Winter wonderland

Well it's all new to me.

18°C one day, snowing the next.

Yesterday a nice snow storm coated the city. At about 10am the nice big slow falling flakes began.

By the time we left to go play after lunch it was a whiteout. The city is transformed. The place is much quiter.

I couldn't resist a ride up along the Hudson. Riding in the snow & ice required some sharp reflexes.








Later it started to sleet and then finally rain which wrecked all the snow. With the rain and thousands of feet stomping around the place turns into ice slush. Getting around is interesting. Big puddles of ice slush form at every street corner. If you don't have the right shoes, and a bad knee then jumping the puddles is interesting. Before you know it your feet are wet unless you have the right shoes. Gumboots are a fashionable as well as practical item. More important is grip. The wrong shoes and the wrong leap over an ice puddle and the result is not pretty. Luckily I learned this through observation rather than direct experience.

So within hours I had a new pair of mostly water proof hiking boots so I could stomp through the ice puddles like everyone else.

Little miss was meant to arrive via 2 hour flight from out west last night. The weather meant flight delays of hours, planes stuck sitting on runways waiting for a gate, and I had mental images of a little frozen corpse showing up.

Fortunately she made it just fine. Quite the cutie, and a great personality too.



She has no name yet. The current candidates are Mia and Laura, neither of which I like or think suit her.

And she seems to be the stereotypical pissy puppy... peeing on the carpet every few minutes. Toilet training in the snow & ice is interesting.

Cold, thirty, still employed

A lot seems to have happened in my last rotation around the sun. A new milestone, Dirty 30 as Shelley calls it. In typical fashion a pretty low key celebration at some local beer bars.

I'm still wrapping my head around the weather here. A few weeks ago it was still getting to 18 degrees during the day. Tonight it is -6C outside with a fairly strong breeze.

I'm just not used to thinking about the cold. Not used to having to put on gloves just to go outside.

I've gotten into the habit of cycling home from Andrew & Robyn's a bit before midnight if I go over for dinner. Well without gloves there is more urgency and it turns into a lively 20 block sprint that ends in numb hands and burning lungs.

Yesterday morning I got up early and rode to central park and did a couple of laps. I was meant to meet up with Bales and A&R but missed them. I didn't check the temperature before I left but my eyes watered and nose ran a lot. Did not see another cyclist the whole way to the park, either on the bike path up the west side of Manhattan or on 69th street across to the park.

The reason it seems was that it was -2C outside that morning.

So this week I'm planning on investing in some goretex gloves and a down jacket.

Which it seems I am lucky to be able to do at the moment.

16 people were laid off from work this past Wednesday. Totalling about 40 in the last few months. Including a high school mate of mine, one of the 4 Aussies in the office.

The economic downturn is really scaring people at the board level. It sounds impossible to get investment let alone credit, so young growing companies are struggling.

This will be a tough time for NYC. I see on my way to work a few shops have closed already. I hear that Wall Street it becoming a has-been in the financial influence of the worlds market. The investment banks having to become commercial banks just to survive. Taking less risks, moving away from the swashbuckling culture. It will be interesting to see how that changes the city. 11% of the city works in finance bringing in 40% of the annual income.

The capital of capitalism having to deal with negative growth? Pay cuts, job losses. How with this affect the gentrification of the city? How will this affect the mood of the average grumpy New Yorker on the street?

The end of physio

My employer endorsed medical insurance company has decided in it's infinite corporate wisdom that it's profits are more important than my health and has decided not to pay for any more physiotherapy on my knee. Who would have thought that a profit driven entity would decide to end treatment as soon as possible?

My physio people agree that I need more treatment. But what is that worth to some bean counter?

Do I sound bitter?

So where am I at with the knee? It straightens to within a few degrees of my good knee. Similarly it will bend to within a few degrees of my good knee. Good progress.

A lot of the time at physio has been strengthening exercises. And I can obviously continue those on my own and definitely will. But what I think makes the most difference is the painful bit: the physical manipulation and forcing it to straighten or to bend. This is the part that is tougher to do on my own. There is only so much force one can exert in straightening one's own unwilling knee joint.

