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March, 2007:

Day One and Two: remember that time I found a human tooth, down on Delancy

Mar 27th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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I woke up this morning to the sounds of city buses and cars honking 10 floors below my hotel window on 7th Ave and 55th St in Midtown Manhattan. Today is the beginning of our third day here. I’m able to walk, this morning, about as well as Bambi did at his first appearance in that famous same-titled film.

Sunday we drove to Newark, NJ from Syracuse, NY, and then took a PATH train into the city. That was a mistake. The drive was beautiful. Despite being really foggy first thing in the morning and not really the season for looking at much of anything by upstate New York standards, Jess and had a great time “ooh”ing and “aah”ing with our fingers pressed against the windows. Once we made it to Newark, however, the trip got considerably worse.

The idea, as I menioned, was to park in Newark, near Newark Penn Station, and take the PATH train to the World Trade Center stop, transfer trains, and end up almost on the front steps of our hotel. Parking alone was more trouble than I care to repeat. I had scouted out several lots and managed to drive straight to them almost without issue. However, the lots were unmanned, the gates to them wide open. I couldn’t figure out who to pay, or where to pay, let alone to ask questions like “is it okay if I park here over night or will my car be towed”. You know, silly questions.

Eventually, Jess found someone in a booth and ran through the urine saturated streets to ask these questions while I got honked at repeatedly for being stopped in the oh so sacred Taxi line. The parking attendant informed Jess that overnight parking was available in one lot only, just on the other side of the road. We drove there and met another parking attendant who answered my questions with mumbles and gurgle that almost resembled human speech. I decided to just park and deal with it later if my car got towed. So, for $21/day (instead of the $9/day I had planned on) we’re parked in some random parking lot in Newark that I hope I can find when I get back. I will realize several hours later on the cold streets of Brooklyn at night that, in my frustration, I also managed to leave my jacket in the car.

The PATH train was the next fiasco. That “World Trade Center” stop I mentioned. Well, if you’ll remember correctly, two planes hit the World Trade Center a few years ago and that stop was demolished along with the buildings. At the cost of $323 million a temporary PATH station has been built nearby. This is actually where the World Trade Center stop is now. Furthermore, the connection to the “1″ train that I intended to make is no longer there since the station isn’t where it used to be. Even if it was, the station that the “1″ train leaves from has also been demolished and has not found a temporary home. So, in other words, getting from the PATH to the “1″ at the “World Train Center” stop is not as easy as the PATH map made it out to be. Thankfully, I figured all of this out in a panic the morning we were leaving and planned an alternate route.

The alternate route wasn’t so bad. Took 15 minutes extra and we had to walk up two flights of stairs and then back down two flights of stairs all the while lugging around our large heavy suitcases. Next time, I’ll remember to pack my belongings in a duffel that I can sling over my back when needed. Eventually, we made it to our hotel, crashed in the room, shuffled stuff from bag to bag, and prepared ourselves to take on the city.

we spent the first few hours just walking around. I pushed Jess through Times Square as she craned her neck toward the sky with her mouth wide open. As much as I hate being a “tourist” it’s the one thing that I thing needs to be seen only because it represents a large part of the culture of this part of Manhattan.

That night, we took a train into Brooklyn and met a friend of mine for dinner at a wonderful french restaurant called “Juliette’s”. I had a Hangar steak, which I’d never had before, which was delicious. We shared a few appetizers and a few drinks, and then headed back to their place grabbing a cup of coffee along the way. We played card games and chatted for a bit, and then decided to head back to the hotel.

It was at this moment that I noticed my missing jacket the most. Thankfully, we found a better route home that involved more sitting and waiting in the subway station for the very infrequent night trains, but less walking on the streets where the wind was blowing right through me.

Monday morning, we got up, went the the Grey Dog for coffee and breakfast, and then spent the morning sight seeing and shopping. Mostly, I was looking for street bags and Jess was looking for clothes. I found an interesting bag store but opted not to commit to another $100 bag just yet. We walked around some more and Jess found a few beautiful scarves. Then we walked up Delancy to the top of the Williamsburg bridge (crying “hey man, well this is Babylon”) and back down. We found great Vietnamese restaurant for lunch that was surprisingly cheap, even at Dallas standards, and quite good.

