It’s done.

My year and a half sentence in NYC is coming to a close. I’ll be out of here in less than 3 weeks, on my way to sunny California. To answer the question I know at least 2 of you are asking, yes, I’ll be a the same company doing nearly the same job.

Moving on, I just signed the lease on a place in Sunnyvale and hello, I will have a yard. I haven’t had a yard since 2003 so this is a big deal for me. I plan to fully go overboard with my yard so if you ever stop by, be prepared to see a bunch of solar powered lanterns, a hammock, and perhaps a tacky fountain. Oh yeah.

Since I’m doing this move mostly on my own, I’ve opted to sell almost all my stuff, send some boxes via UPS ground (mostly clothes and books) and anything else will go on the plane with me. I figure this way the move will be clean start in California (plus I’m pretty over these leather couches).

I will miss some things about New York, to be sure. In the spirit of ridiculous linkbait top ten lists, here are the top 10 things I will miss about New York.

10. Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (love the frosting and what is a cupcake but a frosting delivery mechanism?)
9. Burp Castle (the one place I can go and drink the “beer” on tap)
8. Google NYC (arguably the best Google office in existence)
7. No vehicle expenses (not looking forward to the car payment+insurance payment)
6. Kati Roll (mmm Unda Aloo roll)
5. Broadway (I’ve only been to one Broadway play but I will likely come back here a few times to view more)
4. The Acela to the MD/DC area (for undisclosed reasons)
3. Mass transit to get anywhere
2. NYOPS (Viva La Kaiser!)
1. New York pizza slices

I’d write a list about things I will not miss about NYC but that would take up the entire time I have left here and I still need to pack.

What?! But its the city of lights! Its the city that never sleeps! The theater! The culture! WHAT?!

I know. It’s hard to grasp. I’ll give you a moment before I continue.

Better? Ok, I’ll continue. For a long while, I kept bitching about living in New York without giving much thought as to why. It became a huge polarizing topic with certain friends of mine and none of them could get how I could ever hate New York. I got a lot of  “oh give it time, it will grow on you” speeches. A year and some change later, it has yet to grow on me and I still dislike it as much as I did before. Over the past week I’ve given a lot of thought to why some love this place and why I hate it so much. It comes down to this: values and Quality of Life.

Let me give you a bit of background. I lived in what could arguably be called a suburban area of Alaska for 12 or so years. Before that I lived in the suburbs of Miami and before that the suburbs of Clovis, New Mexico. Suffice to say I am a suburban girl. I like trees, I like being able to hop in the car and go somewhere, I like being able to walk/bike around with not a lot of worry that some jerkbag cab driver is going to hit me. I also like having a good amount of space in my residence and I like having grass. I like waking up without a lot of noise going on outside me. I value the majority of the things I just listed immensely. I don’t have the things I value so my Quality of Life is low and I’m pretty unhappy with my living situation.

Many of the people who don’t understand why I don’t like living here don’t put a lot of value into those things, yet they enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city. They value the bright lights, the plays, the food options, the “culture.” Thus their Quality of Life in New York is fairly good and they’re relatively happy.

So that’s pretty much that. If you’re a New Yorker reading this and you’re just appalled at the idea that anyone could dislike living here, think about what things make you happy here and then try to understand that those things don’t necessarily make others happy too.

Update: For those of you who are not regular readers of my blog, I moved to California shortly after this post was made. Hello from the best coast!

Smurf and I met in Alaska. I know most people think igloos and glaciers when they think of Alaska but there is so much more to the state than that. Think wide open spaces, fresh air, trees growing everywhere, wildlife that runs free, natural lakes that are safe to swim in and hot springs that are a welcome respite in the summer (yes there is summer) or winter.

In Alaska its easy to take the environment for granted because there is so much nature around. You think nothing of driving an SUV because a) its necessary and b) everyone else has one. Leaving the heater running all the time is a necessity in the winter. Driving half a mile to the store in -30 degree weather is smarter than walking. You get the picture right?

Fast forward to me leaving Alaska and ending up in New York. The difference between an environment that has gone mostly untouched and an environment that has been scraped clean of all things natural is stark. That fresh air I took for granted isn’t there anymore. The film of pollution (yes, there is a film) covers everything. Want to swim? Don’t do it in the river, you may end up growing a third arm the next day.

I believe thats when preserving the environment became more important to me. Having seen nature in its raw untouched state, I know firsthand how much damage has been done thus far. I’d love if we could turn the clocks back and fix whats already broken but that impossible so I’ll settle for not messing it up any further. These days I’m big into conservation. I’ve changed all the bulbs in my apartment to fluorescents. I survived the summer without AC (if I sound proud of that, its because I am). I don’t drive anymore but thats not really by choice. Once I escape New York, I plan to get a hybrid car (Prius’ are surprisingly roomy) and continue walking anywhere thats a mile or less away.

