Things I'm learning about commuting

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:)

IKEA Rocks!

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!)

I love cable

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.

Update on the "work moment"

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!

What a weekend!

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!

What tarot card are you (thanks Penny)

You Are The Wheel of Fortune

You represent the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.You embrace change, the the ups and downs of life.Fate is something you accept, even when you could possibly change things.Big things tend to happen to you more than other people. Your fortune: Something huge is about to happen in your life, and you have little control over it.You must accept your destiny, but luckily it is good fortune that has come your way.Big things and big changes are about to come your way.And while things will be intense for a while, they will be followed by a period of rest.

What Tarot Card Are You?

Rachel's predicament

I'm catching up with news as this is my 3rd post in 10 mins. OK, so the past week meant that there was lots of drama for Rachel. She'd already had some bad news - that Trev's company was taken over so the job she'd been offered has been cut. She was bummed about that, but all was well as she could work where she has been the last few years. Except.... that last Monday she was told to leave the premises by the HR group and not return until her work permit arrived.

It transpired that because she had graduated she couldn't now work as a student. She had put her application for a work permit for work experience in last Feb/Mar but it hadn't yet been approved by the government. She had it all worked out that she was going to continue to work where she was, but they wouldn't pay her until it came through. Well, HR got wind of it and scuppered that plan.

So..... after much hysteria, crying and planning Rachel decided that she'd go back to the UK for a few weeks and take a holiday. Of course, she had no money so the Lovegrove money tree had to come out again. She planned on flying out today (Trev changed his flight specially so he could see her....at a ridiculous price!) but when we went online the only flight that was less than $1000 flew out Sunday. Here's the kicker - the moment we were about to book the flight, she'd let everyone know she was coming back to the UK - her work permit turned up! She went anyway so at least she gets a break.

The plan right now when she returns at the end of June is to continue working where she is until she can find something different. She really wants to move to Chicago, so hopefully she'll find something to do.

OK....I'm off to do some work!

Finally! We're out of the crummy apartment!

So, our time has come to an end with living in Manhattan. Trevor left this morning for Chicago and I'll walk out tomorrow for the last time. Yippee!! It was awful. Not only did you have 2 flights of stairs to walk up every time you got home, there was no air conditioning (although didnt' realize that until this weekend when it was 85 degrees) and any one else staying there had absolutely no consideration for anyone else. Saturday night, the guys downstairs stopped partying at 5.30am. I really am an old fart! I would have yelled at them, except I would have had to put on a t-shirt to open the window so I didn't. I wish I had though....I would have felt so much better!

We spent the weekend packing up clothes and stuff and getting over to the new apartment in Newport, NJ. Took a few hours, but not too bad at all. Each time we do the commute by train I'm so happy it's only 15 mins to where we've bought our condo!

I'm at the Hilton for a night on Weds, then late on Thursday I'm off to Chicago when Trev and I will drive to Cedar Rapids for our friends' son's wedding. We're meeting up with friends on Friday night (Penny, not sure if you're around....), and then wedding stuff all day Saturday. I plan on getting a manicure and pedicure at the very least. I'm so proud, I've already figured out what I'm going to wear....shoes and everything. It's a miracle.

Then, when I get back to NY on Monday morning, I'm moving into the next apartment. Commuting will begin. Howeve,r we'll have peace and quiet, aircon and a car to drive around in. Fabulous!

A work moment...

OK, I have to braindump and get my crap together....I figure here is as good a place as any.

1. Number of staff. I have 59 people who report to me - that includes about 6 vacances. I found out this week that I'll probably get at least another 5, maybe even 10. I'm already stressing about performance review time and not sure how i can do it effectively.

2. My team leads aren't team leads. This is a constant source of frustration. they're so damn young and inexperienced. They're great at what they do but they don't strategize or think outside the box. Some of them are great, but others are "OK". They're good people, they just have to get used to me as their boss - I cannot tell them how/what to do as i don't know the financial markets or products like they do. It's almost like they want me to give them answers all the time. They need to realize that they should be looking for the answers!!!!!

3. My boss. She's great, I like working for her but sometimes I think she doesn't understand the neediness of direct reports. The people who work directly for her are like me...can handle their own stuff and don't need her. However, no matter how hard I try to be organized, get ahead there seems to be no way of being 3 steps ahead. this is VERY VERY frustrating.

4. Sheer volume of email. I must get at least 400 emails a day. By the end of the week I generally have 400-600 that I've not dealt with. Sooooooo........i'm trying a new tactic this week - I'm ONLY reading emails that are sent directly to me, rather than all. Anything that I'm copied on is getting sent to a directory for me to peruse as I see fit. Hopefully this will make me more productive.

5. Account teams and politics. Already in my short life here I've been asked to promote 2 people that I wouldn't have. Luckily one of them quit - good guy...just not what I consider a team lead. The other one is doing OK - she's just trying to be a super trainer rather than a lead. she's not taking accountability for her decisions and actions and that means her Account teams escalate to me when she's under-resourced. The fact that she agreed to certain things makes me mad as she doesn't communicate that to them. Now, I'm being asked to promote someone who's marked a 4 on their review (below average!!!!) because "he's a nice guy and can schmooze well". Now, c'mon! I ask you.....is that a problem waiting to happen. Can you imagine the message I'm sending to the rest of my team.....yeah, don't perform, under achieve and Phil will promote you. This one is REALLY REALLY making me mad. I'm hoping HR will side with me.....I have come up with a compromise....I'll take him on, but at his current level. He'll have 90 days to prove he's worthy. We'll see.

OK, I feel better now.... at least I can vent somewhere. I'm still glad I moved, these are just the challenges I face. I guess I'll find answers somewhere.......

Four Guilty Pleasures

Thanks, Penny for this one...
Four Guilty Pleasures in Books/Reading:
1. www.thesun.co.uk
2. Penny's blog
3. www.reuters.com and www.reuters.co.uk - great news pages; especially for the entertainment section
4. Time Magazine

Four Guilty Pleasures in Movies:
1. Thomas Crown Affair
2. Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Austin Powers (1 and 3, #2 was terrible)
4. Wallace and Gromit and the case of the Were Rabbit

Four Guilty Pleasures in Food:
1. English chocolate
2. English/Scottish/Irish sausages
3. Yorkshire Pudding
4. Custard

Four Guilty Pleasures in Music:
1. The Beautiful South
2. Paul McKenna's CD "I can make you thin"
3. Musicals (shhhh, don't tell anyone) - Joseph, Rocky Horror, Grease, plus a host of others:)
4. Hard Rock (only since a trip to Green Bay for work several years ago)

Four Guilty Pleasures in TV:
1. Men Behaving Badly (UK Version)
2. CSI, Law and Order (all versions)
3. Coupling (UK Version)
4. 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (only in the UK)1. Survivor

Four Guilty Pleasures in Booze:
1. Surfer's on acid (I'm with Penny on this one)
2. Tanqueray and Tonic, lots of lime
3. Jello shots...not the boring vodka ones, but the ones that are creative.
4. Cosmopolitan

A great few days off

So, this was the 2nd time I took some vacation time - Tim (my brother) was in town. We became tourists for the last few days. We saw the shows: The Odd Couple, Billy Connolly and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Pretty flipping good, was so glad we went. Did a tour round Manhattan Island - i wouldn't recommend the full boat trip but doing the lower half of the island would be good. Saw all the sites (sky line, Statue of Liberty, Empire State etc). Did a lot of eating and drinking too so need to exercise even more..... we went up to Connecticut ove rthe weekend to see Melissa and co, was good to see everyone again. Oh yeah, and we shopped til we dropped. Have lots of things left though to do for the next trip.