We tried to find FAO Schwartz because I thought Jess would enjoy it, but where Google Maps said it was is a big fat lie. I think I remember it being somewhere near Washington Square, though, so we’ll try again today.
Eventually we ended up back at the hotel around 4pm. I ran some clothes for today’s event out to the cleaners, we bummed around for a bit, and then headed downtown again. I’d decided to purchase a bag after all. We went to a differnt place and, after 15 minutes of deliberation, I walked out with what I hope will be the best street bag I’ve ever owned thus ending the eternal quest for the street bag.

Afterwards we found an Italian place in Little Italy called La Mela which was quite good. No nonsense. Large portions, decent service, great food, and whole ingredients. That’s how it should be. Afterwards we walked up Broadway through SOHO (now realizing that our jaunt through SOHO earlier in the day wasn’t really SOHO at all), eventually found a train, and made it back to the hotel just before 10pm where we both collapsed.

This morning, if I can get Jess out of bed, we have to pack up all of our stuff and get it prepared to switch hotels to the Waldorf this evening. Then, we’ll set out for breakfast and a stroll through Central Park. Then we’ll check out of our hotel, spurge on a cab to the Waldorf, and then hope that they’ll either give us a room early, or that the concierge will hold our bags until later. Then we’ll have about 4 more hours to kill. I’m hoping to find FAO Schwartz and visit the Brooklyn bridge, at least.

Around 3 or 4pm, we’ll stop by the cleaners and pick up my clothes. The ticket says “5pm” but the lady there said it should be ready by 3pm. I hope so, because I need the shirt and pants for the event this evening which starts around 6pm. Then we’ll attend the event which will include dinner, drinks, dancing, and, of course, the awards ceremony. It’ll probably last all evening and represent us spending the least amount of time on our feet on this trip so far.

Wednesday morning, there will be little to no time for fun. My goal is to check into my hotel in Syracuse at 2pm and be at work for a short day around 3pm. Of course, This means we need to get up at 7am, get ready, and head out to make it there in time. Of course, I’ve built a little leeway into the plans, but not much.

So, really, this is our last day in the city. I’m quite saddened by that. There’s so much more I want to do and see. However, we’ve had a really good time, Jess has really started to get a grasp on navigating the subway system, and, I’m quite certain we’ll be back; especially if we move to Syracuse.

Days Eight, Nine and Ten: with the answers in the fluid in the stem of the spine

Mar 20th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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I’ve slacked off on my updates so much now that last Wednesday and Thursday sort of blur together in my head and I only vaguely remember what happened when. So, I’ll just make up the parts I can’t remember in such a sly fashion that you won’t even know I’m making them up.

I slept all day Wednesday. Never got out of bed. Not even once. At all. Promise.

Thursday, I had breakfast at the hotel, twice, as usual, and went into work. The day was pretty typical for my time in Syracuse. I walked from my car to the building entrance and then walked the 1/4 mile (that is not an exaggeration — there are signs up to indicate as much) from the building entrance to my work location. At that point, as is typical, I worked non-stop until well after lunch when I finally manage to find a break because everyone else has been at lunch for an hour allowing me to catch up.

For lunch I went to a Mexican restaurant called “Alto Cinco”. The atmosphere was interesting, the wait staff was quick and friendly, there was a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan food, the meal was absolutely delicious and not at all Mexican. Not even a little. The only thing Mexican about it was the name, and even then, that’s pushing it. But, still quite good. As long as you’re not in the mood for Mexican.

With such a busy day at work, I just grabbed a quick lunch at Wendy’s and then headed back to the office until late in the evening with more to do than one man can handle. I really had to bite in to our IT department this time. They don’t quite understand who I am or how I can help them just yet, so sometimes I have to get a little nasty to get things done. But, later that evening I got a call from one of the developers handling my issue and he apologized profusely for the trouble, for his attitude, and for his hesitation to take action. In the end, I made another buddy in IT, and you can never have too many of those.

