The Drama

I finally had a response from the sellers to my request for some credit and repairs on the house (based upon the findings of the home inspection). Basically, the only thing they are willing to do is replace a toilet seat that is broken. Most, if not all, of the windows in the house have some kind of permanent damage (fogging) so the panes will have to be replaced. I requested that these be repaired or, if they prefer, they could leave their washing machine & dryer in lieu of the repairs. There is a piece of sheetrock missing from the garage that my home inspector said is a big safety issue. With it missing, it leaves the house vulnerable to fire (a fire in the garage could now easily & immediately spread into the rafters of the house). This is a small cut-out and shouldn't be too hard to replace. The fence around the property is rotting and falling down. It is stated in the condo bylaws that any structure like this that is unsound and/or unsightly is subject to removal or replacement by the HOA, at the owner's expense. Lastly, the roof is 20 years old and the home inspector seemed to think it would need to be fixed soon. Depending on who I've spoken to, it seems I can expect this to cost anywhere from 5K - 10K+.

The realtor's response on the behalf of the owners was:
* There is nothing wrong with that roof.
* There is nothing wrong with that fence.
* They were never led to believe from their inspection on the house 7 months ago (oh yeah, have I mentioned that they've only lived there 7 months?) that there was any safety issue with the missing sheetrock -- and this is my problem, because?
* They are keeping their washer & dryer because they are new.
* The sellers have put 10K into the house since they moved there.
* They need the entire selling price out of it.
(they said nothing at all about the damaged windows)

When my realtor asked what they spent the 10K on, the response was, oh new counter tops and flooring, new carpeting and some other stuff. Well, that granite counter top in the kitchen is beautiful, I'll give them that. But who in their right mind would install an expensive slab granite counter on top of
formica cabinets??? To me that's insane. It will now be extremely tricky and difficult, if not impossible, to upgrade those lower cabinets without damaging or destroying the nice counter. Or you can maybe do some bastardization project of replacing the doors and doing some kind of laminate on the rest, but it's F*ed up as far as I'm concerned. The flooring in the kitchen is nice, but it's pergo, not hardwood. And the carpets already look worn and soiled (with 5 kids and a dog, that's no surprise).

I guess I'm maybe being petty about my requests, but this house was not listed as a fixer-upper, I'm paying their full asking price and there are some things that are damaged or in need of pretty much immediate repair. I didn't really feel like my requests were that out of line, but I feel that the seller's refusal to even negotiate for any compromise is a gesture of bad faith. It's leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

In the meantime, because I was pissed, I asked my realtor to bring me to see this condo for which I had seen a online listing:

http://www.beangroup.com/real_estate/listings/Condos/NH/Merrimack/513618

I really liked the condo and it's also a lot cheaper (and it is a little bit bigger). However, it doesn't have a garage, a screened porch, or a yard. The kitchen is considerably smaller, as is the deck. But still, it was in perfect condition and in a very nice condo complex with lots of walking trails, etc.

So, I think I am now even more confused, but I have to make a decision soon about what I'm going to do. Like in the next 24 hours.

On a good note, I ended up talking to a local moving company and it looks like the move isn't going to cost me nearly as much as I had feared (my expectations of prices for everything around here are so skewed by my experience with NYC costs). So that is a huge relief.

Another Update

I just got the title report back. Everything checks out there too.

I just can't seem to stop ...

... buying socks. Seriously. I was just putting away a bunch of clutter in my apartment and I must have come across at least 10 pairs of socks that haven't even been opened yet. This is added to the 5 or so other new pair that have recently been opened and worn. This has got to be some kind of sickness or something. Damn you Target!!!

House Update

Got the appraisal back today, so that's all set (no surprises there, not that I was expecting any, but you never know).
My mortgage broker expects the title report any minute.
Locked in my mortgage rate on Friday (for 60 days).
I finally spoke to the relocation company, which was a complete relief. I was getting nervous about those closing costs being covered. Although I found out that my move is not going to be covered, so that was a rude awakening. But still, the closing cost is the biggie.
I am waiting for the seller to respond to my request for credits and concessions, that went to them last Thursday and I haven't heard anything yet.

There were also some pictures of the house in the appraisal which is fantastic because my camera batteries went dead on the day I was going to take my own pictures, so I never ended up actually getting any. I can't figure out how to strip them out of the pdf file, otherwise I would post some here. Oh well, at least I can look at them and try to plan where things should go and what color I maybe want the walls to be. Or whatever.

Rainy Sunday

There is just something I love about a rainy Sunday in the Fall. Being able to sit in my living room with the sliding door open to the deck so that I can listen to the rain pouring down outside, cozy & comfortable in the knowledge that there is no where I have to go, no place I have to be. I know, I'm a freak, most people are upset when it rains on the weekend. I wouldn't want to have this weather for every weekend, but once in a while it is a pure, decadent pleasure.

It's Just So Exciting

The home inspection is in. Check.
The mortgage is approved. Check.
The appraisal is ordered and scheduled for tomorrow.

Things are really clipping along, it's all so exciting!

It's Another Gorgeous Fall Day here in New England

I just love it here ...

(I just had to share)

That Tired Pug

It is one of those wonderfully gorgeous early Fall days. Mid-70s during the day, but the late afternoon brought this Autumn crispness that is completely unique to this time of year. I took that pug for a good, hour-long walk on the trail this evening, we really enjoyed having it completely to ourselves and I could also appreciate all the wildflowers and tall wild grass that you really only find in the country. As enjoyable as the walk was, I think it wore Lola out, she has already retired to the bedroom and is now snoozing away in the middle of my bed.

What a Relief!

Today has been so much quieter here in my new work space. I'm feeling optimistic that yesterday was a fluke. TG!

There's a New Bitch in Town

I moved to a new cube today on the other floor in this newly built and configured office space. I actually like the cube and the way the space is all laid out, however, I seem to have the misfortune to have been placed right in just about the highest traffic area, right in the middle, outside of the pantry and at the convergence of a number main thoroughfare aisles. As a result, today there were multiple loud impromptu meetings that seemed to happen with the attendees all pretty much standing right over my desk. It was horrible.

Meeting number one: more and more people kept joining in the fray, with multiple loud exclamations to colleagues across the floor. When about 20 minutes of dirty looks didn't seem to clue this group in to the fact that they were being incredibly loud and inconsiderate, I finally had to speak up and let them know that they were being too loud and that I couldn't concentrate on my work (I mean, my headphones didn't even block them out).

Meeting number two: was smaller but even more incredibly rude as the two participants literally leaned against my cube walls, facing each other and talking to each other across my cube while using my wall as a kind of bar on which to rest their coffee. I had to point out the obvious and say, "um, this is my WORK SPACE, do you mind???"

There were other examples of interruptions and loud inconsideration, but these are the two I chose to respond to.

I am hoping that today was just an exception since every one was just moving in and getting settled into the space. Possibly today was just some kind of fluke and the normal day-to-day won't be so bad, but I may have to try and move my space if this continues. I just can't stand noise!

Anyway, I'm sure I've made a wonderful impression now as the biggest bitch on the floor with my multiple hissy fits today. What a way to make a first impression in a new work space.

Sheesh.

Next Step Done

Today I had the inspection for the house I am buying. Not only was it great to get this next step done, but it also gave me a wonderful opportunity to comb through the house in infinite detail. I'm happy to say that after this process I like the place just as much as I did on the day I made my offer. Luckily, the house inspector didn't find anything majorly wrong with it either, so that's a relief.

On a related note, my mortgage broker got in touch with me last night to let me know that I now have the official mortgage loan approval, and for a rate even lower than I had been pre-approved for! So that is a very nice plus. It took only about a day or two to get the loan -- I can't believe how fast that was. Everything is moving extremely fast, frankly.

Wild Turkey. No, not the booze

I took Lola for a walk on the trail behind my apartment building this evening and, upon rounding a turn, we can across a whole gaggle of wild turkeys hanging out in the middle in of the path. It was so freaking bizarre. They were a bit ahead of us and high-tailed it into the tall grass pretty quickly once they saw us, so Lola (being the clueless non-bird dog that she is) didn't even notice them, she was too intent on what was immediately under her nose. Wild turkeys. In my backyard! You sure never encounter anything like that in Queens!

Stars

I just love how I can walk outside here at night and look up and see a sky full of stars. When I take Lola out for the last time each night, I always spend the entire time I'm out there with my head craned back staring at the sky. It reminds me of the sky at my childhood Summer home. It's the little things in life, it truly is.

A Whirlwind

Things sure do move fast when you're not buying a co-op. I already have a signed contract! When I bought my co-op (and, again, when I sold it) I didn't have the signed contract for months. Now I am desperately looking for all the necessary paperwork for the mortgage. I think I have everything except my 2004 W-2, that is packed away and buried in some box somewhere, I'm sure. Not quite sure what I'm going to do about that. Ironically, I actually did find a W-2 from 2001 ... SHEESH!