Back at work now though, so have to focus and my 700 emails filed and my to do list written. We're packing up the apartment this coming weekend ready for moving the following week. yeeeeeee ha - just gotta love moving.

I had to do it...

Having taken a couple of days away i get back to work and it's chaos. One of my clients (and they're ALL big remember as I support the high revenue customers) has blown up and my team is up in arms. I'm called into a big wig meeting to sort out "how we're going to work from here on out". It resulted in my team lead securing another elsewhere (not a huge loss I might add) as well as issues with people I've hired. Not because there's anything wrong with them, rather they don't know them therefore they're a problem. Flipping ridiculous.

So.....I had to buy a suit to go meet with them. HAHA. I bought a lime green jacket too that'll go with grey or black pants. I can't believe how expensive everything is. I guess I'll need it again soon.

Tim arrives today - should be a riot. I get to take 3 days vacation, and I'm going to enjoy all of them!

A graduation AND an engagement

The weekend went like a charm, graduation was great - lots of pics and celebrations. Penny made it for a bit which was a great surprise and I really appreciated it (thank you!!). Was a great time. Then, at lunch on Sunday that Carrieanne and Chris were hosting Chris proposed. it was very cute! I tried to put the links to the pics in here but they didn't work. If you want to see them, let me know.

On the downside, Trevor was told that his company is being bought out so there's loads of uncertainty about whether he'll be able to keep that job and travel. We've decided to march on with buying the condo on the proviso that he's meeting with a headhunter in New York to keep his options open. There are lots of jobs here, and companies are open to getting visas. the trick is to do it right in time with his green card application.

Nothing is ever simple. It's been crazy mad at work....Tim gets in tomorrow for a week's vacation which will be cool. I'm so looking forward to seeing The Odd Couple, Billy Connolly and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.....all in about 3 days. Yeeeeeha

We did it....! Now I'm scared

Ok so today we've spent more money than we ever ever imagined on something a little bigger than the main floor of our house in St Louis. Ouch. Apparently, it's a great investment and we'll make loads of money. yeah yeah yeah....still scary though!

We move at the end of July. I don't really have many details, so it's hard to give any one a picture. it's 2 bedroom, 2 bath - and has at least a dozen places to eat and socialize between the train station and home. Yeah.....perfect! It has a car space and a magnificent kitchen! So here's the quirky/flashy thing about it - the elevator opens into the living room. I think it's really to give more space (no hallways)...but it's still weird. I keep thinking of Hart to Hart....


hahahahahahha - yeah! I'm so excited - we know where we're going to live!!!!!!!

To get to Hoboken

OK, so we thought some more and decided we wanted to pursue one of the condos that we saw on Sunday. Apart from the fact that it's $200k more than we ideally wanted to spend we're getting the groove on and meeting with mortgage people etc to progress. Hopefully we'll have a contract in a week.

One thing I wanted was bedrooms that weren't next to each - and this doesn't give us that. On the plus side, the elevator goes straight into the living room (feels like an episode of Hart to Hart) and there's parking too. The living area is huge and that's the main thing. It's light and airy, it's 10 blocks from the train station and there are multiple coffee shops, bars and restaurants right around the corner. Perfect. the monthly maintenance charge is very low so that makes it even better.

Will keep you posted....

Hoboken

We've been busy this weekend. Carrieanne and Chris drove to Long Island for a wedding this weekend so we met up with them for lunch on Saturday. It was great - Carrieanne was a bit worried (to say the least) as her Mum is coming into town next weekend and staying with her for a while. She's always been worried about it, as she feels her Mum doesn't know her or even want to know her. She also feels her Mum thinks she should have stayed married to Sean even though he was violent. She's avoided her for a few years, but now she's in town she feels that she's been bullied into having her stay. We spent a lot of time doing the "you're 24 now, not 18....be yourself, you'll be fine". Not sure I believe that - but at some point she's got to stand up for herself. So, on Thursday we're driving down to Chicago and having dinner with everyone - all 5 of us plus Bethany, Peter's girlfiriend. Then Saturday it's graduation followed by a party - should be fun. Friday we're planning on meeting up with friends for a few beers as the kids will meet up with their Mum. Chris has invited everyone to a barbeque...so there's only a few times that their parents will be in the same vicinity together. It's generally pretty civil.....so we'll see.

Today we caught the train to Hoboken. It's a town right across the river in New Jersey. It's about a mile squared....and it was great. We went for some open houses to check out where we want to live and there was an arts festival on which was pretty cool. When we got off the train it felt like we'd finally found somewhere we'd want to live. We looked at about 6 places...some better than others. There were 2 we really really liked - the 2nd one was the most expensive, but it was about a 10 minute walk to the train which is awesome. the train is about 20mins to Penn Station foll0wed by a 15 min walk to work. Even better I can always get the bus and that'll take me right to Times Sq. So, we decided we wanted to live in Hoboken. Whether these places are the ones we end up with remains to be seen, however at least we know in what town we want to live in.

This weekend feels like it was a success.... about flipping time:)

What a crap day...

There were so many things that made my day crap - and it started off so well. So, here goes....

It really started last night when I ended up having to walk about 10 blocks in the pouring rain....what I didn't realize is that it was the start of crappy things.

I end up finding that 3 people in my team have accepted jobs elsewhere. I've worked so damn hard over the past 2 months to get people hired it was heartbreaking to see people want to leave. On the upside, one of the guys leaving was someone I was forced to promote and didn't want to so i guess there's some just desserts in that.

Another thing that happened was that I had 2 people in my team have an argument AT a client site. How flipping ridiculous...it's like kindergarten. I guess next week i can knock their heads together.

The thing that really set me off today was nothing to do with work. It was with the mortgage company for the St Louis house. Man....was I mad. So, it started Tuesday when I logged into our bank account to check whether had any money only to find that our mortgage payment had been made on May 2nd. That would be fine, except that we paid the mortgage off in April - the payment shouldn't have been made. So, as i never have time to call, I send an electronic email on the website asking them to explain why it'd be taken and could they please take it back. I got back a pissy email saying it'd been forwarded to the internet support group. Now, to me it was plain as day it was a mortgage question....not an internet issue. So, I replied back saying exactly that and "could I please have my money?". I get a reply yesterday that said "could you please use the online form and press 'reply'". Now, given that you have to log on to see the message, I'm not sure how else they think I did the reply. For the 3rd reply I sent a snottogram ... in the mean time, I give up and actually call them. At this point, you'd think that all would have been well.....but oh, no. I call, talk to the guy and he says "yes, I see a payment was made on April 2nd, our process is that you'll get the check 3 weeks after the close of the house". So, I find out that a) they still have my May payment and b) they didn't do the close properly. So, I'm OK about April....just. I ask about May...it takes about 3 goes for him to process that I'm not talking about them paying my escrow back but a payment that was made 2 days ago. he then says (get this) "ok, I see madam that the payment went through and i can confirm that we will refund it. it will take 3 weeks and then a check will be issued to you". I say "3 weeks? you've got to be kidding me!!!!", he says "no madam, I'm not kidding, it'll take 3 weeks". I say "I need to speak to your supervisor". by this time I am STEAMING! It was call center days with the kid reading off a script all over again. Luckily the supervisor was great, understood the problem. She put me in contact with the office that'll offer the escrow (it'll take a week) and also the overpayment (3 days). Hopefully we'll get the dosh back soon.

