I've seen the view and it's hazy: Hong Kong Oct 2008 - Part 1

Dearie me I’ve been reeling with jet lag these past few days after getting back from my Hong Kong/Shanghai trip on Saturday evening. I’ve not been able to fall asleep before 1am, but then I wake up at 6am. It's a shame I didn't fly home in time for Halloween since the dark circles around my eyes are so pronounced I look like I've risen from the dead.

It serves me right for being so smug about it on Sunday. I thought I was doing so well, having arrived home at 9.30pm on Saturday, unpacked for a bit and then tumbled into bed around 11pm. I set my alarm for 6.30am to get up and do laundry first thing Sunday morning before meeting Lauren for brunch at 10am what with washing my smalls not being an option later in the day with the marathon runners slogging up First Avenue for much of the morning and afternoon and the street being blocked off. Not to be a big grumps, but marathon day can be a total pain in the arse if you have errands to do on the east side of First Avenue. I woke up around 6.20am before my alarm, however I wasn't best pleased when I walked into my living room and caught sight of the time on my DVR which said it was 5.20am.

5:20am!!!!

Duh!!! What a numpty!! Having danced around my apartment to Santogold while unpacking on Saturday – just LOVE her album to bits - I'd completely missed the bit about the clocks going back an hour, so there I was wide awake at an ungodly hour of a Sunday morning. I killed a bit of time until the laundrette opened by making a big mug of tea and catching up on a couple of Grey's Anatomy episodes that I'd DVR'd and before I knew it I was engrossed in the whole Callie/Erica love-in thing – a storyline I was enjoying, but which I have just learned ABC have shelved!!! Idiots!! - and people having their innards scooped out and somehow it was 8.30am and time to get showered before meeting Lauren and I'd missed my opportunity to do laundry.

Ooopsie!!

Good job I'd done a load of washing at the hotel in Hong Kong - do I know how to have a good time on holiday or what!!! – which was something of a necessity since Hong Kong was so hot and humid and we walked an average of 12miles per day when we were there (my pedometer came in useful for something. Melissa was quite obsessed with it) that I felt like such a minger when we got back to the hotel of an evening, so there was no way I was able to get 2 days wear out of my trousers as planned before washing them, in fact there were days when I fought a strong urge to take a match to my clothes, but thankfully there was no need for such drastic action since the hotel had a laundry room and I'd had the foresight to pack detergent. By day 3 our room lovely hotel room looked a bit of a sight draped in our smalls, but needs must.

Having woken so disgustingly early on Sunday I was convinced that I’d be fighting to stay awake come early evening and assumed that once I’d got through that bit I’d surely have adjusted to US time. Wrong wrong wrong!! I had no such luck since for some reason my body feels that I’ve needed only need 5hours sleep over the last couple of days whereas my mind is rapidly losing its grip on reality. I walked into the bathroom at work yesterday afternoon and the mirror literally rippled before my eyes.

I seriously need to get some sleep!!

It’s a hot bath with lavender, two Tylenol PM and a glass of wine for me tonight and a complete avoidance of any election excitement!!

I’ll post on the trip when I’m semi-functional once more, but here’s a teaser photo of the view from our gorgeous hotel in Hong Kong, The Lanson Place Hotel in Causeway Bay, which I can highly highly highly recommend. It was lovely, a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World. I love those hotels, but it's rare that I can afford to stay in them. Fortunately The Lanson Place hotel was reasonably priced relative to the cost of other HK accommodations and well worth the money. The photo's a little hazy, but unfortunately we were denied a clear day in Hong Kong, so this is as good as it gets and does not in any way reflect my photography skills. Ahem!!

Off on my hols

Whoo hoooo!! I’m all packed and ready to head east to Hong Kong tomorrow. I cannot wait, I really need a holiday. The question is will I have a job to go to when I get back? Our company implemented a hiring freeze on at the moment and my client, Elmer, didn't get the funding for 3 projects that we'd scoped and then today he asked for a $25,000 refund!!!

A refund!!!