I went to the mall and had a quick dinner in the food court because I knew there was a bookstore there and I was growing very tired of the “Lazarus Vendetta” once again. I ended up browsing the shelves for a few hours and eventually selected two: “looking for alaska” by John Green and “being dead” by Jim Crace. I finished one of them since then, and the other is almost finished.

“Looking for alaska” is outstanding and certainly sits in my top ten favorite books. I finished it in the airport Friday morning and could barely hold back the tears. “Being dead” is well written, but really just not my style. I’m only half way through it though, so I’ll offer a better opinion when I finish it.

I met two people from the office at a Indian Casino 20 minutes out of town for dinner that night. I’ve never been to a casino, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but it seemed nice. The people inside seemed a bit trashy, as did the most of the people working the tables, but it was nice anyway. I lost $100 quite quickly playing Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘Em. That was enough for me. We also had dinner at a steak house there. My $60 meal didn’t even come close to what I can get at almost any steak house here in texas for half that price, but, I sort of expected that.

Then I headed home and crashed for the evening.

Friday I came in the office a bit late, which was a mistake. By the time I got there the place was on fire. I had to leave by 11:45am to catch my flight back to Texas. For most of the morning, I wore two headsets, switching back and forth between two different calls trying to get things done. I ended up leaving later than I wanted so I had to drop the rental car off not filled up. I’m sure they charged us an arm and a leg for the gas.

The flight home was terrible. I sat next to a very nice guy who just happened to be large enough to require a seat and a half and left the arm rest up to make sure he’d get it. He wasn’t fat, really. Just a very big guy. Mostly muscle I imagine. But still. HUGE. I felt bad for him because I’m sure that, even with half of my seat to his name, he was quite uncomfortable.

After a bit of chit-chat, he fell asleep in less than 3 minutes and immediately starting snoring. I fired up my iPod, scooted into the corner of my seat, dug into my book, and tried to watch my elbows for when the flight attendants came flying by from time to time. He woke up from time to nudge me, ask me some question, and then fall asleep almost immediately again. When he did talk, he spoke with a low, rumbly voice, had a thick drawl, and didn’t open his mouth very wide. With the hum of the airplane and my bad hearing mixed in there too, I had to ask him to repeat almost everything he said.

After the plane landed it took almost an hour to get from my gate to my car thanks to very slow service from the parking and shuttle service I use.

I got home to a wonderful dinner and a few nice surprises from my wonderful wife, though, and that made all the stress of the week before and the flight home just dissolve.

Day Seven: exits to freeways twisted like knots on fingers

Mar 14th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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Yesterday, was all about politics.

I got to work as late as I could, still very tired from the long day before. I gave a status update when I arrived. Then another on a call to my boss and her director. Then another, to a team full of directors from across the nation. Then another to a team of my peers. Apparently, our crisis made the evening news in Texas. I had no idea.

I was also officially presented yesterday to my team back home. I announced myself and my project and made a plea for cooperatioin amongst my peers. In addition, thanks to my action on the crisis calls on Monday, most of the Directors and VPs involved in this line of business are at least somewhat aware of who I am and what I do. In fact, on Monday I got an internal Instant Message from one of our VPs. That was pretty strange, actually.

I’ve also been offically announced in Syracuse. Now that people expect to find a new guy running around the building, when they see me they put two and two together and stop me with a barrage of questions. This is good. This is what we want. But, with this position being an equal mix of technical know-how, strong analytical skills, and a mind for diplomacy and politics, these first few days of exposure are critical. So, my list of “to do” itms that I’ve been building and working toward for greater than two weeks nearly doubled in a single day. Each of these things, no matter how trivial the may seem in the grand scheme of things, is incredibly important to the person posing the question. It would be a turn in the wrong direction to let any of these go unanswered in a timely fashion. So, this means my work load just got a lot heavier until the newness wears off.

Amidst all of that madness, I did manage to have two fantastic meals yesterday.