Not a happy bunny!

On the good side, our new mattress finally arrived at the apartment. They took all the bedding off - and left it all piled on top. they also left all the plastic. Lucky me - I'm off to make the bed now. yeeeeeeeeeeeeha

A gin and tonic after work with my friend Heather worked....but i still can't believe the stupid mortgage company.

I wish for a vacation

So my brother is coming over in a couple of weeks - it started off with a trip to see Billy Connolly in concert. Now we also have tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Odd Couple. Should be a riot. We'll also get to do things that are touristy like visiting the Empire State Building, Central Park, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty etc etc etc etc.

My brain hurts again today. At the end of the month my team seems to degenerate into kids - you'd think they'd learn month on month and change their behaviour when it comes to enter their stuff in to the system. but, oh no - it's the same. At least I bonus on it....so it affects their $$$$ every quarter. It's amazing the focus that's brought.

I'm fed up with my apartment - I don't think I've slept more than 3 hours in a go and it's wearing. Trev's sleeping even worse, and given that he's having withdrawal symptoms from St Louis, and he's traveling a lot, and he leaves/arrives back at ridiculous hours it's all taking it's toll. We're out at the end of May so it's not too bad....just feels bad when you can't sleep. The new mattress that they promised over a month ago is supposed to arrive today - that'll make a difference.

eBay has come into its own again. With Tim visiting, we needed to get an inflatable bed (as ours were packed), and in the next temporary apartment we need towels and full bedding. Now that annoys me as I have to buy a comforter, comforter cover, sheets, pillows, towels etc. I guess it's an excuse for new stuff, but I already have craploads of my own but it's in storage. thankfully I found a lot of IKEA stuff on eBay which was reasonably priced. Hopefully we'll have more guests so we get to use it. hahahahah.

OK, I've gotta go do some work......it's crazy around here:)

My husband was right....

Now, this is not something that comes along very often for any man as you know, but I have to give credit where it's due. Over the past week or so my calves have been giving me havoc as I walk to and from work and it's been very painful. I thought I needed a massage (as much as you can NEED something like that), or it was "getting used to NYC" etc etc.

Trev, last night made the comment that perhaps it was the shoes I was wearing. Now, I've admitted before that I've turned in a NYC-ite and wear sneakers and change into "posh" shoes at the office, so it never occurred to me that it was the sneakers. For those fit people and those who buy a lot of sneakers you know that you get what you pay for. Me? I've never, ever paid more than $30 for a pair - and it's only VERY recently that I've been able to say I've worn a pair out.

This morning, I experimented with wearing some good walking sandals (paid about $80 5 years ago for them) instead of sneakers. Whaddayaknow.....not one wince or pain. I could even walk faster than normal. Can you believe it?

I guess this is why people pay lots of dosh for sneakers.....I'm off to get new ones at the weekend. Who'd have thought it.

For the record: my husband was right

I hate being sick...

Not quite sure what happened, or whether i ate something suspect but I can honestly say I don't like being up all and feeling like crap. Trev's view is that it was nature telling me to slow down. That said, it means I've been on email for a few hours catching up. Oh well.... I can't have it all.

It also means my keep fit campaign is on hiatus. One step closer though as I downloaded the gym's class schedule:)

I love TIVO

Oh my......we have survived 6 weeks without Tivo or the equivalent. For those of you who aren't familiar with the technology it's basically a 21st century VCR. You program to record all your favourite programs - the difference is that you can tell it to record all episodes. The best thing is there's always stuff to watch and you never have to watch live TV....benefits? scrolling through commercials takes 5 seconds. I love it. Season passes are the best (ie. you get ALL CSI's recorded, or Law and Orders etc).

Before we left St Louis, I had Trev bring up our old Tivo box but had never quite got around to hooking it up. I DID IT THIS MORNING. By tonight.....we'll be back to our old selves. Yippee.

It's the Tribeca Film Festival right now so I'm feeling like we're "supposed" to go and check it out. Just don't feel like it really. We're pining for home cooked food so I suspect we'll go to Macy's and buy some baking tins and then I'll roast a chicken. haven't had yorkshire puddings in 2 months - I'm desperate. That'll make me feel like we're at home.

Can't remember if I said, but we've signed a 2 month lease for June and July to stay in New Jersey. We'll see if we like it (prob not...but at least it's more modern than the dump we're in now).

So happy......it's the weekend

Yeah! We have absolutely zilch to do this weekend. I think we'll contact a couple of realtors for a few hours, then we'll hang out. It's beautiful here right now - about 70 degrees, not too humid. The Tribeca film festival is on this weekend so we may go there.....not really sure. I think I'm so tired that all I want to do is sleep - and if the bed or sofa was comfortable I think that's what we'd do.

Went to lunch today with my first boss in Reuters. It was good to catch up. I'm glad I'm doing my job and not his... while at lunch though, and it was inside even though it was a nice day, I got about 6 mossie bites.. I'm itching like crazy. Obviously they like me - oh yeah for me!

OK, I'm off for the weekend. Have fun

I'm working too much:)

I know, I know...I hear you say "you've JUST figured that out??!!!?". Well I know.

What I've realized with Trev being in Chicago 3 days a week is that it generally gives me at least 2 nights to work ungodly hours. I do get caught up, and I do feel better because of it but I have zero life. And by the way, I don't count hitting the bar for a quick drink before going home a life. I hope it changes.

I miss my massages, pedicures and favourite restaurants....I know I'll find them all again but I still miss it right now.

OK...so as I write this Trev calls to tell me he's arranged all his flights for May and early June. That's pretty cool - and I'm impressed. Can you feel the "but" coming.... A week ago I created a calendar for us for the next 3 months as we have so many people to see, weekends away, a graduation and a wedding. I have all my flights booked (and have had for a couple of months) and made sure that Trev had a copy. So....tonight, he calls to show he's very organized...and he's totally forgotten a) about the events and b) that I've even bothered to create a calendar for his use. Hmphrfffffff. he's gonna update it so I shouldn't be too worried. I did just send him another one though in case he'd misplaced it.

We don't even get time to do laundry....not even sure when we'll get it done this weekend. Oh well, we move in a month.

Early mornings and late nights...

OK, so we're getting used to the commuting between NY and Chicago....I have to say though that my husband seems to enjoy getting up at 4am on a Tuesday for a 6am flight and getting home at 11pm on a Thursday night. Personally I think it's ridiculous....primarily because then I end up either working at home or at work by 6am. I'm tired, but I've had enough sleep that I can't get back to sleep - and believe me, I've tried. I'm exhausted.

I've explained to Trev that perhaps he could get an 8am flight on a Tuesday and get back around 7 or 8ish on a Thursday would be awesome...and wouldn't be so tiring on both of us when it came to recovering at the weekend. We'll see.... I hope so as I'm so tired I don't know what to do.

We've managed to get a sub-lease for June and July in Newport, NJ - so we'll figure out how well I'll like commuting. I have to say the longer I'm in Manhattan...the more I want to be here. Well, with the exception being that we can't afford anywhere, and if we can afford it you can't swing a cat in it.

