One blog post, an hour of Fruit Ninja, and a glass of tomato juice later, I’m still awake and I’m writing another blog post.

In a lot of ways it makes sense—it’s hard to sleep as I’m contemplating all of the big changes in my life the past few weeks.

Yesterday was my last day at GeniusRocket, and I am now the DC Community Manager for Uber. It’s a phenomenal opportunity and I’m thrilled to be joining the Uber team. We’re going to do awesome things. On top of that I’ve moved across the District to a totally new neighborhood. It’s a wonderfully diverse, up-and-coming spot, with a very different feel and culture than upper northwest DC. I love it.

So lots of positive change and forward momentum. So much that I can’t even sleep. But that’s not a bad thing.

It’s exciting. The new townhouse is incredible, my roommates (@ptklein and @scottlanford) are fantastic, and the opportunities for this neighborhood are seemingly limitless. It’s a part of town that could, without a doubt, use a little work, but it’s got a ton of potential. One of my goals—and our goals as residents here—is going to be to stay as involved with the surround neighborhood and Ward 5 as we possibly can be. We’re not just going to live here and sit idly by while lazy and corrupt politicians ruin a phenomenal part of the District just because they won’t do something to take advantage of the opportunities this area provides.

We’ll be at meetings. We’ll be vocal on Twitter. And we’ll even be blogging. Not here, but on a new, separate blog, and a new blog for the DC local blog ecosystem: Twoomies. Named after our joking term for ourselves (Twitter roomies = “twoomies”), we’ll be documenting the fun we have, our experiences here in Edgewood, and we’ll throw in a healthy helping of animal goodness, too. Make sure you’ve got it bookmarked, and stay tuned for more and more frequent updates.

Stay tuned.

There’s a lot changing this time around. New zip code. New neighborhood. Totally new environment and lifestyle. New roomie (my cousin!). Even Walter Cronkat is going to have to deal with a new friend (Shadow the dog). It’s… well, a big deal.

But I’m really excited. Like really excited.

Tomorrow is the first day (of two) for moving. I’m picking up the keys, dropping off the first rent check, and doing my inspection of the townhouse first thing in the morning. I’ve already changed my addresses, updated my billing, changed my DMV information, and set up all the new utilities.

It’s a little weird because I’ve been living in this current apartment for over a year and a half. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere since I left home after high school. I spent one year in the dorms, three months at home, another year in the dorms, three months in an apartment, five months abroad, five months in an apartment, and then my current residence. So lots and lots of moving.

Of course, this is by no means going to be a permanent residence. Who knows, we may only be there for a year. Or we may be there for multiple years. A lot can happen in a short period of time.

But again, I’m excited. There’s something about change that really excites me. I love the constant new experiences. New stories. New people. New sights, new smells, and new feelings. All good things.

Anyway, more updates as the move progresses.

Sometimes it’s tempting to write a really negative post. It’s tempting to rant and vent and complain about everything going wrong in the world, and argue that it’s just not fair. I’ve done it before. We’ve all been there. Sometimes Alexander just has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

But instead of making this post one of those posts I thought I’d focus instead on things that keep me going. Those wonderful few things that keep me smiling, even when I’m having a totally crappy week. So here they are.

1. Friends

This one should be fairly obvious. My friends are amazing. Every single follower I have on Twitter is an amazing influence on my life. Not to mention all the people who have really been there for me this week, like @ptklein, @districtjoe, @chrisgolden, @marctomik, @rachaelgk, @onofreshoots, @cajunjen, and countless more.

I haven’t been particularly productive this week, but so far I’ve spent that lazy time with good friends. It’s necessary. They keep me motivated, pushing forward, all around psyched about life. I don’t quite know what I’d do without them.

2. My City

It’s no secret I love this city. Every day I read a ton of local blogs, I love the local community, and I love the fact that Washington, DC is really much, much more than just about politics. A lot of people don’t recognize that.

I love the bikes in this city. I love the beer in this city. I love the people in this city. And yes, I even love the politics and government in this city. Washington is a truly amazing place and—although every time I go to New York I fall in love again—I fall in love with DC each and every day, even if it’s in some small, weird little way. This is a great place, and anyone who thinks differently clearly hasn’t experienced this city like I have.