For lunch I went to “Munjed’s Middle Eastern Cafe”. It’s located in a really cute part of Syracuse that I’d like to explore a bit more the next time I’m here. The food was incredibly good. Really, really, really good. The price was about average.

The service, however, was incredibly slow. Well, kind of. When I asked for something, it was brought out almost immediately. However, I wasn’t checked up on very often. I waited almost 10 minutes to get my check. When I finally went to look for someone, I could only find the cook who called my waitress. It still took her 5 minutes to make it out. Then, I waited almost another 10 minutes for her to come pick up my card before I finally walked up to the cook again and convinced him to run it through. I think the problem was that she was preoccupied with something else and I was her only customer at the time. When she was around, she was very friendly and attentive. I’ll give the service another shot here.

For dinner, I ended up at an Italian place called Joey’s that was also quite good. The place is situated in the hotel district, North East of downtown. It appears as though they tend to cater to a business crowd so the whole place has the polish and shine you’d expect from a nice restaurant or a popular chain. Regardless of that, the food was great, moderately prices, and the service was fantastic. It’s certainly worth another visit.

I finished “The Chrysalids”. It was quite good. I think most book stores would probably place it in the teen reading section but, like many “teen” novels, it has an appeal for adults as well and provokes thoughts worthy of consideration from anyone, adult and teen alike. So now I’m back to reading “The Lazarus Vendetta”. It really is a terrible book. I need to find a bookstore. Maybe I’ll hit the mall tonight if I don’t end up at a basketball game with a guy from the office.

The only downside of yesterday is that I seem to have lost my glasses. I don’t know where they are or where I might have left them. I only wear them just before bed. Over night, they sit on the night stand, and in the morning I stuff them back in my laptop bag. I’ve searched everywhere. Jess even called the restaurant to see if they fell out of my bag there with no luck. I just got a new pair last year, so insurance wont cover another set until next year. Shelling out cash for new glasses isn’t exactly what I’d like to do with my money. For what it’ll cost, I could almost get that new camera lens I’ve been pining for. Oh well.

Day Five and Six: you get the ankles and I’ll get the wrists

Mar 13th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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I never had a chance to fill you in on Sunday, so here we go.

I had a Late Brunch — okay fine, it was Lunch — at Barbieri’s: very diner feeling; nice wait staff; well priced; clean; tasty; filled with a good mix of people and conversation. It’s not really the kind of place you write home about, though. Instead, it’s the kind of place you realize after the fact that you must really like something about or you wouldn’t keep going back. I think the best description is “comfortable”. I’ll definitely go back.

After my meal I wandered about Armory Square, a historical part of Syracuse now filled with restaurants, bars, and a few boutiques. I had coffee at “Freedom of Espresso”, read a bit, walked around a lot, and took some photographs. One of the best parts about this was the parking. While the lot I used was a bit beat up and lacked entrances and exits where there should be some, once a space was found I was able to pay $4 by credit card to park for the entire day. I think you can almost see the smile on my face now from where you are when I think about how pleased I was that I didn’t have to run to some random establishment trying to make change so I could run back to my car and feed the meter.

After that I tried to find another camera store but, after striking out trying to find anything open on Sunday, I once again opted for… (GASP)… the Mall. This time I went to the Carousel Mall, located much closer to the city. As far as malls go — and mind you, I hate malls — this one seemed pretty decent. It had nicer stores, and was laid out pretty well. The real purpose of my visit, however, was to catch a movie.

I decided to see Zodiac which I do not recommend at all to anyone, ever, under any circumstances. However, the first hour was actually pretty good. The next two hours — yes, three hours total — moved mind-numbingly slow with only a few interesting bits. By that time I had to pee so bad I thought I would explode. It seemed like the movie was going to pick up at the end so I decided to sneak away and use the rest room before it did. When I came back, there was about two minutes more of dialog and then time for the action. Only, instead of the action the movie displayed synopsizes about all of the characters lives and where they are now and just ended right there. What a waste of three hours. I guess if you’re really into serial killers you might find it interesting. Just read the story before hand, come for the first hour, and then sneak out after that.