... And It's GOOD News!

I had a call from my realtor at around 6 PM and the house is mine! (or will be after contracts and mortgages and closings and moving, etc.) I. Am. So. Excited! And freaking terrified. ACK!

Morning Fog

Waiting on a House

An update on my house search: I was very disappointed on Thursday night to find that the house I wanted seems to already be gone. My realtor contacted the realtor for the property to find out the story. Turns out the sellers have a signed offer with another party, but it is a contingent offer, the buyer has to have a signed agreement on their own house, or somehow have the means to buy this house regardless, in order to hold the sellers to the agreement. The sellers on the other hand have found a house that they want, but can not move forward until they have a firm contract on their house. Got that?

So, because I'm very interested in the house and because I haven't seen anything that suits me quite as perfectly in my price range, I decided on Friday to go ahead and submit my offer, along with $2,500 "earnest money".

Now, the way it's been explained to me, if the sellers are interested in my offer (and why wouldn't they be? It's for full-price, I'm pre-approved and I don't have to make my offer contingent on selling property), that they have to give the original people 72 hours to get a signed agreement on their house (or otherwise prove they can buy this one, regardless of whether they sell their current one). If this doesn't happen, first buyers have to release the agreement and allow the sellers to pursue the more viable offer.

So, I'm currently in the waiting stage. I don't really know what's going to happen, I don't even know when the seller's agent submitted the bid to these people and if they had any response to that. My realtor doesn't seem to think I can expect to hear anything much before Monday night at the earliest. It's extremely nerve-racking. If this falls through, then I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

Is it bad ...

... that I don't know my own father's phone number? I have to look it up. Every. Single. Time.

Sheesh.

A Picture I Took From My Deck This Morning

Looks like Fall is almost here. Yay!

Disappointed

Tonight I finally saw a house that I can picture myself living in. I came home and looked it up again on the real estate site to just crunch some numbers and review the pictures, with plans to make an offer tomorrow. Well, somehow in the time between my seeing it around 5 PM and my arriving home at around 6:45, there is a sale pending. WTF???!!!

This is So. Freaking. Frustrating.

I (literally) Have No Words

Today in the mail I received the long-awaited invitation to my Father's 75th Birthday Bash. I had wondered if I would be invited at all (especially after talking to my father last week where there was no mention of any party) and I also commented at one point to my sister or a friend, I can't remember which, that I didn't even know when the party was happening. Since his birthday is on a Wednesday, it could easily be the weekend before or the weekend after. I then joked that for all I know she was having it on the Wednesday. The response from sister or friend was, "oh, I'm sure she wouldn't do that!" The subtext, of course, is that no one would be that stupid or clueless.

Well, guess what? The party is scheduled on the Wednesday! Along with the invitation, which (by the way) is the kind of invitation you would send out for your kid's 7 year old birthday party or something (I mean, complete with a cartoon elephant and monkey in primary colors declaring, "It's a Party!"), there is a note from Lori (wifey) gushing about how she hopes I'll come. Well, how in the Hell does she expect me to be able to come on a FREAKING Wednesday???!!! Is she crazy? I mean, she does realize that I live, at minimum, a five-hours drive away?!

It's also not as if someone is offering to buy me a first class plane ticket to fly in for the party either. That honor is reserved for her own daughters. I'm sure they are all already scheduled to be staying in the spare bedrooms at my father's house too. So even if I somehow was able to come, I most likely wouldn't have a place to stay anyway (unless I didn't mind the couch or something).

If I didn't know better, I would think this was some mad scheme to alienate my father from his own family. But she just seems too ditzy to be that machiavellian. Or perhaps I'm being naive. But anyway, SHEESH!

Open Houses

I went to a couple of open houses in North Manchester today.

I saw this house:



and this one:



I particularly liked the little yellow ranch house. The pictures don't do it justice, but it showed very nicely. Very open, reasonable space, decent closet space, little yard, but perfectly landscaped (the yard also borders the grounds of a VA hospital, so it is very private). And that "3-season room" is a really nice bonus. Anyway, I don't know if I really want to be in Manchester, particularly that far North (although, I'm told that this is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in that town). I really like the area where I am and this would be a farther commute and it's more suburban than I ideally want, but it is a nice and very quiet neighborhood. Anyway, so I don't know. I'm sure neither of these will stay on the market long, but geez, I wish I had looked at more places recently, so I would have something to compare it to.

ARGH!!!!!

My realtor is completely booked for the entire weekend. Well, in the meantime I'm going to put together a list for her of places I want to see (from my online searching). And I'll maybe try and do some drive bys, maybe I can rule out, or rule in, a few places. Maybe I'll even get lucky and come across an open house or two while I'm at it.

On an unrelated note, is it bad that I just did 20 minutes on the treadmill in my bare feet after drinking a pint of beer? I didn't think so ...

and the good news is ...

I am pre-approved for a mortgage!!!!!

Wow. Now I guess I really had better get busy looking for a place.

For the Record

People I have not heard from:

1) My father or his wifey re: The Big Birthday Bash.
2) The Mortgage Broker.

GAH!!!!!!!!

I'm so good at this investing stuff! ... Well, maybe not so much

I've made it a habit, here at New Company, to regularly log into the Benefits Page on the company intranet to see how my investment accounts are doing, since they make it so easy here to do so. My rollover IRA from Old Company is with a free advisory service here at New Company and it's interesting to watch how they invest this money. With my regular New Company 401K account however, I've chosen the funds for my investment myself (basically through the "throw a dart" method). Since I am generally an idiot about such things, I like to keep an eye on it -- not that I would really know what to do if I saw something alarming, but still. Anyway, this morning I logged in and got really excited to see that this account has grown by about $2,000 over night! WOW! I thought, 'I must be doing something right here!' It took me a few minutes to remember that payday is tomorrow and this increase just represents the contribution from this next paycheck. Duh, maybe I'm just an idiot.

The Nail Biting Mortgage Game

I bit the bullet and spoke to a mortgage broker this weekend. After going over my records and financials, etc. he doesn't think I'll have trouble qualifying for a decent mortgage. I won't know the particulars though until probably Wednesday, so I'll be biting my nails a bit until then. Fingers crossed, if all goes okay, I may be able to start a serious home search by late next week! I am terrified and excited, so expect me to be freaking out for awhile. Just giving some advance warning here.

Best Breakfast Ever

Fresh fruit salad (purchased from the company cafeteria) mixed with Stoneyfield Farms Key Lime yogurt (brought in from home). Yum.

The Latest with My Father's Wife

Okay, so, this is the latest:

I had an email from my sister the other day to tell me how when she had called for my father the other night, Lori had answered the phone. Lori then proceeded to tell her about the 75th birthday party she's planning for my father near the end of September. She then tells Jen (my sister) that they all (Jen, her husband, and the kids) are invited to the party, but that Jen has to be there. Uh, my sister lives in freaking Oregon! (My father & Lori live in New Jersey). Lori then proceeds to brag about how she is flying her own daughter in from Kansas for the party.

Now, Lori knows:

A) That my sister, etc. were all out East in Vermont for a family vacation just three weeks ago (she and my father even visited them there).
B) That my sister works. That her husband works. That the kids are back in school (and have about a bazillion activities and commitments).
C) That their trip to Vermont in August was basically their travel budget for the entire year (they had also paid their share on the lake house the my brother-in-law's family rents there every year up there).
D) That my sister's mother-in-law in Vermont is right now in hospice care and is not expected to live much more than another couple of months (so they are all going to have to pay for another trip back East sometime in the near future).

One might also ask, why didn't Lori mention something about this shindig when they were all together three weeks ago? Or mentioned even earlier, maybe money could have been saved, plans could have been made. Or (even better) a party could have been planned for the time that they were all already going to be here. My sister is pissed. I wonder if it isn't some conspiracy to illustrate to my father what horrible children he has ("look, my daughter TANYA managed to come all the way from Kansas!" -- I should also mention that she just flew her daughter out to NJ for a visit two weeks ago! And why shouldn't she? It's not like she contributes any of her money towards food or electricity or running the house or (heaven forbid) the 200K of improvements and renovations they want to do to the stupid house, no that all has to come out of my father's income and also by cashing in our inheritance).

Oh, and before you ask, I have not yet been invited to this party at all. If my sister hadn't emailed me the other day, I still wouldn't know about it. Maybe I'm not meant to be invited at all (I don't know which day the party is on, but at least one of the dates around that time I have to be in Boston for work anyway).

But I'm not bitter ...

