The past few weeks have been filled with various things happening for my career and my family. On the career side, I am about to leave IBM for a small startup company. On the family side, my Lola on the mother's side is ill and has been in the hospital the past few weeks in Manila. Since I can't be in Manila and since my Lola has trouble talking, I decided to write a letter and have my parents read it to her. Here it is, in it's entirety.
----------------------
Dearest Lola,
I am really sorry I am not able to be present there in Manila right now. My parents have been updating me regularly about what you are going through and I sincerely pray for the best possible outcome. The past few months have been filled with a lot of changes in my life which I was hoping to personally share with you, but given the situation, I think this would do.
A few months ago, I moved to Brooklyn in New York City. This allowed me to be closer to friends who were already based there. Over the past two years, I have come to the realization that I would not be productive at work and personally happy with my life without being able to share my high and low points with people I care about. Burlington and Poughkeepsie were nice and laid-back places, but they were not for me. It was also very lonely going to areas where I did not know anyone and it was equally difficult to meet people my age since these had very typical middle class American suburb environments with mostly families and retirees. Without any doubt, I feel the move to New York has been one of the best decisions I made during this past year. I am happier that I am closer to Ria in Philadelphia, to relatives in the suburbs, and to friends also based in the city. The neighborhood I currently live in now also has a good mix of "small town feel" with "big city accessibility", since I am just a few minutes from the most bustling areas of Manhattan.
In terms of my work at IBM, it has been almost two and a half years since I joined and I feel it's about time for a change. I have met a lot of very nice people at IBM where I will definitely keep in touch with some of them as real friends. In spite of IBM's stability and name recognition, it has been very difficult to shine and I find it hard to stay motivated to give my best to the job. At the same time, I find that a lot of the most exciting developments in the technology world have been done by much smaller and more nimble startup organizations. In a month, I would be leaving IBM and joining this small private company called Six Apart. In the technology industry, they are well-known for their enterprise blogging software and services. Although they are based in San Francisco, they are expanding in New York because so many of their clients in media are based here. I had a very positive feeling about the people who seemed very smart, enthusiastic, young, practical, and idealistic to really make a difference. There is some part of me approaching this change with cautious optimism, but for the most part, I am happy about this decision and I think it would work out in the long run.
In other parts of my life, I wouldn't say it has been as colorful, though I have had various different experiences over the past few months. Me and some of my friends from Manila who are also professionals and based in the United States have come together to form a non-profit organization. We are supporting this during our free time during the weeknights and weekends. We are hoping to become an online portal which will connect generous donors in the United States to education projects to benefit students in the developing world, starting with the Philippines. My responsibility is to work on the technical infrastructure of the project, specifically the website the public will use to browse projects and make donations. It has been quite inspiring how the collective generosity of people to contribute some time and professional talent has made this project into something that looks feasible, even when we are not working full-time on it.
Aside from that, there really is not much more to say about my life here. I really miss you and the rest of the people back home. I would continue to pray for you and the people around you who have found strength in their own lives through the life you have led.
God Bless!
Love,
Pao
Friday, September 19, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Late Summer Two-Week Diary
I'm tired mentally and physically... and my wallet is, too!
There is so much to say about the past two weeks of my life, I really have no way of summarizing it but to go through what happened with day-to-day coverage. It all began the weekend before my birthday and ended just yesterday when a good friend of mine went back to Asia after spending the same amount of time in New York.
With my birthday lunch as well as a close friend visiting from Singapore, there were a lot of activities in between. I feel like it was a wonderful two weeks and there is bound to be more downtime over the next month or so as I settle in to a more normal daily routine.
But in any case, I really enjoyed being around close family and friends, and realize that it's really the people that make the place memorable, not the place itself. If you are able to read until the end of this post, thank you very much! It took me well over an hour and a half to type everything up!
Sunday, Aug 3 --
Ria visits from Philly for my cousin's wedding the following day. I met her in Penn Station then head over to TriBeCa to meet Seng for dinner. We ate at some Japanese restaurant where the randomest of conversations occured with another patron in the same restaurant.
Monday, Aug 4 --
My birthday. Facebook is probably the most interesting thing to happen in terms of birthday reminders. Several close friends wrote, and thank you if you were one of them! But what was more interesting were those who I haven't heard from in ages.