Once the movie was over I had intended to do a little shopping. However, since the movie lasted an hour longer than I expected, and the mall closed sooner than I expected, everything was closed when I left. So, for dinner I went to a Thai place called Lemongrass in Armory Square. I felt a bit odd eating alone in such a nice place, and my primary waiter didn’t make me feel at all welcome. However, the food — Panaeng Curry — was really good, despite being over priced. I’d never had hearts of palm before, but this certainly wont be the last time.

After dinner I went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Now for Monday.

I got up. I got dressed. I had coffee and an orange. I went into the office. I held a call with my boss and my director to discuss what I learned on Friday.

Then around 9:30am I started a call for a systems crisis. That call pushed me into another crisis call, addressing the cause of the first one. Around 5pm that call spawned off another call regarding another issue being caused by the primary problem. At almost 9pm, I got tired of juggling calls and people so I decided that they were in a good spot and left to grab dinner at Dominicks. The place was nice and well priced, but the food was terrible. Then I returned to my hotel room to get a status update and went to bed.

The worst part was that none of that work was really my job. The people that should have been doing it weren’t, and it needed to be done so I did it. Then those people got upset with me for doing it my way instead of their way. Whatever. All I can do at this point is bend over and take it. What? What? In my butt. Oooh kaaaaaaaay.

And that leads me to today.

I’m going to go get a cup of coffee and an orange. Then I’ll go into the office. Then I’ll have a call with my boss and my director about the catastrophe that was yesterday. Then I’ll try to get some work done while maintaining light contact with the crisis calls and trying not to go crazy.

Oh yeah, somewhere along the line I decided that “The Lazarus Vendetta” is damn near the worst book I’ve ever read so I stopped. I’m now reading “The Chrysalids” by John Wyndham which, so far, is quite good.

Day Four: you know but that you go on

Mar 11th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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It rained all day yesterday. For a guy who occupies his free time with photography, that’s a bad thing especially considering how much free time he had. Today won’t be much better. Instead of rain, there’s snow.

I got up early intending to have breakfast at the B’Ville Diner in Baldwinsville. Half way there I realized I forgot my book and after many failed attempts to find a bookstore on the way there I ended up browsing the shelves of an Eckerd Drug Store. I found “The Lazarus Vendetta”, part of a Robert Ludlum series, but written by Patrik Larkin. Not exactly the deepest or most meaningful novel I’ve ever read, but it beats gazing out the restaurant window staring at the same car lined street for an hour.

The B’Ville Diner was good. I had breakfast: eggs, sausage, home fries, toast, coffee. That’s pretty hard to mess up. The place was *packed* and the service was slow, probably due to the aforementioned number of patrons. At 3 in the morning I’m sure it’d hit the spot. But, there’s no reason to drive that far and wait in that line just for eggs and coffee.

It wasn’t that far of a drive, really. Not by a Dallasite’s standards. About 15 miles. Maybe 20. And the view getting was pretty nice, even despite the rain. I think anyone living in “The ‘Cuse” however, would find that a bit far.

After breakfast I headed to MQ Camera in Syracuse. It was run by a very nice man who talked tripods with me for 30-40 minutes. Unfortunately, he didn’t have what I wanted in stock. Tripods aren’t commonly purchased and it’s hard to keep a full range of stock.

Next I headed to RA-Lins. This place is crazy. It’s like going to Sears, only smaller, and all the sales people sell everything as though they were seilling cars. The customer service was outstanding. I was shown the ins and outs of almost every bag that even remotely fit my requirements. Unfortunately, being as picky as I am, I never found what I wanted. I heard another salesman going over the benefits of having a point and shoot digital camera that takes “AA” batteries with an 11 year old.

Since those stops didn’t take nearly as much time as I’d hoped, I found myself back at the hotel at 1pm fighting off house keeping as I tried to find a few more places to visit. Knowing that even driving by any state parks or industrial areas worth photographing would only leave me cold, wet, and bitter, I made the ultimate sacrifice and opted to kill some time at… (GASP)… the mall.

