself through these past few weeks. It has definitely been worth it though, in my year working at Ale House, I have never done as well as I have been doing lately. Not just on the weekends either..I mean $190 on a monday night, $175 on a wednesday, etc. Over the past 2 weeks, I've been able to stash enough cash for my travel expenses AND first months rent. I want to be able to leave my savings untouched for as long as possible once I get there! My goal is to make about another $350 or so over my last 4-5 shifts at Ale House, which would be my spending money for the first few weeks there, and to work every day, monday-thursday next week at the schools, so I'll have a nice paycheck coming in mid-May.

On a family note, Drew graduates from USC this coming week, and I'm very proud of that. Without going into personal business, college has been a struggle for him at times, and to see him not only finish, but do very well grade-wise, is quite an achievement. About a year ago, long before I decided I was moving to Key West, I booked us on a Carnival cruise for a graduation gift, by far the most elaborate gift I have given anyone thus far in my life. Ironically, the first stop is Key West! So, I have to drive to Miami, get on a plane to Jacksonville, and get on a boat just to be taken right back home. Sounds funny, but I'm sure we'll have a great time, and I look forward to showing my friends around my new hometown. Ryan, Lindsay, Chris (best friend from high school) and Ryan's family will also be on the cruise, so it'll be a great time!

A few things that I need to find time for this next week before I can head south. I need to get my car inspected and serviced...it would suck to get halfway through florida and break down. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with all my stuff here, since I'm renting a furnished place down there. I'll need to figure out what to bring and what not to bring. I really shouldn't have that much stuff...no furniture, kitchen stuff, winter clothes, etc. Just my warm-weather wardrobe, bedding, computer, and a few random things should do it!

Thats all for today, no new pictures yet! Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted!

Matt

Counting the days....

Happy Sunday to everyone!

So I'm still in Columbia for the next week and a half....

I figured it would be easy to get through the three weeks before heading back to Key West, but it has been anything but easy so far. I'm trying to set aside some extra cash by working all the shifts I possibly can, and its definitely taking its toll. This past week, between both jobs, I have put in close to 80 hours, and I am exhausted! My work schedule is slightly lighter for this coming week (only working 5 nights at the ale house!), but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The tentative plan is to have my last day at AH and the schools be thursday the 29th. This would give me another 8 or 9 shifts at AH and would let me work until the end of the pay period at Richland 2, giving me a full paycheck come May 15. I would get on the road friday morning the 30th and drive most of the way, maybe visiting Jordan in Boca again, that seems to be about my 1-day driving limit, about 10 hours. I would wake up on saturday the 1st, and drive the rest of the way (about 4 hours), and get to KW in the early afternoon, so I'll have time to unload my stuff and get settled before dinnertime. Lets hope the actual moving goes that smoothly!

On a side note, ever since the trip earlier this month, I have been very slack with the diet and exercise plan. It may have something to do with having literally no time to go to the gym, but excuses don't make champions (at least thats what my old wrestling coach liked to say!). I haven't put on any weight, still around 165, but I can definitely notice a drop in my energy level and in my mood throughout the day. When I work out in the afternoon, even though I'm physically drained, I feel great for the rest of the day. On that note, I'm not getting in any better shape by sitting here typing, so I'm off to the gym! Thanks for reading, and I'll write again soon!

I have been craving a 22oz. Captain Tony's Amber draft for days now!

....and some steamed shrimp from here....

Matt

Update and new blog title

First of all, you may notice that the title of the blog has changed from "Matt's journey to the keys" to "Life on the island". If this is your first time reading my blog, I can now finally make this public information, since both of my employers now know I am leaving! Since my last post, I went down to KW to explore, look for jobs, meet some locals, and to just get a feel for the place. Everything about this trip validated my plans to move down, so I decided to start looking for jobs. I had success with this on several fronts...

1) Key West High - As april is an awful time to be looking for school jobs, this trip went as well as it could have. The school year is 2 months from being over, and they are still at least a month away from knowing what vacancies they will have for next year. Having said that, the principal (who is retiring and won't be doing the hiring for the fall) suggested that if KW High was truly my first choice that I should volunteer a few hours a week in the school for the rest of this year. This would give me the chance to meet the right people to know for the fall, which would give me a tremendous advantage over anonymous people looking to relocate. As I've said in other posts, I can also substitute-teach for the rest of the year as well.

2) Bar/restaurant jobs- This is what I would do for the most part during the summer. I had good talks with the management of several places that would be great to work at (most notably, Louie's Backyard and the Westin resort). After hearing my experience, they all said "It sounds great, come talk to us when you actually live here". I plan on doing just that :)

3) Florida Keys Community College- This one just came out of nowhere! While browsing the education websites in the keys, I saw that there were several summer classes with no teachers and they are actively hiring adjunct professors to teach math courses. They have 2 classes with no teachers for the second summer session (June 21-July 30), and after seeing my qualifications, they said I would be perfect. While this will be very part-time (each class meets for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week), the pay works out to about $32 an hour, not to mention a GREAT addition to my resume.

So thats the job front. With the college job, volunteering at the HS, and the abundance of bar/restaurant job openings, I decided after a lot of thought to go ahead and chase my dream. It was then time to look for a place to live, and after 2 days of searching, got a callback from a guy with a room for rent, so I went to look. Now, this was advertised as a surprisingly inexpensive place for the location (right in the middle of Old Town, 2 blocks off Duval, and smack in the middle between the Atlantic Ocean and the Seaport district). The house is great, a 3 bedroom conch house, and the roomates are a mid-50's Australian chef, who has owned the house for over 30 years, and a mid 30's writer...very nice people. I asked why the rent wasn't higher (its not cheap by any means, but low by KW standards), and he said for a few inconveniences, he didnt feel he should charge more. The house is unrenovated with old appliances and such (who cares?), no washer and dryer, but there are laundromats everywhere in old town, and he wants to keep a quiet house, meaning very few, if any, overnight guests, and no loud music, etc. On the plus side, the room is fully furnished, air conditioned (a must in KW), and includes all utilities, and is a month-to-month lease so I could leave relatively easily if I had to. I loved the area and the house, and get a really good vibe from both of the guys, so after checking out a couple more places, I decided to go with it. My official move-in date is May 1st, so I'll be loading up the yellow beast and heading down US1 then. Now that life is getting more eventful, I'll update this blog much more often, so please sign up to subscribe if you haven't already! Now for some pictures..

The house, on a quiet street in Old Town in the middle of everything.....

Sunset in Key West...this alone is worth the trip!

The famous sign at Ft. Zach beach.......

The harbor district, as seen from the top of the Crowne Plaza