Finally! It came through. I can now officially call myself a Director. Wooooooohoooooooooo! The excitement lasted about 5 nano seconds when I found out the financial deal associated with it. Hey ho - at least it's recognized I do a great job.
Keep on trucking I guess. Official from July 1st.
....is the date and time of the next England match. We're playing Portugal. So I'm spending the next 2 days making sure there are plans of where to meet up to watch it. Very cool - I love being in NYC. USA may be out of the world cup - but it's still on the telly's at the bar. Yeeeeeha!
So, I wake up this morning with my neck giving me so much jip that I decide I must get my crap together and get a massage organized. It was one thing Trev and i did about twice a month was a get a massage in St Louis - but haven't done anything like that since getting to NY. I think with all the commuting and carrying laptops I messed up my neck. That together with the fact it was torrential rain this morning I decided to get the massage. I walked into the spa place opposite this apartment complex and booked an appointment. Nurofen Plus was a godsend also.
Now there are a few things about massage that I'm particular about. 1) I like a sheet and 2) I like a female masseuse (unlike the OBgyn doc where I'd rather have a guy).
I spent the afternoon looking forward to it. When I got there (10mins before), I got mad as i was kept waiting for over 5 mins...in fact I had to walk into the staff room and do the "I'm here for a massage, who do I see?" routine. So, by the time I was changing into my robe I was not best pleased.....and I was even further displeased when I realized that I was in my knickers and it was a guy masseuse. So....I was there and I figured I should try it....especially as my neck was hurting so much.
However........... I have to say (and I'm amazed I'm saying this) - it was the BEST massage i have ever ever had. My neck feels so much better. .... and i find out he'll come to your place rather than going to the spa. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I guess you learn something new every day. It hurt like crap (it's supposed to), but having the muscles stretched and dug into felt so good. Yippee - it's so good to know I found a good masseuse on the first go-around.
I still miss Michele in St Louis though......
Although I've been walking everywhere (and power walking where possible!!) I haven't set foot in a gym since around Easter weekend. Yesterday i went and did a full workout.
On one hand i was totally impressed that I could use an elliptical at level 6-8 and not kill myself and do a full round of weights for an hour (everything 3 rounds of 15 repetitions).....but I have to say tonight - the top of my chest is killing me. My legs hurt a bit, my arms are a little sore....but my chest - OUCH!
Given the amount we're paying for membership for just a month I'll be going back tomorrow - as long as I can get back for a 5.30pm class! We'll see....but i do feel good that I'm still pretty fit!
Yeeeeeha!
Ok, so I've probably not mentioned here that ever since I got to NY I'm supposed to move floors at work (from 21 to 23). This was definitely spooky....
So, this morning I looked at my packed up boxes from St Louis and decided that I needed to unpack and put away some of it as I was fed up looking like I lived in a barn. I put away about a quarter of my stuff and then started to work. Imagine the surprise around 2pm when I saw our admin who told me that I was moving on July 7th!
Can you believe that? Very very strange......
For those that haven't been paying attention it's the FIFA world cup right now. Football = soccer. it's a big big deal in the rest of the world and it's been really hard watching both England and the USA at the same time. At 2 of the 3 1st found games I was in meetings - although I had managed to sneak home for the 2nd game and had it on mute. Easier now that the USA is out but this morning is England's round 2 game at 11am. We're in preparation for it - what drinks/food will we need. Very cool. Have to say though it's only once every 4 years that I get into footy...but it's fun doing it. I've spent quite a lot of time over past 2 weeks explaining to colleagues how it works (you know, leagues, you qualify for the world cup, it's a world cup with more than a single county - LOL).
One thing I love about being in NY is that the football is remaining on the TV's even though the USA is out. Flipping marvelous.
