I Heart NY

I had to go to New York this week for work. I have only been to NY once before and it was just for one day so I don't really count that. So after this trip I have decided that I heart NY. Even though I was there for work I had such a good time. I was there for New Hire training. Even though I have worked there for over a year now I missed all the previous trainings. I wasn't sure which of my fellow Salt Lake colleagues would be joining me, but I was pleased to find that two from my same department were there as well. We stayed at the Hyatt in Jersey City, but it was right on the Hudson so the view was spectacular. We got there by about 5:00 on Monday night so we had time to go into the city. We saw all the regular sights: Times Square, Madison Square Gardens, Empire State Building, Crystler Building and others which I can't remember. We did pretty good navigating ourselves around the city and I was happy to discover I could have such a good time with coworkers whom I had not met before that day. On Tuesday we went into the city for our meetings. The office was right on Wall Street so we got to see the New York Stock Exchange (pictured here with the flag) and the Bull. The training was long, but ok. I met some pretty great people from all over the country. That night me and three of my coworkers broke away from the group and went to China Town. I wasn't as impressed with the NY China Town as I was with the SF China Town. It was also really cold and I was in heals so that may have influenced my decision. We went back towards the financial district for dinner and ate at this really cool steak place. The signature steak was $79! It was a good thing everything was expensed to the company. On Wednesday we went to more training. This day was less exciting. We had cocktails in the evening with the big-wigs. Unfortunately no mocktails were available so I went with a soda. That night we ended up going to dinner with the entire Salt Lake group. I think there were 14 of us. We went to an Italian place by our hotel in Jersey. It was a riot. I am so grateful I was there with a good group. I tried to talk everybody into taking an all night trip to Atlantic City. The cars were coming to pick us up at the hotel at 5:00 am to take us to the airport. We finished eating dinner around 10:30 and Atlantic City was 2 hours away. We could sleep for 2 hours on the way out there spend a few hours and then sleep 2 hours on the way back. Then we had 4 and a half hour flight back to Salt Lake. That would have been plenty of sleep. I had a few talked into it, but when it came down to it they went on the responsible side and we just went back to the hotel. I woke up at 4:30 am and the cars came to pick us up. When we got to the airport I realized I left my wallet and my iPod in the safe in the hotel. After quite a few conversations I finally made the hotel understand what I needed. One of my coworkers was coming back that night so I just asked him to pick it up for me. It was such a good time and I loved NY, but I decided I'm way too soft to work in the offices there. I know I would just end up crying all day. It was very exciting there and the buildings are beautiful, but I definitely don't think I could handle the faster way of life like that.

"Sex Noises"

I moved to a new apartment on Feb. 28th. My lease was up in my old place and both of my roommates are getting married so we all split. (Ironically, we all moved within a few blocks of each other. Baby steps.) I live in the Avenues now and I love it. It's an old building built in the 1940's so it has a lot of character. This is my bedroom, kitchen and front room. It's really small, but I like it a lot. It's on the 4th floor and of course there's no elevator so moving in was a workout. I recruited some burly young men to move the heavy stuff and they did an excellent job. I bought a new TV as shown (I think that's Young Guns" playing) and I underestimated it's weight, or I overestimated my own strength. The guy at RC Willey put it in my car and when I got home I realized there was no way I was going to be able carry it up four flights of stairs. I couldn't even put my arms around it. I sat down on my bumper and weighed my options. 1) I could call someone and ask them to come help me, but I didn't want anyone to have to drive all the way to my apartment just to carry a box up some stairs. 2) I could leave it in my car until I was going to be with someone that night. (Considering my friend Hilary's car was broken into in that same parking lot not too many weeks ago, I decided this probably was not the best option.) 3) I could knock on one of my neighbor's doors and hope that they were not 96 years old. Or 4) I could ask one of the young men congregated outside of the church across the street. I decided to go with #4. I'm sure the young men were scouts and service has got to be one of the scout motos so they couldn't say no. As I ran a few things up to my apartment before going over to the church I realized the scout leaders might be a little suspicious of a young woman asking some young impressionable men to come inside her apartment, but I figured I would try to look as innocent as possible. By the time I got back downstairs the scouts were already inside the church and I didn't want to go chasing them for assistance. I was back to square one sitting on my bumper. Then a man pulled into the parking lot and started unloading groceries from his car. He was young and looked as though he could handle half the load of my TV. I walked up to him and explained the situation. He of course said he would help. He had a beautiful voice from the second he opened his mouth and I soon found out that he's an opera singer. Of course. We took the TV up to my apartment and when I opened the door and everything was put away and arranged, my helper was amazed that it was all put together after living there for only a day and a half. I just told him I was annul about order, which is true, but I didn't tell him that I also don't sleep, which gives you lots of extra time. Which....brings me to my next subject. I moved in on a Thursday. I put a few things away that night, but not much. Friday I went to work and then out and by the time I got home it was pretty late...around 1:00 am. Not thinking of the time and how moving furniture around on wood floor and pounding nails in the wall might wake up fellow tenants, I went to work putting things away. I did this for a few hours and then went to bed. When I woke up on Saturday morning I had a note under my door. It read as follows: "Will you please quiet down? Your sex noises are ridiculously loud!!! I can hear you through ear plugs, and I'm not a light sleeper. You already know you wake me up. Please, again, I'm asking you to quiet down." My initial reaction was feeling bad that I had been so loud, and I do still feel bad about that, but after some thought I realized how funny it was. My "sex noises." That was the best part. Needless to say, I have tried to be a bit more quiet to avoid any further contention.