We're off to Connecticut to see friends at the weekend which will be good - and a great break. We'll also see if we can get some apartment viewing in too.

Work is crazy crazy....I've hired about 14 people in 6 weeks with about 4 more vacancies to go. I can't wait until it's done. I have my first full team meeting on Thursday - a few presentations followed by cocktails (of course). I had feedback from HR that some people feel that I'm distant and haven't talked with them yet - I'm still trying to figure out who it/they are because I think I've talked w/everyone. Oh well - I have to keep reminding myself that I've only been here 6 weeks. Oh, what fun:)

Back to the grindstone..........

House hunting

There are 2 parts to the house hunting gig that we have.....firstly, getting another temporary apartment as this one is awful and then trying to buy somewhere. We hired a car this weekend with the plan to check out New Jersey. We up late as we were so tired so didn't get to Newark airport until 11.30am...hahaha. Anyway, we get the car....only forgot the laptop, we'd left it on the monorail....good job as I ran back 15 mins later for it it was there waiting. Phew! Of course, as it was my PC, Trev was pretty OK about it.....just imagine what would have happened if it was his PC. Eeeeek

We went to a couple of open houses and got some groceries from Target. It felt wonderful not to pay $2 for a yogurt or $4 for milk. We definitely want to be in NJ. So we left there around 4 and drove the car back to Manhattan. Tomorrow's the big day as that's when most of the open houses are on. We also looked at a temporary apartment for a couple of months. It'd give us time to end July which would be fabulous to have breathing time.

Off to dinner tonight - friends Sanya and Jeff are in from Denver so that'll be awesome.

did I say I hated this temporary apartment? ahahah

Sometimes things just work out...

This is weird....but interesting. My brother, Tim, is coming over for a week in May. The reason for the late notice is that the thing that got him over here was that I told him we'd got tickets to Billy Connolly. For my American readers....he's a Scottish comedian. Very blue....but incredibly funny (well, for us anyway). this is not the weird part. So, Trev and I already had tickets for May 19th. Tim booked his tickets...and then told me to go ahead and buy a single ticket for Billy Connolly. If you're familiar with ticketmaster.com you'll know that it's a pretty random selection of tickets that you get offered...........so imagine when i put in a order for a single ticket 4 weeks after I bought our tickets and the ticket that got returned was next to our seats. HOW FLIPPING WEIRD IS THAT????? Karma man......

Other stuff for work - I've hired so many people I only have 3 vacancies left (for those who remember I started with 15 at the beginning of March). Very excited coz now I feel I can start my job "for real". i've also found out that I'll prob get a pay rise too as they believe managing 60 people is a different level. Yeeeeha! We could really do with the move.

So our temporary apartment sucks! We've decided rather than rush into buying somewhere we're going to look for a temporary rental until August. that'll give us the breathing space to get stuff together and check out the market. All we have to do now is move in the next 4 weeks. Yippee - I can't wait.

Chris (Carrieanne's boyfriend) is back from Iraq. He bought her a car this week so she's pretty happy. I found out that she's in NY in a few weeks at a wedding so we're trying to hook up. that will be awesome!

We have so much to do.........................more later

We made it...

So, we got here. It took 13 hours of driving on Friday, and a further 3 on Saturday....but we made it! Man....I had roadtrips! At least we're here though. The rest of Saturday we spent driving around Jersey City and Hoboken, both towns in New Jersey that we're considering living. We've both decided that we need a bit of surburban life as well as the city life. We want greenery and the ability to drive a car (especially to Target or Walmart). The one thing I really hate about Manhattan is the fact you shop every day for what you're going to eat......I HATE IT. So.....we found some good places. We're just not used to even considering over half a million for a place so it's taking a bit of getting used to.

Terms we're getting used to:
JUMBO - it's when you're borrowing over $417,000
Deeded parking spot - it means you have a numbered space included in the price of the condo

It's like a whole new life....oh what fun! I'm sure we'll find something - we will investigate again next weekend!

Tornadoes......so we're in the hotel Friday morning and Peter c+alls at 8am (6am his time) and says "have you heard from Rachel?". That's worrying in itself as it's so early. It turns out that the tornadoes that had occurred the previous evening that we were watching on TV were in IOWA CITY. that's where Rach lives. Ouch! Ok, so we then find out that she's fine...although the city is under a state of emergency. Cars are overturned, houses levelled, trees uprooted. Very very scary.

Ok, so back to work etc etc.....

Update

So there I am, sitting on the gross red carpet, hooked to the internet looking for the next place to live and finally around 9.20pm the guy calls me. So, here goes....

The closet door in front of your door, there's a pipe next to it. Follow the pipe to the floor, lift the metal casing and you'll find a key (I did). Take the key and open the closet. At the bottom of the closet is a bag. Look in the bag and find the keys to your apartment (I did). Use the set of keys to open the dead bolt (I did). OK, put it all back how you found it. I said "thank you" and he said "I'll have to find out why you don't have one of those keys". Wooooflippinghoo.

At least I got in, albeit 90 mins later than planned. Oh well....back to work:)

I don't flipping believe it...

Everything goes great with the movers....it takes a while, and with exception of packing Trev's power cord for his laptop we haven't done too badly. I'm sad to be gone - but excited to start our new life:)

You'd think everything would be fine and dandy....but oh flipping no. I'm soooo peed off. I got off the plane great, my bag arrived, I got in a cab, it only cost $25 (a miracle in itself), I got in the door to the apartment building...............AND NOW I CAN'T GET IN MY FRIGGING APARTMENT. I'm writing this having called up the wazoo to the apartment people....and I quote "can you give me a call in say 45 mins coz i'm just at dinner now".......OMG - can you believe that. I'm so annoyed it's not even funny. Although I'm sure can guess it. Anyhow - my phone should ring any moment - only another 25mins togo before i can call.....yeeeeehaaaaaaa

What a day/week/weekend...

So, it's been quiet the past week as there's been so much to do. Work is going great, I love my new job and there's loads to do. the week went by so quickly I never got time to write anything here. Oh Man... it's crazy. i did have a couple of days where I pulled 14 hours days - not good and I'm definitely resolving not to do it again. The reason was that we had a 3 day training course for my new team leads and while I was there being a good boss (Blackberry in bag, laptop off) I wasn't doing any work. So....I had to get it done afterwards. Oh yeah, and of course there were team building events on both nights.

One of the events was at a restaurant called Becco. I'd been there before last January - very nice Italian. At the weekend when I was having a saddo day (see previous entry) I'd watched a TV program on PBS called Lydia's Italy. What I didn't realize until this week was that Becco was owned by Lydia! Weird.......

First thing today I picked Trev up from the airport so he's now back from the UK (getting a visa). Then the packers came. I got home late on Thursday night having got delayed in Chicago (it's the last time I think I'm saving the company money by not taking a direct flight). Friday I ended up in the st Louis office for what was supposed to have been an hour and turned into the whole morning. I got home to start packing......and just as I got into the groove Penny, Mark and Rachel turned up. Yeah! Penny had kindly picked up Rachel on the way through as she was without a car - and it meant she could drive back the Grand Prix to Cedar Rapids to prevent us paying a $500+ bill on the Sable. Back on topic....the packers were amazing. they arrived at 8am and had the whole house boxed before 1pm. Incredible! We then spent the afternoon moving all the furniture for Penny. They had hired a Uhaul that they're towing with Mark's truck. It's jam packed full. They took everything.........flipping marvelous.