My cousin and his fiance also decided to have their wedding on the same day as my birthday. It was a comedy of errors in the beginning, but everyone seemed happy at the end of the event. Food was great for a wedding and it was a free spectacle for the guests, so that was ok with me.
Tuesday, Aug 5 --
Ria leaves for Philly in the morning. It was back to work for me. For dinner, I had lunch with Jared, Richie, Nancy, and Lisa. We ate in a really cheap but trendy and delicious Thai restaurant called Song in Park Slope. After dinner involved simply talking the night away at a local Starbucks.
Wednesday, Aug 6 --
Met up for dinner with Joyce, Cami, Donald and Julia at Men Kui Tei in Midtown Manhattan. It was comfort Japanese food at cheap prices. After that, we had dessert at Ben and Jerry's in Times Square.
Thursday, Aug 7 --
Again, another dinner with Joyce, Cami and Julia. This time, we ate at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park in Manhattan. This NYC institution has really long lines and delicious burgers. It was also a beautiful day and we ended up having frozen yogurt for dessert while walking all the way to Krystle's place 30 blocks uptown! There we spent the rest of the night just hanging out, as I subjected myself to a girls' bonding session. It ended at around midnight and I got back home around 1 AM the next day.
Friday, Aug 8 --
Met up with Joyce and Cami in the Wall Street area while waiting for the rain to stop so we could cross the Brooklyn Bridge. It was beautiful and no wonder is it a New York must-see. Since the opening ceremonies of the Olympics were showing on TV, we decided to turn the night into a stay-in and cook dinner thing. We had roasted lamb with rice while watching the spectacular opening ceremonies on TV.
Saturday, Aug 9 --
This was the big day that was scheduled as a joint-birthday lunch party at Todai between me, Cricket and Greg. We invited several of our close friends in NYC and it was a total of about 22 people! Thank for those who came: Ria, Richie, Joyce, Cami, Krystle, Sean, Jared, Nancy, Duday, Donald, Seng, Anna, Mark (+friends), and Cricket's friends. Thanks also to Cricket and Greg for planning this out!
After brunch, I hung out with Joyce, Cami, Krystle, Donald, and Sean in the most interesting place I've been to have fantastic hot chocolate: ABC Home and Carpet! You may be stumped, if you want good hot chocolate and interesting ambiance, it's a great place.
For dinner, I met up with Ria and Seng and we ate in Grill 21, a surprisingly good Filipino restaurant in the East Village in Manhattan. If buffet for lunch wasn't enough, we had even more food here! We had Tinolang Manok and Sisig! After that, Ria and I headed back to Brooklyn.
Sunday, Aug 10 --
Ria and I started out the day with Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Brooklyn then waled over to Applewood for brunch, where we met up with Joyce, Cami, Krystle and Donald. Although the brunch wasn't too bad, I felt it didn't live up to the expectations of the numerous raving reviews about the place.
After brunch, Ria left for Philly and Donald for the Upper West Side. The remaining 4 of us went to Coney Island. The weather wasn't cooperating, so we ended up just buying hotdogs at Nathan's then play a few games at the arcade.
We headed back to Park Slope after that and just had take-out pizza for dinner while watching the Olympics on TV. I thought it was a great way to end the week, with a more laid-back dinner more typical of college students than working professionals.
Monday, Aug 11 --
For dinner on this day, I met up (again) with Joyce, Cami, Krystle and Donald at Flor de Mayo in the Upper West Side. It's a reasonably priced Peruvian-Chinese restaurant where nearly all of us ordered their Lomo Saltado.
On the way downtown, Joyce, Cami and I passed by Magnolia Bakery in the West Village for cupcakes. I can certainly say that they were very overrated, and simply a fad created from Sex and City!
Tuesday, Aug 12 --
Amazingly... nothing happened on this day! For the first time, I had some me-time and it was a short pit stop for what was to happen the next couple of days.
Wednesday, Aug 13 --
This night was the result of going hell and back and discovering that Broadway tickets, especially for a sought after show, are among the hardest things to find on the internet! Joyce and I watched the musical Wicked on Broadway, and it was actually very nice. I was able to follow the plot from end to end and the music was great. The theatre was packed as it is the current top grossing show on Broadway.
