Ramblin' Mannino: 2014: Mid-Year Review

Oh man...

I haven't written a post in almost 6 months so this will probably be grueling for me, and could get a little messy. But hey, if I was able to jump back into public accounting after a similar hiatus and not cause another Enron collapse or something like that, I think I got this.

A lot has happened since that last post so this will be more of a recap before I delve deeper into some of these experiences later on. Lets first rewind back to October 2013 when my buddy Henry from PwC (the firm) reached out to me with a unique opportunity, which I wrote about here: The Blueprint; My Blueprint. Basicaly, the firm was starting up a new initiative called the Flexible Talent Network whereby experienced professionals are able to join the firm for a fixed period of time between 3 and 6 months as reinforcement through the busy season (Jan - March). Perfect for me, as it allowed me to stay connected with the firm, keep my professional skills sharp, and most importantly replenish the funds to go travel again! So in December of last year, I pulled the Mazda out of storage and drove back out to AZ with my trusty co-pilot.

Since I only planned to be in AZ for a few months, I reached out to facebook land to see if anyone had a spare room they would be willing to rent out to their favorite nomad. Among the responses I got (thanks again to everyone who did) was one from my buddy Rick from improv class a while back. Just felt like the right situation and it was. Perfect setup. Came into it as good buds and now we are great friends, so that was cool. And he inspired me to start taking improv classes again which was a lot of fun. And he had one of the coolest cats ever! Ceasar, the boss!

Another great thing was that the room was fully furnished, which meant I was free to sell off all the bedroom furniture and other random crap I put in storage before leaving the prior year. I am now several steps closer to becoming a true minimalist donning only the clothes on my back, a knife, flint, and whatever else Bear Grylles gets to start each episode of Man vs Wild with.

So with that sorted, it was time to iron up some dress clothes and get back to work! But I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous / anxious about going back, straight into the grind of busy season, having just taken the last 8 friggin months off. Would I be able to do this, to jump back in and perform?? I really wasn't sure. But on January 6 I rolled into the old office, grabbed my Lenovo and dove back in. It was weird at first, but after a few days it felt strangely normal. And by the second week, I honestly felt like I had never left. Business as usual. I worked a lot over those next three months, to say the least. Busy season at a public accounting firm is intense. Its stressful, long hours are the norm, but you're all in it together and a great comraderie is formed amongst the team. We work hard, sacrificing sleep and interaction with the outside world, but in the end there is a huge sense of accomplishment in getting the job done, the audit report filed.

Here's us on filing day, when we should have immediately gone home and slept for 16+ hours, instead bleary-eyed at the bar celebrating. Boom!

I relished the accomplishment of our team, but more so on a personal level in proving to myself that I could take time away and still come back and be productive. In fact, I feel like I was better at my job than before, because I was 100% happy and content to be there, ready to rock, something I cannot claim in the months leading up to my departure last year. This was huge, and it gives me a lot of confidence moving forward with this crazy lifestyle. It can work, damn it!

March 30 was my last day with the firm, and was capped off by a pretty wild "going away (2nd annual)" party

Followed up by a Vegas trip, obviously

So great reconnecting with old friends at the firm and making lots of new ones. I've got some true homies over there. And while sad to say goodbye, I was excited about what the rest of the year had in store. And to have money in my checking account!

At that point I had a few weeks to chill at home in AZ. I'd like to say I accomplished lots of cool things during that time, but instead I got ahold of this app called Tinder and, well...there went that. So before I knew it it was the end of the month and time for the big Cabo trip! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my roomate Rick won a prestegious award at his job with the local newspaper company, which included roundtrip airfare along with four days, three nights at an all inclusive resort in Cabo, Mexico for two. And he graciously offered to bring me along! It was a really fun trip, worthy of its own post so I wont get into too many details here. We stayed at this gorgeous resort along with about 30 of his coworkers and their spouses / friends and absolutely lived it up.

Upon return to Phoenix, it was time for final farewells and to get ready for the trip back to Florida, but not before our big improv class performance, which turned out pretty hilarious!

Haha good stuff. Anyway, time to roll! This would be my fourth time driving cross-country between FL and AZ and while they were all fun trips, I decided to make this one the most epic of all. And holycrap, mission accomplished! Twelve days on the road, hitting several of the best national parks in Utah and then up through Colorado. Also worthy of its own post, coming soon.

I made it back to Florida the end of May, just in time for back-to-back wedding weekends starting with my buddy Brouss's and then my buddy Danny's. Brouss is one of my close buds from college and Danny I met this past year in Nicaragua. He's the guy who basically after a week and a half knowing him, gave me the keys to his beachfront inn and let me run the place for a month. Great dude. Remember this post? Castaway. Haha.

Both weddings were a blast and I am so glad I was able to make it to them. Great catching up with old friends and making some pretty cool new ones ;)

I've spent the last couple weeks in Florida, splitting my time between my parent's house in Boca and my buddy Scott's place in Orlando, where we had some really great times, including my birthday celebration with this band of hooligans.

Goodtimes! And the festivites shall continue into this weekend! I am hopping on a plane this afternoon bound for Philly to meet up with my buddy Chris who has planned an action packed weekend with stops in Philly, Atlantic City and NYC! Gonna spend a few days in NYC catching up with some old friends then headed into Jersey to visit with my extended family. And then finally Boston at the end of the month for the Chris Locke wedding weekend which is sure to be a good one!

I catch a flight straight out of Boston the very next day and thats when the real fun begins. I had initially targeted South America as my long-term travel destination in 2014 since I did not make it last year, instead spending my entire trip in Central America. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to experience something completely different. Because who knows if I'll even be able to do this next year. So...Southeast Asia it is! With a nice little pit stop in Hawaii on the way over ;)

In looking back on my last post, written in December, I had this to say about 2013: "I wish I could cling to 2013 and can't help but feel a little bit sad to let it go. It's been a heck of a ride and an incredible year of growth, which is going to make it nearly impossible to top, sadly. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. In fact I'm looking forward to the challenge"

Well, so far so good.

Alrighty I'm out - gotta finish packing and head off to the airport!

Feels great to be back!!

Thanks for reading!!!

-Ross