Went to Tuckers for dinner...our local. they do the best food.....will really really miss it. Met up with friends Pete and Diane too - spent ages talking about Penny's ghosts. We're getting quite a following - I hope the ghosts appreciate it:)

We're so tired....it's now 8.45pm and we're all going to bed. We've been busy all day - Trev's jetlagged and I think the rest of us are shattered. I thought I'd write as I wait for the food to go down - my stomach is bursting:)

What a saddo!

This is the first day in weeks where I've done the square root of bugger all.....and it's been fabulous. To be honest, it's not that I've done nothing....but I have been catching up so in turn, my mind feels clearer and more settled.

things I've completed:
- put all my clothes away that I brought up from St Louis on Weds
- cleaned out my 500 emails from my work inbox
- wrote my work to do list
- wrote back to my friend Lorraine (2 weeks late, but at least I got there)
- chatting to Penny on IM (OK, OK, so it wasn't on the original list - but it was like old times)
- given myself a pedicure
- got hold of the landlord to pay the April rent and also complain that internet access isn't working (thankfully with wireless I managed to get periodically access to the hotel across the street)
- wrote the list of stuff I want to put in the Grand Prix ready for our road trip Chicago to NYC.

On the bad side, I've eaten crap all day and I did work....even if I pretend I didn't. I didn't go into the office though so that's a plus. I think I can handle all that crap when I get to work on Monday.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with a Realtor to go around Brooklyn and also a new development in Long Island City. that'll be fun and I'll get out of the house. I'm also meeting Heather and Bruce for dinner.

Should be fun:)

What colour green are you

OK, so I'm really really getting the hang on this now.....ahhahahahhaha

You Are Mint Green

Balanced and calm, you have mastered the philosophy of living well. Your friends seek you out for support, and you are able to bring stability to chaotic situations. You're very open and cheerful - and you feel like you have a lot of freedom in life. Your future may hold any number of exciting things, and you're ready for all of them!

What Color Green Are You?

What kind of drunk are you?

OK, so Penny got me started with the "what kind of..." so here's one that I thought was hilarious!!

You're A Crazy Drunk

When you drink, you get wrecked - and it ain't pretty.

What Kind of Drunk Are You?

What animal was I in a past life?

You Were a Snake

You have a primal energy that drives you to explore the mysteries of life. A nearly immortal soul, you'll live a very long life.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

Time for an update

Ok, so my dear friends, I've been amiss in leaving my diary over a week without an update. What a crazy time it's been....way too much traveling (NY-STL for me, CHI-STL for Trev), having to pack stuff up, getting movers into get a quote, socializing, working, traveling (STL-NY for me, STL-London for Trev) and then back to work with no time. I think it's time for another silent meltdown:)

My to-do list....I'm soooo behind
- reply to Lorraine's email. I'm so happy we've made contact again via email....we're catching up over the 10 years since we've seen each other. It's so much fun, I just need to find half an hour to reply....as right now we're writing lengthy emails.
- taxes....we did turbotax again this year; i'm now convinced we need an accountant as we have a business and still can't get a refund. I think we're missing out. I'm fed up of paying more taxes.
- flexible spending...it's the night of the 29th of March and my 2005 claim is STILL not in the system. MUST FAX TOMORROW
- get more people hired at work. I've made one faux pas this week....but it's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things
- get the list to Penny of what stuff we have and what she wants so she can get the truck hired etc.
- get rid of the other stuff she doesn't want
- find somewhere to live in NYC.....again
- communicate with my family and friends more....
- stop working 90 hours a week
- find somewhere for the pianos in storage...not sure it shoudl be a regular place

On a more positive note...I got my hair done in a New York salon. My friend Heather recommended a salon. It was amazing. 2 hours to colour my hair, an hour to cut it. It looks amazing! Although I'm not quite used to paying NYC prices.....I nearly fainted on the spot. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch and ouch. I keep remind myself why i got the payrise I did....it's to pay for things like this. However, a mortgage is needed I believe - it's so good I have to go back:):)

I'm really starting to enjoying walking everywhere...it's fun. Now my shins don't hurt all the time it's much better. It's also the ONLY exercise I'm getting in NY right now. That sucks...but I'm working on it.

I'm hoping to spend more time this weekend catching up and getting to the point where I'm up to date with work, I've scoped out another part of town to figure out where to live, and I get to do one luxurious thing (whether it's a massage or a pedicure, I don't care...but I'm going to do SOMETHING).

On the living front, I'm realizing why being in Manhattan is cool - it's soooo easy to get home. I like the fact it's a 15 min walk and the fact that if I'm out to dinner it's less than $10 to get home. It's making Brooklyn look less likely....although I really need to try out the train....

Ok, it's 9.40pm ET, I've been up since 4am CT....I'm completely exhausted. I'm off to veg....

I'm so thankful

http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs2986

Read this.....it'll make you realize as women in the western world we have so much to be thankful for.

What a day!

So, I knew when Trev woke me up about 4 times between 10.30 last night and 1 am that it was not good....especially as he had to get up at 4am for a flight to Chicago at 6am. I wish I had been wrong. So, I got up at 4.30, hung out a bit...figured I'd get up, go to work early and get out at 3pm....yeah - like that happened. I ended up leaving work at 6.30pm, picked up dinner and then getting into my apartment you need a security code. So I've been up hours, I'm grumpy, hungry, Trev's away etc etc - you get the picture. And what happens? The blinking code doesn't blinking work......not happy. I call the contacts at the apartment and at the time of writing I STILL have not heard back. Peed off or what!!?! I had a brainwave while getting madder and madder that perhaps one of the keys that I don't use opened the door.....you can probably tell because I'm writing this that I managed to get in. Hey ho....you can guess what the email says to them tonight.

Man, we need our own place..........

Ok, maybe we do need a broker:)

So, today was the first foray into looking for somewhere more permanent to live. Didn't go quite as planned...but still, a fun day. I thought we were doing good by being on the Corcoran website...and had it all planned out - we ended up in the wrong part of Brooklyn (cement city to put it mildly) and wasn't particularly nice to look at. We did find one building that had condos for sale that weren't on our list...but they were very expense (over a million!!!!) and the view wasn't good enough.

We did find one apartment - but that was coz we broke down, hailed a cab,....who didn't know where he was going and had to stop and look at a map - LOL* We did find a real estate agent there though who seemed pretty good...so we'll use her to look around rather than trying to do this on our own.

* I always took for granted London cab drivers who have to pass the "Knowledge" test....here, you have to know where you're going so you can give directions. Hahahahaha

things we learnt this weekend:
- we need a broker...we had thought that maybe we wouldn't need one and didn't want to pay
- that thinking we could get somewhere we'd like to live for $300k is a joke
- we can mortgage for more than we ever thought possible
- that we're both going to lose 2 dress sizes purely by the amount of walking that we're now doing in NYC
- that the train is OK....and we're going to have to get used to commuting all over again
- the view out of the windows in an apartment is really important (apparently)...to the tune of hundreds of thousands of $$$$
- that cab drivers sometimes don't kknow where to go either

OK, back to catching up with my work to-do list and out for dinner with friends.

I hope it's not this bad every day....