Before the show, Joyce and I ate Ethiopian food at Queen of Sheba just a few blocks from Times Square. I thought the food was generally ok, but certainly still not as good as Dukem in DC, which is the best Ethiopian restaurant I've been to in the US.
After the show, Joyce and I met up with Cami and we had cheesecake and banana split at Junior's in Times Square. That was a great way to cap off the night as we headed back to our respective places.
Thursday, Aug 14 --
It was Cami's last night in NYC while Joyce was around, so we decided to save the best meal for this night. The 3 of us ate at Kittichai in SoHo. Although it's probably the most expensive meal I had in a while and will have for the forseable future, I did enjoy it. Portions were large and not "elf food" size like that of other upscale restaurants in the same price range. Food was fusion-style Thai and the ambiance was great. We chose to get the family-sized pre-fixe dinner that included 2 appetizers, 5 entrees, and 2 desserts!
Friday, Aug 15 --
For Joyce's last night in NYC, Krystle and I decided to take her to a more laid-back place for comfort food, pasta. We ate dinner at Da Andrea in the West Village and chatted for a bit at Doma Cafe until its closing time of Midnight. There was a severe thunderstorm earlier in the day, but then, everything turned out fine in the end.
Saturday, Aug 16 --
It was Joyce's last day in NYC, and ever the driver-ng-bayan, I volunteered to bring her back to JFK to catch her flight to Singapore. Since her flight was still late afternoon, we had enough time to have brunch then walk around. We went to Brooklyn Heights and ate at Heights Cafe. It was a beautiful day we just enjoyed a simple brunch while people watching from the restaurant's outdoor patio. After brunch, we walked around the neighborhood including the promenade then had ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in DUMBO.
Then it was on to JFK. After checking in, we hung out for a while in the upper level of Terminal 1, where you could get a view of the runway and have access to cheesy restaurants such as McDonald's and Wok and Roll. Chatted there for a little while then saw Joyce off at the security checkpoint.
And that was that... the end of the 2 weeks of family, good friends, going out, spending, eating, and errr, more eating! I took the long road back to NYC and discovered that driving the Belt Parkway all the way to the BQE and back to Brooklyn was a beautiful weekend drive. I loved how you'll first see the Verezzano bridge then the Manhattan skyline with the statue of Liberty and all the East River bridges as a spectacular approach into the city. Along the way, you realize just how huge New York City is. It is not just Manhattan or the popular areas of Brooklyn and Queens. NYC extends all the way out into the ocean and there is some really eye-popping spectacular beachfront property in neighborhoods like Mill Basin.
But then, as I did mention, it is not really the place that matters, but the people. These are mainly my family and friends. So thank you everyone who has been part of the past two weeks of my life and I really really enjoyed it. This would be hard to top, but then, it's all the more reason for me to reach out a bit more to other people who I've just met. I'm sure it would be interesting and would definitely widen my experiences here in NYC.
There is so much to say about the past two weeks of my life, I really have no way of summarizing it but to go through what happened with day-to-day coverage. It all began the weekend before my birthday and ended just yesterday when a good friend of mine went back to Asia after spending the same amount of time in New York.
With my birthday lunch as well as a close friend visiting from Singapore, there were a lot of activities in between. I feel like it was a wonderful two weeks and there is bound to be more downtime over the next month or so as I settle in to a more normal daily routine.
But in any case, I really enjoyed being around close family and friends, and realize that it's really the people that make the place memorable, not the place itself. If you are able to read until the end of this post, thank you very much! It took me well over an hour and a half to type everything up!
Sunday, Aug 3 --
Ria visits from Philly for my cousin's wedding the following day. I met her in Penn Station then head over to TriBeCa to meet Seng for dinner. We ate at some Japanese restaurant where the randomest of conversations occured with another patron in the same restaurant.
Monday, Aug 4 --
My birthday. Facebook is probably the most interesting thing to happen in terms of birthday reminders. Several close friends wrote, and thank you if you were one of them! But what was more interesting were those who I haven't heard from in ages.
My cousin and his fiance also decided to have their wedding on the same day as my birthday. It was a comedy of errors in the beginning, but everyone seemed happy at the end of the event. Food was great for a wedding and it was a free spectacle for the guests, so that was ok with me.