3. My Future

I’m a pathetic optimist. Even in my down-est days I find myself thinking about the future and how awesome things will be. Today I found myself struggling to even do that when @chrisgolden reminded me of how many amazing things are on the horizon.

In just a week and a half, I’m moving to a totally different neighborhood in Washington, DC. It’s a new part of town with a new community, new local businesses, new culture, and a totally new lifestyle. I can’t wait. Just past that is the #seatweetup to the Bahamas, a long weekend of much-needed relaxation. One week beyond that is Thanksgiving, just a few weeks before Christmas, and God only knows what else lays on the horizon.

Long story short: there’s a lot to look forward to.

It’s that time again. Moving time.

Once every year for the past five years, I have moved to a different home (each year of college, plus this year). I’m ok with that, but it’s certainly not what I was used to growing up, where we moved only twice throughout my childhood.

This year, I’m moving yet again! Me, my current roommate, and my cousin have signed and delivered our new lease for a townhouse across town, still here in the District. We’ll be a little bit closer to downtown, in a more transitional area, and closer to the metro (the Rhode Island Avenue metro station).

This is a good thing. As much as I love northwest DC, I’m ready for a change. I’m looking forward to getting a little farther away from American University—as much as I loved it, I need to escape the bubble—and getting away from the largest hill in the city will be a nice change of pace (literally) for biking around DC.

The new townhouse is fantastic. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a gorgeous kitchen with all stainless steel appliances, back porch, parking spot, in-unit washer and dryer… we really couldn’t ask for much more. And my roommates, Paul (@ptklein) and Scott (@scottlanford) are both so amazing I know we’re going to have a blast living together. Oh, and we’ll have a dog and a cat (and possibly a kitten at some point in the near future…) so life will be even more interesting.

It’s going to be a fairly dramatic change, too. This will be the first time I’ve lived in a house and not an apartment building in DC. This will be the first time I’ve lived in a DC zip code other than 20016 (new zip is 20002). This will be the first time I’ve lived in a different quadrant than NW (this one is NE). And this will be the first time I’ve lived anywhere other than on a state avenue (this is a side street). So yea, rest assured adventures will be had.

Anyway, I’ll be blogging more about the move as it approaches, and no doubt blogging a lot about our adventures in our new neighborhood once we’ve moved! Move-in date is November 4th, so more soon.

It’s been a good week, but hectic and stressful. I found out we’ve secured a new townhouse across town, so I will be moving soon. I guest lectured with TechChange on Wednesday, which was a blast. I attended the NASA tweetup on Thursday with Chris Golden (@chrisgolden), which was obviously awesome. And then today I hit up the Give To The Max Day training event at AARP.

On top of all of that, I got my new iPhone 4S. Obviously, also awesome. See my first iPhone 4S photo below, as proof (of course, it’s a photo of Walter Cronkat).

Tomorrow, Joe Gizzi (@districtjoe) and I are taking off for New York City on the Bluebrain DC to NYC trip. It’s going to be an amazing weekend. A little about the trip:

Please join Bluebrain for an exclusive excursion to New York City to experience their new location-aware album Listen to the Light in Central Park. Trip includes bus transportation, Listen to the Light experience in Central Park, You Are Here: Washington DC art exhibit featuring DC artists, and an after-party at Lit Lounge (featuring DC’s Shark Week and Cracked Latin). We are truly excited so many awesome DC things are happening at the same time.

In other words, it’s going to rock.

I probably won’t be online much during the trip, but I’ll be taking pictures (on my new iPhone!) and tweeting my way throughout the weekend. Rest assured there will be an awesome wrap-up blog post once it’s all over. If anyone is living and/or staying in New York this weekend and wants to meet up for an impromptu tweetup, let me know! Just give me a shout on Twitter, @alexpriest.

Someday, I want to be one of those “regulars.” I’m watching all these people roll in, greeting the bartender with a smile on their face and a first name, asking for the “usual,” and making themselves at home in what is clearly their favorite seat with what is clearly their Saturday morning routine.

