Uneventful day so far

$25 and 2.5 hours later, I'm back to square one.

Took the train to Little Neck, Queens, where the client's office is located. Just as I stepped off the train, I get an email from the manager notifying the team that the client's office is closed for the day due to the storm. She was heading back to the Melville office and the rest of the team was working from home. In order for me to get to the Melville office, I would have to take the train back to the city, then switch lines to catch another train to Farmingdale. Given the weather forecast of stormy weather for most of today, my manager suggested I go back and work from the NY office. So off I went.

When I left the building the winds and the snow had ceased (only for a little while). But once I was on the train, it didn't look too promising. The winds picked up and visibility was poor because of all the snow.

Oh well. Supposedly this season's worst storm....and I have to agree.

A storm is brewing

It's 3.30 am and as I'm typing this, the winds are howling outside. The forecast was right afterall. The streets down below are already covered in snow and there should be a good several inches of fresh snow tomorrow morning. I didn't believe it was that windy outside, until I opened the balcony door and got smacked in the face by the winds and snow. Haha. Won't be trying that again anytime soon.

Quite inconvenient, if you ask me. This means I need to build more travel time into my morning schedule, ensure that I dress warmly etc. And hopefully I don't have to wait long for a cab.

Hmm. The last couple of weeks were hectic, and also have a few funny stories to share. But really need to finish up a few more things before I go to bed.

Got free tickets (corporate box..woohoo!) to watch the Islanders play at Nassau Coliseum tomorrow night. Woohoo! Also means I need to work extra diligently tomorrow. Hm. My first ice hockey game and I'm excited :)

My number...now, where's yours?

Ok so here's the deal. I don't have anyone's number.

If you're bored, whatever...send me a txt! Haha

1-917-829-0508

And send me your number if you wanna keep in contact!

(I'm on a roll with this blogging business...in an excellent mood! Should go to bed soon so I'll be up bright and early tomorrow hehe)

The Wedding Singer

So it was V-day last weekend and there were lots of chick flicks on TV! Haha...

The Wedding Singer
Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason
Notting Hill
Failure to Launch
etc etc

I caught the tail end of The Wedding Singer and was reminded of how much I love that song Robbie (Adam Sandler) sings to Julia (Drew Barrymore) on the plane.

"Grow Old With You"

[Billy Idol (Speaking):] Good afternoon everyone.We're flying at 26,000 feet, movingup to thirty thousand feet, and then we've got clear skies all the way to Las Vegas, and right now we're bringing you some in-flight entertainment. One of our first-class passengers would like to sing you a song inspired by one of our coach passengers, and since we let our first-class passengers do pretty much whatever they want, here he is.

[Robbie Hart (Singing):]I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you
I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you
I'll miss you Kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold
Need you Feed you
Even let ya hold the remote control
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed if you've had too much to drink
I could be the man who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you

Delirious

Excerpt from an email I sent earlier...made me laugh (again) so haha...might as well put it here to make me smile

Haha I was reading your email on the train this morning and it made me chuckle to myself. Why? I was having a good day because
(1) I didn't wake up late.
(2) Traffic was good (public holiday...roads were empty!) so cab ride was 4 min! Excellent (nevermind that it seems a lot of people got the day off...)
(3) 10 min early for my train so I had plenty of time to buy my ticket (no queue!) and get my coffee and bagel from Starbucks. Nevermind that I absentmindedly bought the wrong ticket, ie bought for a further stop than I needed to, or walked to the wrong end of the train in my dazed happiness at the rest of (3).
(4) I was going to make it to the client in excellent time! and
(5) The sun was shining and the weather was nice and fresh.

And I don't have your number like I don't have anyone's number because in my clumsiness I dropped my phone into the longkang outside Janet's apartment. I think it was the week before that you had to take me in for the night cos I lost her apartment keys. Haha. I am crazy. right.