I opted for the super trendy mega mall about 15 miles north. Worse than I expected, it was packed with people and filled with boring stores and a massive food court where every turn met someone else cramming a pretzel or cookie into their faces. After running a quick lap around the mall, I started to feel bored and a little hungry, so I decided to find a late lunch.

I started heading back to the hotel looking for something to eat along the way. Right across from the mall I found a place called “Smokey Bones” that smelled decent from the road, so I decided to go for it. The parking lot was full, however, and I should have taken that as a sign. It was 3pm on a Saturday and there was a 45 minute wait. The restaurant was packed with the same people I’d seen cramming pretzels in their faces only 15 minutes prior.

This part of the Syracuse area represents just about everything that I hate about Dallas culture, especially suburban Dallas. I think I’ll be much happier if I just never wander through there again.

Afterwards, I headed to Fayetteville to try a Italian restaurant, “Amore”, that was recommended. Unfortunately, the are only open for dinner and it was only 4:30pm. From the parking lot it also seemed to be a bit less casual than the way I was dressed. Maybe Jess and I will check it out together when she’s here in a few weeks.

At this point I gave up and decided to just sit at the hotel and read. I stopped in a area of town specializing in chain restaurants, found a Ruby Tuesday, had a burger and drove back to the hotel and read for a few hours.

At 8pm I brought a 6-pack of Labatts and headed to my poker invitation. At least one person from seemingly every personnel rank at the office was there — excepting the one big boss. It’s quite unusual for me to see coworkers — managers and employees alike — drinking, playing cards, and cutting up in this fashion. In the end, I’d lost $50, had a few Jager bombs, a couple of beers, heard a guy puke twice, met 4 new people, geeked out about mobile phones with a girl, cleaned up 3 spilled beers and 1 spilled bottle of Jameson, and all and all had one of the best damn times I’ve ever had with people I don’t really know and officially the best time I’ve ever had with a group of coworkers.

I feel into bed around 1:30am. I tried to read a bit but just couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I’m not sure what I’m doing today. Maybe I’ll try to find some more shopping. Maybe I’ll break down and try to photograph in the snow. Maybe I’ll go see a movie by myself. Maybe I’ll just drive around the city looking for something interesting. Maybe I’ll sit in the hotel and rot all day. Suggestions?

flips an ash like a wild, loose comma

Mar 11th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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Yesterday marked 2 years.
Thats 730 days.
17,531 hours.
1,051,897 minutes.
63,113,851 seconds.
1,096 packs.
21,920 cigarettes.
$4,386.

I’ve fought hard. Some days are easy. Other days are not so easy. And the fight still isn’t over. But I’m proud of myself.

Day Three: I knew the gas was gone but I had to rev the motor

Mar 10th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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I slept in this morning so, now I’m running “late” for the “appointments” I’ve made for my “self” today. (I don’t know why I put quotes around “self”. Well, I don’t know why I did the first time. I know why I did the second time. That was to point out the fact that I did the first time.) What I’m trying to say is, I’m in a hurry so just add all the funny parts in yourself and laugh a lot.

There was no snow on my car yesterday morning, so that was nice. However, it was at least 20 degrees colder than it was the day before. My thin dress slacks didn’t really offer much protection. I think I have cold burn on my legs now. Is that even possible?

I spent most of the morning in conference calls and lining people up to take care of a few issues for me. Quite boring, actually. I was invited to a poker game tonight with some of the guys. I think it’ll be fun so I’m going to go. I’ve never been big on making real friends at work, but, in this case, I have few other options and they seem like guys I could get along with anyway.

I went to lunch by myself. Decided to try Mai Lan on State Street. The food was great. Very friendly service too. A bit on the slow side, but, I don’t generally expect speedy service from such a small place. I highly recommend it.

After lunch, work picked up quite a bit. In fact, I ended up coordinating eight different organizations in a repair effort that didn’t get me home until some time after 7:30pm.

