stealing happy hours
so i just got back from spending the weekend in the florida keys. wow, what a needed break. karma decied that since i was gonna have such a great weekend and another following it, that i needed some more shit shoveled on a shit-pile that already had way too much shit on it. wednesday and thursday at work were terribly busy with us getting ready for a big meeting at sirius down the street. though i was tearing my hair out trying to keep up with the demands being made on me, a few good things did come out of it:
1) we're getting to the end of our pitching to sirius, and things to be going well. we'll soon hear whether we won the account or not, and if we did, awesome and if not, at least no more prep-work.
2) i've been mainly dealing with this assistant over at sirius when lining things up with them. was over there dropping some stuff off with him, and he's damn cute. wonderful eyes. i'm looking forward to a prolonged "business" relationship with him... haha.
3) though he can be a bit short when the pressure mounts, my boss is always very grateful once the job is done and has seen me come through under a deadline.
4) lastly of course as i mentioned, i got through it.
headed straight from work to laguardia to catch my flight down to miami. this is where karma became my friend again. on what was otherwise a full flight, the two people supposed to sit in the seats next to me decided it was a better idea not to show up. so now i had a full three seats to stretch out and enjoy watching some reno 911 on my laptop. my dad picked me up at the miami airport and we began the 2 hour drive to the keys. along the way we caught up in general and i amazed my dad with my topical knowledge of current events, thanks to the fact that we get newsweek at the office and usually i'm pretty bored. also, we talked about my dissatisfaction with new york and my job as it stands now. as i suspected, he took the "you're young, impulsive, just out of college, and feeling the pinch of the working world for the first time" stance. it's probably true, but he also agreed that there was no harm in considering alternatives while i wait for my lease to run out.
one thing he did impress on me is the massive amount of capital needed to start up just about any service franchise. he put the mark at somewhere around half a million. wow. so that left me with two conclusions. #1)put together a presentation and go after investors #2)work my way up/takeover management of a pre-estalished place. i was surprised that my dad suggested that if my lease comes up and i'm still unhappy, that bartending school might not be a bad idea. i'll look into programs this summer (as the workload gets lighter and we have half-day fridays). so regardless of what specific end i'm pursuing, getting a day job and moonlighting as a bartender seems to be immediate backup plan #1.
but i digress. so we get to our unit right at the end of the complex around 2 and immediately hit the sack. since it was dark when we got in the night before, i awoke to a completely new environment. first, i noticed the sun streaming in the window slats. that never happens in my dungeon. i got up to hop in the shower. my uncle's ipod speaker deck was still in the bathroom, so i cranked up some 311 and stepped in. at this point i noticed the view out the window on the other side of the shower. the beach was literally right there, with the ocean waves coming within 10 feet of where i was now lathering up my hair. holy shit. this is heaven (or just like it :-p).
the rest of the trip consisted of nothing but sitting on the beach reading, walking around with some mellow tunes, watching golf or college basketball, going to restaurants for fresh shrimp and daquiris (sp?), and just enjoying hanging out with my dad and grandpa. it was really cool to have three generations of sear boys together. at 91, my grandpa's really given me something to aspire to. while you can definitely tell that he's 91, his mind is still sharp and he's got a big, loving family to carry on his legacy. can't beat that.
saturday night after the two of them had gone to bed, i realized that i would have all the next day to sleep on the shuttle to the airport and the plane ride home. i resolved to get as much florida-y goodness in while i could. i grabbed an unopen bottle of wine and my laptop (to use as a boombox since headphones from my ipod would have muted the ocean) and sat on the beach under the stars. amazing. called jose, and the wine had me pretty much dominating the conversation, but it was nice to be able to just rant for a while. about halfway through the bottle (and more than halfway through my sobriety) i noticed i was picking up a faint wireless internet signal all the way out here. by now it was 3 am on a saturday night, so my buddy list consisted mostly of away messages, but i managed to get a hold of a few people to try and share the moment in some respect.
just made it to my flight from miami back to new york. its damn cold again, the little slice of heaven (or just like it :-p) just a happy memory now. but it rejuvenated me and helped me put things in perspective. i may be unhappy with my situation currently, but the fact that i can sit on a beach and think it through means things are pretty good overall.
as for the near future, look for pictures from the weekend, not to mention this weekend is 311 day! look for an update/pictures from that whole adventure. later kids
1) we're getting to the end of our pitching to sirius, and things to be going well. we'll soon hear whether we won the account or not, and if we did, awesome and if not, at least no more prep-work.
