Getting to know my hood ...

Since I had to deliver my security deposit and December rent cheques to Manhattan Apartments on 7th & 57th Street I decided to make the trek to my new hood.

As I was nearing Park Avenue I noticed two fairly flashy people in front of me. One of them looked really familiar -- took me a bit to realize it was Russell Brand wearing high boots, leather scrunched pants and long coat. He was with a woman that was wearing A LOT of makeup, 6" heels, fish net stockings with leg warmers. They quickly walked into the Four Seasons Hotel. Hmmm.

I walked to 2nd avenue and up and down a few streets to my new apartment. Below are a few photos of my place and it's surroundings ... with commentary of course.




Front door of my building. It's cute.











The building from the front. I am on the third floor, the first two windows on the right is where my kitchen is and the last window is the living room which I am going to use as the breakfast nook/ pantry. You can sort of see the bedroom on the side of the building after the black strip (they post advertising in that space).








The river is a block away, it was really gloomy out today and is probably a nice view when it's sunny out.








This little cafe has no name but when I walked past it was packed and the desserts looked amazing (and I don't even like dessert!).






Precious Pets. Shyloh's future daycare. When I went in to inquire about their services I was greeted by THE nicest man, who was also the owner. He told me that this area was full of Sheltie's! He had two sheltie's in daycare today so I was allowed to go back and check it out. So cute!

What's even crazier about this place? His sister-in-law is from Regina, Saskatchewan ... crazy. Shyloh will definitely be coming here on my way to work as a treat!







Just thought I would throw this one in ... Jeffrey's wine and liquor shop - 2 doors away from my place and a cheese shop right across the street. Can't wait for Joanne to visit!







This picture isn't from near my place but was laughing at the misspelling of cigarettes.




Well, move in date is November 28th! More pics to come!

Shock Top Belgian White

After work, Audra and I decided to stop by the pub for a few pints. I asked the bartender for a light beer and was served Shock Top. It was served with a slice of orange and was surprisingly good ... and Budweiser to boot.

One pint in we were interrupted by a very intoxicated 70 year old woman who was drinking by herself. She decided to let us both in on a few beauty secrets ... for Audra, she would like her to try using a medium brown pencil on her eyebrows, rose blush and nude lipstick that would really bring out her eyes. She went on about how much she loved her hair and was pleased with how Audra styled it this evening - such a beautiful girl, she said.

Then it was my turn.

She made note of my beautiful eyes and how it was rare to see eyes that actually have a sparkle in them - she said it meant something but I forget what that was. Apparently I also have a nice nose and smile but my hair was all wrong. She went on and on an on about how it needed help, that with my features it was such a shame they were wasted on such a poor haircut. Not kidding, a shame.

I have never laughed so hard in my life. Night over, going home to search for hair salons.

Does where you live really define who you are?

It's quite sad that when someone finds out which area of town you live in you are immediately judged based on the neighbourhood.

Some New Yorkers will say I live in Corporate Midtown, Lovely Beekman, or on the border of the expensive Sutton Place. I say, I live on 52nd & 2nd Avenue (353 East 52nd Street) in a renovated two bedroom apartment that the landlord took $100 off a month of and am very excited to move into.

It's an eight block walk to work and a four block walk to the subway over to LIC. Although the rent is $800 more a month than my mortgage in Toronto, I am only locked in to a one year lease and once I get a better idea of the hoods in New York, I can move next November if I so choose!

So excited to move in and will post better pictures when I am settled.

Shyloh Day 2 & Apartment Hunting Day 1

Shyloh had a really rough night so I woke up really early this morning to take him out. After 20 minutes he just wouldn't go to the bathroom so I gave up and came back to an overwhelming smell in the apartment. Sick. How did I not smell this when I woke up? Shyloh was not well in the evidence was all over the carpet - i gagged repeatedly while cleaning it up. Sick.Sick.Sick.
I hope this wasn't going to be a daily occurrence and was just due to the fact he had a really crazy day yesterday. He slept the whole morning - poor little guy.