Treadmills are Good

Well, so far I'm loving having a treadmill in my home. Take tonight for instance, I was tired and hungry when I got home, so by the time I felt really ready to do some exercise, it was almost 8 PM. Too late to go out for a walk or a run, and no way am I talking myself into going to a gym by then either. No problem, got on the treadmill and did 40 minutes of fast walking at varying inclines, interspersed with one minute intervals of running (hey, I've got to start somewhere!) while watching last week's Rescue Me episode that I had recorded on the DVR. I feel good now, did something positive, got some endorphins flowing and didn't have to add any extra travel time to my day. And Lola got to watch, and we all know how entertained she is by that!

Note to Self ...

If you decide to buck the system on a Monday night and open a bottle of wine, at least be honest with yourself and realize that, no, you are not going to have "just one glass". Sheesh!

I Love Autumn

I don't know if this weather we've having here in New England is a fluke, but you can really feel Fall coming, especially at night and in the morning. There is this cool, crisp, seasonal change thing going on. Autumn is pretty much my favorite time of year anyway, and I just love it when the Summer starts winding down and you can feel it coming. Those cool mornings & evenings when it is best to wear a light sweater or jacket, with days that are still warm enough to feel like Summer. It seems a bit more marked here in New Hampshire (Summer somehow likes to hold onto NYC in a death grip most years), so I am enjoying it even more than I ever have in previous years. I love New England.

That Wacky Pug

So, my dog totally freaks out when I use the treadmill. First she stood beside it and just stared at my feet. You could just see her eyes clocking back & forth and back & forth. Then she suddenly made this growl/bark, spun around, tucked her rear-end under her and started racing in circles around the apartment, low to the ground, hell for leather, what I call, "The Pug-tona". Totally cracked me up.

Finally, My Treadmill

So, I ordered this treadmill, like, way over a month ago. When I spoke to the delivery company to arrange the delivery, I was informed, "Oh you don't have to be home, they just drop it off outside." WTF??? I responded, "Uh, it weighs, like, 300 LBS." (And I live in an apartment on the 3rd floor, just where do they think they're going to "drop" it?) Basically, it turns out that this was not their problem (after getting back in touch with the treadmill company, it turns out it was not their problem either). So, I make sure I'm home when it comes and convince the delivery guy (well, I convince him with a $20 bill) to bring it up to my apartment for me. Anyway, so I finally have the thing, I put it together (no easy task by myself either) and turn it on and nothing happens! ARGH!!! So after a call to customer service and (once they determine that, no, I am not quite going to be able to tip this machine on end and remove the hood over the engine -- sheesh!) they decide that they will arrange to send out a service technician. So, this of course now takes another couple of weeks. Anyway, the guy finally came today. Turns out the problem was a detached wire or something in the motor. Whatever. Anyway, it now WORKS! I now have a treadmill ... IN. MY. HOME. This has always been a huge wish of mine. As Julia would say, HAPPY, HAPPY!

Sometimes I'm Such a Freak

So, I've been worrying and worrying that I'm not doing a good job here at New Company. I mean, to the point of actual depression and loss of sleep, etc. Well, today I received my manager's review that is meant to go with the small raise I got last month and I was shocked to find that it was almost all completely positive. Ironically, the only thing about it that could be taken as a negative is that I need to have more confidence (now, where I have I heard that before?) I just really, really need to learn how to relax.

I Love My Car

Have I ever mentioned how much I'm loving having a car? People who haven't lived in NYC maybe can't fully appreciate what a thrill it is for me to be fully mobile as I am now. Today it was a simple trip down to just over the Massachusetts border (about 20 mins away) to Trader Joe's (which was another first for me). But being able to hop in my car and go someplace on a whim like this is still a novelty and thus a complete thrill. You would think I would be the completely jaded NYCer at this stage, but I am goofy with joy over stupid, silly stuff that most people completely take for granted.

Oh and I love my car even more now that it is completely paid for (nothing drives better than a car for which there is no lien).

Sleepless Night ... ARGH!!!

I really hate it when this happens.

Annabelle

(isn't she cute?)





Annabelle is a sweet, Jack Russell Terrier who lives in my building who somehow got out of her apartment and was found wandering the grounds on Sunday. One of the office ladies found her and thought she belonged to the apartment here on the second floor (wasn't positive), but nodody happened to be home, so I offered to take her for the afternoon. She ended up being such a nice little dog who got along very nicely with Lola (which was a relief because sometimes JRTs don't like other dogs, especially same-sex dogs) and ended up curling up on my legs on the couch and sleeping there (I think Lola was a little jealous). She stayed with us for a few hours and I was almost disappointed when her owner showed up at my door to pick her up. So sad. We enjoyed having her so much more than Lucy (my father's dog), who doesn't have the greatest disposition (and is also loud and very spoiled).

ARGH!!! my father is unbelievable!

Now that I've paid my debts and am making some more money, and since I don't plan to have children of my own, I want to try and help out my niece & nephew where I can. I decided that I wanted to buy a computer for the kids (currently, there is only one computer in the house that everyone has to share) and I told my niece that I would start a savings account for her and that I will match anything she saves on her end towards college (I'll of course add more as I can too). She has apparently been saving babysitting and other money for college and already has $500 (she's twelve).

So, anyway, I know that my sister has been disappointed that my father hasn't stepped up and offered any financial help (or plans to help) for the kids, especially as these are his only grandchildren. So I mentioned the computer thing to him when he was here, mostly to see his reaction. I was then talking to him tonight about the savings plan for my niece. This is how the conversation went:

me: "So, I told S that I would start a savings account for her and will match whatever she puts into her own savings account."
him: "I thought you were going to buy them a computer?"
me: "I want to do that too."
him: "You know Lori" [his wife] "has this old Compac Presario. I was telling her that we should add her to The List."
WTF???!!!
me: "WHAT?! You can buy her a computer if she needs one. Lori is NOT my responsibility!"

SHEESH

Some Pictures from My Trip to Lake Champlain (VT) Last Week

It's Going to be a Long Day

The day has hardly even started and I've already given one "Sales" presentation and broken up one dog fight. Where is my vacation when I need it?

Someone Just Shoot Me

My father and wifey are coming tonight. I. Just. Can't. Deal.

At least they're staying in a hotel and leaving tomorrow. My sister will have the dubious honor of dealing with them for the next week. Lucky her.

No Debt Giddiness

So, I mailed the pay-off for my car via Express Mail on Monday. By noon the next day the package had been signed for and by 5 PM my car loan account showed an online balance of 0. (Man, that was fast!) I was so giddy about it that I probably logged onto my account about 5 times or more last night just to look at that big fat ZERO. By this morning, the entry was already completely gone, like I had never even had a car loan in the first place.

Sometimes I'm so easily amused.

Note to Self ...

When doing laundry, it's best not to wash and dry ALL of your bath towels with the blanket your dog has been sleeping on for months. Not unless you don't mind a film of dog hair spread across your damp face, etc. Blech.

Coyotes and Frogs and Stupid People

The other morning as I was walking from the parking lot at work towards the building entrance, I saw what looked like a wolf standing stock still under a tree beside one of the foot paths. I stopped and stared, completely amazed that no one noticed him. Knowing that it really couldn't be a wolf, I figured it
had to then be a coyote (no way was it a dog). But why was it just standing there? And how could I be the only one that even noticed it, or thought it was strange? It bothered me for most of the day and when I left the building late in the afternoon, guess what? It was still there, standing in exactly the same spot. Turns out it was a statue! DUH! Well, at least it wasn't a hallucination.

Where I live there is this strip of wetlands right in front of my apartment building. There is a whole ecosystem there filled with all kinds of plant life and interesting birds and dragon flies and frogs. At night I can hear the frogs sing, and it's interesting because the tone of the frog voices tend to change with the month. Anyway, after it rains, at night, sometimes the frogs migrate a little bit out of their environment onto the black top of the driveway/parking lot. So when I take Lola out at night I go searching for stragglers and try to herd them back into the grass -- I'm so afraid they'll get squished out on the pavement. They're so funny, you touch one and they'll really make this huge leap, the first time I did it, it was so startling. Lola was really stunned. You should have seen her face the first time she put her nose on one to check it out and it leaped out from under her so suddenly -- it cracked me up. I love the frogs (and what a far cry from listening to all the punk kids and their hideous loud thumping music in Queens).

I was in a parking lot over the weekend and this stoopid woman goes to get out of her car (next to mine), she swings her door open smashing it into my passenger side! I roll down my window and express my dismay and she responds to say that it didn't do anything to my car. I said, "well, you don't mind if I take a look, do you? it's a brand new car." (SHEESH!) She then goes on to bluster about how the wind caught her door -- hello, there WAS no wind! She was just stupid and careless. Luckily there was no damage, but I was completely pissed. Stupid stupid stupid.

Officially and Completely Debt FREE!

I just wanted to announce that as of this morning, I am totally debt free! I've paid off all of my debt over the past seven months or so and this morning mailed the big pay-off check for my car. I am still a renter here, but at least I can proudly say that I don't have a cent of debt to my name. It's sort of a weird feeling.

Note to Self ...