Don't be miserable. I am also feeling a bit ugh about work because
(1) the people are damn hardworking here and I feel like a lazy slob.
(2) I can't seem to work long hours here! I think it is the winter chill. Or TV.
(3) I am so easily distracted and being in a foreign country seems to fuel this.
(4) I would so drop by in a yellow taxi cab and pick you up. But I don't see you! Anywhere! haha.
But ok. In all seriousness. Put on some some Details In The Fabric and chill out. I sing songs to myself in my head. I think I am delirious. Or going crazy. Haha

Weekend over

The weekend always goes by so fast, even when I'm not doing much :( boo.

The past week at work has been quite fun - I'm getting along well with the team and I guess it's a fairly big team (total of 6, including the manager who's out at the client's office with us everyday). And on Friday we went for drinks, yay! Actually, only 1 drink...but it was like a 5 min drive to our destination - Applebee's @ New Hyde Park.

Since the client is on the border of Queens and Long Island, I've been told that the surroundings are more reflective of a suburb (or the American equivalent) in Long Island. Very residential, not possible to walk anywhere. Which probably explained why I was quite surprised when we entered Applebee's. It was rather crowded! Applebee's is like TGIF, Chili...American food.

We pretended it was Christina's birthday so she got a free dessert + the Applebee's crew performing some sort of birthday cheer. Haha.

Finally got to meet up with Eric on Saturday. Was great catching up over lunch and a couple of drinks, comparing notes on our secondment experiences. Will hopefully get to catch up again sometime soon as he's not as busy now.

On the other hand, my current engagement is getting more hectic :(

Alright going to do my timesheet for the fortnight and get to bed. Trains run on weekend/public holiday schedules tomorrow and it's going to be (1) earlier than usual and (2) less frequent. Forgot to buy my weekly ticket over the weekend. Darn it.

Weekend!

So I stayed home yesterday, planning to finish some work. The rest of the team was going into the office but I got myself out of that because (1) the Melville office is quite far away for me and (2) that office is not even walking distance from the train station.

However I got distracted by America's Next Top Model and didn't finish as much work as I had planned. I did, however, discover a Japanese place which delivers to midtown west...and has good food! A bit pricey though....so I should either order cheaper options or order less. Haha.

Anyway the building across the street tells me that it is 10 degrees outside today. And I'm still indoors. Think I will go take a shower and wander outside for a bit. Yay! Not for long though..just to grab a coffee and buy more juice for the week.

And because I only woke up at 12 noon, I've missed both the morning church services again. Hmm.

Beautiful day

It looks like an amazing day outside (8 degrees!) but I'm being lazy and not leaving my apartment today for a few reasons:
1) Everytime I leave, I seem to get distracted and not come back for hours
2) Yesterday's chilly weather (despite the sun) has left me with a blocked sinus (again) so I'm on flu medication, just in case
3) I have some work to finish, which includes my fortnightly time sheet, finishing up a few bits from the previous week's client and prep for next week's client
4) Ironing and general cleaning up of my apartment
5) I should cook some food and store it in the fridge for next week's dinners.

Plumbing issues

On Wednesday night my toilet was acting up again. Usually I just need to manually push the plug down (in the cistern) to stop the water from flowing...but think the issue probably got big enough, because I couldn't get it to flush! Oh oh...

Thankfully no major dramas with it...however this was an emergency!

The next morning I emailed my corporate housing contact to notify him of the situation (including the potentially blocked drainage in the shower) and he immediately organised for the maintenance team to have a look at it.

By the time I came home from work, everything was fixed. Yay!

Contactable via mobile now!

My Blackberry Storm arrived in the post last night and after spending a couple of hours activating and setting up my account, I now have a new mobile (with all the perks of the bb of course)...

Will give out my new number soon :)

My previous Virgin mobile was a prepaid phone with limited features...which included the inability to text/call international numbers, as well as not being able to receive international sms.
But now....problem solved! Yay :) The firm will also let me keep the bb after I leave, so this should be good...byebye Virgin mobile!

Now....if only I can work out how to link my personal email to the bb...

Excitement!