So, we moved into our temporary apartment last night - and oh, how horrible it was. The apartment itself is nice if a little small. The bed - well, it was like sleeping on cardboard. So, you get used to that (nothing that a mattress pad and real pillows won't fix) and then at 3am it sounded like construction going on ALL FLIPPING NIGHT.

Needless to say, my husband who arrived late last night is not impressed with his first night living in Manhattan.

It can only get better from here.....

I hope it's not this bad every day....

So, we moved into our temporary apartment last night - and oh, how horrible it was. The apartment itself is nice if a little small. The bed - well, it was like sleeping on cardboard. So, you get used to that (nothing that a mattress pad and real pillows won't fix) and then at 3am it sounded like construction going on ALL FLIPPING NIGHT.

Needless to say, my husband who arrived late last night is not impressed with his first night living in Manhattan.

It can only get better from here.....

To brighten your day

If you're feeling down....give this link a whirl
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

Can't wait for the weekend

Today's the day we move into our apartment. As usual in my life, nothing is ever simple and getting the lease signed and to the landlord has proved more than difficult. So they email paperwork, I sign it, leave it for pick up and all is well....until 5.30pm last night when the call to say they never received the lease. Well, THAT'S COZ THEY NEVER SENT IT TO ME. What dingbats! Turns out there was a whole other doc I was supposed to have. They sent it, I printed it, I signed it......and then noticed it was for 6 months, not 3 month. OMG - can you believe that? So this morning it's now 10.38am...and I must have called 5 times, emailed 3 times and can't get hold of anyone to take the flipping lease. I have checked out of the hotel this morning.......so as of now I have no place to live. Oh, what fun I'm having.

Trev gets into NY tonight - can't wait. It seems ages since I've seen him and I really miss having him around. I know it's stressful right now for both of us - but it's still nice to pop your butt on the sofa and veg out. Let's hope I have somewhere to sleep tonight......hahahahahahah

More good news

The house in St Louis is sold - yeeeeeeeeeeha. We close on April 13th. So, now we have to get our butts in gear to get stuff packed up. Penny has said she'll take a load of stuff - so, before i send her the list I've given first refusal to the kids - not sure they want anything major, but had better check. So, Penny if you're reading I'll be sending an inventory shortly with the dates we're back in STL.

Now I'm really excited and scared at the same time. We've now got no ties to St Louis - I really hope we find somewhere we like to live. I think it's overwhelming for the pair of us. For me, at least i'm now here and working - I'm not sure Trev has adjusted yet. Hopefully it'll feel more real once we're in our apartment next weekend. Roll on Thursday.

Finally! Somewhere to live...

I realized on my last post I titled it implying that it was about my apartment hunting....and I managed to avoid it until the last sentence.

I went out this afternoon, met a guy and looked at 2 apartments in the same building and found one. Grossly overpriced and small but it'll do for now - it at least sorts out my corporate housing. Yeeeeha!

Now back to sorting out my job....this afternoon is me getting my reports and to-do list together. i can sleep well tonight

Looking for apartments

So I've been here in New York for 4 days. It's been a good weekend. My friend Melissa from Hartford came down for the weekend - we went shopping (gotta love Macy's), hung out and then went for dinner in Chelsea. We met up with a friend we both know from APAC days. John now lives in Fort Lauderdale and was in NY for work. Was good to meet up again. A few things I'm going to have to adjust to:

1) it costs $100/person without that much alcohol. The food was amazing (we had sushi) - however, I couldn't believe the cost
2) the fact that everyone goes out for dinner after 8pm and then stays out in very crowded bars for hours and hours

I felt very old... I know in England I'd meet people for dinner at 8.30pm...but having been in the midwest for a decade I got used to dinner at 6. Oh well, we'll figure it out.

On the apartment front, I'm seeing a couple of apartments later today - hopefully I'll have more news.

Well, I made it:)

It's Friday...........can you believe I only arrived on Wednesday? It feels like I've been here forever. My role has changed - I run the Americas training group for high revenue account. Yeah.......although personally I don't see me getting any high revenue. I'm conflicted - do I ask for a raise now (I'm responsible for 70 people rather than 25) or do I work 3 months, make it work and then ask....? I feel like if I was asked to give someone a raise without proving themselves I'd say no....but at the same time this is NOT what I signed up for.

On the plus side....I'm heavily involved in the recruiting trying to make head nor tail of the information. I've decided it's a guy thing. they create weird ass spreadsheets without all the data that no-one else can understand. Luckily I'm a project manager at heart so i can figure it out myself. That's my job for this afternoon. In addition, I have a huge migration project at one of my accounts - and I'm being BS'd by one of the team members....the client and acct mgrs love her, but my team doesn't. Having listened in on the mtg I think they're full of crap....so I'm being a project manager too. Wooo hoooo. Loving it already!

On the apartment front - I have nothing. nada. zip. I'm in the Hilton temporarily until I can find something. Work is so crazy that it's hard to find time. so this weekend I'm actively spending time looking for places to stay.

OK.....off to more work.

One step closer...

We closed on Bradbury Dr...I'm sure I said that before, but hey - one house down, one to go:)

Had my last day in the St Louis office today - I left with a tinge of sadness but mostly excitement. I get on a 6am flight tomorrow and then my life in NYC begins.

It's Trev's b'day today - he's had a good day - he liked the Sony PSP i bought him, he went and got a game and now I'm showing him how to put music and movies onto it. We'll see if the focus stays....I love it so it has a home if it becomes unloved.

Things to do:
- reply to my friend Lorraine's email...feel bad that I've not done that (if you're reading, I'm thinking of you)
- get the house tidy before 4am tomorrow morning
- get STL house sold

More later
Bye

It's crazy

I think I'm having the quietest meltdown in history....

Step 1: House in Iowa is sold - yeeeeeha. Have seen any money yet, although we make a complete and utter loss.
Step 2: Go through rooms in St Louis house and make sure we pitch all the crap stuff
Step 3: Get my ass to NYC on March 8 - bags packed, don't forget anything. Find somewhere to live
Step 2a: Don't forget between now and then that it's your husband's birthday. Quite worried about his gift and I've got him something that Tim (my brother) tells me he'll love. Don't worry at all about the fact that Trev said he didn't want one the DAY AFTER I bought it.....I hope I haven't let him down
Step 4: See Melissa and John for socializing in NYC
Step 5: Be in NY for St Patricks Day...Trev will be in town for that, brilliant

Even so, it's going to be busy - I've not got anywhere to live and work won't let me stay in a hotel for weeks and weeks. It has to be my first port of call. Mind you, my calendar is getting so booked up I'm not sure how to find the time. I WILL MAKE TIME I WILL MAKE TIME I WILL MAKE TIME....keep repeating this over and over again

Had a fantastic leaving do last Friday...can't remember some of it - but have about 250 photos to prove it. It was fabulous. I'm so sad to be leaving but very excited about my new opportunity. I'll post the photos later.

Was at the dentist this morning....again. Yuk. although I can quite frankly recommend this conscious sedation thing. You get happy drugs via IV - and you don't care they're hurting your mouth. Recovery is pretty good too so that's even better. I'm at the point where I'd fly back to STL to see these guys - awesome!

OK back to work, back to sorting, back to getting b'day ready, back to clearing up, back to.....................ouch:) my brain hurts!