Now I’ve never been a “routine” kind of guy. When it comes to weekend’s, especially, I’m unpredictable, random, and spontaneous. I haven’t yet found that one coffee shop, or that one bar, or that one diner, that truly feels like a home away from home. I haven’t yet become a “regular”… anywhere.

I’m ok with this. I mean, in some ways it’s a good reflection of where I’m at in life right now; I’m sort of transient, always moving, always doing something. No commitments, no relationships, no strings. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just the facts.

And honestly, now that I’ve written this, I’m not ready to be a regular yet. I don’t need or want routine in my life. I’ve got too much to do before I’m ready to calm down that much.

Obviously, not good.

Also not good? There’s not a whole hell of a lot of options for car maintenance in northwest DC, and certainly not any cheap options. Even worse? Dad (my go-to car guy) is out of town for the next week and a half or so. And yes, I am a rural Kentucky boy who doesn’t know jack shit about cars. So sue me.

So I’m left with, basically, two options:

1. I can wander out into Virginia and try to find a decent car repair place, in hopes that I won’t get swindled into something I don’t need.
2. I can just not drive until Dad is back in town and then take go out there on a weekend so he can go with me and educate me.

As you’ve probably guessed by the title of this blog post, I’m going with option two. Car free. Totally car free.

Now this really isn’t that big of a stretch in DC. I went without a car for three and a half years until I brought my car up to DC in December of 2010, and it was never a huge issue. Since I’ve had my car I still only drive it a couple times a week, at most, and still obviously prefer to do most of my transit by metro or bike (cheap and/or free is always nice).

I’m kind of excited for the challenge to go back to my car-free days, though, and I’m going to make the most of it. Luckily, my Capital Bikeshare fob arrived in the mail late last week, and I can now use that to bike the closest metro whenever I need to. And obviously, I’ll still do my commuting (when the weather isn’t terrible) on my own bike.

It’s also a nice opportunity to put myself back in line, too. This summer I’ve been kind of lazy, not eating well, not exercising enough, and, frankly, not giving myself enough time to really take care of myself like I need and want to. Today, I hope, is the start of me turning that around.

This morning, for example, I biked to the Cleveland Park metro, metroed to Eastern Market, metroed back, biked home, metroed to Bethesda, went to the gym, walked to Trader Joe’s, metroed to Tenleytown, and then biked home from there. Did it take a little longer than usual to travel? Maybe. But of course with traffic in DC, it probably wasn’t much longer, if any. And I felt better about myself and my impact on the environment, to boot.

Do you have a car in DC? If so, try this with me! Don’t have a car? Then more power to you.

That said, sometimes they write things that are just absurd. Like this article, for example, citing a survey that shows that Congress uses social media more than millennials. It’s the same story we hear all the time, throwing out a “shocking” social media statistic that isn’t really shocking because it’s naively considered newsworthy and tends to drive pageviews. Here’s a quote from the article:

About 80 percent of House and Senate members have social media accounts, reports The Associated Press, more than that of 18- 29-year-olds, the age cohort with the highest usage of social media. Only 75 percent of so-called millenials have social media accounts.

At first glance, of course this sounds like a great story.

But let’s keep in mind three things:

• Politicians are trying to get elected. Millennials—for the most part—are just having fun.
• There are 535 people in Congress. There are countless millennials, all from very different demographics. Of course there is going to be a higher percentage on the former than the latter.
• If you are just now figuring out that social media is important for politicians running for office, you’re about five years behind.

I mean really, guys, how is this news? Of course, politicians are on social media. Of course, there is a significant portion of millennials who are not on social media (contrary to popular belief). I don’t know about you, but I don’t need a survey to tell me that.

I’m beginning to grow weary of the “____ survey says ____ demographic uses ____ social media ____ amount” article template. I mean “shocking social media stats” are just cookie cutter media at this point. How about we talk about how social media is affecting the issues? Or what innovative things one of these audiences is doing with social media to make an impact on politics? Now that, I think, would be worth reading.