After asking for the refund, which essentially puts the projects we’re working on for him for the rest of the year he had the cheek to ask if we’d do some work for free. I referred him to BossMan who politely told him where to go. These are not fun times in marketing, but thankfully Elmer is not my only client, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no more budget cuts.

This whole "The great depression: the sequel" gubbins is making me think that I made a mistake in booking a somewhat pricey vacation to Asia back in August, but what can I do? Not go? Noooo way matey!! I need it for mental health reasons and at least it's two thirds paid for, I just have to worry about paying the hotel bill off my credit card when I get back

Anyway as I said I am all packed, save for make-up and hair brushes which I still need to use tomorrow morning when I get up hideously early to head to JFK (eeek!!). Melissa and I are leaving at 6.30am to allow for potentially heavy morning traffic to JFK. "It's good to get there early and then you can have a drink at the airport" advised Debs and Emma.

"I'll be there at 8am. That's a bit early for a drink"

"8am is 5pm somewhere in the world. It's not too early"

All the same, I think I'll be sticking to coffee :-)

I started putting things in my suitcase on Sunday and added bits and pieces over the next few days, I packed strategically though, taking my naturally overly organised disposition a step further for this trip and jotted down a list of coordinating outfits to pack thus maximising the usage of all my clothing, but minimising the weight. I know…geeky to the max, but I like to travel as light as possible since hefting a big suitcase around plays havoc with my lower back these days - ageing sucks big time I’m finding. I would be a lot less bothered about it if I didn’t feel like my body were crumbling at times. Sigh.

Being so organised in packing meant I had plenty of time to finish all those last minute projects at work that magically popped this week and also run around and buy a new camera – a $150 I could have done without spending in these mend and make do times, but I can hardly go all that way and not take photos eh. I have two digital cameras – well now I have three – and both seem to be utterly buggered unfortunately and I’m completely flummoxed as to why. I’m not one for toting a camera around on a regular basis, so I pretty much only use them on my once yearly vacation and both were working fine when I last used them. However the display screen on my original digital camera, a Sony that my parents bought me for Christmas a few years ago, doesn’t seem to work at all.

“Is it definitely turned on?” queried the technologically gifted Debs when I told her about it at work the other morning.

Cheek of the woman!!! Yes it’s bloody turned on. It goes from black to slightly less black and all the little setting icons pop up on the screen, the flash, the ISO and all that shenanigans, it’s just useless at taking pictures or viewing photos I’ve already taken, but it does seem to take photos. At least the little counter goes up indicating there are photos in the file folder. I should get my act together and take it to B&H Photo and have them look it over since the problem has flummoxed my Dad, Tel Aviv who looked at it last year and any random man I’ve mentioned it to in passing that considers themselves to be technologically gifted and clearly think it’s going to be an easy fix. I’m sure, like Debs, these men all initially thought me a ditzy female who just hadn’t managed to work out how to turn the display on, but the problem has had them beat too!! Ha!!

As for the second camera, well this was my Dad’s old Fuji that my parents gave me when I was home last Christmas to replace the malfunctioning Sony. It worked fine when I tried it at the time and has been languishing in a since January until I took it out this weekend to make sure everything was in working order. It wasn’t. It functions perfectly for about 2seconds and then switches itself off. And yes, I did check the batteries, but I just haven’t get it to stay on. I'm beginning to feel like my apartment is the place photographic equipment goes to die. Fingers crossed the new one survives and I'll have photos to post when I get back.

Behave yourselves while I'm gone ;-)

I saw the most curious thing the other morning as I was walked to work

There I was waiting to cross 72nd Street at Lexington Avenue and a young bloke in a suit rode by me on a unicycle!! A unicycle!!! Do you think he ran away from the circus to take a job in finance or something? If that's the case he didn't chose his moment well did he? Just as I am thinking that I didn't choose the best of times to start a monthly direct debit to invest in a mutual fund – not to mention the ones that my pension is invested in – what with banks failing left, right and centre. I’m down 21% so far, not that it's not exactly a humungous heap of cash - don't invest what you can't afford to lose eh - and I keep reminding myself that I am in it for the long term so maybe, just maybe – she says with her fingers tightly crossed - this financial calamity will ultimately reveal itself to have been an excellent buying opportunity to get some good quality shares at a bargain price. Let's hope so!!