I plan to enlist the help of my friends. Shopping for a new unqualified physiotherapist. The job itself is not that complicated. And I'm sure some will enjoy inflicting the pain. So I must choose wisely.

But seriously it strikes me as completely absurd that it comes to this.

Now hopefully without sounding like a wanker, I earn more than double the average American wage.

And it comes down to this. Getting your mates to push on your knee in the right way just so you can hope to walk properly for the rest of your life. It's enough to make a bloke want to hope on a plane a go home.

And what hope does the average American have?

At least there is light at the end of the tunnel for me. I know I will be looked after when I go home. And in my older age. Having seen this system I will never complain about my taxes or paying the medicare levee.

The 47 million Americans without any health insurance?

A fair bit more than twice the entire population of Australia without any basic medical care.

The rest with this quality of medical care?

Poor souls is all I can think.

And the medicos who must have to time and time again provide limited or substandard care to people thanks to the whims of the medical insurance companies whose first priority is the share holders.

I guess we all hope that with a new government will come change. But I don't like the chances of reforming a multi billion dollar industry and all the lobbyist and kick backs that come with it.

Anyway, it was a sad day to have to say goodbye to the people that I had got to know and had cared for me over the last few months.

My mate Bales

A&R have been back in Australia for 3 weeks now. Of course with Andrew gone a lot more work falls on me, so not much life outside of that during this time.

It's no secret that Bailey dog is a pretty big deal around these parts. He would have to be one of the most photographed dogs in history. Robyn has gigabytes of photos of him.

Anyway, with the aus trip Bales has been "sent out to the farm" to be looked after. The business that looks after these mutts posts photos for the owners to check up on them. And Bales is never one to miss out on the opportunity to strike a pose and look pretty.










Now Bales is a pretty energetic dog. With personality. So it's no surprise that there are so many photos of him. And so many of them look like he is nearly at warp speed and barely touching the ground. There are some great action shots, these people clearly enjoy what they do.











It seems he is also quite popular with the other inmates:





He is home tomorrow and I take delivery of him before the weary travelers return a few hours later. He is going to go berko. I can't wait.

Brolly season in the city

It's about 3 degrees centigrade outside and raining.

I just did my 15 block commute home from work.

I'm somewhat used to it now but the first time in the rain here was interesting.

You see there are plenty of people all commuting and living their lives on foot. Most have an umbrella.

With the rain here usually comes a gusty breeze that the streets, avenues and skyscrapers seem to funnel and make worse.

As a bloke you don't carry a hand bag (or man-bag?) to contain an umbrella. So when the heavens open out of the blue, you scurry inside, or to the nearest street vendor to purchase your $5 Chinese made brolly.

Now these things are utter crap. Probably cost 20c to make. Flimsy like you wouldn't believe possible.

Now the fun begins. You have to control this aerofoil you are holding over your head in the face of constantly changing winds. It's like catching a cricket ball. Soft hands. Anticipate.

A strong gust the wrong way will see your brolly turn inside out, or ripped and useless. And you undoubtedly look like and idiot out of towner who doesn't know how to handle a brolly in a storm.

So you've got the kite sail under control. The next obstacle is the sea of other umbrellas, all seemingly much bigger and more sturdy than your own. The street wars begin. When passing someone, who raises and who ducks? What about those 100cm women (4'11" in stupid units) whose sharp pointy brolly ends are at your eye level and don't seem to care? What about when the breeze is so strong that the you need to point the umbrella into it to stop it turning inside out and you cant see the guy coming the other way?

And when it's all over you see the streets and bins littered with the carcases of brollies that didn't make it. Probably were owned by other idiot foreigners who hadn't yet worked out the art of the brolly in the breeze.

Another important lesson is to watch out of the crazy cabbies who drive to close to the gutter and spray up a puddle when you least expect it.

All things you have to learn in your first storm in the city.

Vices and Virtues

Rambling personal introspective post alert...

So I've just finished work after midnight on a Sunday, having worked all week and all weekend.
The elevator wasn't working so I had to climb down 11 stories of fire stairs on a bad knee.

For some reason I'm thinking about intensity in my life.