Tuesday, Aug 5 --
Ria leaves for Philly in the morning. It was back to work for me. For dinner, I had lunch with Jared, Richie, Nancy, and Lisa. We ate in a really cheap but trendy and delicious Thai restaurant called Song in Park Slope. After dinner involved simply talking the night away at a local Starbucks.
Wednesday, Aug 6 --
Met up for dinner with Joyce, Cami, Donald and Julia at Men Kui Tei in Midtown Manhattan. It was comfort Japanese food at cheap prices. After that, we had dessert at Ben and Jerry's in Times Square.
Thursday, Aug 7 --
Again, another dinner with Joyce, Cami and Julia. This time, we ate at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park in Manhattan. This NYC institution has really long lines and delicious burgers. It was also a beautiful day and we ended up having frozen yogurt for dessert while walking all the way to Krystle's place 30 blocks uptown! There we spent the rest of the night just hanging out, as I subjected myself to a girls' bonding session. It ended at around midnight and I got back home around 1 AM the next day.
Friday, Aug 8 --
Met up with Joyce and Cami in the Wall Street area while waiting for the rain to stop so we could cross the Brooklyn Bridge. It was beautiful and no wonder is it a New York must-see. Since the opening ceremonies of the Olympics were showing on TV, we decided to turn the night into a stay-in and cook dinner thing. We had roasted lamb with rice while watching the spectacular opening ceremonies on TV.
Saturday, Aug 9 --
This was the big day that was scheduled as a joint-birthday lunch party at Todai between me, Cricket and Greg. We invited several of our close friends in NYC and it was a total of about 22 people! Thank for those who came: Ria, Richie, Joyce, Cami, Krystle, Sean, Jared, Nancy, Duday, Donald, Seng, Anna, Mark (+friends), and Cricket's friends. Thanks also to Cricket and Greg for planning this out!
After brunch, I hung out with Joyce, Cami, Krystle, Donald, and Sean in the most interesting place I've been to have fantastic hot chocolate: ABC Home and Carpet! You may be stumped, if you want good hot chocolate and interesting ambiance, it's a great place.
For dinner, I met up with Ria and Seng and we ate in Grill 21, a surprisingly good Filipino restaurant in the East Village in Manhattan. If buffet for lunch wasn't enough, we had even more food here! We had Tinolang Manok and Sisig! After that, Ria and I headed back to Brooklyn.
Sunday, Aug 10 --
Ria and I started out the day with Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Brooklyn then waled over to Applewood for brunch, where we met up with Joyce, Cami, Krystle and Donald. Although the brunch wasn't too bad, I felt it didn't live up to the expectations of the numerous raving reviews about the place.
After brunch, Ria left for Philly and Donald for the Upper West Side. The remaining 4 of us went to Coney Island. The weather wasn't cooperating, so we ended up just buying hotdogs at Nathan's then play a few games at the arcade.
We headed back to Park Slope after that and just had take-out pizza for dinner while watching the Olympics on TV. I thought it was a great way to end the week, with a more laid-back dinner more typical of college students than working professionals.
Monday, Aug 11 --
For dinner on this day, I met up (again) with Joyce, Cami, Krystle and Donald at Flor de Mayo in the Upper West Side. It's a reasonably priced Peruvian-Chinese restaurant where nearly all of us ordered their Lomo Saltado.
On the way downtown, Joyce, Cami and I passed by Magnolia Bakery in the West Village for cupcakes. I can certainly say that they were very overrated, and simply a fad created from Sex and City!
Tuesday, Aug 12 --
Amazingly... nothing happened on this day! For the first time, I had some me-time and it was a short pit stop for what was to happen the next couple of days.
Wednesday, Aug 13 --
This night was the result of going hell and back and discovering that Broadway tickets, especially for a sought after show, are among the hardest things to find on the internet! Joyce and I watched the musical Wicked on Broadway, and it was actually very nice. I was able to follow the plot from end to end and the music was great. The theatre was packed as it is the current top grossing show on Broadway.
Before the show, Joyce and I ate Ethiopian food at Queen of Sheba just a few blocks from Times Square. I thought the food was generally ok, but certainly still not as good as Dukem in DC, which is the best Ethiopian restaurant I've been to in the US.
After the show, Joyce and I met up with Cami and we had cheesecake and banana split at Junior's in Times Square. That was a great way to cap off the night as we headed back to our respective places.
