weekend update

Where did I leave off? Right, it was Wednesday and Catherine and I did head to Pete's Tavern, the oldest tavern in New York to have a couple of pints then I decided to try and make my way home on the subway.

Yes, you guessed it, went the wrong way again and ended up downtown with no money left on my metro card and wondered the streets looking for a bank. My bank card wouldn't work at the Bank of America (which TD ended up reporting as fraud and shut down my access to my account ... found that out on Saturday night) but was able to take cash from my credit card. Made it home safe and sound with Food Emporium take out in hand.

Also, I was introduced to the best falafel place called Maoz Vegetarian Restaurant for an amazing lunch.

Thursday
At work early today - which can only mean that I finally have the subway system worked out. At about 11am Amanda asked if I would like to check our our new office space in midtown. We hopped the express to Grand Central and walked a few blocks to the new space on 44th & 3rd.
CM NYC is located in the same building as Adage, Cingular, UN and across the street from Rachel Ray's studio (if I hear her voice my ears might bleeding). I was just happy the elevators were working (one of the two elevators at our old place has been under repair for a month now). The new space has a little bit of all our offices. Chicago's colours, Toronto's windows and Calgary's bistro space. I think it's nice but a few people in the office don't like it due to the new commute time.
Big bonus of the space is the windows actually open plus it looks out to Tudor City and the Chrysler Building. The lunch room is great with booths and tables to sit at ... I may only work out of LIC 2 of the 5 days instead!

In the evening I went to look at a place in Audra's building, her landlords (the cutest old men I have ever met) let me look at the place before it went it went up for rent.
It was the smallest apartment I have ever seen in my life - there was no way that I could get my stuff up the narrow staircase to the second floor let alone into the unit. My bed was bigger than the bedroom, the kitchen was smaller than the bathroom with the fridge in the living room and it looked like if I actually set up my furniture near the wall I would end up in the restaurant below! The big selling point of this $2,000/ mth place was the HUGE terrace out the back, which was bigger than the actual apartment.

It's too bad this place was so small ... it was in a really great neighbourhood on 38th & 2nd Ave and was a great price ... I am really getting nervous about apartment hunting now.

Audra and I decided to go to the corner pub where the fire fighters usually hang after work (none today though). Also, I am really having a hard time finding a beer I like ... ended up having a Budweiser Select - that would be the first and the last one I would have during my stay in New York ... it's like eating McDonald's here when there are so many great restaurants ... sick.

After my 'pint' I decided that I should walk home ... it would only be about 20 blocks - no big deal.

1.5 hours later ... I finally made it home ... not smart to walk while looking up the whole way, I ended up getting turned around and back tracked to nearly where I started. It was a nice walk though, I passed a great outside bar at Grand Central, Madison, Park and 5th Ave shops, the Waldorf Astoria, Rockefeller Center (btw, the skating rink is a lot smaller than they make it out to be on TV - about 1/4 the size of Nathan Phillips Square), NBC Studios and Radio City.

Friday
Worked from home today due to the office move and meeting with the Mulberry Group in the afternoon who would be showing me around New York. I made the huge mistake of thinking they would be picking me up and touring me around in a car! I have been walking a minimum of 1-2 hours a day for 6 days without a good pair of shoes .. not sure how long I would last during this tour on foot.

She took me through a welcome kit booklet of things I should know to get settled in New York. One that sticks out is that you should never rent an apartment, even if you are on the 19th floor, above a restaurant, market or convenience store due to the cockroaches - you have nearly a 97% chance of having them in your place. Hmmm - thank god the 1 bedroom above the restaurant in that building didn't work out.

She showed me the quickest route to Grand Central on the S train, we toured around the terminal and she showed me the Campbell Apartment Lounge where they apparently serve the best cocktails ever made. The terrace bar I passed last night ended up being the overflow area of the Campbell Apartment - the drinks are about $25 each but it is said to be worth the experience.

We headed to the office and over to 5th Avenue to Central Park, walked to 76th and over to 2nd Ave ... she pointed out the Frick House which was an absolutely beautiful house which you can take a tour of (no children allowed) and admire his collection. I definitely will be back.

She also pointed out a brownstone on 72nd that has all the original interior restored to when it was built and was very much how I pictured all brownstones to look like (of what i could see inside and out) in New York. You can get a better look at night from across the street and she said it is definitely worth coming back to see.

All in all it was a great afternoon ... I realized that I wouldn't be able to afford anything in that neighbourhood but it was nice to see.

After limping home, literally, my feet were killing me, I was able to relax for a short 20 minutes until I had to get ready for happy hour with Catherine. She was taking me to the lower east side to meet up with a friend from work.

We started out at the Crocodile Lounge in Gramercy where you get a free pizza with the purchase of a pint. Nice pub and great beer ... I tried the checker cab blonde ale ... very good! We had a couple pints there, Catherine had the free pizza and off to the lower east side (Houston and Allen Rd).

While we waited for Catherine's friends to arrive we had a drink at a bar called Pianos where the drinks are 3/4 hard alcohol with a splash of soda. The CMJ music festival was on in the neighbourhood and we checked out a band upstairs but ended up leaving shortly after our drink.
We headed up to a place called One on One Irish pub where we could sit and have a few drinks. When Jackie arrived we had gone downstairs to the bathroom and noticed a brick lined club in the basement with some great music. We ended up moving downstairs for a couple drinks but ended up getting kicked out because it was someones birthday party. I ended up leaving shortly after - I was really tired, it was 1am and wasn't up to checking out the next bar.

I was glad Catherine took me to see the lower east side, I was able to determine that it wasn't going to be the neighbourhood for me. Although they have some of the nicest boutiques I just didn't feel like I fit in there.

Saturday
My feet were killing me - I ended up napping/ relaxing at home all day ... what a week!

Sunday
That brings us to today ... all caught up now and am off to get a cell phone, check out Filene's basement (discount clothing store) and to get a nice pair of walking shoes!