Apartment, Work
It pretty much took all summer, but I found an apartment on craigslist and I think it's working out well so far. Once I decided on the neighborhood I wanted, and set a realistic price range, it became a lot easier to see places and make a decision. The first place I was set on, back in mid-August, fell through, which turned out to be fine because the two potential roommates were fresh out of college and I think it would have been a mistake to live with people that much younger than me. Trying to jump into an existing apartment was a great decision and I'm really glad I didn't give up and go running to a broker. My situation was unique, though, and I'm lucky that I was able to live in New Jersey while I was looking.
The place I ended up with is a duplex. My room is on the first floor (of the apartment, we're actually on the fifth floor) and faces south. We've got a working fireplace, high ceilings, and then my roommate has the entire upstairs area. We share a bathroom but seem to keep different hours so there's yet to be an issue in the morning when I'm getting ready for work. His room opens up onto the roof, which also faces south, and because the building across the street is only three stories, we have this amazing view looking downtown. Of course we haven't really used the roof much yet, but my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I think we're going to throw a party out there.
I love my room, too. The bed is lofted so I have a ton of floor space. I bought a small couch at Ikea and there was a huge wall unit for the TV and tons of shelves in there already. It's just really New Yorkish and I look forward to going home at night. I feel bad because Marsha and her roommate have come over to see the place and been really jealous because their apartment (which is only five blocks away) is SO much smaller than mine. They didn't look for three months, though, and I keep reminding them that the vacancy rate this summer in Manhattan was something like 0.7 percent- insanity.
Things on the Marsha front have been going very well. We spent some time alone together down in Georgia back in August before we went to a law school classmate's wedding near Savannah. She just started a new job, still in New Jersey, and she's taking the bus out every day. It's about an hour each way, door to door, but she hasn't been complaining yet and hopefully they'll let her work out of the New York office on occasion. It sounds like a really cool practice, too. They do a lot of entertainment and IP law and Marsha's come home really fired up about the stuff she's been working on. If she's happy, I'm happy, so here's hoping she continues to do well with it.
As for me, the last week or so has been very quiet at work. I had two very busy weeks at the end of August and immediately after Labor Day, but for whatever reason it's really settled down since. They've let me cover a few depositions (unheard of at my old firm) and communicate directly with clients and opposing counsel and I really feel like I'm experiencing what it's like to actually practice law instead of being a glorified paralegal. Of course I do get my share of mundane assignments, but it's worth it, I think, because I'm getting exposed to a lot of things that I'd never have been involved with at the old firm.
We went down to the Feast in Little Italy last night and ate at
La Mela which was actually really good. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the places along Mulberry Street (other than
Il Fornaio and
Il Cortile) but we had a fun time. Our table was huge- like 17 people or something- and we all ended up drinking way too much wine. Marsha and I ran the loop in Central Park today and almost died- I feel horrible right now but we're out to get some food and then to a birthday party. Hopefully I'll feel better after we eat.
In the past month...
I've got a few good reasons for why I haven't been doing much writing here lately. They include:
1. Planning my high school's 10th reunion (which went off this past weekend really well- maybe I've got a future as an event planner).
2. Trying to keep my baseball team afloat (fall season started on Sunday, team still exists, but it's been a real pain trying to get everyone on the same page and enthusiastic about playing).
3. Moving into Manhattan two weeks ago and trying to get myself settled. It's been great and I love my new place but I'm having a lot of trouble establishing any sort of routine. I've only been to the gym once since I moved and I've yet to run in the park, even though I live two blocks away. It's frustrating and I'm disappointed with myself for not being more diligent about taking care of myself.
4. Work. I've been enjoying it but I've been busy. I'm working on a few other writing projects for marketing purposes and that's taken up a lot of any free time I'd have to write more freely here.
I think the bottom line is I need to get settled in and start a routine. I read somewhere that it takes three weeks to adjust to anything new. This is week three of my personal Manhattan Project so hopefully that turns out to be true.
Until then...
Walking
Earlier today, I walked from West 85th Street (I had to meet my new roommate to drop off my security deposit) down to Penn Station on 34th Street. It was absolutely gorgeous outside- it felt like October (my favorite month) and not August and I just couldn't bring myself to get on the subway. I poked in a couple stores (looking for nice pants for work but no dice) and bought the newspaper before I hopped the train back to New Jersey. It was nice just being alone for a while- I think everyone needs time like that every now and then.