Thursday, Aug 14 --
It was Cami's last night in NYC while Joyce was around, so we decided to save the best meal for this night. The 3 of us ate at Kittichai in SoHo. Although it's probably the most expensive meal I had in a while and will have for the forseable future, I did enjoy it. Portions were large and not "elf food" size like that of other upscale restaurants in the same price range. Food was fusion-style Thai and the ambiance was great. We chose to get the family-sized pre-fixe dinner that included 2 appetizers, 5 entrees, and 2 desserts!
Friday, Aug 15 --
For Joyce's last night in NYC, Krystle and I decided to take her to a more laid-back place for comfort food, pasta. We ate dinner at Da Andrea in the West Village and chatted for a bit at Doma Cafe until its closing time of Midnight. There was a severe thunderstorm earlier in the day, but then, everything turned out fine in the end.
Saturday, Aug 16 --
It was Joyce's last day in NYC, and ever the driver-ng-bayan, I volunteered to bring her back to JFK to catch her flight to Singapore. Since her flight was still late afternoon, we had enough time to have brunch then walk around. We went to Brooklyn Heights and ate at Heights Cafe. It was a beautiful day we just enjoyed a simple brunch while people watching from the restaurant's outdoor patio. After brunch, we walked around the neighborhood including the promenade then had ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in DUMBO.
Then it was on to JFK. After checking in, we hung out for a while in the upper level of Terminal 1, where you could get a view of the runway and have access to cheesy restaurants such as McDonald's and Wok and Roll. Chatted there for a little while then saw Joyce off at the security checkpoint.
And that was that... the end of the 2 weeks of family, good friends, going out, spending, eating, and errr, more eating! I took the long road back to NYC and discovered that driving the Belt Parkway all the way to the BQE and back to Brooklyn was a beautiful weekend drive. I loved how you'll first see the Verezzano bridge then the Manhattan skyline with the statue of Liberty and all the East River bridges as a spectacular approach into the city. Along the way, you realize just how huge New York City is. It is not just Manhattan or the popular areas of Brooklyn and Queens. NYC extends all the way out into the ocean and there is some really eye-popping spectacular beachfront property in neighborhoods like Mill Basin.
But then, as I did mention, it is not really the place that matters, but the people. These are mainly my family and friends. So thank you everyone who has been part of the past two weeks of my life and I really really enjoyed it. This would be hard to top, but then, it's all the more reason for me to reach out a bit more to other people who I've just met. I'm sure it would be interesting and would definitely widen my experiences here in NYC.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Yay for the Neighborhood
I feel like I have to defend my neighborhood choice to most of my Manhattan-centric friends in NYC, except for those who specifically live in Brooklyn. Yes, it's safe, beautiful, has great restaurants, shops, and Manhattan-like demographics... all without the Manhattan-like hassles and annoyances. At the same time, I can get to most points of interst in Manhattan with ease: Chinatown/Canal Street in 3 stops, Union Square in 4 stops, Times Square in 6. It's also nice living beside the 2nd largest Greenmarket in NYC (after the one in Union Square), Prospect Park (Olmstead's self-proclaimed masterpiece, even over his other creation, Central Park!), a huge public library, a museum of art (2nd only to the Met), and 2 restaurant rows?
The American Planning Association came out with a list of America's Top Neighborhoods, and Park Slope was the only NYC neighborhood to make the cut:
http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/parkslope.htm
As a side note, I'm also impressed that Elmwood Village in Buffalo made the list. I actually really loved that area when I was still studying in Buffalo!
The American Planning Association came out with a list of America's Top Neighborhoods, and Park Slope was the only NYC neighborhood to make the cut:
http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/parkslope.htm
As a side note, I'm also impressed that Elmwood Village in Buffalo made the list. I actually really loved that area when I was still studying in Buffalo!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Weekend Upstate and Up North
This past weekend was a blast, despite travel delays at the tail end that almost entirely ruined my good mood. I won't dwell on the gory details of what happened with the travel delays, but I'll just say that sitting in the Buffalo airport for a 4 and a half hour delay was no fun.
I flew in Friday noontime, and me and my 2 closest friends there ate out at a Japanese Place we always would go to before. I'm still amazed at what the same amount of money could buy you for lunch there! We also watched the Batman Dark Knight movie... which was amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, you better schedule some time in the near future!