I ended up shutting down at work around 2:30pm in order to make it over to Manhattan Apartments for 3pm.

Let the apartment hunting begin!

The first place I saw was on 55th & 2nd, complete gut renovation on the first floor facing the 2nd. It was small but the renovations were gorgeous. Soft lighting, exposed brick, new kitchen with a dishwasher and stainless steel appliances. The bathroom was nice too and there was a washer & dryer in the closet!

The bedroom had french pocket doors but there was literally no closet space anywhere. Listed at $2,500/ mth and it was really close to work but I don't think I could get all my stuff in it?

The second & third places were at 52nd & 2nd, a brownstone walk-up. Unit 1B was really run down and nasty but a steal at only $2,400. I was really disappointed with this unit - the appliances were old, the bathroom was gross and it sort of looked like someone had been squatting in it. It was a one bedroom with a small living room and larger step up kitchen. No dishwasher or washer & dryer.

We decided to check out the higher priced unit on the third floor to compare against.
As soon as I walked into 3A I was excited. It had been completely renovated and had two bedrooms, nice dark walnut coloured floors, with a new kitchen, bathroom and an alcove eating area.

The main bedroom was definitely big enough to put my bed, night tables and dresser in it. The closet space was fantastic too. The second and third rooms were smaller but could envision using the second bedroom as my living space and the third room could house my kitchen table. Both rooms also had great storage plus, if you looked out the window and down the street, you could see the river. The bathroom had good storage and a really deep tub too.

The kitchen was brand new with good cupboard space (no less than what I had in my condo in Toronto). No dishwasher but I didn't mind 'roughing it'.

I really like this place but at $2,700 I could literally afford a 4 bedroom house in Calgary! Renting vs. owning was really starting to get to me - I felt sick over the thought of forking over that much money a month - investing in someone else's property with no return. Ugh.

Now the rationalizing begins.

I could save $600 a month on a dog walker/ day care for Shyloh because I am only 7 blocks from work. Would I actually walk home at lunch though? I guess for that kind of money, I would.
There was no microwave ... I should be eating healthier anyhow ... anything that needs a microwave to cook is usually crap. This type of thinking went on and on and on.

I really want this place. Camera's dead ... damn it.

We headed down to the 30's & 2nd to look at four places in a 'luxury' style building. First place was huge, $2,600 and had a big balcony but was right next to FDR drive. My view? Citi Group on Long Island to the right and a water plant directly in front. All four apartments we looked at were being fully renovated (and floors were all seriously shellacked) but this type of building just wasn't for me. 37 floors of cookie cutter style apartments and completely removed from everything.

Next.

On to 29th, another large building with a doorman. Apartment 1Z looked more like a dance studio. The living room was bigger than my entire condo in Toronto but the kitchen was so small, the bathroom was disgusting and the bedroom overlooked the garbage area. Nope, this wasn't going to work. Let's move on.

Madison and 21st Street, that would be cool to say "I live on Madison" right?

Great building. The kitchen had literally 20 cupboards, dishwasher, full range stove, microwave, huge fridge and mini island. The living room was a good size and had a wood burning fireplace. The bedroom had old french doors and was a good size with a small closet. Very cute but I couldn't stop thinking about the place on 52nd plus there was no storage in this unit, only one closet by the door and in the bedroom.

We jumped on the 6 subway and headed up to the 70's, upper east side. We were supposed to see two units in the area but they were being renovated and the workers locked up the apartments and our keys didn't work. Oh well, I had enough - we had been walking for 4 hours now and I could feel a golf ball sized blister forming on the heel of my left foot.

Back to the office to fill out an application for the place on 52nd. My broker was going to see if we could get the building management down $100. They took my deposit and said they would call me Saturday to let me know if I got it. I really really really really want this place.

