Moving in with Steph and Christmas.

The view out my bedroom window.

okay.. so I haven't updated this site in a while. The last 3 months of 2008 were crazy. It started with worklife becoming all consuming as a result of the credit crisis, then followed with Steph and I moving in together. Then followed with a house full of Australians for two months.

My TV in the new apartment complete with Christmas garland.

The new apartment is fantastic. After viewing some truly awful apartments we stumbled upon an apartment with polished floorboards, a large living room (my new york standards), views over Tompkins square park, and only two blocks from my last apartment, in my favourite spot in Manhattan, the east village. I've now been living in this apartment with Steph for 4 months, and am thoroughly enjoying it. Such a good decision, she is so fantastic.

New reading couch for Steph

Only weeks after having moved into the new apartment Mum came over on her world tour, closely followed by Camilla. It was fantastic having them in town, although with all the shenanigans at work I didn't get to spend all that much time with them.

Me with the montage of paintings and photographs

we've collected in our new apartment.

So a very busy period, in which we packed a lot in. Next up.. Steph and I travel to Sydney.

2008 Christmas Tree

Ads

Two New York Guys

okay... so this entry is a bit of a sequel to the March 07 entry titled "characters of my new york". I just wanted to quickly mention two guys who totally made my day.

So every morning I get out of the subway station at chambers street which is right next to Wall street and the downtown Path station. For those of you who aren't familiar with NY the Path is the train which brings people between New Jersey and Manhattan. As you can imagine during rush hour its packed. So each morning I walk through thousands of people with their head down and with little patience because of the crush of people. For the last few months, in the middle of this has stood one guy handing out fliers. Ordinarily this would cause most New Yorkers to tell him where to stick his fliers but this guy has charm. His priority seems to be to say in his most infectious, joyful voice, GOOOOOD MORNING to each passer by. I've walked past him some mornings and he hasn't been actively handing out his fliers, despite them being in his hands. He seems just genuinely happy, and enjoying wishing everyone a good morning. Its really an incredible experience each morning watching everyone receive their joyful good morning message from him, and then visibly change and seem more happy and excited (and perhaps a little bewildered). Anyway, that guy makes my morning.

The second guy is a homeless guy who stands out the front of the convenience store near my apartment. Rather than begging he acts as a door man, opening the door to the convenience store for customers, wishing them a good afternoon, and politely saying if they have any small change on the way out he'd appreciate it. If not, then don't worry. When I first met this guys I was sceptical, it seemed like a very good idea to get people who obviously would have change to give him some. But he's always extraordinarily polite, and has friendly nicknames for all his regulars. Today he made my afternoon. Its friday, I went to pick up a six pack, and on the way in he was having a flamboyant discussion with a customer. Apparently, he'd watched McCain and Obama's nomination acceptance speeches on TV at his shelter, and was having an enjoyable (and intelligent and well supported) discussion on the election, the economy, and US foreign policy. Watching this was incredible, he seemed so chuffed with himself that his excitement rubbed of on me. Totally made my afternoon..

anyway.. only in new york.

Greece and My Birthday

So... July 2008 saw Steph and I venture across the Atlantic to visit Greece. Mykonos has some very special childhood memories for me so I was very happy when the vacation didn't fail to live up to my high expectations. We started with a few days in Athens...a quick stop to see the Acropolis before heading to the islands. My expectations for Athens were pretty low as I seemed to remember it being a very dirty and smelly city, but we had some luck. We chose a fantastic location (Plaka) which was an old section of the city at the base of the Acropolis. To add to that, our hotel room had a fantastic view of the Acropolis and the sunset behind it.

Mykonos was where I remember spending a significant family holiday as a child, and its changed a fair bit since then. More nightclubs and backbackers, but that didn't seem to diminish its magic. The weather was perfect, our accomodation ( www.myconosview.gr/hotel.php ) was incredible...lovely whitewashed buildings overlooking the Agean Sea and ancient port. We spent the evenings drinking Moet (thanks Hiren, Mill & Mum), swiming in the pool and walking through the picturesque streets of the town. Our biggest worry was which restaurant to eat at... fabulous.

Following a week relaxing in Mykonos we caught the ferry to the island of Santorini (via the island of Naxos). Santorini was also an increadible experience. The island is a crescent shape surounding clear blue water and a small, active volcano. The apartment we chose was an ancient tradional villa built into the cliffside. The photo below is steph sitting on our porch enjoying the view while drinking a wonderful bottle of Beaujolais (thank you Mr. & Mrs. Smith).