2) i've been mainly dealing with this assistant over at sirius when lining things up with them. was over there dropping some stuff off with him, and he's damn cute. wonderful eyes. i'm looking forward to a prolonged "business" relationship with him... haha.
3) though he can be a bit short when the pressure mounts, my boss is always very grateful once the job is done and has seen me come through under a deadline.
4) lastly of course as i mentioned, i got through it.
headed straight from work to laguardia to catch my flight down to miami. this is where karma became my friend again. on what was otherwise a full flight, the two people supposed to sit in the seats next to me decided it was a better idea not to show up. so now i had a full three seats to stretch out and enjoy watching some reno 911 on my laptop. my dad picked me up at the miami airport and we began the 2 hour drive to the keys. along the way we caught up in general and i amazed my dad with my topical knowledge of current events, thanks to the fact that we get newsweek at the office and usually i'm pretty bored. also, we talked about my dissatisfaction with new york and my job as it stands now. as i suspected, he took the "you're young, impulsive, just out of college, and feeling the pinch of the working world for the first time" stance. it's probably true, but he also agreed that there was no harm in considering alternatives while i wait for my lease to run out.
one thing he did impress on me is the massive amount of capital needed to start up just about any service franchise. he put the mark at somewhere around half a million. wow. so that left me with two conclusions. #1)put together a presentation and go after investors #2)work my way up/takeover management of a pre-estalished place. i was surprised that my dad suggested that if my lease comes up and i'm still unhappy, that bartending school might not be a bad idea. i'll look into programs this summer (as the workload gets lighter and we have half-day fridays). so regardless of what specific end i'm pursuing, getting a day job and moonlighting as a bartender seems to be immediate backup plan #1.
but i digress. so we get to our unit right at the end of the complex around 2 and immediately hit the sack. since it was dark when we got in the night before, i awoke to a completely new environment. first, i noticed the sun streaming in the window slats. that never happens in my dungeon. i got up to hop in the shower. my uncle's ipod speaker deck was still in the bathroom, so i cranked up some 311 and stepped in. at this point i noticed the view out the window on the other side of the shower. the beach was literally right there, with the ocean waves coming within 10 feet of where i was now lathering up my hair. holy shit. this is heaven (or just like it :-p).
the rest of the trip consisted of nothing but sitting on the beach reading, walking around with some mellow tunes, watching golf or college basketball, going to restaurants for fresh shrimp and daquiris (sp?), and just enjoying hanging out with my dad and grandpa. it was really cool to have three generations of sear boys together. at 91, my grandpa's really given me something to aspire to. while you can definitely tell that he's 91, his mind is still sharp and he's got a big, loving family to carry on his legacy. can't beat that.
saturday night after the two of them had gone to bed, i realized that i would have all the next day to sleep on the shuttle to the airport and the plane ride home. i resolved to get as much florida-y goodness in while i could. i grabbed an unopen bottle of wine and my laptop (to use as a boombox since headphones from my ipod would have muted the ocean) and sat on the beach under the stars. amazing. called jose, and the wine had me pretty much dominating the conversation, but it was nice to be able to just rant for a while. about halfway through the bottle (and more than halfway through my sobriety) i noticed i was picking up a faint wireless internet signal all the way out here. by now it was 3 am on a saturday night, so my buddy list consisted mostly of away messages, but i managed to get a hold of a few people to try and share the moment in some respect.
just made it to my flight from miami back to new york. its damn cold again, the little slice of heaven (or just like it :-p) just a happy memory now. but it rejuvenated me and helped me put things in perspective. i may be unhappy with my situation currently, but the fact that i can sit on a beach and think it through means things are pretty good overall.
as for the near future, look for pictures from the weekend, not to mention this weekend is 311 day! look for an update/pictures from that whole adventure. later kids