The Blackberry Pearl

I have finally plumped for another crackberry - after a week or so of saying that back in France I didn't need to be connected to my email 24/7... I was wrong... It appears that once you crackberry, you can't go back.
So I have opted for the new Pearl on SFR.

En route to CrackBerry-dom

So I've finally decided that I need a Crackberry - not just because I'm a gadget addict but also so I can check my email on the treadmill at the gym in the morning! I'm only part way through my existing contract, so will have to shell out a few hundred $ to get the gadget, but who cares... The decision now is which one to get.

FriendsReunited - OK, so it does work

FriendsReunited.co.uk so it does actually work...

I had dinner on Saturday evening with someone who I was at primary school with - amazing to get in touch with someone after 10 years.

Thanks Jessica =)

France, Italy & UK - 3 countries in 2 weeks

A brief whirlwind tour is coming to an end...

1-Aug: JFK-NCE followed by lunch in Italy is one hell of a way to start a vacation.

14-Aug: London-Paris EuroStar... Dinner at Kong (tbc)

16-Aug: CDG-JFK & I'm hoping the security alerts aren't going to cause any problems.

Thanks to Caroline for a fabulous wedding and congratulations to you both.
See you soon!

Choosing a city...

With my little European jaunt underway, I stopped to think this morning about how one should choose a city to live in; it's clear that not everyone has the luxury of dreaming a city and saying "I want to move there" but there are times (I've had a couple) when you need to decide where to go.

So in order to make the next move easier - I'm listing some criteria - we read a nice book during MBA (Smart Choices) that explained how to make decisions based on weighted criteria and decision trees; of course under the emotions of a decision we never stop to be logical, but who knows, maybe next time...

* Climate
* Lifestyle
* Cost of living
* Social network
* Employment opportunity

Any contributions greatly appreciated!

Oh Delta; how do I love thee... let me count the ways...

...or not.

In this 'mild' heatwave we've been having, the worst thing about travelling is the thought that you are going to get hot, bothered and sweaty on your way to the airport and then have to sit like that for X number of hours as you fly across the world in your tin can.

So this morning, I decided to plan:
First step was to carry my enormously heavy bag down to the curb and look for a yellow cab - it might only be a 15 minute walk to my office, but one that can easily induce unnecessary body heating as you cross Union Square -
$5 later and I'm safely in the AC environment of the building.
Next was lunch - an easy solution, just order in and there was no problem there.
Finally my car to JFK pulls up in front of the building, and a small exertion to get the dead body weight bag into the trunk and I'm back in the AC on the way out of town.
It's at this point that I was feeling very pleased with myself and thinking that I'd wake up in Nice the next morning feeling relatively fresh and clean... how wrong was this.
Arrival at the JFK Delta terminal and what do I see? A line of approx 200 people on the sidewalk and even overflowing onto the street waiting to check in. Of course the ever optimistic me was sure that these were people without tickets, without passports, who wanted to overheat and breath exhaust fumes in the street or at least not on the same flight as me... So I wander up to the officious looking employee at the head of the line to ask where Nice check-in might possibly be located... "You need to go to the back of this line."

Need I say more?

Let's just add that one of the call buttons was jammed on the plane, so they had to turn off all the audio system for the duration (7 hours) of the flight and although they offered free (alcoholic) drinks in compensation, at that point I'd already spent my $5.

Oh Delta - I do love you - but I'll also be avoiding you at all costs in the future - that's the way love is!

The Taproot Foundation

I've joined the Taproot Foundation, www.taprootfoundation.org which is a volunteer group offering marketing consultancy services to charities & NGOs.
Click on the link and find out more.

We are currently working on the annual Report for Achievement First, www.achievementfirst.org a group of charter schools in CT & NY.

Trading in my TX license

It was a sad day at the DMC when I had my eyes tested and handed in my TX license to replace it with one from NY state...

The system could easily by compared to French bureaucracy - and I'll probably be murdered for saying this - and it might even be a little bit worse organised.

My only saving grace was that through sheer miscomprehension of the system, I skipped the queue (line for the locals) and ended up in front of all those who had been waiting outside with me for the last 45 minutes - my apologies fellow New Yorkers.

So $45 and 45 minutes (inside time) later I am one TX license down, and one shabby temporary NY license up.

Goodbye Texas The Lone Star State

The Target Obsession

So it's been a week since my Target adventure and in retrospect it seems like a funny story to tell - and yes, Anya you can share this too...

It all started with an ad (a full page ad) in GQ for a great looking herringbone blazer - just great for the holidays that I thought would do me well; so I set out to look for it. Of course there are no big-box stores on Manhattan (and according to the site the closest are Jersey & Brooklyn). So my next best bet had to be Banana Republic where they had a great looking blazer for $248; unfortunately, 3 days, 4 stores, a lot of site surfing and a call to BR customer services later, it transpired that they didn't make the blazer in the size I wanted... Now when you've invested this much time and energy to find something, it becomes kinda an obsession...

So going back to the heart of the matter, I decided that Target was the place to go, and since an errand in Jersey City was on the cards it seemed like an ideal opportunity. This was my first mistake.