Had a great week at work this week. Thursday especially. I had a team lead meeting where I was decreeing that we had to get much better about communication, how we do it, good things, bad things and showing the company how important our relationships with our end users are. However, I had invited the editorial team (the most famous part of our company) and rather than the 15 mins i had planned it turned into one of those sessions where brainstorming on what clients really need took off. My gut told me that that this should continue.....and it turned out so so well. We all had a great idea for change, got funding an dnow we're full steam ahead. Penny, it reminded me of the meeting with you and Alex when we had that cool idea for programming. It's moments like that that make it all worthwhile....:)
Am having quiet weekend. Trev's home so we're watching TV, shopping, cooking and generally being lazy. We did find a shopping mall less than a mile from home - and it's flipping huge. Can you believe that i didn't know it was there????? Dangerous though.... especially as it has Macy's!
So I downsized my laptop at work..... it's kinda cute. Although the screen isn't so good, it's much faster and it's pretty cool overall. Not sure I NEEDED it, but it's nice to carry round something much lighter. The other one looks so much bigger in comparison. The one thing I've noticed though is that it's much much faster..........and that's VERY Cool.
Now starts the long process of moving music, movies, pics, etc to make sure nothing is on the PC - oh yeah, and to remove all that software that i shouldn't have on there!! At least I have an external disk drive to dump stuff on....but the paranoia.
I also have the UK fruit machine emulator on the PC....so i hope it works on the smaller one. For the unitiated slot machines in the UK are known as "fruit machines". Second, they're more complicated than the US based ones....you get nudges, exchanges, secret things etcetc - sometimes you feel like you need a degree to run one. sounds nerdy I know....but it cured me of spending pounds and pounds when I return to the UK.
I also had Limewire to download stuff - but I found I never really downloaded anything. I also have the DVD ripping software and also the PSP software that shrinks the movies to about 400MB. Blinking marvelous. I can't lose that.
Ok so while I'm writing this I just finished watching Supernanny and Hell's Kitchen (both British) instantaneously by flicking back and forth....what weird ass programs - but tey make you watch it more. At least it's not Big Brother I guess. And now I'm watching Weight Loss Challenge.....so now I need to diet. Man, i wish i wasn't watching it....but now I'm flipping back with that and CSI Miami.
The week started out OK although horrendously busy as always. Tuesday night, our friend Matt came into town from Iowa - of course we went for a few beers.... Started off in Bar 41 (my work local), then to Mulligans for bangers and mash (our old local in Manhattan, bangers = sausages), ending up in The Joshua Tree for martinis. I had the biggest headache Weds morning....and totally deserved. However we had a terrific evening - and I really relaxed from work that night. then on Thursday it was F2N/N2F - that's face to name/name to face - something that I manage to gatecrash every month. It gives me a chance to meet new people in Reuters. The other things that went on this week were unpacking the remaining boxes and cleaning the apartment. While it was Ok, the floors in the bathroom and kitchen were gross...to the point where Trev thought they were bad:):) Now they're beautifully scrubbed
With all that activity the week went by soooo quickly. Our weekend was mostly nice. We made an expedition out in the car to Sams Club, about 15 miles away. It was refreshing to be in Sams...although after $500 I was wondering why we'd even gone through the door (don't worry, it wasn't all groceries - we bought a printer and new electric toothbrushes along with the groceries!!). We also made it into Walmart (as it was next door) but didn't pick up too much stuff. I feel more at home just by having a full fridge and freezer.
We had roast lamb for dinner today....I did purchase roasting dishes etc as I knew we couldn't wait until the condo before eating yorkshire puddings - and they turned out fabulously! The lamb was amazing. We have a lot of leftovers...esp as we had a curry last night too. It feels homely.....and comforting. I love it.
Back to chaos tomorrow....
I've been commuting a while now. Here are my lessons.