When having a restless, sleepless night, it is best not to get up and take a TylenolPM at 1:30 in the morning.

I dragged myself out of the bed this morning, turned on the Today show and spent about 5 minutes freaking out over why the time displayed on the show stated it was "2:24". It took a long time to register that no, it actually said "7:24". doh.

For some reason I find myself really depressed today. I feel a little vulnerable at work, like maybe I'm not doing a good job. I am struggling with the working relationship I have with the PM, he is not the best communicator with me, but likes to schedule private meetings with the users that I've been working with for months, essentially cutting me out of the loop. He will then come and make a project request to me for whatever he has promised the client. Additionally, I am not confident that I am getting credit for any of this work I've done specifically at his request. Maybe it doesn't matter, but it is worrying me.

Today Tech Manager told me that they are relocating me to make room for a new support person who is coming in. I am to be moved from the cube I've been sitting in since January to this shared office around the corner. A shared office sounds good, but I walked by these offices this afternoon and realized that these are offices are designed for one person, two people sharing make it pretty cramped, so I'm kind of upset about losing my own space.

I don't know, I always struggle with confidence issues and maybe I'm just having a bad week, but I'm feeling a little low today.

Speaking of "Lobstah"

I was in the pet supply store the other day and found this stuffed lobster doggie toy -- you know that I had to buy it! I've been cracking up all week watching Lola play with the thing, dragging it around by a "claw", shaking it, growling at it. "Kill the Lobstah! Kill it!" heh. I'm so easily amused.

I Love New England

Summer Special (New Company Cafeteria) on Tuesday & Thursdays: Lobster (“lobstah”) rolls and lobster paninis. You gotta love it.

It's Lunch-Time

So I walk down to the cafeteria as I usually do and notice that they have a shrimp & crab salad sandwich as a deli special today. Hmmm, sounds good, think I'll take a break from my usual turkey. My turn comes:

Me: "I think I'll have the sandwich special".
Sandwich Lady: *blank look, long pause, vague look around* "we're out".
Me: "it's only 12:15!"
SL: ...
Me: *sigh* "I'll have turkey on whole wheat".

12:15 and they're already out? What do I have to do, come down there at 11:30 for my lunch?

Oh well, if this is the biggest hardship or annoyance of my day, then I guess I'm doing pretty well. Of course, the day isn't over yet.

When did our lives become so dull?

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone the other day. Here is a guy that used to have a pretty exciting life, he traveled a lot, went out a lot – he and I used to do brunch all the time when I still lived in Manhattan. Or margaritas at Rancho (especially if it was a 2-for-1 special). Or martinis at Vermouth. I even once snuck him into Old Company’s fancy schmancy Christmas party at the Plaza. Anyway, we both had active and relatively interesting social lives (too bad I wasn't keeping a blog in those days, might have been halfway interesting). So yesterday we’re talking and neither one of us really had anything much to say. He was droning on & on about some problem he was having with his clothes dryer (his DRYER!) when I finally lost it and interrupted him with hysterical laughter.

Is this how dull our lives have become that the only topic of conversation we can come up with (after a month or two of no contact) is about his stupid dryer? Even sadder is the fact that I had nothing better to offer.

Sheesh.

Life is fragile.

And the last two days have reminded me of that.

First, yesterday, a building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (pretty much the wealthiest neighborhood in NYC) exploded and completely collapsed. At first officials thought the blast was caused by a gas leak (which is bad enough), but as the story has developed, there are suspicions that it may have been an intentional suicide attempt – WTF!

This is one of the things that has always bothered me about living in apartments, your safety is completely dependent on your not having the bad luck to live near some crazy or criminally negligent person. My personal worry has always been the random black-out drunk who falls asleep with a lit cigarette, but this incident opens up a whole new world of fears. Great.

Second, today, a multi-ton concrete “tile” fell from the ceiling of one of the major tunnels that snake under Boston and killed a woman sitting in her car on her way to the airport for a vacation. So here is this woman sitting in her car with her husband, on their way to the airport, probably all excited about their coming trip to Vegas and out of nowhere, WHAM! It’s all over.

You would think after 9/11 I wouldn’t need reminders such as these to shake me up, but apparently I do.

Definitely Summer

Damn, it's hot out there today, but pretty much in that "good" Summer way -- very sunny, quite warm, blue skies, but not that blinding-white-sky-so-humid-that-even-a-15-minute-jaunt-outside-makes-one-utterly-miserable-type of Summer day. I don't seem to be minding the Summer nearly as much up here in New Hampshire as I did in NYC (although, I'm sure there are a lot of factors contributing to that).

Friday was an interesting day at work. I had a couple of emails before I had even left my apartment in the morning, one to let me know that the PM on my project was out sick and the other a forwarded email from the business liaison about a reporting program that was screwed up (for an area of the Desk that is not usually my responsibility) and could I maybe help? (Since PM was out sick).

It turns out that the PM has a reporting program that he wrote that runs on with a regularly scheduled job and pushes an Excel file out for various VPs in the trading area to review. So, after this has gone out, it turns out that much of the info was wrong and it becomes an urgent issue to get it fixed right away. Conveniently, the author of the program is out sick, so they come to me.

After doing a little looking around, I find that this is a reporting program for which I had, at the request of PM, developed a special technique for pulling multiple rows of data together for display (something that wasn't straight-forward and took me half a day or more to do). Anyway, so I'm a little familiar with part of the program, which helps. I was able to pull apart the program and (after breathing a sigh of relief that the incorrect data was not caused by anything I had written) I was able to fix the problems. I then worked with the various parties to get the updated files in place for the next scheduled run that afternoon.

I'm glad that I was able to jump right in and help. That I was able to fix the problems relatively easily and that the clients were all appreciative of my efforts. All these things I hope will assist in their viewing me as a valued contributor. The business liaison sent out a very nice note to my manager late in the afternoon (cc:ing the tech manager on the customer side and me, of course) complimenting me on the work I did and the very quick turnaround, especially with having no notice, etc.

It is really little bits of feedback like this that make all the angst and frustrations and uncertainties of my work worthwhile.

There was one small thing that disturbed me, however. Speaking with the business guy, I found that the way the data was displayed, for which I had developed my technique for PM, had been a special request from the business. I quickly realized after discussing everything that no one has any idea that I was the one who worked this out for them. I didn't speak up then to inform them of this, but it bothers me a bit. I wonder what other future work of mine the PM plans to take credit for. Or perhaps I'm being paranoid (wouldn't be the first time).

Things I Love about New Company

(well, one of the things anyway) Free lunch! I try not to take advantage every day (although most people do), but Friday is "sandwich" day and there always seems to be plenty extra. I should put the money I save on lunch into a pedicure fund or something.

On Fridays this group also always has free bagels & donuts in the morning too, but I avoid all that like the plague.

ICK!

What is it with women who like to wear tons of perfume??? This morning, I go on the elevator to take Lola out and must have gotten on right after someone who had been wearing TONS of it, it was horrible. Well, after bringing her back in, I milled around putting together the bag I bring to work and my fruit & yogurt, I fed the dog, etc. Only to finally come back out, summon the elevator and find that it STILL stunk to high heaven. I mean, I could smell the elevator coming (and I am NOT exaggerating). Maybe this was from a new woman, I can't imagine all the perfume from the first trip hung around that long, but the smell was so strong, I couldn't tell the difference in fragrance at that stage. I sure do feel sorry for anyone who has to work in the vicinity of this woman (women), must make for a miserable work day.

Catching Up

So it has again been a long time since I’ve written. I don’t really know why, I’m just not feeling it, I guess. What’s new with me? Not a whole helluva lot, but let’s see:

I got a bit of a raise! That was exciting. It’s nominal, but then again, my big raise came by taking this new job and making this big move. The mid-year raise is important though in that it is a bit of barometer as to whether my manager thinks I’m doing a good job. It’s also refreshing to have a little review mid-year. This way if anything is not on track, I have the opportunity to make adjustments.

I am proud to say that in the next week or so I am going to be completely debt free! Well, except for my car, but all of the debt that I’ve been living with for years & years & years will be completely gone. It’s a great feeling.

I received my new bed and mattress and am very happy with both. The delivery of all was rather stressful however – first, I wasn’t given any options about the delivery of the bed, they said they were coming on Thursday (2 weeks ago) and that was that. Well, of all the days of the week, Thursday is my worst and least flexible (and unfortunately, that week was particularly bad). They then called me the night before and narrowed it down to sometime from 2:00 – 7:00 PM. Of course I had to be in a meeting until 2 PM and the meeting ran over. But still, they didn’t end up showing up until around 6 PM anyway. ARGH! And then the mattress delivery was the next day: I had taken that Friday off as a vacation day because of the delivery (I had hoped to also get the bed delivered that day too) and because my father was stopping through overnight on his way home from Maine. Well, we had severe storms that morning and, just as the delivery guys were pulling up outside my building, all of our electricity went out! If they had been just a couple of minutes earlier, they would have been in my elevator when it went out and they would have been stuck, stuck, stuck! (the electricity was out for about an hour). So, these poor guys ended up having to haul the thing up three floors of stairs – still, much better than being stuck in the elevator! Anyway, I now have my new bed and I’m loving it. Sleep. Is. Good. Although, can someone please explain to me why my dog thinks that she needs to sleep practically on top of me now that we have all this additional space? Sheesh!