On Saturday, me and my friends went up to Toronto. It's an amazing city, and if it were in the USA, it might just be my city of choice to stay. Not as huge as New York City, but almost just as busy and lively. I also got a sense that the diversity there is more like a true melting pot, rather than a smorgasbord like New York.
Sunday was a pretty slow day. I just had mass in the morning in UB, back at the old mass I used to attend regularly as a student. The homily was really good in a mass that could be hit-or-miss. Then I had brunch at IHOP with my friends. In many ways, I miss how simple and fun brunch could be in a non-sophisticated atmosphere (read: IHOP, Friendly's, some random diner) rather than the dress-to-kill brunch-cocktail menus more typical of New York City.
But at the end of the day (a VERY LONG day), I got back home and have no regrets about my location or work arrangements, even if others find it really weird or even incomprehensible.
I flew in Friday noontime, and me and my 2 closest friends there ate out at a Japanese Place we always would go to before. I'm still amazed at what the same amount of money could buy you for lunch there! We also watched the Batman Dark Knight movie... which was amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, you better schedule some time in the near future!
On Saturday, me and my friends went up to Toronto. It's an amazing city, and if it were in the USA, it might just be my city of choice to stay. Not as huge as New York City, but almost just as busy and lively. I also got a sense that the diversity there is more like a true melting pot, rather than a smorgasbord like New York.
Sunday was a pretty slow day. I just had mass in the morning in UB, back at the old mass I used to attend regularly as a student. The homily was really good in a mass that could be hit-or-miss. Then I had brunch at IHOP with my friends. In many ways, I miss how simple and fun brunch could be in a non-sophisticated atmosphere (read: IHOP, Friendly's, some random diner) rather than the dress-to-kill brunch-cocktail menus more typical of New York City.
But at the end of the day (a VERY LONG day), I got back home and have no regrets about my location or work arrangements, even if others find it really weird or even incomprehensible.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Going Back
This weekend, I'm looking forward to going back where I spent the first 2 years of my journey here in the US. I still have fond memories of Buffalo, and my closest friends there are still there studying for their Ph.D. In many ways, I miss being a student. Grad school was the most "fun" time I had in terms of learning and really getting into topics I loved to study. The same can't be said of most of high school and at least half of the classes I took in college. But it's the people who make the experience wonderful. Without them, there would really be no reason to visit an out-of-the-way upstate NY city that has seen better days.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Dorm Life with a Paycheck
I recently came across a New York Times article detailing my company's flexible work schedules and plans. I think it is fairly straight on in its descriptions, and it's got me thinking about my overall regard for how we treat workers and workplace flexibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/nyregion/31vacation.html?pagewanted=all
Dorm life with a paycheck... that is how I explain my current work arrangements to friends and relatives. It almost feel like graduate school all over again in terms of my daily work. I do take a bath in the morning and I don't go to work in my PJ's in my living room. I do dress up, make breakfast, and still proceed to formally "work" from home. And I love the flexibility I currently have. Although my current employer is just pretty average in terms of salary and medical benefits, the flexibility is unmatched by anything else I've seen out there.
I can meet up with friends for dinner, after they get off from work. I can have lunch in the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn and not having to settle for mediocre and overpriced cafeteria food. I can watch TV while waiting for long and slow Perl scripts to finish running. I can also read my Java, SOA, and whatever technical books on the bed, much like what I did sometimes in grad school!
So there, it does feel like a college dorm rather than real work, except you are getting paid to finish the projects and not just receive a letter grade at the end of the term. I do know other more "mature" telecommuters have their reasons why they prefer to work from home which are different than mine. But then, it works out for me and I'm generally happier with the setup. So does anyone want to have lunch somewhere on 7th Avenue one of these days?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/nyregion/31vacation.html?pagewanted=all
Dorm life with a paycheck... that is how I explain my current work arrangements to friends and relatives. It almost feel like graduate school all over again in terms of my daily work. I do take a bath in the morning and I don't go to work in my PJ's in my living room. I do dress up, make breakfast, and still proceed to formally "work" from home. And I love the flexibility I currently have. Although my current employer is just pretty average in terms of salary and medical benefits, the flexibility is unmatched by anything else I've seen out there.