Otherwise not much is going on other than work, work, work and more work. Quite frankly I'm a basket case after a stressful couple weeks and I was almost in tears in Boss Man's office the other morning when my client, Elmer, decided he wanted to increase the amount of my time that he pays for from 25% to 100% until the end of the year. Ugh!! I know I should be happy about this, to have 3months worth of job security, especially with the economy tanking, but in the 6months I've been working with my client I've grown to absolutely hate him. He's nit picky, unreasonably demanding and loves to exert what tiny amount of power he has over the agency by setting these last minute, overly abbreviated and completely arbitrary deadlines just to make us run around like headless chickens, however should there be so much of a whiff of a complaint he's very quick to play the 'you know I've been a great advocate of the agency and provided you with a lot of revenue generating opportunities' card. It's very irritating, because while I agree that he has been good to us, it’s frankly coming at the expense of my mental health. In an effort to buck my spirits Boss Man sent me this note the other night…

"Thanks for all the hard work and dedication. They had their budgets slashed today but still will spend an incremental 136k with us which again is testament to the great work you and the team have been doing this year. I know it's not always easy and the client can be very demanding but if we get through the rest of this year we will have a great foundation for further growth in 09. And I will make sure I will always have beer and wine in my fridge in case you need a drink after a stressful day!"

Hmmm. I know he means well and I appreciate the thought, but I've seen my wine consumption skyrocket in the 6months I've been working on this client – I'm particularly fond of the cheeky little Gouguenheim Malbec, a snip at $12 a bottle from my local liquor store/off license, which is the same price that I pay for a glass of the stuff around the corner at Caffe Notte - and I don't think a descent into alcoholism/liver failure is the answer.

Sigh!!

Am I feeling a bit too sorry for myself do you think? I know some people would be happy to have my problems and I'm definitely letting my client get to me and Boss Man advised me to shrug him off, but that's easy for Mr. Mellow to say. He's so laid back I sometimes wonder if he's fully appreciates some situations, but I think calm demeanour is implicit in his genetic chemistry and unfortunately I'm just not made that way. It’s led to my questioning my career choice a lot over the past few months – my timing is amazing isn't it, unemployment being on the high side. Of course I'm not stupid enough to quit my job, it has its benefits, but I've definitely been finding myself craving a more simplified life right, perhaps even – heaven forbid – outside of New York. It's a thought I've been rolling around in my head recently, whether I could I seriously consider leaving NYC or if this is just a temporary disgruntlement that could be solved by gainful employment elsewhere. If I did leave I'm not sure where I would go. I don't think I would go back to England right now since the last time I was there I didn't feel like I quite fit, and if I'm honest I suspect if it came to the crunch I'll find I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel in NYC, but if it does turn out that I end up leaving in the next few years then I know I will be able to pinpoint 2008 as the beginning of the end.

Boss Woman not being here in the US doesn't help, especially as each time I reach out to her for help she responds by giving me more work to do. Boss Man recruited Boss Woman about 3months ago to help take a load of his shoulders and oversee myself and Emma. She’s British – in fact she used to be my friend Miles’ boss who speaks very highly of her. I like her a lot – except for the whole workload thing - however she's working from London at the moment, which isn't the best since the majority burden for her accounts tends to fall to me because I'm physically present in the office. I can't help occasionally resent the fact that she's probably making double my salary and getting to leave at 6pm every night while I'm stuck working 12hour+ days to support the NY based account teams.

Technically this is until she gets her visa sorted - which should be anytime soon since she had her interview at the US Consulate in London last week and the type of visa she will be on is usually issued within 2weeks after the interview – however there is also the issue of her elderly dog to consider. She can't bring him with her as the stress will likely send him off to that great big doggie kennel in the sky and since she hasn't had any luck finding someone she knows and trusts who can take him in and can't exactly have him put to sleep on a whim, we are in the unfortunate position of having to wait until the dog pops his clogs before she can move over and start taking the reins on the clients she's been assigned to.