The Killers concert tomorrow night!!! AAHHH...and just realised I haven't been listening to the new album recently....darn it! Not that I don't like it or anything...just been quite slack. Oh dear...will do a crash course tomorrow. Hahaha otherwise I won't know the songs during the concert! But have been checking out the set list from their recent shows....and looks awesome!

Wish I wasn't going alone though...boo.



Met up with Kei today (like finally!) and it was probably a good thing she wanted to confirm the date. Cos I thought we were meant to meet up last Sunday night and had messaged to cancel cos I extended my stay in Philly....and she had thought we were meeting tomorrow night....and then when I said I wanted to go to Chinatown to check out the festivities, I meant today...but she thought it was Monday (when it was actually CNY). So....we finally got to meet! haha

Good fun...she told me there was a JCrew sample sale...so off we went! There was like a massive queue outside the building (looks like some dodgy old office building...) but the queue moved quite fast (thank goodness...cos it was FREEZING outside). Once we get in, we have to navigate the narrow stairs and manoeuvre around the people leaving the sale. Once we get upstairs, we queue up for the coat check, and head on in! Unfortunately nothing caught my fancy (or hers)...so we left fairly quickly. As we left the building, the security guy (who monitors the queue and lets people in) was having this argument with some guy in the queue...and was like "YOU ARE NOT GETTING INTO THIS BUILDING!" *cue angry man shouting some response* "COS I AM IN CHARGE HERE AND I GET TO DECIDE WHO GETS IN...AND YOU'RE NOT!"...*more angry shouting from man in queue*...haha this was quite amusing indeed.

Took a subway to Soho but realise a few stops down that we were going the wrong way. So we hop off and cross the platform to catch another train back....it was COLD. The wind...brrr...
Gets dark, so I suggest we head back uptown to Times Square, where we walk around a bit...then I suggest we take a photo with some NYPD officers...who were more than happy to oblige. When I asked "who's going to take the photo?", one of the officers yells out to a random across the way to come over....when the perplexed man does, the officer is like "can you take a photo of us with the ladies here". Haha, too funny. The kind man obviously doesn't refuse the officer and takes a couple of shots for us. I should post it up...but it's late and I'm lazy. Maybe later :)

After Kei returns to her home (in New Jersey)...she tells me that there's a Cole Haan sample sale which started today...and would have been good....but she didn't check her emails! So I might go down and check out the sale tomorrow morning. Hope I wake up early though...have work to do (been rather slack the past week...cos have been feeling very tired...probably cos of the flu :(...) and also have to be ready for the concert at night!

Hmm...was planning to go to bed like 2 hours ago, but got distracted by TV (TruTV is awesome! hahaha...world's dumbest criminals and speedsters...) and the family called too.

Happy Moo year to all!

Under the weather...

I think I'm coming down with the flu. Or something.

It started with a cough...usually at nights when I'm trying to get to bed, or early in the morning. And just today, my sinuses acted up. Stuffy nose, feeling feverish, etc.

My team member was saying..."gosh, you're starting to look quite terrible"...so we ventured out from Purchase (where the client is) to Rye CVC Pharmacy for some cold/flu medication, which was about 5 miles away. The journey there was quick and easy as she dropped me off at Rye station the previous night. However, the way back proved a little trickier.

New York is amazingly full of highways, many of which intersect each other. I think we took like the Interstate 287, then cut out to 120...or something like that. But going back, we were going the wrong way, missing the turn to 120....and when we circled back, we couldn't work out whether we were supposed to go North or South. And the GPS on her Blackberry wasn't working..!!! And being the newbie to town, I was of no use at all.

About half an hour later...we make it back to 120 North...back to Manhattanville Road. Funnily enough, it was the exact same route which we turned away from because we had this gut feeling that we were supposed to go South. So much for following your instincts.

Haha.