As I mentioned before, my father came through for a short visit. Two short visits, actually. He went up to Maine for a fishing trip with some old college fraternity buddies and so he stopped over night on his way there and on his way back. Both times we managed dinner with my various cousins who live locally. The second visit everyone managed to come, so it was a lot of fun. Even though I don’t see my cousins very often, I really like knowing that they’re close by. Anyway, on his second visit, my father got to my place earlier and since I had taken a vacation day, I was able to take the time to drive him around a bit. I showed him New Company’s campus and drove around the area some. I also drove him through a couple of condo complexes where I had looked at townhouses. He seemed to really like the area and even liked the apartment that I’m currently living in. (Surprising because he is usually extremely hard to please). Of course when he was leaving on the morning of his second visit, he somehow managed to completely back up my toilet (I don’t even want to know how THAT happened) and was all ready to just leave me with it, but I made him run up to Lowes to buy a damn plunger. SHEESH!

What else? Well, it looks like my NYC friends, Ellen & Ken, are going to stop by on Monday. They are going to be in Massachusetts on a little bike trip and so are going to plan to come this way for dinner to see me (and my place and my dog). It should be fun, I miss them.

Oh, so this is funny! Have you ever seen the movie "Office Space"? If you haven’t, you HAVE to rent it, particularly if you work in an office. It’s basically a spoof on office culture, it was done about 8 years ago, but has a bit of a cult following. ANYWAY, last week they (this department where my project is located) announced that Friday (last Friday) was going to be Hawaiian Shirt Day! I almost spit out my coffee when I heard. Anyway, come Friday and EVERYONE was wearing a Hawaiian shirt (all the guys anyway, and there are mostly guys here). People were so serious about it that the big mucky muck here sent around an email letting everyone know that he had 5 EXTRA shirts, in case anyone didn’t have one. I was laughing my ass off all day. I am so jaded, I think I lived and worked in NYC for too long.

Free Time

Since moving here to New Hampshire, I am finding myself with plenty of free time and also with much more freedom to get around than I enjoyed in NYC, having a car and all. I'm child-free, don't have a lot of obligations outside of work, and so I've been thinking about what I can do with some of my free time. I've thought of going to school at night, various possible volunteering opportunities, leasing or buying a horse, and even getting a part-time job. I tend to wallow around on the weekends, the first half of the weekend may be a bit justified as I'm usually tired from crappy and not enough sleep during the week (hopefully my sleep quality will start to get better once I have my new bed), but the rest of it is usually pure laziness. Easy enough to justify when there is torrential rain outside (as has been the case for the past month or so), but this rain has to end sometime.

So, I've been thinking about it and I've come to the conclusion that I should be doing something I enjoy and also something that is completely different from my job (because otherwise, what's the point?) So I think I'd like to find some kind of volunteer opportunity working with animals. Even if it's just walking dogs for a local animal shelter, or brushing horses for an equine rescue or something.

With that decision, I sent in a volunteer application for this place today. We'll see if they get back to me.

A Good Week Afterall

Despite my physical complaints, I actually ended up having a good week at work. Things are a bit crazy & stressful at the moment while the project I'm working on is going through a bit of a reorg. The project management is being shifted over to our client side, and I'm trying to get used to the transition and the new project manager in place who I now have to work with. He's a very nice guy and very enthusiastic and approachable, but I don't think he's quite gotten it just yet (as I wrote about previously). I don't think he's grasped the various priorities and scope of the project. I think he also has a too casual attitude about some of the work and the meetings we have on a regular basis. Every time I talk to him he is spouting new and grandiose ideas about all these bells & whistles-type stuff we can do, while I am right now concerned about getting the actual meaningful content and necessary core functionality out to the users. Bells & whistles are great, but there needs to be a natural progression for this stuff and I don't think this guy is really getting that. He also has this habit of dragging me away from my work willy nilly to run over to his desk to help him debug something that he's working on, or to teach him how to do something with the BI tool. It's fine, but it seems to be happening every day now and can be distracting to my own work when I have to drop everything and go sit with him for an hour or so.

All of this sounds annoying and the makings for maybe a bad week at work, but this past week I got the impression from the head guy in the client space that he really appreciates my efforts and that my role is valued there. New PM is apparently going to be on vacation all of this week. One of the problems is, there is an important meeting/presentation that is happening on Thursday. New PM had put together this Power Point document outlining all the various areas of the project and a bunch of other information that is going to be presented to this mucky-muck trader guy who is supposed to be at the Big Meeting. When I found out that New PM was not going to be present for the meeting, I asked him who was meant to do the presentation in his absence (I had put together a bunch of slides with screen shots to represent some of the reporting I've done, but this is only one piece of the thing). So he says, "R" will be doing it ("R" is the head of the tech group on the client side and New PM's boss). So, on Friday I went into "R's" office and asked him how I could help him for the meeting for next week. He looked blankly at me for a moment and then said, "I thought we were just doing a demo?" I said, "well, New PM put together a whole presentation, so I think his intentions were more involved than that". "R" then communicated to me that he was upset that New PM had just announced at the last minute that he was taking a vacation for a week and basically dropping the ball on a lot of stuff. It is particularly bad timing as we're still in this transitional period and the Desk (for whom this project is for) is also in a transition (the new head trader guy who is supposed to be seeing our stuff for the first time in our Big Meeting). We also talked briefly about some of things the New PM is proposing for the project that are positioned to take everything completely off track. "R" thanked me for being proactive about the meeting and my assistance to him and asked me to take care of a few things for him.

I also had a meeting on Friday with my head end user, the trader who is driving all of the requests and requirements of the project. I was able to show him the new module that I am working on for him and he seemed pretty happy with it. We spent some time brain storming on how we could exploit the functionality possibilities to make it the most useful tool for them and I came away with a very clear plan of action for this coming week.

So things are challenging, but I feel like I'm making valuable contributions and am pretty firmly entrenched in my position within the project. I've gotten comfortable with the various players and they with me. Of course everything can change in a heartbeat with one screw-up, but at least I don't feel quite as tenuous as I did for the first few months. It was hard coming from a position that I had been in for years & years to a brand new company, environment, business, project, etc. but my comfort level finally seems to be growing a bit.

Not Having a Good Week

First I throw my back out over the weekend and now I both feel a virus coming on (I'm achy and headachy and I have a sore throat) and also have lots of female-style crampiness in my hip area suddenly. And my back still hurts. I'm just generally a wreck.

Today I Spent $3,000 ...

ACK!!!

I bought ...

This bed

and

This mattress

of course I now have to wait for a few weeks before I can enjoy my new bed, but at least I can look forward to some decent sleep sometime in my near future.

Tuesday

Julia is doing the cereal diet. I am thinking of doing it too. As much for the convenience of not having to cook or figure out what to eat in the evening as for the diet aspect. Actually, I had cereal for dinner last night, so I guess it's on.

I still have a lot of pain in my lower back, but it's a little better. Sitting in one position all day at work isn't helping much however. I just ordered a new bed, now I have to go buy a mattress. I am finally, finally, finally going to have a brand new, just for me queen-size bed. After years & years of sleeping on this full-sized cast-off. Certainly my dismal bed situation hasn't been helping matters with my back!

It's Always Something

While standing and reaching for something on my coffee table this morning, I somehow managed to throw my back out and now I can hardly move! Can't believe this.

ARGH!

Julia said:

"So. Are you ever gonna blog again? Or are we going to have to start calling you MJ?

:o)
Julia "

I know I know I know. So I didn't even blog at all for the entire month of May. I just haven't really felt like it. There also hasn't been too much of anything very interesting to write about really. I haven't even read a blog in all this time. Sheesh!

So, what's new? Well, my apartment finally, finally, finally closed! That was a complete relief. I had visions of this dragging on and on indefinitely, but in the end everything ended up going very smoothly and painlessly. So this makes my move out of NYC complete and final. Although I have to say that it does feel weird to think of some stranger now living in "my" place. That first weekend in particular I kept wondering if the new owners were in the process of moving in or what. Anyway, it's over now. I'll probably always miss many of the people, but I can't say I'll ever particularly miss Queens.

Work at New Company has been coming along and I feel like I've made progress on my project. I've had some good and positive feedback, both from the customer and from my manager. And my principal end user has in the past couple of weeks expressed a certain degree of satisfaction that I didn't really feel was there for the project previously. So I think I've turned a corner here. There is still a lot of work to do and a lot of requests & requirements to fulfill and I'm still stressed and I worry constantly, but I don't feel quite as freaked out.