I've been so happy to be back in the city and I'm ecstatic to be moving back- Labor Day weekend can't come soon enough. Even when I'm doing something as mundane as sitting at my desk at work, I can feel the energy that Manhattan exudes surrounding me, and it's incredibly invigorating. I think it was very easy for me, after spending as much time in the city as I did through my early 20s, to forget how unique the urban lifestyle is, and how lucky I was to be experiencing it at such a young age. I don't regret my decision to leave New York for law school, but I do regret not giving more weight to the importance of location during my 2L job search. I'm very grateful to my new firm for giving me the opportunity to change my life, and I think I'm taking full advantage of this second chance at New York. At least that's what I hope I'm doing.
Anyway, I'm playing softball in Central Park tomorrow night which should be a lot of fun. My hardball team got bounced from the playoffs last weekend and our fall season doesn't start until after Labor Day. I feel like I'm going through withdrawal and I can't wait to get back out there again. I started to really rip the ball the last few games of the regular season and I need to get back in the cages before fall ball and hopefully keep it going once we start up again.
Excuses
I haven't been blogging lately for a bunch of reasons, but you'll be happy to know that most of them are positive.
More than anything else, I've just been really busy. I've been working on a bunch of projects at work that have spilled into my free time (they're incredibly nerdy and engineering/law-related, but I've been enjoying every minute of them). Work itself has ramped up significantly over the last month but I'm really, really happy with it. It feels so good to be in a situation where I'm actually getting something out of the effort I'm putting into it.
On the other hand, I completely underestimated how difficult this commute into the city would be, and as ridiculously happy as I am to be back in New York, and as much as I like my new job, I'm just exhausted all the time and I'm rarely back in New Jersey in time to do anything other than collapse on the couch and catch the end of the Yankee game. Also, Marsha moved from Hoboken to the Upper West Side a couple weeks ago, so lately I've been dealing with the aftermath of the start of The Manhattan Project (as my buddy likes to call it).
All in all, things are going well, and I'm hoping that this blog will get back on track once, yes, I move into the city at the end of the month. It's a done deal, I'm joining a roommate in a really nice duplex on the Upper West Side (near Marsha, which I'm happy about) and I can't wait to trade my car for the subway.
Catch you then.
Ramping Up
I've seriously stepped up my apartment search over the past two weeks which has unfortunately put an equally serious cramp in my blogging habits. I wish I had some positive news to report, but all I've managed to come up with are a few near misses. It's probably for the best though- I'm optimistic that if I can hold out at home for one more month, I'll have an easier time finding a place in September once the college/new job crowd is all settled in. Marsha is moving into the city on Saturday so at least I'll have a place to crash during the week. The commute hasn't been too bad- I've been driving and I have a monthly parking spot in a lot a couple blocks away from the office- and even though it takes me a little bit longer to get here in the morning than it did for me to get to the old firm, it's great being in the city at the end of the day and not having to drive an hour to go do something interesting.
I'm still settling into to the new job, I think, but I'm very happy that I made the decision to leave my old firm. I sent an updated contact information email over there a couple of weeks ago and I've heard back from exactly four people. I understand that everyone's busy and that I myself haven't exactly been the best at keeping in touch with them, but I thought the people I considered my friends there would write back and check in. Bizarre, but whatever.
Anyway, I'm sitting at work waiting for one of my friends around the corner to finish up for the day and then we're going to grab a drink. Hope you're all doing well.
Square Footage
I'm going to look at an apartment tonight. It's an open house on the Upper West Side, near where Marsha is moving next month, and the price is fantastic. The catch? I think it's basically a glorified closet. The dimensions are 14' by 6.5'. Our office manager has a tape measure and we figured out that it's longer, but smaller, than her office, which is pretty small. It does have a loft for the bed, though, and a separate bathroom, so hopefully the ceilings are high and it will seem bigger than ninety-one square feet. Ha- we'll see.