I work every weekday with my best friend here. At the same desk. Within arms reach.
Despite working all day together he more often than not he invites me over to his place to eat and spend evenings together, along with his wife and dog.
Likewise weekends are usually spent riding, traveling, shopping, walking the dog, or watching the box together.

To say the relationship is intense is probably an understatement.
Not intense in a difficult way, it is in fact very easy. We don't seem to get sick of each other or bicker. Intense in the sense that we spend so much tome together. We know the details of each others lives. Can read each other very well. Very well aware of each other's character flaws. Not afraid to tell the other to pull his head in or HTFU. Influence each other very much. There is a whole other story to be written about that.

But I can't help but feel the enthusiasm. The inclusiveness. I love it, wouldn't have it any other way. It's like family. Except that you know that these people choose to have you in their life family often has no choice. It's one of the main reasons I'm in New York.

Now he is a pretty intense character too. He doesn't do things half-arsed.
He is completely devoted to his wife. Always in touch. Always looking after her.
He works very hard, and is pretty passionate about things at work.
He will sometimes cycle a couple of hundred kilometers (actually miles) on a single weekend.

I like to think I don't do things half-arsed either. I know I can be pretty extreme and intense about my various hobbies.

I look at some of my other friendships and I see similar patterns.
I have another mate who is so intense & enthusiastic about me that I wont embarrass myself by telling the details. He often tells me that he loves me.

Another good friend back in Aus has so much time for me despite working full time, studying part time, trying to catch a decent wave, trying to break limbs skating, wake boarding, scuba diving, making top beers, building crazy brewing robots, throwing parties, following his cousin on the pro surf tour, and looking after his beautiful girlfriend. I know some day we will live close together again and do great things together.

Mutual enthusiasm in all three cases.

All three of the above friends have seen me go through some of the low points of my life. I'm very open about my life and what I'm feeling and thinking. Privacy and saving face don't really enter into it at all. I like the advice and support.

As I sit here on the opposite side of the world to my home, with one leg straight so as to be comfortable due to my self inflicted knee injury, looking at photos of myself doing 90 MPH across various parts of California on a motorcycle (I'm still working on a post about that trip), I realize that I'm also not very risk adverse.

Sometimes I think you need to take risks, offer yourself up to the alter of rejection to form close & special relationships with people.

At this point in the story the propensity for intensity, enthusiasm, disregard for risk all seem like virtues.

My epiphany was that they may make me a bit of a monster when it comes to meeting new people.
I'm used to intense people, intense relationships, being very open and honest, and taking risks.

Traits that are vices or virtues?

If I meet someone and like them, the intensity that I may bring to bear could be very disconcerting.

If they don't reciprocate or need some time to warm to someone new, trust and open up, then how do I tend to perceive that given what I am used to?

Yes I have run into this issue recently. Apologies to the person involved.

The question is how to proceed? Accept our differences and move on to find someone who is enthusiastic and unguarded? Or try to curb my intensity and see what grows?

Aussie BBQ New York style

Last night was an impromptu BBQ on the roof of the apartment of our new Aussie friends, Mark and Jen.

Well Mark isn't Aussie, he is a pom who has spent 10 yeas in Oz, so we will give him a pass.

And they have only been in the city for about 6 months like me.

I guess we notice a difference between them and most of our native New York friends. They are relaxed and flexible enough that a last minute decision to have a BBQ at their place is fine. No need to plan 3 weeks in advance, get RSVPs, plan it all out to be "perfect". They are quick to see the humour in a lot of things and take the piss when they see the opportunity. Political correctness be damned.

They have a little dog called Fergus. And having Big Bad Bailey dog invade his living space was quite a big deal for him. There was lots of little power struggles and gnashing of teeth all night.

Anyway, the view both from the apartment and the roof was pretty amazing.
I didn't have a camera, so I'm stealing someone else's likeness.



It's interesting to sit on the couch and stare at the top of the Empire State and see the constant stream of flashes from cameras on the observation deck.

Mark did a top steak on the BBQ and nice leafy salad.

He works from home telecommuting to Oz, so I think we might start having Friday lunch at his place just to keep him company :)