Then I headed out near Syracuse University for some Gyros and a cup of coffee. I ended up at Acropolis Pizza House (which also happens to sell Gyros and some other Greek food). While the food was quite good, I don’t know that I’d recommend it. It was one of those places where I was almost afraid to eat the food, not because I didn’t think it would taste good, but because I wasn’t sure how good I’d feel in the morning if I did. The tables were greasy, the service was slow and the food was a bit over priced. After that I walked over to Starbucks and finished off “Andromeda Strain”.

By the time I left, around 9:30pm, there were no other cars left parked on the street but mine. I don’t know if that means if the area dies down by 9:30 on a Friday night, or if I picked a really bad parking spot, or if I was breaking some law or in some danger by being there (i.e. snow plow coming, illegal to park at night, high possibility of car breakin, etc). But, I left without issue.

I got back to the hotel (room 404, baby), watched some TV, and then went to bed.

Today I hope to find a small diner in Bartonville for breakfast. Then on to a camera shop to feed my addiction and then a store to to continue my eternal quest for the perfect bag. I might drive by some of the apple orchards south of the city to see if they might lend themselves to a few photographs. Or, perhaps, just drive around in the city and see how lost I can get. Then, tonight, poker. All in all, it should be an interesting day.

Keep me company! Text message me! Email danielphone@inklog.net! :)

leave your money on the TV on your way out the door

Mar 9th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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It took me over 15 minutes to brush at least 6 inches of snow off my car yesterday morning. I don’t think there’s any elegant way to do this. By the time I was “finished” the car was still covered in snow. That hadn’t changed. The only difference was that, then, I was too as was the drivers seat. Greeeeat. And I get to do it again this morning.

*Narrator 1*: Watch now as Daniel rounds the corner to his first encounter with this species.
*Narrator 2*: Having never encounter them before, I don’t think Daniel knows what to expect, Jim.
*Narrator 1*: That’s right, Bob. His pre-conceptions are all wrong. Here he goes now.
*Audience*: OOOOH!
*Narrator 1*: Bob, five guys tackled him at once. Unbelievably, he’s handling every one of them.
*Narrator 2*: It truly is amazing. But I don’t think he’s notices the other 10 waiting just around that corner, Jim.
*Narrator 1*: (chuckle) You couldn’t be more right, Bob.
*Audience*: AAAAAH!
*Narrator 2*: And here they come.
*Audience*: OOOH!
*Narrator 1*: He’s trying to fend them off, and doing quite well. There’s 3. Now 4. Oh… wait… there he goes. He’s running for it now.
*Audience*: (cheering)
*Narrator 2*: Watch the motion as he weaves through those cubicles. He’s done this before.
*Narrator 1*: They’re right on his heels though, Bob. He doesn’t stand a chance.
*Audience*: NOOOOO!
*Narrator 2*: And he’s down.
*Audience*: (weeping)
*Narrator 1*: Oh the Humanity!

Well that was just about the busiest first day of work I’ve ever had. I’m trying hard to remember that every single day isn’t going to be like this. My director made it a point to remind me that I’ve only been here for “hours, not days”, and that things will settle in a bit more. I hope he’s right.

I don’t think anyone expected any results for at least 2 weeks, if not more like a month. The fact that I may have a solution for one of their issues in place by the end of today is setting a dangerously high lead to follow. But, I think it’s the best way to establish my abilities.

All in all, I think my first day was a success. My boss and my director both seem to agree. I also managed earned the support of a few other auxiliary groups, one of which is very important, which means that it will now be even easier for me to make big things happen very quickly. But even then, it’s still not enough to really get the connections I want to do this job well. So, I’ve put myself up for sale. It’s almost degrading. So now everyone wants a piece of me. So cheap and JUUUicy.

GO ORANGE. Or something. I have no idea.

I had too many drinks again last night with my boss and her Director. My liver is grateful that they are leaving this morning.

Outside of Weber’s for lupper yesterday, I still haven’t managed to leave the 2 mile radius of my hotel. My travel companions are of the “let’s stay in the hotel and drink” variety. They are leaving this morning, so that should make exploring much more of a possibility.