- Comfy shoes has a whole new definition (you walk EVERYWHERE)
- You always need to have a map with you
- Taxi drivers a) don't speak English well b) ask you what route you should take (when you don't know how to get there)
- Make sure you have dollar bills in case you need to tip someone
- Money disappears....haven't yet figured out why (taxies, coffee etc)
- You don't need to take your laptop everywhere
- Your handbag is the size of a house (it has to be able to carry shoes, an umbrella and a jacket)
- You have to have an umbrella
- An MP3 player is a MUST
Even so, I love it here. Now we're in the 2nd temporary apartment it's even better. We're more settled already:)
Remember I said when we moved into this second temporary apartment that there were no plates, mugs, glasses etc. Well, we live 20 min drive to IKEA....and we got EVERYTHING for $150. Here's the list
8 plates
8 bowls
6 glasses
Mixing bowl
5 storage containers
3 saucepans
2 frying pans
8 knives
8 forks
8 spoons
2 pillows
2 pillow cases
2 chopping boards
Bag of meatballs
6 packets of meatball gravy
Cooking utensils (pack of 5)
Measuring cups
Bottle opener
OK, so I can't remember anything else......but cool isn't it!
Off to chicago this coming weekend to meet up with a friend who's over from England! Yeah, then our travel is over for a few months (well, for me at least!)
Second night in our temporary apartment - with BBC America. It's fabulous. I didn't realize how much I relied on that tiny bit of England in our home. It's so nice to see hard hitting drama and comedy that I relate to.
I managed to empty most of the cases now, get the kitchen sorted out etc etc.
When we rented this "furnished" apartment for some reason I assumed that not only would there be furniture but silverware, plates, glasses, mugs, saucepans etc etc. Luckily I now live 20mins from IKEA so guess where we're off to. I wish I'd known coz I'd never have put everything in storage. I knew I'd have to get pillows, duvet, sheets etc....wasn't banking on buying a WHOLE kitchen. I wouldn't mind so much if we needed new stuff....but we don't. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up a starter kit cheap enough. Still, I have to say I am slight excited about visiting IKEA, sad though that may be.
So, I've done a lot of soul search the past few days and have realized my style needs to change in this new job. There is no way I can function as I have before.....at least I've realized - it's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!
1) No more doing email for hours and hours each day
2) Focus on the big stuff, not the insignificant
3) Really make changes on how things are done
4) Spend more time out and about with my team
What I've changed:
1) All email that I'm cc'd on get routed to a different folder (thank goodness for "rules" in Outlook)
2) Spend at least 2 hours a day creating documents and talking process at a strategic level. I'm using one account as the guinea pig...but it's the one that needs the effort
3) Booked regular meetings with each of my teams (I have 12)
4) Will book meetings for other groups outside of my remit
Doing these things will make me feel better.
Next.....losing weight and getting back to a gym!
So, the plan was to have a good weekend in Iowa for a wedding. It didn't start off too well, but we had a good time. Tiring though as it was only 3 weeks since our last visit.
Let's start at the beginning. I had rearranged my Thurs afternoon flight to the 8.35pm flight because of work commitments. That was OK...except I had to give up a dinner that I really wanted to go to to get to the airport. Except that when i got to the airport my 8.35pm flight was boarding at 10.30pm. Then 10.45pm. Then 11pm, Then 11.30pm. Finally got on board about 11.45pm. Sucks.....got into Chicago at 3am CT. By the time we got to the hotel and unpacked it was nearly 4am CT....so my body clock was getting ready to wake up.
That was the only bad bit of the weekend really but I was tired for the rest of it because of that. Drove up to Iowa, was sad that only Bet arrived for a beer....not sure where all the other buggers were (not you Penny...>I knew you were busy) but hey ho, their loss. That gave us time to get back early and some sleep. Up the next morning, went for a pedicure with Carrieanne and then to the wedding. It was pretty good overall and they looked really happy.
Trev then had a flight booked Sunday afternoon to Atlanta rather than hanging out in Chicago..... had to book a quick hotel as he'd forgotten - I love Hotwire....flipping brilliant. I liked working with them when they were my client, and I like using their service. I got a 4 star hotel, right at the airport for $78. the Westin no less. It was great.
We're off to Chicago again on Friday to meet up with another friend for the weekend - should be a riot, although I'm so tired with all the traveling. Hopefully it won't be as late as last week!