Quiz... and other stuff

OK, so I did the nerdy test....so here's a fun one:)
http://www.dr-joe.net/quiz.html

This one is a political one:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blgeorgewbushquiz.htm

If you like weird-o British humor I suggest you listen to the free podcasts of Ricky Gervais...he's the guy from the BBC "The Office" - blinking hilarious. Limewire.com is the source - these were free. There are 12 episodes - they will only appeal if you like weird stuff.... each episode rambles for 30 mins talking about nothing in particular. it is funny though!

Last but not least - weird quiz

LAYER ONE:
Name: Philippa
Birthplace: Hemel Hempstead, England
Gender: Female
Age: 38
Eye Color: blue
Hair Color: mid brown
Height: 5'2
Righty or Lefty: left
Zodiac Sign: Leo

LAYER TWO:
Your heritage: Anglo Saxon
The shoes you wore today: Black boots, then sneakers
Your fears: that I don't enjoy my life
Your perfect meal: depends on the day....right now, it's Sushi followed by a tempura
Goal you'd like to achieve: be debt free
goals? be financially sound, retire early, enjoy life

LAYER THREE:
Your thoughts first waking up: "Gotta get up"
Your best physical feature: yeah.....right - ok.....my eyes or my ginormous boobs
Your bedtime: 10pm weeknights....who knows on weekends
Your most missed memory: my grandmother

LAYER FOUR:
Pick one..Pepsi or Coke: Diet Coke
McDonald's or Burger King: BK
Single or group dates: dates?Group
Adidas or Nike: actually I'm into New Balance right now
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Good grief - PG Tips English tea, hot, strong and w/milk
Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate
Cappuccino or coffee: coffee

LAYER FIVE:
Do you...Smoke: No
Cuss: I've been known to...although I try not to (and fail most days)
Sing: occasionally
Take a shower: daily
Have a crush: not really
Think you've been in love: Yep
Want to go to college: In an MBA program (although not studied for 2 years)
Like high school: nope
Want to get married: already married
Get motion sickness: no
Think you're attractive: not really
Think you're a health freak: I never used to be, but now I'd say yes
Get along with your parent(s): yes, but that's coz I'm older
Like thunderstorms: not especially
Play an instrument: piano - although not played ina few years

LAYER SIX:
In the past 3 months...
Drank alcohol: yep
Smoked: no
Done a drug:
Had Sex: yep - what are husbands for:)
Made Out: yep - again, what are husbands for:)
Gone on a date: - ditto above...
Gone to the mall?: only under sufferance
Eaten an entire box of Oreos: yuk no
Eaten sushi: yes
Been on stage: when I was 12
Been dumped: not for a very long time
Made homemade cookies: no
Gone skinny dipping: no
Dyed your hair: yep
Stolen anything: no

LAYER NINE:
In a guy/girl...
Best eye color?: blue or brown
Best hair color?: don't care
Height: don't care....but I'm short enough not to worry
Best weight: don't care
Best articles of clothing: jeans

LAYER TEN:
Number of drugs taken illegally: zero
Number of piercings: 2
Number of tattoos: 0
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: maybe twice
Number of scars on my body: about 7...all surgery scars
Number of things in my past that I regret: None...the things I have done have shaped who I am today

Officially in my new job

I start my new job today....wooohoooo - doesn't feel like it though. it was crazy today, I got a cold so i've come home to prepare documentation and what happens? I leave my charger at work so I only have 2 hours to work. Funny thing is I seem to be blogging more than working.....jetlag'll do that to you.

I leave for NYC on march 8th - still don't have anywhere to live, but we'll figure it out. We close on the IA house tomorrow so that'll be one less hassle...then we have just the MO house to sell. We've agreed a price with my brother so we should have enough collatoral to buy in NY.

today was cool for another reason - I got an email from my friend Lorraine - we've known each other since I was about 17 and have kept in distant touch. Another reason to love the internet.....it brings you closer. Hopefully she's reading this blog to know I'm thinking of her. I do feel bad - i got her email, thought it was brief and replied just as briefly....only to find out it was a longer email. I'm now working on that too....it's a decade since we've seen each other so we have a lot to catch up on....i can't wait.

I'm also happy that Penny's back up and running.....it feels like I'm in touch again. All we need is for more people to blog and keep in touch and it'll be brilliant!

More later

Am I a nerd...?

Thanks Penny for this quiz...I figured I should answer too...

1. Do you remember when you saw your first computer?
I won't count the Atari game player I got when I was about 11. I was in 3rd year of senior school (US equivalent 8th grade) - at the time I had taken computer studies....although what that meant was that you wrote your programming on cards...gave them to a college, wait a week and then get back your output. 9 times out of 10 the admin would mistype something.....

My first "proper" computer was actually at work and probably where I lost complete fear of them. I was 16, it was my job at BT and I remember being led into a lab and told "learn this as you have to teach us how to use it" - it was the only PC in the team. I thought it was flipping marvelous - big heavy 7inch floppy disks. It really did do me the power of good.

My first home computer was a "portable" the size of a house.....it was huge:)

2. When did you first go online and/or use email? Who did you email back then? How did the internet change your life? When did you discover blogging? What about your home internet connection - is it dial-up, DSL, cable?

I had an email address at BT in 1996...but never used it - I used cellphones and fax. I can't believe that....but that's how it worked. Trevor and I briefly had an MSN account in the UK but rarely used it. When we moved, we probably left it about a year....and then we had dial-up for 6 months. Then....we got broadband and have never looked back. Who we emailed? family and friends...not really much for work. When I joined APAC in 1999 I started to use email even more......now I'm addicted. In fact, the best way to get hold of me either instant messenging or email (esp now I have a Blackberry).

The internet changed my life because I can keep in touch far more with everyone and much more regularly. I'd phone the UK once a month....now I talk maybe 5 days a week on IM. It's great. Oh yeah, and shopping - i do all my shopping online.....I rarely go into a shop. It's cheaper....

I'm relatively new to blogging. Penny got me into it last October....

3. Do you remember your first VCR?

It was a Hitachi....I thought it was so cool because you could fast forward to each new recording.

4. When did you switch from VCR to DVD? How did it change your video viewing experience? Do you use TiVo or any such "contraption" to tape TV shows? Do you use Netflix or some other internet-based DVD "renting" service?

Probably 5 years ago...although it's only with this move that ALL the videos are being sent to goodwill. I've not watched a tape since I've been in st Louis....so it's time fo rthem to go. Tivo? I'm an addict. I love Tivo - it revolutionalizes what and how much you watch. Right now we're using the cable company's equivalent but it's no match for Tivo...

I've done netflix a couple of times thanks to our kids....however with all the CSI's and Law and Order's on demand with Tivo, there's no need.

5. What about music? Did you enjoy listening favorite music in Long Plays or did you prefer cassette tapes? When did you buy your first CD player and switched to CDs? Did you abandon them (and turned to downloaded music) for MP3 players or Ipods or do you still buy CDs? (I'm not going to ask or comment about "illegal" music activities in the internet, even though it was an exciting innovation, lest one of us gets arrested for it :)

I bought singles between the age of 16-20. I bought very few LPs. I generally mixed my own tapes. I bought my first CD player in 1985 when they were terribly expensive. I'm now an MP3 addict...although I still don't get the whole IPOD thing. ....I have a Samsung 1GB MP3 player and it's awesome. I've just bought a external hard drive as I've got over 20GB music recorded..... I have yet to purchase any online music....all my MP3s are my own.