Well, it's 8pm, time to make my way back to apartment to see what destruction Shyloh has made. He's been alone for 5 hours.

Nice, what a good boy - no mess ... off Dewitt's dog run!

Subway Conversation Eavesdropping and Shyloh Arrives!

Today was the day Shyloh arrived in New York. Poor little guy ... he is 3 yrs and 1 month old (nearly to the day), this is his third home. I decided to take transit to the LGA, it was really easy ... caught the express subway a block from my building to Astoria, Queens and hopped on the M60 bus to the airport. Nice! $2 transit ride vs. a $40 cab ride ... CM will be please with that expense report.

Question. Have you ever pretended to listen to your iPod only to eavesdrop on other conversations? That was me on the subway today. There were three people beside me talking about how MTV execs were coming to New York next week and they thought it might woo them to let them sit in on Beyonce rehearsing for SNL at 12:30pm. Apparently, SNL is trying to work a deal with SNL to buy one of there cartoons? They even referred to conversations they had with Lorne. It was kinda cool to eavesdrop on this one. Then they moved on to Penny Marshall, she wants to come in to pitch a show but Lorne wants them to be honest, if the show sucks then don't lead on that it was good. He doesn't want to get her hopes up ... they said it is something too similar to Chevy Chase's character in National Lampoon's Vacation. They got off one stop before mine ... I sort of wanted to stalk them ... I wanted to know what their jobs were.

That's where the ease and fun of this trip ended. Although, in my opinion, La Guardia airport is really ghetto, it is very spread out. They dropped me off at what they said was Air Canada but was actually Northwest. After walking back 5 bus stops earlier I found the Air Canada special baggage claim, where I was told Shyloh would be. No go. I had to hop the Route A free airport bus to Air Canada Cargo at the Marine Airport Hanger - sounded good - but no Marines were there ... just mini vans loading crappy clothing and junk for what I can only guess to be for their $1 stores.

After speaking with a rather ignorant Continental cargo handler an Air Canada helper came to the rescue. Shyloh's plane was delayed an hour ... I hope he was ok, he had been at the airport since 11am this morning to go through customs and board the plane. They told me I might as well bus it back to the main terminal because there are no bathrooms in the cargo area and by the time he cleared customs it would be 1.5 hours.

I didn't feel like hopping back on the bus so I walked back to the main terminal to grab a snack and read a weekly magazine Catherine gave me called Time Out New York. Great magazine! Timely tips on rentals too like how to sound proof your ceiling, updating the crappy cupboards and how to mask ugly walls while still getting your security deposit back. At only 78 cents an issue I will definitely sign up for it once I find my place.

It was now 5pm, time to head back to AC Cargo. Shyloh still wasn't there ... I was feeling sick with worry and hoped he was ok. After about 20 minutes of brick breaker on my BlackBerry (which I am addicted to), Shyloh arrived. Once he heard my voice he let out the cutest howl/cry!

We played for a bit on the grass, he took THE longest potty break ever and we headed back to the main terminal to catch a cab.

After I dragged Shyloh's crate into the apartment and got him some water we decided to go to Riverside Park so he could get a good run in. A lady in my building suggested it because they have a fenced in area where you can let them off leash. One of the other dog owners started up a conversation with me .. a really nice older gentleman that gave me some great tips on dog parks and things to see in the neighbourhood. One 'landmark' that he told me about was just down the street, Larry Flint's Hustler Club ... told me that if I had any men come visit me that would be the place for them to go. Nice.

As soon as we got back to the apartment Shyloh laid down on the provided dog bed and he has been sleeping ever since.

I am going apartment shopping tomorrow ... can't wait to see how much double my mortgage payments gets me!

New bank account, new credit card and a new bed!

Great morning at LIC, I always enjoy the HBX weekly status meeting. Tried to meet with a few others but everyone was behind closed doors so I headed back to the office. Thankfully my pay stub was on my desk, that was the last piece of the puzzle I needed to finally open a U.S. bank account. Off to Citibank I go!