So when Smurf asked me that question, I really had no answer for him but I know the answer now. I became more aware of the environment when I realized how much I missed it.

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So you know those stereotypes you hear about New York? The ones about the accents, the subways, the rats, etc? Well, they’re mostly true. For example, I heard Fran Drescher in the 14th Street train station this morning as I was getting off the A. Except it wasn’t Fran Drescher but a woman who sounded just like her. I’ve also heard the Staten Island and the Lawn-Guy-Land accents as well. I’m kind of scared the accents are going to rub off on me. While there is nothing wrong with those accents, I am quite happy with my lack of any accent at all speech which makes me “perfect for radio and TV because my speech/accent/voice doesn’t alienate people.” Really, I was told that by some TV people for an interview I did a couple years ago. Also, no I don’t plan on doing any radio or TV, I talk way too fast for radio and TV cameras add an extra 10 pounds that I really don’t need.

Back on topic, so the stereotypes, yes the trains do run 24 hours a day (thank your chosen deity or lack thereof) but that does not mean they run with any speed or regularity whatsoever. I have the pleasure of riding the L train everyday which means, not only do I get to be late 66% of the time, I get to be smashed like a sardine too. Fun!

Meanwhile the rats…well I’m sure you all saw the video of the rats in the KFC/Taco Bell. Really rats who can swing from chair backs are in a class all their own. Thing is, they’re all over New York and especially in places built on top of train stops, what with the rats living in the sewers and subway systems. If the health department closed all the places with rats in them we’d all have to have to cook at home with food flown in from Ohio.

Anywho, I get to go check out our Milan office for work in a couple weeks. I can’t wait! Hopefully I’ll have won the Mega Millions (yes yes, the lottery is the poor tax, 1 in 175 million chance of winning, so on and so forth) and will have some extra change to go shopping! Can’t wait.

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So the iPhone == iMustHave. That’s all that needs to be said about that.

New York is extremely different. I found myself trading a “preferred neighborhood” (read: gentrified) for apartment size, proximity to the train, and a washer/dryer in. my. apartment. You don’t understand. The washer/dryer is like apartment gold in NY.

Not having a car can be a pain. Thank goodness for Zipcar. Tomorrow I shall make my grand shopping trip, not to make another for a number of months. I only wanted to get things for my apartment. Instead, due to zip code favoritism, I have to go buy my groceries since Fresh Direct won’t deliver them to me. Shame on you Fresh Direct.

With my move to New York almost complete, I feel like I can share the tools that I couldn’t have made this move without. Here they are, in some semblance of order:

1. Google Reader + Craigslist Apartment Listing + Backpage
• Customize your search on CL and Backpage to fit your needs. Add those feeds to Google Reader to make one big list of apartments you can easily peruse. Peruse religiously. Add feeds you may find from other places. Continue to do this until you’ve found a few apartments that look promising.
2. village voice > Neighborhoods
• Once you’ve found the few promising apartments, figure out what neighborhood they’re in and read about the neighborhoods. You really want to do this to avoid getting a nice place in a not so nice neighborhood (unless you like to live on the wild side).
3. onNYTurf: NYC Subway Google Map Hack
• Map the places you’ve found to check their proximity to a subway station. This is KEY. Nobody wants to walk a mile in the rain just to catch the train.
4. Precinct Crime Statistics
• Again, you only need to check this if you care about such things.
5. Kayak.com
• Once you’ve found a good looking place and insured its not in BFE (unless you want it to be, but why?) you need to go see it in person. Use Kayak to find a cheap plane ticket and almost reasonably priced hotel room (seriously it’s New York, all of them are going to be overpriced).
6. HopStop.com
• The best way to find your way around the city. You put in Point A and Point B and it finds the best route between the two. I think it’s better to go apartment hunting via train because you get a better sense of what your commutes are going to be like if you move in to the place you’re looking at.
7. Moving to New York from the Wired New York Forum
• Nothing beats talking to someone from New York to get the scoop on New York. Ask questions here. They’re relatively friendly.

Okay so I lied, this wasn’t brief at all. I thoroughly intended it to be though and it’s the thought that counts right?