I can meet up with friends for dinner, after they get off from work. I can have lunch in the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn and not having to settle for mediocre and overpriced cafeteria food. I can watch TV while waiting for long and slow Perl scripts to finish running. I can also read my Java, SOA, and whatever technical books on the bed, much like what I did sometimes in grad school!
So there, it does feel like a college dorm rather than real work, except you are getting paid to finish the projects and not just receive a letter grade at the end of the term. I do know other more "mature" telecommuters have their reasons why they prefer to work from home which are different than mine. But then, it works out for me and I'm generally happier with the setup. So does anyone want to have lunch somewhere on 7th Avenue one of these days?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Behind Enemy Lines
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I'm just reminded of it now. Nothing can waste your time more than waiting for long command line scripts to run at work, so I've taken to watching youtube videos in between the batch jobs after programming them.
Some of the most moving youtube videos I've seen lately are of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra performing in North Korea. In the entire concert, I think the best one was when they did "Arirang", a traditional Korean folk song. Whether in North or South Korea, I hear that this is a cherished by all people young and old. Here is the entire 10-minute clip:
Some of the most moving youtube videos I've seen lately are of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra performing in North Korea. In the entire concert, I think the best one was when they did "Arirang", a traditional Korean folk song. Whether in North or South Korea, I hear that this is a cherished by all people young and old. Here is the entire 10-minute clip:
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good
This book has been sitting on my shelf for the longest time, and I regret not picking it up sooner. It's an amazing read and makes me more want to get the non-profit website project up and running. All the big names of the Valley are covered, and then some.
Back to Civilization... and to Work
Finally got my cable TV and broadband internet up and running. It's weird how cable companies here in the US always schedule appointments by giving you a "span" which the technician will show up. It would be no big deal if it were 30 minutes or 1 hour. But in this case, it was a 4 hour span... 12 noon to 4 pm! Of course, the technician only arrived at 3:45 pm, effectively wasting 3 and 3/4 hours of my time this afternoon.
Anyway, after that, I'm back to civilization. It's difficult to imagine life without internet access. I'm not even sure how everyday life was like over a decade ago in 1995 when we first had our ultra-fast (at the time) 28 kbps dial-up connection. I also got a new land line phone, courtesy of the company that should not be named.
So there, no more going over to the Brooklyn Public Library simply to VPN to work or trying fruitlessly to *ahem* borrow from the neighbors. All this just in time for a multitude of conference calls starting just about tomorrow (welcome back to work!).
Anyway, after that, I'm back to civilization. It's difficult to imagine life without internet access. I'm not even sure how everyday life was like over a decade ago in 1995 when we first had our ultra-fast (at the time) 28 kbps dial-up connection. I also got a new land line phone, courtesy of the company that should not be named.
So there, no more going over to the Brooklyn Public Library simply to VPN to work or trying fruitlessly to *ahem* borrow from the neighbors. All this just in time for a multitude of conference calls starting just about tomorrow (welcome back to work!).
Thanks For Coming!
For anyone in this picture (+ Seng and Alex, who left early), thanks so much for coming to the housewarming/July 4th BBQ.
Monday, July 7, 2008
To-Do List
1/2 into 2008, and I've only started to think that it's actually a good idea that I have resolutions or goals for the next 365 days, so this will be mine. I realize how boring my life has been the past, er, "n" number of years... so here are some things I want to do to make it a bit more interesting.
Hopefully I'll check back next July 4th to see if everything has gone well or if I was just incredibly delusional. But at the very least, I'd have more to look forward to and assign myself the tasks of Of course, real work and not-so-real-but-more-real work would take up my time, but below are lists of things I'd want to do aside from the two obvious ones.
Hopefully I'll check back next July 4th to see if everything has gone well or if I was just incredibly delusional. But at the very least, I'd have more to look forward to and assign myself the tasks of Of course, real work and not-so-real-but-more-real work would take up my time, but below are lists of things I'd want to do aside from the two obvious ones.