6. Do you own and use a cell phone? Do you think it's useful or just annoying?(Did you always have a telephone in your house growing up? Did you have a phone in your own room?)

I have my own cellphone - actually I just switched to a Blackberry....very cool. I think it's great, although sometimes I think you can be too accessible. I never had a phone in my room growing up, but there was always one in the house.

7. When did you first buy a digital camera? What kind was it (3.2, 4.0, 5.0 mega-pixels or better)? Did you start taking more pictures or were you a photo aficionado before then? What about a digital video camera?

I bought my first digital camera about 5 years ago. It was $50 and it was crap....Trev said that I should buy a good one...but I wanted to check whether I'd like it. I was a big SLR camera person, long lenses etc etc. My "proper" digi I bought was a Sony DSC-P1 3MP - it was awesome. What got me away from SLRs was my trip to Oz 3 years ago - the pics on the digi were as good (if not better) than the cumbersome SLR. I upgraded last year to a Sony P200 which is great.....I did briefly have a Canon S500..but I hated it. Sony's brand is awesome. I do hanker for a cuter model though:) I've never had a digi video....although both Sony's have a video mode that I use.

8. What about televisions? Have you already embraced the new technologies, such as HDTV, plasma, and flat screen? (On the other hand, you wouldn't remember black & white TVs, would you?)

When we bought in STL we bought a 42inch Panasonic flat panel HDTV. It's blinking marvelous. Love it. I embrace all new technologies.......I'm even excited that my laptop for work has a finger print reader instead of typing in a login (how nerdy is that!!)

My last day in the UK

It's my last day in the UK....it's been a terribly busy week. I arrived last Sunday, went to Mum and Dad's, had dinner, made it to 11pm hanging out with Tim (which is amazing when you're struggling with jetlag). Monday, more of hanging out - went to Kesgrave Kitchen for a greasy spoon and a tad of shopping but amazingly didn't buy a thing. Tuesday I went to London for work - the hotel was weird...didn't sleep a wink as the bed backed onto the hallway meaning everytime a guest walked past the door slammed. Had great meetings all week and met loads of people. I think I'll like my new job too.

This weekend has been great too. Met Jenny and Frankie on Friday night for Chinese and Diana for Thai on Sat night.....Fabulous! Sunday my friend Debbie and I made it to Felixstowe for their market although it was bitingly cold. The waves were amazing - crashing against all the beach huts and high too. Had my last portion of chips wrapped in paper looking at the sea.....how traditional is that???!?

I'm now sitting at Tim's having done most of my packing, checking email, cooking a chicken in the crockpot (slow cooker to you brits) for dinner. Mum and Dad are coming over later. Will be a good last evening. I leave tomorrow morning for Heathrow - I'm really looking forward to being home and seeing Trev again although he'l be leaving for Chicago on Tues morning. ....will update when I'm back the other side of the Atlantic.

Four things

Thanks Penny for this.....i've missed this exchange. So, here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Project Manager
2. Client Training Manager
3. Application Development Manager
4. Secretary/Clerical Assistant

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. 007 Movies (not George Lazenby or Roger Moore though...)
3. Formula 51
4. Fierce Creatures

Four places I've lived:
1. Cedar Rapids, IA USA
2. St Louis, MO USA
3. Ipswich, England
4. Stowmarket, England

Four TV shows I love (only 4 is very very hard....I have loads and loads and loads):
1. CSI (Las Vegas)
2. House
3. Wire in the Blood (BBC America)
4. Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (only in the UK, have the DVDs....blinking brilliant)

Four highly-touted TV shows I detest:
1. American Idol
2. Grey's Anatomy (I really really don't get this one)
3. Apprentice (it was good the first time around, maybe even the second....but c'mon, it gets old)
4. Extreme Makeover (regular or home addition...)

Four books I'd recommend to anyone, anytime:
1. Tom Peters - the Brand You 50
2. I can make you thin (new on my list, I'm trying it with the CD hypnotist....it's working)
3. Angels and Demons/Da'Vinci Code (angels and demons is the pre-cursor to DaVinci....and I think it's better personally but both worth a read)
4. Richard North Patterson books (most of them anyway)

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Australia
2. France (Brittany - north west coast)
3. Majorca
4. England

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Toad in the hole
2. Full English Roast Dinner
3. Trifle
4. Chocolate cake (well, actually....ANYTHING chocolatey)

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Blogger
2. Bank/Credit cards
3. www.thesun.co.uk - tabloid UK newspaper website for all the juicy UK gossip
4. www.reuters.com or www.reuters.co.uk - for "proper" news

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Heron Island, Australia
2. In the bar with good friends sinking back a few drinks (remember the ol' days in Cedar Rapids....fabulous)
3. Hanging out with Trev at home
4. Same as #2 but with my UK friends and family

Four bloggers I am tagging: (another toughie - I've only got two friends reading my blog and blogging themselves and one of them tagged me!)
1. Penny (so glad you're well enough to blog again)
2. Jenness and Trienne
3. Tim (doesn't blog...although trying to convince him to)
4. Mum and Dad (doesn't blog.....want them to)

Not much to report...

...but going crazy nonetheless. I've been back in St Louis for a week - got over the jetlag (I hate it), have cleared out the study, closet, kitchen ready for moving. My darling husband is of the mind that "we'll just pack it all up and worry about it later"....however I'm not. The thought of paying to move stuff to NYC only to pitch it is more than my mind can cope with. Trev's gone off to chicago for work now so I'll be taking pics of the red sofas, big ass book cases, PC, monitor, plus a whole host of other stuff to get rid of. My plan before I leave for the UK is to have cleared out the remaining closets and boxed up the books. We've already had about 4 boxes for Goodwill.....yeah!

Friday I'm off to Chicago until Saturday night when I travel back to the UK. I'm working Tues-Fri but will at least be able to hang out with my family and friends. Mum's doing great - she's recovering well. Had a bit of a scare with an infection but all seems to be good now which is fabulous.

Valentines day was cute - I got a very squishy teddy bear (not Trev's usual choice of gift) and card. We went for cocktails at Cafe Bellagio and then for dinner at the Tachibana for sushi etc. Was fabulous.

I'm finally getting excited about the move to NY and the job. All now sorted out about who I'm working for and what I'm doing. Had my first meeting yesterday - and sounds right up my street. It's been a long time since I've been on the front line with clients....so we'll see how this goes. HOpefully my market and finance knowledge will grow leaps and bounds.

Oh yeah, and my friend Penny who's really sick right now is hanging in there. If you know her blog you can get the details there. Really must call her.........

OK, I really realy must work as I'm supposed to be finishing my monthly report for January (yeah I know, I'm really really late).

What a relief!

Today was the day to find out the results of Mum's surgery. Phew! What a relief...she was given the all clear. Now the road to recovery from a hysterectomy but other than that - nothing! She had a mass removed that was huge which is great - but no cancer. We'll be celebrating tonight.

I'm flying back on Tuesday and even though I had a couple of weeks in England at the end of Feb it's possible that I can change that now. I have even allowed myself to start thinking about the move to New York again.

On a totally different subject, i haven't heard from Penny yet - she had a doc's appointment this past week and she's not updated her blog. Hopefully they're sorting her out.... when I'm back home next week i'll catch up with her.