Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Visitors, Football, and Yet More Hockey

That pretty much sums up the first 2 weeks of living in this flatshare.

There have been work visitors; Justin, Andy and Anthony which of course has meant a handful of nights out, on the company dime of course. I will spare this blog the pictures of some of our less-than-impressive ideas (one of which was "Eggs and Shots" - invented by Work Matt - a devilled egg then a shot of whisky - best forgotten about). But they were fun times. Enjoying a drink with Anthony when there aren't 50 people out made for a refreshing change and reminded me of the "old days". I passed my 5 years at Telemetry (or various guises) on May 14th and it really doesn't seem like that long ago.

I've been trying out the NYC-NJ travel thing outside of work hours; namely a couple of jaunts into Manhattan for wandering and beer. One night I met up with Ash and went around Greenwich and West Village, and another I enjoyed a pleasant day before meeting up with Ash, Ian and Melissa - but more on that in a later post.

I also tried out a sports bar for watching football and I was very impressed. It's on 33rd Street in Manhattan, called "Legends" and was showing every single game live on the last day of the Premiership season. No need to talk about that drama, but watching it in amongst NYC-based supporters for various teams made it even more exciting. I think I'll be trying to get in here during Euro 2012 and I believe the NYC branch of the Tartan Army meet here for Scotland games - score!

And hockey. Well, unfortunately I'm in a tight spot as many in the office are supporting the NY Rangers, and my flatmates, being in Jersey, support the NJ Devils. And right now, they are playing each other. I've been happy to cheer on the Rangers in bars near work with the office folks, and in a nearby bar (quite good, and cheap!) in Jersey with the flatmates. So no solid allegiances just yet, and actively cheering on rivals on alternate days is rather treacherous!

Just... don't tell anyone about that... or the eggs and shots...

Sunday, May 20, 2012

A Temporary Home

Moving-in-day finally came round on May 1st. My grand plan of taking a half-day off work for moving all my stuff a few blocks from Matt's was hampered by the fact I was really ill most of the day. Flu or something. I eventually got my things round in the evening. I blew up my air-mattress which is now not as uncomfortable as you might think as I have piled sheets and covers and such all over it.

My new flatmates came home shortly after, sadly our socialising didn't happen because my illness meant all I wanted to do was sleep! Anyway, they are nice people. They customise guitars with arty designs and their decor kind of matches their personalities; a bit arty, a bit old-school rocky. Here's a picture of them looking completely different from their actual characters (the overalls were from painting, the rest was just them being silly). Lyuba and Matt:
20120511_002400

I've made my bare room a little more bearable; the aforementioned bedclothes and a rug helped, as did hanging a Scotland flag (what a cliché!) and of course, putting up a picture of me and Laura, and our Caveys!
20120502_215931

I also have my own bathroom, so I bought a rug, some towels, and a new shower curtain for that. I have to remember I'm only planning to be here a couple of months so anything else could wait. I'm missing a TV (for my XBox) and a guitar to play with (especially as I hear Matt playing his a lot!) but maybe I'll pick those up soon. Until then, this is home, in the Garden State of New Jersey!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Surfing USA

Before I could move into my flatshare, which I couldn't do until May 1st, I had to go surfing. Couch surfing, between three different sets of workmates. Matt, Melissa and Ian, Ash, then back to Matt's (so I could easily move down the road in Jersey City).

This was obviously very nice of my colleagues to offer their couch spaces and sofa beds (all of which were very comfortable, thanks guys!) but it meant having to ensure they were home and that I was pretty much tied to where they were on the evenings I stayed there. Thankfully, this was made a lot of fun.

When staying with Matt we watched some hockey; the NY Rangers being his team and fast becoming my team of choice. We of course enjoyed this with some proper New York style pizza.

20120421_192342

Staying with Mel and Ian meant fairly long subway rides but wasn't all that bad. We spent a couple of nights out, mainly due to visits from London work colleagues. Then I spent a weekend with Ash, during which we went with Melissa up to Yankee Stadium. I cheered on my new "local" team, the Yankees, whilst Melissa (who hails from Detroit) cheered on her beloved Tigers.

P1080805

P1080807
P1080806
This was a lot of fun (although the beer was pricey and the food simply terrible), and of course involved a lot of drinking, during and afterwards. Melissa was celebrating a Detroit win, I was annoyed the Yankees lost, and Ash couldn't have cared less!

Finally I went back to Matt's where there was more hockey and then I was ready to move!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I saw a space shuttle fly past the office on the back of a 747. Like you do, I suppose..

