Fat 'n Happy

Current ambiente noise: Mariachi music (I know, right?).

Just got back from dinner. Clare, who came down to ATL a couple times to do some work on the startups with us, took me out to dinner at a little place called El Faro in the West Village. 'Twas el yum. Paella Valenciana, garlic sauce shrimps, and sangria. And cobblestone streets!

We got to catch up a bit and she gave me some tips on how to get around, and how to orient yourself when you come out of the subway and have no idea which way you're facing. Which I desperately needed, cause my one-block walk from the subway stop to my office this morning took me 5 blocks of walkings. Doh.

• East Evens: Remember how the Streets are all facing east/west, and Avenues north/south? Well it turns out that most (or maybe all?) of the even-numbered Streets are one way, and they travel east. Quick way to orient without having to walk a block. 
• Subways Act Like Cars: Subway entrances usually only go down to one side of the tracks. But it turns out, the entrances are positioned on the side of the street such that the train you are going down to is traveling in the direction that a car would be going on that side of the street. It's a quick and easy way to know which entrance you want to use, and its a good reference when you get out, cause you know which cardinal direction the train was going, and then you can orient that to the street when you get top-side. Bery bery iinteresting. 

Also it looks like I'll be meeting up with Clare again this weekend to go ice skating at The Pond in Bryant Park. How Normal Rockwell is that? After that, however, she is escaping the cold and traveling to warmer climes, aka L.A. and then Savannah. Smart cookie, that one.

Ok, so time for some WORK updates:

First day was kinda weird. Everybody seemed to be pretty busy, so I pretty much got stuck with busy work and was left to fend for myself. I critiqued the website (btw, its www.1stdibs.com).

Today, however, was much more action packed, as I got a walkthrough of some of the databases that we use, and some of the code for somethin-or-other. It was quite the brain-fry, especially since the code was in PHP, a language that I'm still trying to learn. I also got to deliver my yesterday-notes, and now my boss wants me to write up two cheat-sheet versions of them.

My plate feels full already. Which is fantastic. I can't wait to fill it up even more. My first paycheck comes Friday, and once I'm stable, I'm totally going to find some local/league sports team or another so I will be forced to workout, and make friends.

Emotionally, I'm doing pretty well. I was kinda homesick yesterday, but today when I put the key in the apartment building door, it started to feel like my door. WEIRD. I still don't feel like a New Yawka, but I'm beginning to feel a bit more capable, at least in the neighborhoods that I live and work in. This morning I thought I was getting more accustomed to the cold, but I think it was just cause I was standing in sunlight. I was still freezing when I walked home tonight. But I walked fast!

Ok, one thing I have NOT gotten used to, and don't know if I ever will (maybe hopefully not :)). You know when you walk by people and you hear snippets of their conversation? It's always fun, getting to hear only 6 words or so, totally out of context, and the guess or make up the rest. Well here, they're frequently accompanied by accents.

Strange accents.

Northern accents.

And I just cannot get used to it. Sorry ya'll northern folk; you talk funny.

Time to sign off for now. Much love to all. I'm contemplating taking after-work walks/adventures each day, just to see new parts of the city, so I could have some interesting posts in the future. Oh, and I promise to get some photos up here, and maybe some maps too, so we can keep track of my meanderings.

Love and love and love (it's all you need, aside from location),

K3