Whew!!

In non-work related news it was Open House New York last weekend and Melissa managed to snag us a couple of tickets – 5,000+ people entered a draw for one of 700 tickets - for a tour of the highline, a disused railway line that runs above ground from Gansevoort St in the meatpacking district and 34th street in midtown. I found out from our tour guide, Joshua - one of the co-founders of Friends of The Highline, an organization that campaigned to save it from demolition – that a building where a few of my friends used to live used to be a refrigeration warehouse and the train line used to run through it and unload inside. You can see it in the pic linked here.

We walked on the bit between 30th and 34th street, one of the last stretches that's still owned by the railway company, CSX who apparently donated the stretch below 30th to the city in 2005 for park use. The last train to run on the highline was in 1980 with a cargo of frozen turkeys – it was close to Thanksgiving – and the first section of the park is set to open at the end of this year, with the whole thing scheduled for 2010. It was great to get a new perspective of the city. Here are some pics snapped by Melissa.

The fate of last 4 blocks - the bit we walked on which is still owned by CSX - is undecided at the moment since it depends on what happens with the Hudson rail yards. There's a proposal to develop the rail yards, but as the Long Island Railroad needs to remain fully functional it will mean spending an estimated $2bn to put a platform over the top of the rail lines so that they can build over the top of it. This may mean that the last section of the Highline may not survive the renovation, but Friends of the Highline are campaigning for it to be preserved. Whatever happens I am sure CSX will make a whole pile of money from it.

I can't be arsed with politics....

...because I think ultimately, despite their promises, whoever gets in will be likely to bugger it all up anyway, and besides, I don't even have the right to vote in the US as a permanent resident, however I did enjoy this Craigslist post from a 'disgruntled American'

"Disgruntled American Seeks Canadian For Political Asylum, Maybe More - 32 (Washington State, USA)
Reply to: pers-862818036@craigslist.org [?]Date: 2008-10-01, 6:00PM EDT

Like so many in the USA, I've become increasingly fed up with my country. The last 8 years have been a nightmare of perpetual motion. The presidential election is almost a month away, but let's face it. If Bush's cronies were able to set him up for two terms, then McCain and Palin are practically a shoo-in. When that happens (and it will, just you watch) I would rather be somewhere else. Like The Great White North!

Are you a lonely, possibly desperate Canadian woman aged 18-50? Tired of trying to find a good man among your flannel clad, Labatt's drinking, moose hunting country men? Willing to take in an American who is fed up with his country? Then I'm the guy for you! Maybe you're a bit overweight or suffer from "Lifelong Ugly Duckling" syndrome. I don't care.

What I'm All Aboot:
- 32, tall, a bit pudgy around the middle, starting to go bald, but other than that it's all good.
- IT Professional, skilled with computers, can fix yours.
- Will get whatever job(s) available to help support us.
- From Washington State, appreciates nature.
- Willing to learn French.
- Polite, working on being more humble.
- Hates littering.
- Will pet your cat(s)/dog(s) and tell you how cute it is.
- Enjoys Rush.
- Can fake an interest in hockey.
- Knows the first line to the Canadian National Anthem.
- Will do whatever it takes to get the fuck out of here.

What You're All Aboot:
- Canadian.
- 18-50 year old female.
- Willing to marry me for citizenship.

So there you have it ladies! This is your chance to help your neighbors to the South. Get at it!
Location: Washington State, USA
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests"

3weeks to my hols!!!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a lottery win at the moment, work is...well crazy is definitely the word. I'm feeling more than a little frustrated with the situation I can tell you, but I’m thinking in these insecure economic times it’s not exactly the right moment to be chucking it all in for a less stressful life.