I'm ready to move. My parents don't have air conditioning other than in the bedrooms and it's unbearably hot when I get home at night. I know it's only July and August that are nasty here, but the heat just zaps any energy I have left when I get home at the end of the day. I'm hopeful that I can find something reasonable in the city soon, but I've gotten used to saving a lot of my paycheck and not blowing money on rent. I'm willing to trade space for cheaper rent, but I'm sure a ton of other people are too and the open house tonight will be packed. Either way, it'll be good to see what the absolute low end of my price range looks like. I think Marsha's going to come with me and then we'll get some dinner before we head back to Jersey.
The new job is still going well. The partner whose team I work on is away vacationing this week so it's been really quiet. I've had a few small things to take care of but beyond that I haven't had much to do. I was at that client's on Monday for the day working on the document review, which was fine and an easy block of hours, and I've had a few other research projects that I've handled relatively easily. They gave me a contract to work on but it turned out that the client wanted it taken care of quickly, to get the deal done, so somebody more senior just sort of glossed through it and got it out the door. I was glad, though, because the partner that gave it to me seems interested in getting me involved with that type of work. I think it's critical for me to get experience with contracts if I eventually want to transition over to an in-house position. Or whatever. And it's a nice change of pace from litigation.
I'm hungry. It's a great feeling knowing that I don't have to go get in my car and drive around for a half hour to pick up a sandwich. Of course the sandwiches around here cost way more than they did out by my old job, but I'm not complaining.
More About the New Job
Wow, it's been a while.
I like my new job a lot. I'm very, very happy to be back in the city. They assigned me to a huge case with a client that's based in New Jersey, though, so I've been going out to their offices about once a week so far. I actually don't mind it because the client is an engineering company, the guy running things on their side is one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and I feel like I'm learning a lot just by being out there. They're also giving me a lot of work in the New York office and letting me run with it (i.e. "this just came in, we want you to handle it, go") but at the same time taking a few minutes to explain what they want, what needs to get done, etc. so I haven't felt too overwhelmed- yet. I think I'm going to learn a lot about things that interest me, and I've been doing my best to get off on the right foot with everyone that I've been working for.
The firm is really active in the New York City construction industry which, to me, is very exciting. We hosted a seminar last week about construction financing, which was fascinating, and also had a table at the 2006 AIA Awards Lunch, which was held on the 52nd floor of the new 7 World Trade Center building. A bunch of people that were scheduled for it had to cancel so our marketing coordinator asked me to go. It was great and exactly the type of opportunity I was hoping to get when I accepted this job. The floor they held the lunch on hasn't been built out yet and as we walked in David Childs, the architect of the Freedom Tower, was standing on a stage unveiling the new design for the base of the building (there'd been a ton of criticism about how it looked like a "fortress" after the NYPD voiced security concerns and it consequently had to be redesigned). That was an incredible thrill for an architecture nerd like me. There were something like 750 people at this lunch- all of them artsy, design industry types. I was very happy to be there but, at the same time, it was kind of eye-opening. Seeing people that are unbelievably successful in the field you want to be in can be difficult. It reminds you of how many brilliant minds are out there and how much hard work, luck, and circumstances come into play in achieving success. I believe that you make your own luck, though, and the only things in that equation you can control are your own hard work. I'm committed to doing just that so hopefully in the long run things will pay off for me.
It has only been three weeks, though, and the jury is still very much out on both me as an actual lawyer (I dealt with an adversary last Thursday!) and the new firm. The atmosphere is starkly different, in a good way, from the old firm, but at the end of the day it's still a law firm and there are still things about the place that aren't perfect. I think it's good that I recognize that no place- no firm, no company, no school, no whatever- is perfect, but I'm enthusiastic about working hard and leaving it, whenever that may be, a better place than I found it. I think attitude is so important and I'm trying to stay positive regardless of what they throw at me.
Anyway, I hope you all had a great holiday. I'm very disappointed in myself for basically sitting around on my couch all weekend and watching television. I think I needed this, though, after a few crazy weeks of getting started with the new job, going home with Marsha, etc. so I'm trying not to beat myself up too much over it. Plus, I got to see the entire Italy/Germany game today, played baseball on Sunday, hung out with some friends in the city on Saturday night, and went to Yanks/Mets on Sunday night. So maybe the weekend wasn't a total waste.
Another weekend is rapidly approaching. I love these short weeks. And I'm at the client for two days where the hours are unbelievably easy to ring up.
Time to watch some fireworks.