Speaking of exploring, I still have NO plans for this weekend. Don’t make me call every one of you now. I might just go wander around in NYC all by myself. I could hang out by the subway stations with pamphlets shouting “animaaaaaaaaaaaaaal rights!”. The Poconos maybe? Or hell, I could find plenty to do just driving around Syracuse, I’m sure.

Okay I’m going to go get some coffee and head into the office. Text message me and stuff. I’m lonely. :(

Day One: is the iron supposed to smell like that?

Mar 8th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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Do the towels have an odor or am I perspiring alcohol?

My first day in Sunny Acapulco… errr… I mean Snowy Syracuse was mostly uneventful. After a quick hop in what seemed like the world’s smallest plane and an interesting attempt to pee with my neck at a less than 90 degree angle I landed safely in snow covered Syracuse.

I had German food for lunch — or dinner, or whatever you call the meal that you eat when you get off the plane at 2pm famished, check in to the hotel, catch up on required work stuff, and eventually find a place to eat just before 5pm. I ate at a place called Weber’s which was quite good, had a local pub feel, and *great* service.

As I was just pulling out of the parking lot my Boss called to ask if I’d like to meet for dinner and drinks at her hotel in an hour. “Um… err… suuuuuuure”. Three drinks and a nice cranberry chicken salad later and I was on my way back to *my* hotel.

But her hotel was so much nicer. My boss thought that I was staying in a different hotel than her because I *wanted* to despite the fact that I told her the system wouldn’t let me book in the hotel she was staying in. So, long story short, I canceled my reservation and am moving to her hotel tonight. Free drinks anyone?

Just my luck, there were snow flurries and snow squalls all night and they aren’t letting up this morning. The news is reporting record lows and just north of here in Canada I heard that it’s -42 degrees… Fahrenheit! When it’s that cold does it even matter if it’s Fahrenheit or not? They keep showing footage from last night of people sliding off the road and into telephone poles and all I keep thinking is, “look at all that snow coming down!”.

Wrinkle-Free pants lie. Don’t trust them. In related news, a hot, heavy iron with it’s cord accidentally caught under the foot of the ironing board can be quite dangerous. Smokey the bear says, “Only you can prevent hotel fires.”

In a few minutes I’ll pack all my stuff back in my car, check out of my hotel, and seek out a place to buy a cup of coffee. I head into the office at 9am. Jess’ dad says that studies show that dark blue inspires confidence. So, dark blue it is. Along with grey slacks and some awesome new shoes and I’d say I look pretty good. The Schmooze knob will be turned to 11. You wouldn’t even recognize me.

keeping company

Mar 7th, 2007
by Jim Reverend.
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I’m heading out this morning for the first of many flights to Syracuse, NY. I’m excited, anxious, determined, and afraid all at once. It’s really an odd place to be. Despite all of the good things that may come from this, there’s just enough loss mixed in to make any victories bittersweet. Right now, the most troubling thought is that I will have to spend so much time away from Jess for these first few months. That coupled with the fact that I know exactly no one in Syracuse makes that time away even more difficult. It’s a small obstacle and we’ll get over it, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

I’m sure Jess will do fine. She’s got a strong network of friends, my family, and people that care about her. None the less, if you find yourself with nothing to do one evening over the next few weeks, please, give her a call and see if she’s like to make plans.

As far as I go, I’ll need all the company I can get. Any phone calls, emails, IMs, text messages, and picture messages you’d like to send in my direction will certainly be welcomed and reciprocated. And don’t be shocked if I contact you first. Check out my Facebook Page for most of my contact information. You can email me pictures and text messages by writing to “danielphone@inklog.net”.

I’ll write in this space to document my adventure as often as I can. However, if you’d like shorter and more frequent updates, you’ll want to sign up to my Twitter Page. This way you can receive these quick notes via IM, Text Message, the Web, or RSS — whichever you prefer.

And, *of course*, if you live within driving distance (6 hours or so) of Syracuse, NY and would be up for meeting some place one evening, or spending some time over the weekend, please get in touch.

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