One client in particular - let’s call him Elmer since he bears an uncanny resemblance to the bastard love child of Elmer Fudd and Arnold Schwarzenegger if ever there was one, who pays for 25% of my time but easily sucks up 40-50% - is generally a big pedantic pain in the arse. He called me on my mobile at 7:53am the other morning. 7:53am!!! It’s not even pigging 8am and he’s calling me and this is the second time he’s done it. Is it me or is that obnoxious? It’s bad enough that he requests I’m available on IM - which is extremely distracting. There I'll be working away and up he'll pop ruining my concentration - but he can take a running jump if he thinks I’m answering the phone to him at that time. There’s no way I’m starting with that game. It’s not like there’s ever a big emergency that can’t wait until 9am. In fact on both occasions he’s called first thing it’s been to discuss an amendment he mistakenly believes we should have made. Usually I get into work and resend him the minutes from the last meeting where the changes were discussed and highlight the point where we didn’t agree to make whatever change he’s fussing over until the following week or some such and then I get a flurry of apologies. It does stress me out though when his name pops up on my caller ID first thing. I tell you I’ve aged since I started working on this particular account just 6 short months ago.

Ugh!!

It’s not been completely work work work recently as I did get off to Washington DC/Virginia for a weekend jolly a couple of weeks ago to visit my pal Steph in DC which was very nice. It feels like a distant memory now, but we tottered off to Eastern Market for a browse on Saturday morning, fortifying ourselves with a lovely vanilla latte from Peregrine Espresso where we marvelled at the foam art leaf in our froth that lasted until the last drop before walking 9miles – 9miles!!! – to see all the major monuments, down the mall, back up the mall to the subway – sorry Metro, they’re very European about their subway in DC* – over to Foggy Bottom station in Georgetown – Foggy Bottom ho ho!! – where we enjoyed a late, but leisurely lunch of pulled pork sliders – mini burger type thingymibobs - by the river at Sequoia before an exhausting afternoon shopping – a top and a pair of trousers from Anthropologie; lovely and much needed retail therapy – walking over a bridge to ummmm…somewhere in Virgina where we got the Metro back to Pentagon City and then home to Steph’s!! We were knackered by the time we got back around 7.30pm, so we just stayed in that night and had cheese and wine at home. Very European of us!!

This past week I had to contend with both work and then a visitor in town for a few days this week so it was a hectic one. My visitor was a friend I was best pals with when I was 8years old, but then I changed schools when I was 9 – the Catholic school had a better reputation - and I didn't see her again until we met for lunch at Christmas last year, 28years or so later. She was in New York briefly before meeting her parents off the Queen Mary II at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal** and then heading down to Baltimore to visit family friends for a week so she asked if she could stay with me.

Let’s just say we got along as well as two people who have nothing in common can possibly get along. I don’t think she’s particularly one for big cities, because she seemed quite indifferent to New York. I had to work Thursday so I left her to her own devices that day and she went out for a couple of hours and walked about 2miles down second avenue, didn't see anything interesting so turned around and headed back uptown and read her book in my apartment all day. If only she'd made a right at some point during her walk she would have hit Bloomingdales or even Fifth Avenue - I'd left her guide books, maps, everything she could need - but she just shrugged and said she wasn't that bothered when I got home around 8pm. Even when I took the day off to show her around on Friday she was very passive and didn't seen to get much from being here. She wasn't miserable, just disinterested. Ironically she was keener on finding a souvenir shop to buy gifts for her friends back home than she was to actually experience NYC. I ask you, what sort of first time visitor to NYC does NOT want to go up the Empire State Building and do all that crap??? I can understand if New York isn't for you, but usually it leaves some sort of impression. It was a bit frustrating trying so hard to come up with entertaining things to do with a visitor who couldn't have given a toss.

Anyway, back to work with me!!

*Whenever you mention DC to someone in New York they always go on and on and on about how great the subway is. Seriously you can't shut them up, so I decided I had to see it for myself. In fact this was my priority experience for the DC trip much to Steph's amusement, however nice though it is, having heard such gushing praise from my fellow New Yorkers I was quite disappointed to find it was pretty much like any other underground rail system you’ll find across Europe.

**A pigging nightmare to get to by public transport!! If such a situation ever befalls you I recommend giving your visitor the money for a cab and wishing them well. Believe me it’s worth the money to avoid having to negotiate whatever obstacles the MTA will throw at you by venturing over there via 2 different subways and then bus to Red Hook. It took us about 3hours on Saturday morning what with all the track maintenance :-(

It's a sorry state of affairs...