When I got back to work I had a surprise in my inbox ... Corporate Living Inc. caved and FINALLY bought a new bed for my apartment. So excited to have a good night sleep, the first one since I moved here.

Send and receive ...

Hmmm - that didn't last long, next email is from Calgary to ask if it would be ok if I moved to the 6th floor on November 18. Seriously?? My response, you ask? "Sure, but the bed is coming with me". I thought it was kind of funny ... they however did not. It what I believe was a deadpan tone via email they wrote me back to assure me that the bed in the new suite is better than the one I currently have.

While I was on a roll I decided to call American Express and get them to complete a global transfer of my Canadian account to help me qualify for credit here. Done and done. My card will arrive in 3 business days ...

Time to shut down, day is done. It was raining so I decided to take the subway home. Stopped to watch the dancers doing there 'thang' ... very cool.

Better quit while i'm ahead ... off to bed ... Can't wait!

Election Night 2008

After my first full day of work at the clients office I was really happy to finally be home. Turned on the TV and watched a bit of the election and realized that they were filming down at Times Square and Rockefeller Center.

The Rockefeller set up is pretty awkward and always crowded so I decided to walk down to Times Square. It was pretty quiet ... everyone was really focused on watching the two large screens. A few teenage yahoos were next to me ... was I that annoying when I was young? Chances are I am still that annoying sometimes.
Cheers started as results began rolling in and NBC & CNN cameras kept the people entertained with the possibility of being on TV.
It was a little tense during periods of the night and then there was chanting and a little bit of booing when McCain took a state. I couldn't take it anymore - these teenagers were driving me bonkers, they were making some of the most ridiculous comments, clearly they didn't understand the importance of this election. Anyhow, I decided to move to the other side of the street. Just as I got there CNN moved in and had the camera on the crowd I used to be a part of - SNAP! Were they waiting for me to go? Oh well, I looked like crap anyhow ... the air quality in this city is killing me and my eyes are always blood shot!

The crowd counted down to the polls closing on the west coast and then on all the screens it read that Obama had won. Everyone went CRAZY - like New Year's Eve crazy! They were running around hugging each other, everyone had their buddies on the phone and some were even crying ... I am a pretty sensitive person so yes, I had tears in my eyes too ... the emotions were running so high it was hard to keep it in. Every cab driver was honking and yelling out their windows. So glad I decided to go down there to watch it all happen.

After about 15 minutes I decided to head home and watch the speech from there. At one point I muted my TV and could still here the speech from Times Square. The honking and celebrating lasted until about 2am (or at least that is when I finally fell asleep) but I didn't mind.

Bowling & My first celebrity sighting

Thursday
Thursday night was a CM NYC Social Club sponsored bowling night at Bowlmor Lanes in Union Square. I wasn't gong to play but had no choice once my name was on the score board. Our team lost to the MB team, by quite a lot, but it was fun. After bowling we went over to Pete's Tavern for a few drinks.

Friday - Holy Halloween in New York
Wow, I can't believe how hungover I was and had to be up really early to meet my relocation girl at the social security office at 8:30am. I was the first one called, application submitted and made it to the office by 9:45 ...

On the way to the subway Dennis Rodman walked by me with a camera shooting his every move. Looked like he was doing some sort of reality show - god i hope not! He is quite good looking in person, too many piercings though. Ended up leaving work at 2pm to sort out a bank account and sign up at Verizon.

No go on the bank account, need to get a piece of mail with my address on it first - argh. Did get my new cell and didn't want to wait until the middle of November for the Blackberry Storm so I settled on the Curve.

Halloween is crazy here, they even have a parade that you can walk in. I was supposed to go check it out with the girls but opted out - just not a big fan of the day and was very very tired.

Sunday
On my way out for shopping trip try #2, going back to 34th to finish what I started last week. The NY Marathon is on today so if I get done shopping early I may head up to the Central Park finish line.