We walked about the equivalent of 30 city blocks, through most of Jersey City, a deserted industrial estate, two mall car parks and the mall itself before arriving at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel - no sign of Target. A friendly salesperson in Sears who asked "where are you parked?" tried to give some helpful directions - which might have worked if we'd been driving, but on foot no way. Enter the friendliest cop in Jersey (and she was blonde too)- this one person has given me confidence in the entire metro police force who gave us exact directions to get to Target, of course there wasn't really a sidewalk and we had to cross twelve lanes of traffic going into the tunnel - but we made it.

Target was wonderful, everything we had ever dreamed of, and a I bought two blazers for $60 each!

But the story doesn't end here, because how to do two pedestrians in NJ get back to Manhattan at 7pm on a Saturday evening? Re-enter (stage left or north side of the Holland Tunnel entrance) the friendly cop who explains that NY cabs can't pick you up in NJ - lesson number two - and that we'd better walk to the PATH station, which was only about 5 blocks away. Lazy Brit steps up and decides that it's too cold, too late and he's too lazy to work with public transport and we begin to try and convince a cab to take us back to the city.

Three cabs later, a friendly chap who's prepared to break the law and take on two crazies in NJ. So he says "how much do you normally pay from here to the city?" So the billion dollar winner's curse question... I guess and replied between $10 and $12 plus the tolls and he seemed to agree.

The end of the story goes that we made it back, happy and warm, and above all overjoyed with our purchases and I'd spent less at Target plus the cab fare than I would have done at our friends BR.

The first Thanksgiving

So that whole thing about 'first' thanksgiving isn't really true - I'm not going to write a history lesson about pilgrims, indians and founding fathers; not because it isn't interesting, or because it wouldn't be helpful to 99% of the people reading this but mainly because I don't know and therefore there's a good chance I'd get it wrong!

So here are a few bullet points of what I've learnt today about thanksgiving traditions:
* Nobody buys presents (gifts) but you really need to bring flowers/chocolates/wine/strange turkey shaped candles/copious amounts of food/etc - so in fact a boring book or socks is beginning to sound good.
* There is only one meal, it is planned as lunch, but starts late, and tends to drag on into dinner.
* Everyone tells you not to eat the day before, so you starve yourself; then drink too much wine on an empty stomach while everyone else prepares the meal and you get to talk to the matriarch/patriarch who cross examines you on your European heritage.
* When you finally sit down, the plates aren't big enough to hold all the food and you need a second plate to hold just your first helping.
* Everything is sweet regardless of what course it is: Sweet potato, sweet chestnut, pecan pie, sweet stuffing.
* It tends to be freezing in the evening and you still have to somehow make it back home to the city in a combination of warm car, freezing sidewalks and strangely crowded subway.
But at least you eat well!

Apartment hunting in Manhattan...

So my time in TriBeCa is coming to an end and I've been looking like crazy to find an apartment. Of course the classic in New York is Craig's List which has listings upon listings of rentals, sublets and microwaves for sale.

After apartment searches in London, Marseille, Barcelona and Paris, I can't say that this city is any easier or more difficult than another; but you have to go through the emotional rollercoaster of seeing, loving, losing and accepting. And then, and only then will you find something where you can cohabit with the mice and the roaches in harmony!

Having looked at a few apartments, it's amazing what criteria you come up with:
- Must have a basin with a mirror in the bathroom.
- Must have a door to the bathroom.
- A sink & rice cooker don't make a kitchen.
- If the current tenant isn't smiling, there's usually a reason...

It looks like I've found a sublet in NoLiTa - don't you love the NYC acronmyns, this city is running so fast that they've even had to shorten the names of the neighbourhoods - didn't see any mice or roaches, and the heating works well.

Targetted move-in date is Thursday 12/1.

Coming to America

Now wasn't that a cheesy 80s Eddie Murphy film? And now I've really set the tone for this whole blog. Well I'm writing this at the Air France gate @ Paris, Charles de Gaulle, Airport - it's early, I'm not feeling creative, and god knows who I'll end sitting next to on the plane. I leave today for a new adventure in the big apple, the story begins.

Unfortunately, not sponsored by HBO, unlike...

A little introduction...

Thanks to the UPF MBA, Barcelona for sponsoring my mugshot.
So that's me, not on one of my best days, in fact it looks like I've just
been involved in a failed mafia hit, in an italian restaurant with bad
meatballs (but that's another story). I'm a British BA-MBA-OP, not necessarily in that order, working for a French F6 in Paris.

A brief history of my life in a few lines:

1978: Zurich, Switzerland - Birth, etc.
1978-1999: London, UK - School, driving lessons, etc.
1999-2001: Marseille, France - ESC-MP Undergraduate Business
2001-2002: Dallas, TX, USA - The Richards Group - Ad Agency
2002-2004: Barcelona, Spain - UPF MBA
2004-2005: Paris, France - Ogilvy & Mather, FullSIX France
Nov 2005: New York, USA - FullSIX USA