The medication made me feel worse immediately after...but to give it some credit, it kicked in a few hours later. I'm still a little woozy and really want to go to bed...but I haven't really done very much work. And my laundry is currently in the dryer. So.....back to MTV and E!....trashy TV time! hahaha

The streets of Philadelphia

The firm booked me a return flight to Philadelphia for the Assurance START training which was held at The Westin Philadelphia. What I failed to realise was....New York is so close to Philadelphia, it takes a lot longer to fly there than to take a train instead. But since I don't have my corporate AMEX yet, I just left the booking as is. It took me about 4.5 hours door to door....with total flight time of 27 min! Grrr...spent a while queuing up to get my boarding pass, paid $15 to check 1 bag in, queued to go through security...then waited to board the plane. Had to go onto the tarmac cos the plane was so small. It was FREEZING! Anyway...after taxiing on the runway for about half an hour...the plane finally took off. After arriving in Philly, had troubles locating the taxi stand (despite following the signs). And no one seemed to know where it was.....Fortunately I bumped into another lady who was from PwC (it was the laptop bag...and her looking as lost as I was). We finally found the taxi stand (with the help of some airport staff member) and continued to The Westin.

Turns out she's from the NY office too! And we ended up being on the same table during training (coincidence!) Ms. Luxembourg (as Albie, the South African, called her throughout the week) is really sweet and has promised to recommend some good places to go to in NY. :D

I was supposed to call Aman to arrange to meet up on Sunday night (since his apartment was a couple of blocks away) but my retarded Virgin mobile doesn't let me dial international numbers...so I resorted to using the hotel phone. At the end of the week, I found out that the 30 second phone call cost me US$32!!!!!!! Grrrr...that's AU$50. VERY expensive phone call indeed.

Can't wait for my Blackberry STORM to arrive.

Anyway, training week was immensely fun! Met loads of nice and entertaining people...from various offices around the US, as well as secondees from around the world (South Africa, Africa, Ireland, Luxembourg, etc). We went out for dinner every night and had drinks after as well...I mean...we did have an allowance of US$35 per night for dinner. So might as well use it :)

Continental Midtown had yummy cocktails and swinging chairs (for tables of 2 only...unfortunately)...Drinkers' Bar had nice friendly bartenders...the Indian restaurant near 2nd Street was awesome...Ruby Tuesdays was pretty mediocre...Heat was good fun (the college crowd helped I guess..but not good when SA's bag got stolen :(....)...

Woke up EXTREMELY late on Wednesday though...cos we had been out for drinks and I forgot to set my alarm. Truth be told, wasn't feeling so good after the multiple shots/hard liquor...and then finishing off with a beer drinking game. The beer did me in. Got back around 1ish and slept through til 9.30 am!!!!! Good thing was I had no hangover, slept more than I had in weeks...but was sooooo late. Worse of all...Albie was also late! He sits next to me and this S. African dude just didn't know how to make a quiet entrance. He walked straight into the room and apologised to the instructors and the class (everyone told me it was hilarious). And after that, the instructors also noted that I was still MIA. And didn't seem to believe Albie when he had no clue where I was (ahem. Like no, I was not in his room). That aside, I woke up at 9.30am, contemplated for 5 seconds whether I should wash my hair...and thought...what the heck, I'm late...no point being late AND looking like I just rolled out of the rubbish dump. But hey hey...only took me half an hour! I am impressed.

And I also managed to make a quiet entrance...thanks to Aman who decided to ring me after noticing that I was MIA. Good thing everyone was sort of preparing for the case study and some were making tea etc...so not everyone noticed me come in. Haha...Albie couldn't believe how no one noticed.

But anyway, I was better prepared on Thursday night (before we went out to the club)...I set my alarm, packed most of my stuff so I could check out on Friday morning...and then went out! We were out til about 3 am (the club closed at 2 am...so we technically got kicked out at closing time)....and I did wake up late (8am....and we start at 8.30am). But I think I am getting the hang of this....I showered, dried my hair AND packed...in half an hour! Turns out there were quite a few others who turned up later than I did...and quite a few struggled through the morning. Haha...

We went back to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch - not cos of the food quality, but because it was right next to The Westin - and bid one another farewell as they left to catch their respective flights.

I was a no-show for my 4pm flight, since it would cost US$150 to change my ticket...and the train ticket to NY was only $45. So yeah, went back to Aman's and just chilled for a bit. Truth be told, we were all tired from the week (as well as the previous night's activities)...