There have been some other reorgs on the project lately however, and I find myself virtually the last one from my team still a major part of it. I was a bit dismayed the other day to find myself the sole representative from my group in a meeting otherwise full of our customers. ACK! There is now also a new project manager representing the customer who I don't feel has quite yet grasped the scope or complexity or even the various priorities of the project. He keeps talking about alot of bells & whistle type stuff when we are still trying to get the content required and the basic functionality out to the users. So, I'm stressed. I actually feel more comfortable and confident in my specific role, but I am worried about how & when certain necessary steps are going to happen. At least I feel like I know my day-to-day role and I usually have a good sense of the importance and necessary priority of certain steps and can also usually see the "big" picture, so as long as I'm given the freedom that I have had thus far, my end should continue to progress. The customer also expressed that they want me on the project through the end of the year (previously I was meant to be on this specific assignment until about June or July) and also they hope they can use me to pitch in on some other concurrent reporting work in the department during this time as well. So, I would say these are all good things and if you asked my manager, he would say definitely so. Especially since apparently this is one of the more important customers for my group. It's definitely interesting from my point of view anyway.

I'm enjoying my apartment, it's relatively spacious and comfortable and quiet. I love having the little deck and after living in old and semi-decrepit (creaky hollow floors & all) NYC apartments, it's rather nice to live somewhere where everything is pretty new. And you gotta love central A/C. LOVE!

I still have a lot of unpacking to do here though. I sometimes sit here and just look helplessly at the boxes around the place and I don't even know where to start. It's also kind of a bummer not knowing where anything is. At least my kitchen stuff is all put away, but I have no idea where most of my Summer clothes are.

I also love the walking trail out the back door of my apartment. Lola & I have enjoyed some nice, long walks there over the past month. The ticks however are plentiful, so I've taken Lola to a local vet and gotten her vaccinations for Lyme Disease and a new heartworm medicine that also kills ticks. Luckily I've only found one tick on myself though.

RAIN!

We've had crazy rain here over the past few weeks! Complete insanity, real wrath of God stuff. First there was the eight days of consistent rain, culminating in the weekend of over 100 inches. There were many flooded out homes and businesses in this area as well as road closures all over. At one point I drove a route along the Merrimack River where you could see that the river had risen all the way to the bridge. People were all pulled over to the side of the road to view the swollen river and the houses across the way flooded completely over their first floors. Since that crazy weekend, there continues to be periods of rain (like today), much of it torrential (like last night).

Here is one of the things I like about living here: I kind of like thunderstorms, last night some big ones rolled into the area and I was able to enjoy standing on my little deck and watching the storm (the deck has roof with an overhang so I can stand there during the heaviest rain storm and not get at all wet). A part of my trail has been turned into a pond (not a puddle, but a complete pond of standing water) that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon. There is a bit of a detour up onto a path along some RR tracks. Luckily you only have to cross that path for a few yards, otherwise I would be completely cut off from most of my wonderful trail.

So, things are quiet here in New Hampshire, but that's the way I like it these days. Quiet and serene with purposeful, interesting work to be done. I don't have much of a social life here, but then again, I hadn't really enjoyed much of a social life in NYC these past couple of years anyway, so I'm not really missing much in that regard.

Real Estate People are Unbelievable

At least sometimes. I decided to go to an open house that I knew about today since I had nothing better to do. I didn't think that I would have a serious interest in the condo, but I hadn't seen one in this particular complex yet, so I took the opportunity to take a look. Anyway, as I suspected, the condo isn't for me, it's rather small, too close to the highway and another busy road, the campus is a little cramped, etc. (but it was cheap!) Anyway, as I looked at the place, the realtor asked the typical questions, do I have kids, where do I work, etc. The realtor then went on to stress about how I didn't "need" any more space since it is just me. I love how these realtors love to tell you exactly what you need, while at the same time not really knowing anything at all about you. What does she know what I need or want? I mean, I could have lots of extended family and friends who plan to visit all the time, or maybe I have a couple of huge dogs, or a hobby the requires space, or I need a fully functioning home office, in addition to a guest bedroom or something. Sheesh!

My New Apartment

So, I'm really liking my new apartment. Even though it's basically the same layout as the corporate apartment that I was living in for 3+ months, it seems somehow nicer. It's in a building that is a little removed from the rest of the apartment complex, the people who live here seem a little more established, permanent, etc. It's on the top (3rd) floor so I get a ton of sunlight and it's nice to be able to sit out on the little deck and watch the world go by a bit. The Heritage Trail is literally out the back door, so that's an added bonus. The corporate apartment was on the first floor and right across the parking lot from the club house, so I tended not to open the blinds too much, and I never once opened the shade in the bedroom. It was a bit like living in a cave, which was okay for the dark Winter months. But now that the weather is turning nice, it's a pleasure to live in a light, airy place. Lola is enjoying it too, it took her a while to become comfortable with the deck, but now that she is, she likes to patrol the "neighborhood" by announcing her presence from the deck to other dogs who happen to pass by. Anyway, I like it here and, unlike every apartment I've ever lived in, in NYC (or environs), I never hear my neighbors and can thus feel comfortable that they're not really hearing me. There have been a few times that I've gone out into the hall and been amazed that my direct nextdoor neighbor is blaring their TV. I never would have known from inside my place. I am comfortable enough here that I've actually even hung pictures! Amazing. Seriously.

Been So Long

Since I've written. In the time since I last posted, I have moved everything out of my NY apartment, moved everything out of the corporate apartment and moved into a new apartment in my complex. I've also written 1,000s of lines of BI code, been to numerous meetings, watched a bunch of movies, picked about 4 or 5 ticks off the dog (and one off of myself), seen one tiny yellow frog (sitting on the glass back door apartment building entrance), had one dinner w/ Carolina & Janos in NYC (with a number of vodka/sodas), driven 100s of miles , missed one dinner with my cousins, had one big fight with my father (we're still not talking), bought one Bose iPod docking speaker thingie, stressed & fretted for endless hours over my work at New Company. I guess that's been my life lately in a nutshell.

I'm starting to enjoy the nice weather here in New Hampshire. In NYC, by now I would be starting to really dread the coming hot weather, but not so here. Of course, we'll see what the reality of a Summer in Southern New Hampshire is really like, but I'm optimistic so far.

You Know You're in New England on Opening Day

When you can walk down the hallways of New Company and see grown men wearing stoopid Red Sox baseball jerseys over their oxford button-downs. I mean, WTF??? Yeah, you're a fan. We get it. Sheesh!

A picture of my nephew during a recent ski race.

Funny

I think I mentioned before that the business side of the project that I'm working on at New Company had asked that I sit on the trading desk once in a while, in an effort to maintain ongoing communication and a working dialog between myself and the trader who is driving the requirements for the project. So, I've taken to sitting out there in the afternoons for a few hours. Anyway, today this guy who works on the floor (completely unrelated to my project) approached me, introduced himself, said that he has noticed that I had been working on the Floor lately and then asked if I was from "Compliance". It took me a beat, but I finally realized that the man thought I was a spy. Me!!! Anyway, I had to laugh and tell him that no, I was just working on a project with one of the traders. Now I have to wonder about how long this guy has been twisting in the wind thinking that I'm sitting behind him hovering over all the doings in the area.

Call Me a Freak

but I actually kind of like Mondays. It's the anticipation of a Monday that I can't take. The start of Monday morning can be a little rough, between going to bed insanely late on a Sunday (a habit I just can't seem to break) and that period of time when I first get in where I'm trying to remember what I was working on the Friday before and trying to get re-immersed. But once I hit my stride on a Monday, I actually kind of like it. I've had my time off, I've loafed plenty, watched movies, read, or done whatever. Work is almost a novelty again. I really like Monday nights however. Just having gotten through the day, made some progress on some stuff and feeling like I'm in the swing of whatever I'm working on. And there is also that relief factor. Once the Sunday Night Monday Dreads are over, the reality of a pretty good Monday feels great in comparison.

It was raining when I got home from work tonight, but I took Lola for a walk on the Heritage Trail anyway. We walked for about 45 minutes and had the whole trail to ourselves, it was pretty nice, even with the rain. Also nice and cool, but not cold. Perfect for walking (and running too, if I had been so inclined).

What a Moron

I am. Logged into my bank to check that I've remembered to pay certain bills and to check balances, etc. and I see that I've somehow managed to paid my mortgage twice this month. This is particularly helpful in a month where I am paying DOUBLE housing costs already! Sheesh!

Wow

So apparently that trail/access road/path that I found behind my new apartment building is no such thing afterall. Apparently it is part of the Heritage Trail! I guess the thing goes on for about two hundred miles or so. More than long enough for a long walk or run, I would think.