So we spent 10 days soaking up the Greek sun, enjoying Greek wine and hospitality, sailing the Agean, and exporing surely one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Oh and I turned 30... but let's not talk about that.

Glamping

Okay... it's been a while. To summarise, ... anniversary ... rugby... bike riding... camping...

Camping... Last weekend Steph, Ashley, Kerry, Jeff, Frankie, Greg, a few of Greg's buddies and myself went camping... we travelled two hours north of New York, to a nice little mountain camping ground. It was heaps of fun, and a great change of pace. Frankie (Kerry & Jeff's dog) went for a swim in the lake, we hiked through the mountain, then sat around the fire and drank beer... although I did not appropriately represent my people. I drank beer then fell asleep in a hammock ... on second thought, maybe I did represent.

Bike ride... another notable event (and very athletic) was last weekend when steph and I decided we'd spend the sunday welcoming summer in New York by riding bikes around manhattan. We rented bikes from 14th street and rode down the east river to battery park then up the hudson river to west village, where we had lunch. We finished with a trip across town to the United Nations building.

Thirdly I've been playing rugby... well in the spring season anyway. I've been playing for the Village Lions. We've played a touring team from Montreal, and had a road trip to connecticut, hudson valley, and jersey. The club is a great bunch of guys, and the coach seems to know his stuff, plus the few drinking sessions I've been to have been a blast. I've spent most of my time playing at 12 for the 1sts but despite my size, I think I'd like to keep pushing for a go at no8. I always liked playing in the forwards more.

Finally, Steph and I had our anniversary. We rented a historic cottage in the catskill mountains north of new york city. It was the very end of winter so the snow on the ground had largely melted and the ice covering the nearby Mohonk lake had begun to thaw. It felt like the first time since last summer we had been outdoors. The area reminds me of the southern highlands in NSW.

Up next... Lucy's visit to NYC!, Stephs Birthday, & Greece!

Our Road Trip to DC

MOHAWK!

MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK! MOHAWK!

Fun in the Brooklyn Snow.

Last saturday Steph and I visited Jeff and Kerry in Brooklyn for a day of beer, wine, food, and sleding. Again I had a great time. Another first!

Miami

Last weekend Steph and I travelled to Miami for Jessica's 30th birthday. It was the first time I had been to Miami and I very much enjoyed it. We stayed in South Beach and spending the weekend lying in the sun on the beach was a pleasant change to the winter cold of New York. The photo above is Steph's tootsies as she reclines on South Beach.

The flight home was not so fabulous however. It was something out of a horror movie. Approaching New York the flight attendant asked if there was any doctors on board as they had a passenger in need of immediate medical attention. Then the flight attendant asked if we all take our seats because we were approaching bad turbulence. Then the captain came over he loud speaker and said in a worried voice, "EVERYONE GET IN YOUR SEATS NOW!". Thirty seconds later the plane felt like it fell at least 30 feet through the clouds. There was a little panic on the plane at this point. Thankfully from there we had one of the softest landings I've ever had, which was great considering the blizzard that we had been flying through.

Conference in Cannes

Okay. Feburary has been a huge month so far. It started with a conference in Cannes. The night before the conference at a very french bar I got extremely drunk while watching the New York Giants win the superbowl. Thankfully the picture below is the only surviving photo of me at the event.

The final night of the conference was a black tie awards dinner, where American Express awarded its highest performers (not me). I wore a real bow tie (i.e not a clip on), and I tied it myself. Totally James Bond (ish). The photo below is myself and my boss Carl Rae, with Leslie and Margeax two NY sales managers who were seated at our table.

...Comming up.. Steph and my trip to Miami!!

Christmas in Dubai

This year for christmas Steph, Mum and I visited Camilla and Hiren in Dubai. The trip was a quick 5 days of family, fantastic food, impressive cityscapes.


On the second day of our visit we ventured out of dubai to a desert resort called "Bab Al Shams". Where we rode camels, ate indian food, and enjoyed the sun.

Back in town Camilla, Steph, Mum and I spend a day exploring the older area of dubai and enjoying a nice arabian lunch and view from the water.


As you can (or can't) see I spent my time trying to grow a beard... very unsuccessfully. All in all I very much enjoyed spending time with the girls, the food was increadible and Dubai was a pleasant change from the cold New York winter.