Life in NYC

My Holiday Travels

The holiday season was full of pleasant surprises.  Much of the time was spent traveling--flight home to Ohio, drives to Cleveland, New Castle and Pittsburgh, flight back to NYC and a round-trip train ride to Bucks County, PA. I managed to see my entire family on my Dad's side.

The flight home was free of the delays that plagued my Thanksgiving trip. The flight out arrived right on time and I was met outside of baggage claim by my parents and Frank!

On Saturday, Christie and I ventured down to Dave and Buster's on the Waterfront to meet Kevin, Aaron, Juice and Juice's sister, Hailey.  Dinner was good, but Kevin dominated the the video game front.

On Sunday, we had Christmas at Nana's house.  I stopped to visit Dr. Goldberg on the way and we had a nice chat.

On Monday, I had breakfast at IHOP with Megan and Jon-Paul before venturing up to Cleveland for lunch with Ray C. Walling.  We had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant in Parma Heights and kicked around a few stories from the glory days of Westminster College.

Monday evening was another men's night out.  My Dad, J-P and I went to see Rocky VI (much better than Rocky V) and then met my Mom over at Red Lobster for dinner.  The Ultimate Feast beat me into early submission and I missed Megan and J-P's party later that evening.

I returned to New York on Wednesday and worked a short day on Thursday.  Friday was an early close at work and the early afternoon was consumed by a train ride to visit lots of relatives for Christmas #2.

Expense Report (minus Christmas presents ;))     COMING SOON

Day 113:    

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Day 123: 

Holiday Lunch

The Basic Industries Team's holiday lunch was held today at Bayard's in Hanover Square, near Wall Street. It was nice to see those of my colleagues who do not work in the New York office.

Kobe beef was on the menu and the building was full of history.  Perhaps a customs house or a private club from the 18th century.

Expense Report

Day 111:

• Pizza for lunch, $4.34

Day 112, $0.

Monday Reflections

I'm beginning to feel more useful as a junior analyst.  The chemical industry is clarifying in my mind and becoming even more interesting.  I never thought I would be dealing with so much science...

I decided to go healthy tonight, so I ordered grilled salmon, steamed vegetables, wild rice and a bowl of manhattan clam chowder.  All of it was excellent and much more healthy than my uisual fare.  That said, I doubt that I will ever abandon pizza and beer.

Tonight marked the first time that my driver (from the car service) was near my age.  We chatted most of the ride home and I learned alot about New York and about the trials and tribulations of a car service driver. The cars are rented for 24-hour blocks, regardless of the amount of time the driver actually spends driving.  Not surprisngly, many drivers work long hours. 

The car services also use an interesting system to allocate passengers to the drivers.  Passenger call-ins are taken by a dispatcher.  The dispatcher searches for a driver by sending out text messages.  And if a driver chooses to accept the passenger, the information is apparently transmitted to an in-car GPS system.  Finally, the passenger is notified and given a estimated time of arrival.  Very interesting!

Expense Report

Day 110:

• 2 hot dogs and a pretzel from a street vendor, $4.25
• Dinner from Johnney's Fish Grille, $19.41  (but eventually free!)   

Microfinance

I read an interesting article about microcredit lending in Bangladesh and, a few google seconds later, found a cool site dedicated to linking microcredit lenders with microcredit borrowers. P2P lending... what a unique concept.

Expense Report

Day 109, $0

100 Days in NYC

To celebrate 100 days in NYC, Christie and I decided to head to A.J. Maxwell's, a steakhouse that I found on MenuPages.  The celebration was a bit belated (Columbia's finals), but the steak was very good.  Better yet, it was free.  Thanks, Dad!

In other news, Ford now asserts that there will not be a Mustang wagon.  Bravo!

Expense Report

Day 108:

• Lunch from the cafeteria, $3.85
• Dinner at A.J. Maxwell's, free (thanks Dad!)

Day 109:

• Fairway Market. $66.07
• ConEdison,

News Review

I thought I would share my favorite news stories of the day:

When the going gets tough at the aquatic zoo, the Chinese call on a herder from Inner Mongolia. Bao Xishun, the world's tallest man, saved a couple of plastic eating dolphins from an early death by reaching what others could not.

Ford might produce a Mustang wagon in 2008!!! Sacrilegious!!!  Everyone understands that company is in trouble, but responding with a station wagon to Chevrolet's new Camaro and Dodge's new Challenger is a sure path to automotive hell.  Let's hope this one never makes it past the concept stage.

Expense Report

Day 107:

• US Air,  Flight Home, $89.10  (this one is from a while ago)
• Mysterious Cuban food for lunch at Sophie's, $10.

A Good Clip from YouTube

Check out this YouTube clip of comedian Steve Bridges impersonating George W. Bush; it's the best that I've seen.

Expense Report

Day 106:

• Subway, $3.84
• University Hardware, $7.38  (for friggin' lightbulbs!)

Lots of meetings today...

Expense Report

Day 105:

• Lunch at 17, free.
• Dinner from Il Quattrone, $19.50 (but eventually free)

Vacation Days

My day was brightened by the receipt of a couple extra vacation days as part of a bonus package!

I worked late in an attempt to finish a financial model. It's hard to stop in the middle of a project and retire for the night. It's much more satisfying to see it through to completion.   Chinese food was on the menu tonight and, erroneously, I ordered a side of white rice.  Little did I know that rice came with the spicy shrimp, but I made it through the all of the food.  The effort was rewarded shortly thereafter by a stomach ache that persisted throughout the ride home.  Life lesson: gorging is bad...

Expense Report

Day 104:

• Lunch at the Cafeteria, $3.65
• Dinner from Au Mandarin, $17.24 (but eventually free)

A Lazy Day in the City

I've been here for more than three months and there are still lots of places that I haven't seen.

I woke up this morning feeling ambitious, intending to trek through the city to see a new neighborhood. I made it as far as Riverside Park for a short run, but it was freezing!  Blame it on the wind...

Most of the day was spent reading and catching up on the news and away from the cold. 

Expense Report

Day 103, $0