I took Lola for a walk on it this afternoon and it really was quite nice. We ran into a couple of other people out walking dogs and a couple of people running, but otherwise we had the whole trail to ourselves. We only went a couple of miles because the stupid socks I was wearing kept working their way down underneath the bottom of my feet. So irritating. I just don't know what I did with all the Thorlo Socks I used to own, but the socks currently at my disposal are just not going to cut it at all (they have to be demoted to gym-only socks, I think). Anyway, other than the discomfort and annoyance of having to constantly stop and yank my socks back up around my ankles, it was a very nice walk and one I hope to do often.

I know it's been a long time since I have written. Life has been generally busy here and in my down time, I've been rather tired and not inclined to sit and blog about my day.

Anyway, work is going generally pretty well, I think. This was a particularly good week as I feel I've made a lot of progress on some stuff, and have gotten some things figured out. It makes me feel encouraged anyway. I'm hoping the rest of my team will feel the same way, once we come down to meeting about the progress of the work.

Dealing with the formality of the organization continues to be a source of frustration. There are so many elements and layers at New Company to getting stuff sorted out (that in my old job wouldn't have been a big part of my job). For instance, every time we upgrade our reporting software to a new release, there are big security implications that I am somehow expected to know how to negotiate. The security area is managed by a completely different department and getting myself and users access every time there is a change has become a bit of a nightmare. It's just one of those administrative complications that will probably end up being not such a big deal once I get it figured out, but in the meantime, it's got me crazy. At Old Company, this sort of thing would have been resolved by my walking over to the office of whomever handled this sort of thing (which would probably be right around the corner from my desk), explaining my problem and having it fixed, figured out, whatever. Another source of frustration is the shifting roles of people in the various areas of my project. When I started, we had a tech project manager who was a very pro-active liaison between all the various areas (the business, the production tech group, the security people, my team, etc.) she has since been promoted into a new role with the business and the guy who has replaced her, while very nice and approachable, has not been very much help at all. To the point where I've had to take over some of the roles that the former PM used to provide (for instance the security thing). I think all-in-all, it represents an actual opportunity for me (and I view it as such), but it does add some stress and frustration on to my day. But all of this is the sort of thing that comes with starting in a new company and so is part of the adjustment process.

I am now actually looking forward to moving into the new apartment. With the weather starting to turn nice, I think I will enjoy sitting out on my little deck and since the new apartment is on the top floor, I think I will find this even more pleasurable there. Additionally, there is a little playground outside of the apartment that I'm in now and with the nicer weather, the kids are starting to crawl out of the woodwork and play there. And anyone who knows me knows that I really don't enjoy the sound of screaming kids. So, having my sliding door open and enjoy the nice fresh air, but have to listen to the screamers? or keep it closed? hmmmm, looking forward to that new place. I'm also looking forward to having my own furniture and stuff with me finally (thinking I should cave and buy a new, queen-sized, bed though). I am not looking forward to having to pay double housing costs however. Freaking, #&%@, slow-ass, useless co-op bastards! ARGH! Anyway.

After work one evening I took Lola for a walk around the area, since the weather was so gorgeous. We wandered down by the apartment building that we're moving to and discovered this great path/access road whatever. It's packed grass & dirt, runs along the river and looks like it goes for quite a ways. I think this will be a nice option for long walks now that Winter seems to be on the wane.

Anyway, so things are coming along here in NH. I need to seriously start thinking about finding a permanent living solution, but at least I'll have my own apartment shortly. I also have to start calling the various utility companies to arrange electricity, cable, etc. btw, anyone have any opinions of cable (Comcast) vs. DirecTV?

I guess I'm not going to be homeless afterall...

In the last couple of weeks I've been stressing out because I knew that my stay in the corporate apartment was meant to be a limited one and that my time here was quickly running out. As suspected, my NYC apartment doesn't appear to be closing with any speed (big surprise) and I haven't really found a condo that I've fallen in love with anyway. So given all of the above, I decided to give in and take an apartment in the complex where I'm currently living for a six-month lease. It's going to really, really SUCK paying two housing costs at once, and it is because of that reason that I opted for just a one-bedroom (sorry Julia!). Besides, I don't want to be running around buying furniture for a temporary place anyway. So, it's a relief to have at least this one issue resolved, even if it is only a temporary solution. Plus, I can always renew my lease there, if it came to it. Now I have to figure out the logistics of getting my stuff packed up and delivered up to New Hampshire next month. Kind of hard to deal with all this stuff (not to mention all of my father's estate trust financials and crapola) while trying to also work a full-time, busy job!

ARGH!!!!

So, I'm sitting here at work and it's pretty quiet because a lot of people have gone home and there is this ASSHAT a couple of aisles away on the floor popping & snapping his damn GUM. So RUDE!!! I hate people.

Alright. So it's been freaking forever since I've written. Okay so, sue me. Sheesh.

Anyway, things have been busy and clipping along here in New Hampshire. Lets see what's new.

I drove down to NYC last weekend to pick up some more stuff, tie up some odds & ends and to see some friends. It was the longest drive thus far in my new car and it went relatively uneventfully. I actually enjoyed the drive, to be honest. I really love to drive and can't believe I'd gone so many years without even having a license (no less a car). Driving on a bit of a trip is also made more pleasant by that wonderful invention that is the iPod. I'm not much of an audio-phile, but even I can't imagine my life without this thing. Work, driving, whatever, it sure makes life just a little bit more pleasant. Everyone should have one.

Anyway. Ditzy move #1: As mentioned before, until the past couple of months, I hadn't driven or even had a license in years. I grew up and did most of my driving in NJ (when I last possessed a license) where they have this strange law that self-service gas stations are illegal (it's weird, but it's NJ). Anyway, I haven't done a ton of gas pumping over the years, so I'm a bit clueless. Since I've gotten my car, I've been using this Mobil station up the road and so I've gotten used to that. On my trip down to NYC I stopped at another type of station (a Shell, I think). Anyway, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to use the stupid pump. So there I stood like an idiot while the station attendant squawked at me over this loudspeaker. Of course, since I couldn't understand what she was saying through that thing, I kept having to go back inside to hear what she was trying to tell me. Sheesh. Well, I figured it out eventually and managed to get the Hell out of Connecticut.

Let me right now advise anyone who ever plans to drive to NYC to, at all costs, avoid driving in Queens. Seriously. It is the weirdest place and the most frustrating driving experience imaginable. First of all, if you live on (for the sake of argument) "123 Drive", there will also be a 123 Street and a 123 Avenue and a 123 Road, and so on. And all of these various 123-whatever incarnations are not necessarily right next to each other. And then, good luck trying to get from point A to point B. I got off the highway and ended up going down one road in the direction opposite where I needed to go, and every turn I made only had an option to turn me in a direction even further from the way I needed to be going. I ended up driving down these narrow, confusing streets screaming at the top of my lungs inside my car, "I HATE this fucking place!!!!" SHEESH!

Ditzy move #2: So we finally manage to get turned around and end up parked outside my apartment. I grab all of the bags I have in the front seat, my iPod, Lola's leash, etc. and get out of the car. I realize that I should probably be a little closer to the curb and so I get back in the car to move it a little closer when I realize that I don't have my keys. WTF???!!! So I look everywhere, on the floor, in between the seats, in all the bags, under the floor mat, on the street outside the car. No keys anywhere. Luckily, I have a spare with me and move the car accordingly, but the missing keys at this point are a complete mystery. I bring the dog and all my stuff inside and then go back outside to look again for them, to no avail. I continue to search for them all weekend and don't find them until we are ready to leave on Monday morning, when I am laying Lola's blanket across the back seat and leaning over to tuck it around the seat, I see the keys lying under the passenger front seat. Sheesh.

So, within about 5 minutes (literally) of being back in my apartment in Kew Gardens, I was treated to the sounds of: 1) LIRR trains rushing through the neighborhood 2) a car alarm 3) some assHAT driving past with that loud heavy, pumping noise of the hip-hop de jour blasting out of his car speakers (probably what set off afore-mentioned car alarm) 4) the obnoxious neighborhood punks screaming and yelling (as per usual) out on the street. Just a normal afternoon in the Queens neighborhood, but two months of living in NH had desensitized me to it all. Wasn't really missing life in NYC at all in that moment.

Anyway, I had a very nice weekend seeing people. Paul & Luminita at their apartment on Friday night. Ken & Ellen for Wings & Beer at Blondies on Saturday afternoon. Cathy & Jerry w/ Lola's friend Jake came down to visit me late Sunday afternoon and then Carolina & Janos's for dinner and Sopranos on Sunday night. Michelle was also there and I was lucky to be in town when our friend Krupski was visiting, a NYC stop in between his many travels all over the world (trying to figure out where he is ultimately going to call home). It was great to see everyone, but it also felt weird to be there. Especially to sleep in my bed, sit on my couch, reside in my apartment. I almost felt like I would be getting up on Monday morning and taking the LIRR into Old Company again. Just a weird, limbo feeling, I really can't describe it, but I didn't like the feeling much. I'm a tiny bit sad about selling my apartment, but I think I will be relieved and feel a lot better, once I've closed and everything is finally moved out.