....when the best thing that's happened to me all week is the rescheduling of a 3hour meeting from Friday to Monday thereby freeing up a morsel of time to work on another urgent client deliverable meaning that I won't have to work until midnight as feared, but maybe just until 10pm.

Sigh!!

I'm having one of those weeks/months/years.

I suppose I should be thankful for being so busy in the current economic climate, but having a life outside the office would be nice too.

Hopefully I'll be back to blogging and blog hopping in the not too distant future.

Transatlantic Travels

So I’m back in NYC and getting back into the swing of work after a brief and packed last minute trip to London for some client run training. The trip went well despite the fact that I didn't receive confirmation that I'd actually be going until Wednesday morning of last week, the very same Wednesday I was supposed to be catching an overnight flight to London. I had to pack my bag, bring it to the office and hope for the best.

Anyway of course I did go and fortunately I was lucky enough to get a standby spot in business class. I've only flown business class once before and oooooh it was so nice. I'm not sure I can go back to economy. When I get on my Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong in a couple of months there could well be a kerfuffle with the flight attendants as I attempt to turn left into business instead of right into coach. The seats recline into beds people!!! Beds!!! Not that having a bed helped on the sleep thing, but still...beds!!! S’marvellous. I was chuffed to bits. Of course I didn't give away my excitement to my fellow business class travellers, but instead gave an impressive display of feigned nonchalance prior to take off when all the privacy screens were down, my demeanour clearly proclaiming "I travel business class all the time don't you know." Admittedly I may have given myself away by involuntarily emitting a squeak of excitement once the privacy screens were up and I was free to play around with my seat controls. Whoo hoo!!!

Checking in for the return flight on standby the nice woman at the assistance desk apologised because there weren’t any seats available upstairs.

Upstairs????

Isn’t that first class?

Phew, can you imagine? I think it’s just as well there were no seats available; my heart wouldn’t have been able to stand the extreme levels of excitement had I been given a seat upstairs. Even just the thought of flying first class gives me palpitations. Besides, it wouldn’t exactly been in the style of a trans-atlantic jetsetter to have sauntered into First class clutching a carrier bag from Boots would it. True, jetsetters do need toothpaste and deodorant, but they probably have some minion buy it for them eh. For the record I had to stock up on my spray deodorant – you can only get roll-ons in NYC. They don’t sell coloured loo paper over here either - and stand up pump action toothpaste. You can get bubble gum flavour stand up toothpaste for kids, but I don't think I would like that flavour as much as whitening fresh mint you can buy everywhere in England. These things matter when your bathroom is the size of a shoebox. I don't need lazy lying down toothpaste cluttering up the place. No sireeee!!

Anyway the biz travel was generally good and since it was a bank holiday for Labor Day in the US I got to stay the weekend, catch up with Miles and B and visit my family in Yorkshire. Good ol’ England was reliably overcast as usual, but everyone kept telling me how warm it was as I crunched through fallen leaves and clutched my lightweight raincoat around myself to keep out the chill, although to be honest I'm bursting for a bit of autumnal weather to arrive in New York. It's frigging 88F here and humid as hell. The only bit I wasn't so keen on the part where I got off the overnight flight, freshened up in the ladies loos - although quite frankly it was a lipstick on a pig situation since no amount of make-up was going to make me look good after minimal sleep and no bathing beyond a rub down with a wet wipe and a squirt of deodorant, consumed a very large coffee – Costa Coffee are beating the Americans at their own supersizing game with their humungous cappuccino that arrives in a cup with 2 handles. TWO!!! I was anticipating a European version of large not something I needed two hands to pick up – and went straight to my training course. I was dosed up on coffee for much of the day, but was still swaying with jet lag come the afternoon UK time when I would find myself having moments of staring vacantly at the instructor. However at least I had an excuse unlike some of the London based folk who I noted were also having trouble keeping their eyes open beyond 3pm, although to be fair there's a limit to how much SQL you can take in one day.