Met Brian (who was in Sydney last year) on Saturday night and we went to a few pubs...The Standard Tap...the a diner club "Silk City" (awesome music!!)...then The Black Sheep....and finally Brian's place. It was getting late and Brian/Sarah both looked tired...so we bid them goodnight and walked back a few blocks to Aman's. Stopped in the park across his apartment and took some photos cos we would look stupid taking those shots with other people watching us. Haha...I'll post them on facebook soon.

All in all...I have yet to try the famous Philly Cheese Steak...and didn't get to watch the Eagles play the Ravens (I think? It was the Philly vs. Baltimore game)....but the Eagles are no longer in the running so I guess not. Should be heading back for St Pat's day for the pub crawl (since Brian is Irish....thought it would be good)...but I am thinking Aman should come down cos this is costing me a fair bit too...

Ok...need to be up early again...can't afford to miss the train cos it takes so frickin long to get to Purchase, NY. G'nite now!

Back in the comforts of home!

I'm back from Philly! And no...I didn't get a chance to try the famous Philly cheese steak while I was there. Will do so when I'm back next time.

The last week was a blast...and if you're on facebook, most of the photos from our nights out are up.

I should update a little more but I think I should go to bed soon.

ps. After the extreme temperatures in Philly last week (like minus 11 degrees excluding windchill factor), I returned to New York this evening where it was a comfortable minus 2 degrees with flurries (light snow). Nice. I could get used to this.

Ok enough for tonight. Will update soon!

Brrrr...

Decided to wander out after work this evening...got into comfy gear and wandered back down to Times Square and back. And man, it was cold. Minus four degrees tonight. Hmm.

And there's a winter storm warning for tomorrow...oh no!

Was planning to go to Woodbury Common Premium Outlet tomorrow...but according to the forecast, snow, sleet and ice is expected...and travel could be hazardous or impossible. But I think this doesn't settle in New York until later in the night....But Woodbury is 1 hr away from New York, so I'm not quite sure.

Should have bought those snow boots this evening. Oh well.

Will play by ear tomorrow. If not I'll just have to explore another area via the subway I guess.

But yay! Snow :D

Will I ever get bored of this...

Day 2 was spent exploring 5th avenue proper....from Louis Vuitton (around 50-something street), all the way down to 42nd street...walking back to Times Square.

But by then I'm tired (again...jet lag has not helped my already-odd sleeping hours) and hungry...I can't bring myself to walk back 14-odd blocks as I did yesterday, so I try the subway.

I stumble upon my office (Madison Ave...corner of 42nd street), which is conveniently next to Grand Central Station. Ahah! Now I know what the building looks like....so hopefully I won't get lost when I start work on Tuesday 6 Jan.

Grand Central Station

First impressions...very grand indeed! Was reminded of the scene in Madagascar, where animals create a big scene (...and I cannot remember why they were there...trying to take the subway). Hahahaha. But anyway.

LOTS of tourists again, taking photos of the station. I go up the east balcony and snap a few shots. I mean, I AM a tourist of sorts anyway.

I go to the information counter and ask the nice ladies how to get back to 57th street and 7th avenue and also pick up a whole lot of brochures for perusal at a later date (these are still sitting in a paper bag somewhere...)

The station is massive....I get lost trying to locate the Times Square shuttle service. But the situation is easily resolved when I ask someone for directions.

The subway is...hmm...rather old and dirty. Very much like those American movies....
And I miss my stop. Darn. I get off at the next station...wondering if I should walk the 5 blocks back to 56th street. But hmm...the station is rather deserted and I am in an unfamiliar area...so I walk across the platform and catch the train downtown back to my intended stop.

Oh well. I'll do better next time.

Dinner tonight - SALAD (think I haven't had any veges since...Friday), a couple of sausages and the remaining piece of fish.

Grocery shopping

...I have discovered that groceries are not too cheap in New York.