- See and Volunteer at the New York Hall of Science
- Volunteer at a local Intel Computer Clubhouse
- Chip in a few hours at the Park Slope Food Coop
- See the Brooklyn Museum of Art
- See the Guggenheim Museum
- See the American Museum of Natural History
- Bike to the beach on the perfect Brooklyn ride
- Play tennis in Prospect Park
- Skate in Brooklyn's own Wollman Rink
- Go kayaking on the Hudson River
- Take the Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan
- Visit the other not-so-touristy NYC neighborhoods:
A New Start
OK, so I got through moving without a scratch and miraculously under-budget given today's low ball estimate movers. The new apartment is cozy and small, yet it is charming and almost my idea of a starter New York City apartment nestled in a brownstone neighborhood. Kids play on stoops, families eating at cafes of 7th Avenue, young activists getting others involved on the streets, and all this a short subway ride from Manhattan. Over the past 2 years all I've wanted was to live in a more vibrant area and I'm pretty sure that has been done.
So to start off my time in NYC, there is no better way to do it than to celebrate 4th of July (and the rest of the long weekend) with friends. Post-lunch housewarming, Macy's fireworks, Salvador Dali exhibit at the MoMA, a hot bowl of shoyu ramen, a corned beef and adobo rice dinner, and watermelon on a Tribeca apartment rooftop overlooking the Hudson River. How New Yorker-ish, you could say.
But reality starts when all the festivities end, and life starts to set in. Made my final goodbyes to friends and family last night in Penn Station, with the sea of people going back to where they came from. I took the lonely 2 train back to Grand Army Plaza and walked right into my new "home" for at least the next year.
So to start off my time in NYC, there is no better way to do it than to celebrate 4th of July (and the rest of the long weekend) with friends. Post-lunch housewarming, Macy's fireworks, Salvador Dali exhibit at the MoMA, a hot bowl of shoyu ramen, a corned beef and adobo rice dinner, and watermelon on a Tribeca apartment rooftop overlooking the Hudson River. How New Yorker-ish, you could say.
But reality starts when all the festivities end, and life starts to set in. Made my final goodbyes to friends and family last night in Penn Station, with the sea of people going back to where they came from. I took the lonely 2 train back to Grand Army Plaza and walked right into my new "home" for at least the next year.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Welcome Back Me
Hello.
It's been a long while since I've last blogged and my life has certainly gone through different twists and turns ever since. I've missed being able to read through my personal history of the past few months to see how I've come along. I've also missed just documenting my ups and downs as well as showcase anything that might be worth noting. Some people say that a blog is a personal extension of oneself, and I think I really need an outlet for my everyday life.
I'll be moving to New York City, Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood in particular, in a few weeks. I'm both excited and apprehensive about this move, but it will certainly be an experience. So far, no regrets about my decision and no last-minute plans to opt out.
I've realized how boring and colorless my life the past 2 years has been in Burlington and Poughkeepsie. My daily routine has been: wake up and get dressed, work, go home and watch tv/surf the net, go to sleep, and repeat the next day. Nothing to look forward to after work. And sometimes, nothing to look forward to during the weekends, either!
The City will have more than enough territory for me to explore, friends to hang out with, restaurants to indulge in, and people to watch going about their random daily lives. Hopefully this blog would be more meaningful, thoughtful, and a real reflection of my everyday thoughts and random tidbits about life.
So there, hopefully no more boring and bored me. I'm excited about living a more colorful life, and hopefully this blog will be a reflection of that.
It's been a long while since I've last blogged and my life has certainly gone through different twists and turns ever since. I've missed being able to read through my personal history of the past few months to see how I've come along. I've also missed just documenting my ups and downs as well as showcase anything that might be worth noting. Some people say that a blog is a personal extension of oneself, and I think I really need an outlet for my everyday life.
I'll be moving to New York City, Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood in particular, in a few weeks. I'm both excited and apprehensive about this move, but it will certainly be an experience. So far, no regrets about my decision and no last-minute plans to opt out.
I've realized how boring and colorless my life the past 2 years has been in Burlington and Poughkeepsie. My daily routine has been: wake up and get dressed, work, go home and watch tv/surf the net, go to sleep, and repeat the next day. Nothing to look forward to after work. And sometimes, nothing to look forward to during the weekends, either!
The City will have more than enough territory for me to explore, friends to hang out with, restaurants to indulge in, and people to watch going about their random daily lives. Hopefully this blog would be more meaningful, thoughtful, and a real reflection of my everyday thoughts and random tidbits about life.
So there, hopefully no more boring and bored me. I'm excited about living a more colorful life, and hopefully this blog will be a reflection of that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