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Speaking of New York, I may move there pretty soon. I’ve been looking for apartments online and I’m already exhausted. Searching for apartments in New York is like searching for apartments on Mars. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever done before and I don’t recommend it to anybody. Thankfully, I’ve been using the updated Google Reader to kind of help with this a little. Currently I’m subscribed to feeds from Craigslist and Google Base (how come more apartment search sites don’t have feeds?!) that are customized to the exact kind of apartment I’m looking for. See, I’m not one for going out somewhere to do my laundry. Call me spoiled but something about being able to toss a load in whenever I so desire works for me.

anyhow, I never used Google Reader before because I didn’t like the interface. The most I did with it was had it power the RSS feeds on my blogs sidebar (Dugg and I Wish…). However with the new interface, it’s actually usable! For the apartment hunt, I have a tag called apartment hunt (shock!). I’ve applied that tag to both the Craigslist and Base feeds and now I can keep an eye on apartments that fit into my criteria. By the way, if you know of more apartment hunting sites that have feeds, I’d appreciate if you left a comment with the link.

Back to Reader, while its got a nice new look and some cool features, there are still things that are missing. For example, it’s not possible to search feeds. For example, if I wanted to find all the items with the word “Brooklyn” in the apartment hunt tag, I’d have to go back to the feed source and modify my search there. Not helpful at all. Also, unless I’m totally missing something, (someone correct me if I am) its not possible to create new tags without first applying them to individual items. The lack of auto-refreshing is annoying. I hate having to click refresh to see new items. However, aside from those 3 things, the new Reader is fab. Congrats to the folks who worked on it.

Okay so this post has gotten much longer than I planned for it to be so I’ll save the rest of what I wanted to say for another day. Have a good weekend folks!

Tags:

• apartment search
• New York
• Google
• Reader

I flew home from NY the other day and I got my hand sanitizer and my tube of lip gloss taken from me going through security. No matter, I still had my backup jar of lip gloss in my purse. Well, I had it until the TSA came to our gate before boarding and had people randomly going through all carry-ons. So they came to my backup jar and said it couldn’t go. I didn’t understand so the TSA guy and I had a little conversation. This is how it went:

Me: So how come this can’t go?

TSA: Because its a liquid.

Me: No, its pretty solid actually. Here feel it (this was acceptable because he had gloves on).

TSA: No, its a gel so it can’t go.

Me: I thought they said that lipstick and the like were okay.

TSA: Solid lipstick in a tube is okay, other stuff is not.

Me: This is the same as lipstick though. Like if a took a tube of lipstick and smashed it into a jar, it would be the same consistency as this.

TSA: Yeah but its not in a tube.

Me: So what you’re saying is, if I were to take all my lipgloss out of this jar and put it into a tube, it would be okay?

TSA: Yeah.

Me: Ooookaaaay.

I figured I wasn’t going to get anywhere in this conversation and I wasn’t about to argue logic with a kid who was just repeating the foolishness passed down by the US Govt. I got on the plane and licked my lips the whole way. Ugh. Thank goodness I have backup backup lipgloss at home. Yes, I have a lot of lip gloss because my lips tend to get dry. I should probably drink more water or something.

Meanwhile, I ended up doing the touristy thing while I was in New York. Statue of Liberty, Empire State, the WTC site, then finally dinner in Times Square. You can check out my touristy pics if you like:

BigApple

Aug 21, 2006 – 186 Photos

Of course I got my New York Pizza the night before tourist day. Pizza 33 (Thoity-thoid and thoid) is the best pizza I’ve had in NY. Everyone was telling me to go to a Ray’s pizza but I couldn’t find one in the area I was staying in. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, speaking of pizza, remember my post about pizza and chocolate? Well it looks like Domino’s took that post to heart (yes of course Domino’s monitors my blog, thank you very much) and have introduced brownie bites as a dessert. Three cheers for chocolate!

Tags:

• pizza
• chocolate
• New York
• lip gloss

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Meanwhile, I started my new job! Where? I’ll give you a hint…”Search don’t sort.”

I’m in NY right now for work and it’s the second time I’ve been here ever in life. I don’t really care for NY too much (please don’t flame me). I guess there is just too much going on. I’m accustomed to life in a city but not a REALLY BIG SUPER CROWDED city. There are definitely nice people at the office here though, so thats a plus.

For a final thought, you have to love this quote by Billy boy. Stop me if you’ve heard this before:

Another digital tool that has had a big effect on my productivity is desktop search. It has transformed the way I access information on my PC, on servers, and on the Internet. With larger hard drives and increasing bandwidth, I now have gigabytes of information on my PC and servers in the form of e-mails, documents, media files, contact databases, and so on.

Instead of having to navigate through folders to find that one document where I think a piece of information might be, I simply type search terms into a toolbar and all the e-mails and documents that contain that information are at my fingertips. The same goes for phone numbers and email addresses.

That about wraps up tonights post ladies and gents. If you’re in NY go have a slice of pizza.