P1080802

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

The First Week

So, by way of a catch-up, here's a quick run-down of my first week as a "resident" of New York City.

Ok, I say resident. The first 10 days I was in a hotel, but a nice one. Here was my room:

20120411_224731

And the view from the window:

20120411_224838

It was just off Wall Street. Whilst I was glad of work paying for the hotel and flying me over, I tried to spend as little time there as possible. Working the day after I got off the plane helped! We're in 7 World Trade Center; currently on the 30th floor and looking to move even higher. The current view is not too shabby though, aside from the 9/11 Memorial's construction:

20120412_173727

Then, on the first full night, I went round to Matt's in Jersey. He has a mat with his name on it:

20120412_183750

Well, sort of. Anyway it was a good idea to check out his place as he has one of the most enviable commutes in any big city; a 5-minute walk and a 7-minute train ride, to the door of the office! I was thinking of moving to Jersey for this great commute and also it might suit us better when L moves out here with me. Also, Matt's place is huge and for a similar price as I might pay for a closet in Manhattan. More on that later.

So, I then hit the weekend. Of course, the office took me to a couple of local bars by way of a welcome. I drank too much and staggered back to my hotel. Saturday I had planned to go see an apartment in Brooklyn. Whilst my plan was to look for a cheap flat-share to get me out of hotel stays (allowing me to then look for a place for me and L), I wasn't expecting as er... studenty... as the place I saw. Not a nice neighbourhood, and a window-less room in a converted factory which smelled distinctly of *ahem* "special herbs" and looked like they had thrown a party until 6am. Which they probably had. Not for me. I had very little luck looking for a place to do me after my 10-day hotel stint; so I changed my approach. I figured I could look for places starting May 1st and deal with surfing the many couches my wonderfully kind workmates had offered. But as for Saturday, it was a write off. So I went up to a friend & colleague's place in the Upper West side of Manhattan, and had a blast. Drank in a couple of really nice bars which were, naturally for NYC, open until 4am. Taxi back to the hotel, awaiting more flathunting hungover the next day...

I wasn't too hungover. Thankfully sticking to beer mostly paid off. So I went up to the Upper East Side and saw one of the strangest places ever. It was 4 floors up (no elevator in these old buildings) and the "room" was a loft conversion. Well, not exactly a loft, but a loft SPACE. I wouldn't store my suitcases up there, yet there were TWO rooms, accessible via a hatch, which somehow had a mattress in each. I could lie down in my room, but that's it. Surely that has to be illegal?

So, feeling rather out of luck I went all the way back down to South Manhattan and caught that luxury 7-minute commuter train out to Jersey City. There was a room for grabs out near Matt's place and I figured it sounded good. It may have been the sunny day, the hangover, or the really nice friendly people (a couple) in the place but I decided pretty much there and then I would go for it. It was a bare room, and I had no bed, but that seemed trivial compared to the dismay of no responses and looking at terrible apartments. Plus, it was CHEAP and that commute! So good!

I walked to the nearby park and enjoyed the sun, calling L on a cellphone I had borrowed from another saviour of a workmate. Living without a phone is weird in this day and age! I then decided I would check out one of the nearby "trendy" neighbourhoods that Jersey has to offer; Hoboken. They had a nice riverside walk and I snapped a quick pic of Manhattan on my (SIM-less) phone:

20120415_193333

Not bad. That place in that picture will be my home for at least a year. Well, looks like I'm going to be in Jersey for a little while at least, but the proximity to the office where I spend 5 days a week means that NYC will still very much be "home" for now!


Saturday, May 05, 2012

What's Happening?

I haven't used my blog much. That's going to change. Why? Because a lot is happening, and people will want to read about it. Maybe not many people, but enough that makes me happy to know they're in the loop. Here's the quick breakdown:
  1. I got engaged, to the delightful Laura Kate
  2. We packed up our things, put a load in storage, moved out of the flat in London. 
  3. Laura moved home to Wisconsin for a bit. 
  4. I transferred to my company's New York office. 
And what's going to happen?
  1. We will get married in October, in Wisconsin 
  2. Laura will join me in New York 
  3. ...who knows. Probably go back to London! 
Already after 3 weeks in New York there is much to share and talk about, as it's a bit of an adventure for me. So we'll have some catch-up posts then hopefully start a regular (probably every other day) "Today in New York" posting, probably with a photo. Flickr is also the best place to get the full picture-story, but I'm behind on that right now.

But the blogging and updates start here and now!