vanderwal.net

What a week

This is one week I am glad is over. This week was tough and bizarre to say the least. Today was too fitting for a Friday, particularly this week. Things may be quiet here this weekend as we tend to the neice and nephews.

Strange day

Today was a very strange day. Things happen quickly and you react, sometimes you are incredibly surprised what happens in split seconds, then minutes.

Huh

As the day passes it looks more and more like I may have time for the side projects I have going.

A good win

Today there was some good new. The contract I work on today was finally awarded to the teamed companies I was working on the proposal for. This means there is the possibility I could be working at the same place for the next 10 years. This is good news.

Things around here have been insanely hot. Our apartment was above 85 degrees all night. Joy could not take it any longer and drove to work at 3:30 to get a/c (she counted 27 stop lights from home to work and only 9 minutes of driving with nearly all of them flashing yellow). I got up for a while, but finally the need for sleep dug in.

It is damn hot in the Washington, DC area. Joy just took our one fan to the back of the apartment to get a breeze blowing in the bedroom. Now it is insanely hot in the family room with a hot TiBook in my lap. Time for bed me thinks. (We live in an older building that turns on the central a/c on in mid-May)

I am really enjoying my new cell phone. However it is the first phone in a long time that I really needed to learn the keylock. Not only does the phone dial easily, but the speakerphone is quite loud. I had my phone tucked away in my bag, which would believe one to believe that the loud walkie talkie sounds ("please hang up and dial again" and other gems) were from some idiot's phone or the custodial services. Nope they were from me. I have learned to easily operate the keypad lock, which also saves my pockets from talking to me.

We finally saw a beautiful mind this evening. I rather liked the movie, but it was not as deep as I thought it was going to be. Yes, I am a wee bit behind in my movie watching. I tend to lean on the computer, Internet, books, and magazines for entertainment.

A forced break in the comment tool development. I may be able to catch up on some e-mail and get a good night sleep.

Temp today was 100 this morning. Went to work (a day I did not want to miss). Went to the doctor late in the afternoon. Temp was perfectly normal. Came home napped. Temp now 101.4. I give up. I did get anti-biotics to kill the bug and to keep my from having a Shiner in Austin. Good night.

Happy Birthday Joy, the love of my life.

It finally caught up, allergies and being worn down have had me largely flat on my back today. The usual errands were not a joy and the Hoya's last game this season (it was sad too to say good bye for a few months to those in the seats around us, but I did snag a free t-shirt). I have been trying to rest up for tomorrow and get better for the week and SXSW, which is followed by ASIS.

Can I tell you how ready for sleep I am? This week included the approach of an ISO audit at work, end of the month usual stuff, tons of paperwork for work and home, spending time with my wonderful parents that were in town (although they stayed in a private club/hotel that lost them when I was trying to meet them for dinner), realized I could not find my running shoes I liked (hello Adidas for home delivery), figured out that the ASIS IA Summit is largely on a weekend that I have not away and close by in Baltimore (hello I am now going), finally got tired of my cell phone and its poor battery life and my non-national call plan for that phone that put me back more than $300 while stuck in SF around Sept. 11 (vavoom a new phone and a national plan, which includes e-mail, text messaging, and Web and a much longer battery life), and allergy season beginning. I also realized I leave for Austin a week from tomorrow.

I have posted a quick photo journal of this recent trip to NYC. The slide show is a presentation built with PB's SnapGallery. The images were cleaned-up and reduced in PhotoShop prior to moving them in to the SnapGallery. I found SnapGallery very quick and easy to use. I have a strong feeling I will be playing with it some more.

New York Trip - February 2002

The New York City log goes a little something like this... We did the obligatory trip to Tal Bagels on First Ave to fuel up on my favorite bagels. Saturday I was able to knock out much of the computer set-up, but I had a feeling early on (Wednesday or Thursday) that I would need cables. We needed longer phone cord, but also when looking for a monitor stand that one can slide a keyboard under. The cords were no problem, but the stand was another issue. We went trekking through the mid-50s on the Eastside up into the mid-60s trying everyplace I had remembered seeing the stands. But, we got one of two answers 1) sorry we stopped carrying that a year ago, or 2) sorry we stopped carrying that four to six months ago.

After an hour and a half of searching we stopped at Mangia at 50 57th Street for lunch. Mangia has great salads and sandwiches for lunch. The salads were very good and the grilled vegetables were amazing.

The post-nourishment lead us to Rizzoli's Bookstore to peruse the art and design books, but did not make a purchase. We started back on our search and happened to stop into Fauchon for some chocolates, and to try our French on the Japanese staff (odd cultural blur). Then we were off to the Upper West side, beginning at Lincoln Center. We walked up West Broadway and stopped in Gracious Home, a wonderful "We have everything" home store. The did not have the desired monitor stand, but they did have an amazing tool section, lamp selection, kitchenware, and everything you could ever imagine with all of it seeming to be top quality and top brands. We stopped a few other places on the way to Zabars to look around and sample. By this point it was time to head back to rest up for dinner after stopping in nearly ten places that had the monitor stands in the past. At Work Stand on West Broadway, I finally had to tell somebody I was beginning to take this personally.

Our evening included dinner at MI, which was very good Asian fusion, with very slow service. We did happen to see Charlie Rose at dinner, which some how added to the dining experience. Next it was off to the Rise Bar on the 14th floor of the new Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park. The bar looks out across the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Jersey City, and from the outside deck up to where the Twin Towers stood. In all it was a great night with Joy's family and friends of hers and theirs. We did finally found a place that would order the monitor stand for us.

Sunday was another trek to Tal and off to find more cables to try to get an HP printer to talk with the new Dell. We also needed cables and a converter box to get the DVD player running. These efforts after our hunting left us with a working DVD player and a noncommunicative printer. This of course lead to lunch at the near-by Houston and then off to visit a new baby and his parents on the Upper East Side. It seemed like such a short visit before we had to get back and pick up our bags to head back home.

It was a jam packed weekend and once again I have a great place in my heart for NYC. The people in NYC definitely are now very friendly and courteous. This to me is a little un-nerving as I like the New York edge. But, it was also nice to have people being completely sweet and helpful at every turn.