Day 1 - Jersey City: Getting Settled

My flight into Phoenix happened without issue, but the connecting flight was held up for 2.5 hours. The first 2 hours we due to nasty weather in Newark and the last 30 minutes to our number one engine shutting itself down. When we finally did take off it was a white knuckle ride.

I arrived in Newark about 1:20AM, exhausted, and ready to fall into a bed. But first I had to get to the apartment. Silly me exited the terminal and tryed to find a cab to hail by just going out to the curb. I didn't see, at first, the line of people waiting for cabs to my left. Oy. What a snafu that would have been for me to stick my arm out AS IF I was going to sneak in front of all those people. I sheepishly got in line and waited my turn.

$46 for a trip to Jersey City. Do cabbies really expect to be tipped as well? Sheesh. My driver was nice enough. He got me there and I gave him $51. 10% tip. He should be thrilled. Highway robbery. I would have taken the train if it were earlier in the day. Alas.

It was good to arrive. I think I fell asleep by 2:30AM. Alarm went off at 6:30AM. WTF? Stayed in bed til 8AM and then rolled out of bed and hit up the local Starbucks on the corner. Nothing to eat in the kitchen. Unpacked, showered, worked a bit, then walked down the street to the local market. Fucking highway robbery, again. $71 for basic groceries. Where is my Trader Joe's? Where is my Whole Foods? Eating at restaurants will be cheaper than this. So I have some staples. Hurray. At least I can get a pint of blueberries for $1.99 here on the east coast. Small victory.

Made the unfortunate accident of telling the ex-wife that I'd arrived. She snipped, "So is he coming to see the boys tonight?" Ah, "No", I told her, 'we have plans tonight". She griped that because we had sex last night that I should be OK with him leaving. Ahem, I reminded her that I had paid $150 to show up a day early, if you can count 2AM a day early, and that I did not agree to whatever silly plan she'd cooked up. Oh, let's not forget the $51 for the cab. Maybe I should ask for her to cover the $201 I spent if she wants him sooner. Heh. She hasn't spoken to me the remainder of the day. Silly assumption on her part that I would pay $201 to show up early and then just be fine with him taking off after I'd seen him for, what, an entire hour and a half? She's smokin' crack.

Tonight we're doing dinner (South City Grill, nice place) and a movie (maybe "Wanted"). Weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Absolutely perfect. If this is normal, I could live here in a heartbeat.

Summer in Noo Joisey

Heading to the east coast in a few days. I'm going to be staying in Jersey City for the better part of July and August and working in Manhattan. My work isn't sending me to New York, rather I'm sending myself there.

You might ask why I would bother to venture to NYC during the hottest months of the year? Well, it's one of those multifold (read:cluster-fuck) things:

• Current love interest's ex-wife has decided that the kids need to spend the summer in Philadelphia and surrounding parts with her family
• Said man-friend used to live and work in Manhattan
  
• He doesn't want to be apart from the kids that long *and* his company would love to have him back in Manhattan. Company has agreed to pay for an apartment for two months in an effort to try to lure him back there.
  
• Two months without said love interest makes for a very unhappy Linda
  
• My uncle and step-father are simultaneously dying. Mom is pulling life support from her husband today, in fact, and it will be a matter of days to weeks until my uncle "goes hospice" on us and we lose him as well. So I need to get back there for support and the inevitable funerals
• And, hell, I've always wanted to spend significant amounts of time in NYC to see if I could, like so many others, actually fall in love with the city and want to stay.
  

So there you have it. I am going to Noo Joisey to stay for awhile.

I think it will work something like this:

Love interest will work in Manhattan Monday thru Thursday and then go to Philly or surrounding areas to see the kids Thursday night til Sunday night. Me? I'll work Monday thru Wednesday at the office, from the apartment or other locations the other two days. I'll head to Connecticut to see my ailing family on weekends or I'll join him to see the kids if accommodations have room for me. Rumor has it that the ex-wife's family has a cabin in the Poconos and we and ex-wife and her current love interest will take the kids and spend a weekend there. How's that for a big alternative family trip?

My job isn't at all happy that I've decided to leave for NYC. My manager said something like, "Just being gone 50% of the time is TOO MUCH!" I came back, "Being away from my partner 50% of the time is too much for me!" and then I reminded him that the man that hired me said that I could work in Manhattan and it's something I understood as being part of my overall hiring agreement. (Unfortunately this golden tidbit wasn't relayed to him but I've obtained an email from said hiring person agreeing that he forgot to mention this to my new manager). But we are a global company with an office in Midtown. The sun never sets on our company. And, my team is global, hell I'm in global marketing, so I don't quite get why it's such a stressful thing that I am out of sight from my manager for a few months.

In my life, some of my biggest regrets have centered around travel opportunities that I either missed or passed up. In college a close (and very rich) friend of mine was about to marry. She was Syrian (reportedly a princess) and her engagement party was being held in Paris. I was invited to attend, given a name of a hotel where I'd be staying (read: this trip was paid for) and an itinerary of wedding events that I'd be attending.

Well, at that time I worked as a wine pourer/bartender at a very nice restaurant not far from my college. It was typical in this establishment that is one wanted to take time off, you'd solicit other workers to cover your shifts. Unfortunately, because my job made less coinage in tips, no one wanted to work for me. I appealed to the manager/owner, but she said that unless I could find someone to work for me that I wouldn't be able to take the time off.

That should have been my red light to quit. Right there and then. I should have pivoted on my heel and headed for the door. But young, naive, unworldly me caved and relented. I passed up the paid trip to Paris and stayed home and worked. And seethed. For years. I'm still seething over this episode and angry that I didn't have a bit more balls.

But I've grown testicles since then and travel is now a priority for me. I'm ready to face the possibility that my six figure plus job might can my ass for leaving, but it's a risk that I'll have to take. I really don't want to live my life with more regrets, "Why did I pass up that trip!??!?!" I'm just not going to do it. So, bold one that I am these days, I didn't ask to go, I told them I was going. I had to. Otherwise it would be the Paris party all over again. You see? It'll be interesting to see what my work situation is like come September.

I wonder what they are going to do when late Fall/early Winter comes and I'm ready to make a trip to Germany for the Weihnachtsmarkts?