Ditzy move #3: Last Tuesday night Lola was bugging me to go out. Usually in the evening when this happens, she just needs a quick pee, so I've lately been in the habit of just running her out the back door of the apartment building, without bothering with a leash, etc. She'll run into the field, pee and run back in. On this night I grabbed the keys off the table, went out into the hall with the dog and the door to the apartment closed behind me before I realized that I was holding the keys to my NYC apartment in my hands. Doh! Of course the door locked behind me and I stood there with a dog with no leash, wearing floppy, threadbare, old sweats and this enormous sweatshirt thingie (and no bra, of course) and no way to get back into my apartment. In the middle of New Hampshire (in the middle of Winter) where I don't really know anyone. So after standing in the middle of the hallway freaking out for a couple of minutes, I rang my neighbor's doorbell. It took a while, but the poor guy finally came to the door in shorts, tee-shirt and bare feet. I apologized and explained my situation (and the fact that he had the misfortune of being my closest neighbor) and then we tried to figure out what to do. He looked around for some kind of apartment management number and then I had the idea to check the yellow pages. I called the number listed for the apartment complex, there was an answering service and they said they had to page someone and had to have a number where to get back to me. My neighbor was nice enough to give them his phone number -- all of this was happening while Lola is running willy-nilly in and out of this guy's apartment (she just can't resist an open door). So Lola and I then went out to the vestibule of the apartment building to wait for someone to show. For two hours. In that course of time we got to see a lot of people coming and going, most of whom Lola enjoyed greeting. Lola was also lucky enough during this time to encounter a friendly beagle who was very happy to chase her around for a bit. Anyway, after I had completely given up all hope of getting back into my apartment that night, the guy finally showed and let me in. He had to take my license to make a photocopy and told me a number of times that I would be charged for this (well, what options did I have at that point???) I wonder if he expected a tip? I considered giving him one, but on the other hand, I did sit there for hours waiting. Anyway, it all could have been worse, I could have locked myself out when taking the dog out for the last pee of the night at 11 or later. Now that would have been a disaster. Sheesh. Anyway, I was desperately happy to get back into my place at that point. I promptly filed the NYC keys away in a drawer and set up my door so that it can't lock behind me again.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit with the traders on the trading desk here at New Company and listen in to the buying & selling & stuff. It was pretty interesting and a glimpse into a world that I had previously had little access to. The traders I am dealing with for my project have now requested that I be given an actual desk on the trading floor to give us all better access to each other. I think this will generally be a good thing for the project, but it also means that I have THREE desks here at New Company. Talk about not knowing whether I'm coming or going.

I've looked at a number of condo townhouses over the past couple of months, and thus far, nothing has really bowled me over. My search up until this point has been somewhat lackadaisical because I know that my apartment closing is still going to take a while, but just now I am beginning to feel a bit more of an urgency. I saw a couple yesterday in a complex that I admire, yet none of these could I really imagine myself living in. This is just such a hard and important decision and I really feel pretty clueless about it all. I have no experience in real estate matters, so I'm finding it a bit overwhelming. I think I'm going to look into getting a six month lease on a rental in the meantime, so I can relax a bit and not worry about being homeless at least. It's going to be stressful paying two housings costs for a while (NYC + NH) but there's really nothing I can do about that other than hope that the closing happens soon.

Well, that's all I can think of for the moment. I'm sure I've missed something, so I will chime in, when it comes to me.

I'll say it again, it's great having a gym inside my office building. I just wish I could avoid the whole locker room experience (and I like the gym in the other building much better, would like to work out some way to go to that one instead). So, I went to the gym again today and it was quite a bit more crowded, I wasn't even able to get on the elliptical. Although, that might not be such a bad thing as it forced me to do the bike and the treadmill instead (better to get a well-rounded experience, rather than doing the same thing everyday). Anyway, I felt great afterwards. I have to try and keep this up.

On any unrelated note. Am I the only one who thinks women who wear sandals in the Winter (in New England) are freaking weird???

I've been very bad

about keeping up with my blog lately.

Anyway, I haven't had a ton of stuff to say. I like my new job, it can be difficult and stressful, but no one can say it isn't challenging anyway. Now that I am settling down into a weekly routine, I am trying to carve out specific blocks of time during the week where I can get real, practical work done. There are so many meetings and conference calls and detailed emailing and otherwise conversations about the project and strategizing, etc. that I find these specified blocks of time essential for actually accomplishing some concrete work. Now that there seems to be a certain routine to the week, this has become a little easier. We have a weekly "working meeting" on Thursday afternoons where we meet with our "client" and with the business (our end users) to review what has been done that week, where the project is headed, action items, concerns, requirements, problems, etc. And the spotlight is really on me here because I have to drive a good portion of the meeting and also demo reporting changes and updates that I've done. Sometimes the meeting can be fun, if the users start to get excited and they kick off a round of brain storming that really gets my creative juices flowing. But sometimes the meeting is just painful. This past Thursday was one of those such meetings. The conference room was stuffed to the gills with something like 15-18 people (some of whom I didn't even know) and I was trying to demo a bunch of stuff, but I was dealing with a wireless keyboard and mouse, was logged onto my machine through the conference room PC and my screen kept getting frozen, so I was never able to really accomplish my demo. In the meantime, the natives were restless so I just talked through what was supposed to be my demo while becoming more and more nervous with every word. It was horrible. But I got through it somehow. My manager said to me afterwards, "good job" and I just laughed out loud. He's just so nice and always positive, but I knew it was a disaster. Oh well. It was a relief once it was over anyway.

So, I joined the company gym a week ago. For $190/year I can go to any gym location (they're all over Boston, and other locations, in addition to having a gym in each of the buildings here). I didn't go at all last week, but I finally did go for the first time yesterday. I actually blocked out the time on my calendar here, set the time as "busy" and worked out in the middle of the afternoon when the gym was pretty empty. I then stayed later at work in the evening to make up for it. I only did a half an hour on the elliptical, but it was surprisingly hard for me(or maybe not so surprisingly). It's been that long since I did any kind of consistent working out. Anyway, I'm thinking that if I can do this a few times a week, and then get myself walking more on the weekends, that this will at least be a start. I was thinking if I can continue to do the afternoon workouts, I can maybe do an additional workout after work, either at one of the gyms here, or at the apartment complex. Even just a half an hour a shot will add up quickly enough. And can I say how wonderful it is to have a gym actually in the building where your office is? Used to be I would run out to the gym on my lunch hour in NYC and it would be this harrowing sprint across Seventh Avenue, up the long, sleazy, urine-soaked block on 33rd street and across all the craziness of Herald Square. Now I can just walk downstairs without even putting a coat on, with my ipod and blackberry in hand (and can thus answer emails while I'm down there too -- gotta love technology).

Over this past weekend I got to see all my cousins for dinner. Two of my cousins live close to me here and my third cousin (who lives near Albany, NY) was down visiting his brothers. I first met two of my cousins at a local bike shop. One of them is thinking of getting into bicycling because he's having some knee trouble from running and his brother has a lot of experience and so was helping figure out what bike would be good for him and what equipment he would need. Of course, it's never a good idea for me to spend an afternoon in such as place as I start getting fancy ideas of what new toy I can buy for myself. (Must. Buy. A. Condo.) Afterwards we then drove on to the restaurant where we met both of their families and my other cousin and his family. It was a big, old, happy family reunion, the likes of which I haven't had since my mother passed away four years ago. All of my cousins wanted to know when my father plans to visit. In a way, they feel particularly connected to him because amongst us all, he is the one remaining parent. I hated to tell them that even when he lived one state away he never visited me. They shouldn't be holding their breath for a NH visit from him.

My cousins were all also very impressed with my decision to make this huge life change and move up here. All were completely amazed when I said that I don't miss NYC at all. I really don't (at least not yet), I miss the friends I have there, yes. I even miss my apartment a bit. And I miss my own furniture and my books, etc. But the city, not really. I will always have a deep love for NYC, but I sure as ass don't want to live there any more. I think the only way I could tolerate living in NYC is if I had A LOT of money, could afford a big and solid (i.e. not hearing your neighbors) apartment on the Upper Westside near Central Park and could also afford a weekend/vacation home AND still have enough money left over for traveling AND investing and for restaurants and toys and whatever. Those are the circumstances in which I could live in NYC again. Not bloody likely in my lifetime, but there it is.

Anyway, speaking of NYC, I've decided to drive down there this weekend. I'll see some people, retrieve some stuff, return my cable equipment, find some technical manuals that I need that are stashed in my apartment somewhere, etc. I'm looking forward to it.