But the good thing is...there is a 24 hour supermarket around the corner from my place....and they offer delivery (in the form of pushing your shopping trolley for you back to your place) for $1! Delivery ends at 9 pm though...so I barely make it as I do a quick run through of essentials for the apartment.

I get some oil, salt, pepper and marinades..including a bit of meat. Tea, sugar, juice, milk. That sort of thing. Fruits are pricey and so are fresh vegetables. Probably something I'll miss about Australia :(

But anyway, I'm all set to cook up my first meal!

Actually, despite not eating all day....I've kinda lost my appetite...so I pan fry half my salmon steak (yum) and sit in front of the PC watching Gossip Girl (season 1...yes I'm a bit behind with these things).

Hm....what to do on day 2.....?

First day in New York

Saturday, 3 Jan 2009

Woke up at 11.30 am after going to bed at 4 am or something like that.

But wonder of wonders, are winter mornings always so bright and sunny in New York? Either that or the city is welcoming me with beautiful sunshine (and temperatures of about 0 degrees).

I get dressed, make 2 cups of tea (as there is no food in the apartment!) and venture out to soak in my new surroundings. I walk down 6th avenue, walk across to 5th avenue...shops, shops and lots of tourists. LOTS.

Don't get me wrong. It's hard to miss when every other person walking beside you has a camera either (1) in their hands, (2) around their necks. or (3) exclaiming excitedly about the sights and shops. Haha. So obviously I don't feel out of place when I want to snap photos of the towering skyscrappers, shops and what-not.



I do a bit of shopping....wander around Times Square...marvel at the sales and am reminded of how I am not a huge fan of the Australian shops (mainly due to the prices and somewhat lack of variety). GAP, Zara, H&M (!!!), Sephora....

It gets dark and I am hungry...but I keep on walking as I'm having a ball just entering the various shops and take in the sights. It's a bustling city, and all the lights! But when it approaches 8 pm...I remember that I've only had 2 cups of tea all day...so I wander back and dump all my shopping back at the apartment before heading out to the supermarket around the corner.

End of Day 1

Getting to the first destination (of many to come)

Friday, 2 Jan 2009

Even though I set aside a week to pack for the next few months, things obviously didn't get done in time...

However given that I had to pack my room up (to move into my new place), as well as pack for the US...this proved to be a bit of a challenge. As many would know, I also get easily distracted so packing isn't necessarily the easiest job for me.

Thanks to the family for helping with the packing....it all got done! (well, my room is still not packed up...but Jan and my dad are helping to finish it up...hehe)

The flight

1. In-flight entertainment - almost non-existent

Thank goodness I packed a couple of books in my handcarry. When I looked up the United Airlines website for their inflight entertainment schedule, I was surprised to see a handful of movies scheduled for my flight to the US. However this became clear once I was on board. There are NO individual TV screens for passengers....*shockshockhorrorhorror*....what was I going to do on this long haul flight?!?!?!?!!!!! And I thought Gulf Air was bad.....

Couldn't really see the puny shared screen from my seat, so I made do with the audio entertainment. The channel I finally settled on was not bad at all...however I didn't like their other channels...so ended up listening to one single channel for the duration of the 12 hr flight (to San Francisco). Sigh.

Books saved the day! Finished both the books, read the NY times, slept a few hours....wished the plane would land soon...

2. Cabin crew - looks like they've all worked for a long while

Took a bit of getting used to....there wasn't really very much service throughout the flight. And one of the crew members even jabbed me awake to tell me to put my seatbelt on. Not very subtle or polite at all. And the same lady even plonked down my tray (not so gently) to put food on it....while I was asleep! Hmm. Not very impressed. Especially not when I had to sort out my trash (plastic and trash) into 2 bags for them.

3. Food - very salty, not very appetising.

And I had to pay for food on the connecting flight to NY...?! Hmm.

Ok anyway...after a long long time....I finally arrive in New York!
Unfortunately I miss the duty free shops (think I should have bought my stuff in San Francisco...) so have to go shop for my toiletries etc over the new few days.

Phew. Tired now....