I was a bit exhausted last night but I cannot recall my husband telling me that the plumbers would be at our house at 8:30 and that I can leave them at our house alone when I went to work. Lrudlrick swears he did. I'm not disputing it but I would never feel comfortable leaving my home and my two dogs with a stranger no matter how nice he may sound. Guess it's a New York 'trust no one' attitude that's been bred into me.
So here I am at home. My VPN doesn't connect right on my laptop so I have to use the clunky desktop to work. My boss sends me an email about how keeping track of consultant requests is imperative. I want to retort that if the consultants centralized their requests we would get a better stronghold. However they are contacting every department and to have me call every department and blindly ask if the consultants have requested data from them is not only time consuming but depicts our office as inept. However, I still need my job and will thusly report to her what I have received as requests and results from the departments and continue trudging along in my coalmine.
BTW, yes, I do realize that I have of late been moaning about my job. I just never thought I'd be part of the bureaucratic bull that is prevalent in high level departments. I always thought I'd be a peon IT/IS person. I liked being the person behind the curtain.
So I have an 11 o'clock conference call but no data or documents to assist me. The guy I need to speak to loves the sound of his voice and I'm just being all bitter pantrygirl. I feel like I'm a female version of Bad Santa but without the booze, cigarettes and poppers. Ok, I lied. I've been sipping daiquiris and margaritas for the last two weeks. I'm usually a wine or beer girl but lately I've been hankering girlie drinks. Makes me think of KITH's 'Girl Drink Drunk' sketch. BTW, what the hell is a Chocolate Choo Choo? Sounds mighty tasty right now. God, it's only 9:47am.
Hold on. My data finally finished extracting. Have to import it now. Ok, it's importing. Where was I? Oh, yes. So one of
my problems, according to my mentor is that since my background is in IS and I don't delegate the data extractions and instead do it myself. I know this is an issue but I can't stand waiting for data I can get more readily than waiting for someone to pull the data. I know I need to learn to stop doing that. I have enough on my plate. This position requires delegation of duties so that I can manage the entire project. I should not be digging into the trenches with everyone else. How do I break that habit?
Now, don't get me wrong. My mentor isn't the type to sit on her behind and watch everyone do work. She gets in there too but she said, the trick is to get in when it's needed not as the first step. I've got to learn that.
So back to the plumbing issues. I know this is a common issue with pre-war buildings but for the amount of maintenance I'm paying for this apartment, we sure have a lot of service issues. I've had more service issues in this apartment building than in any other and I'm including apartments where the super was non-unionized illegal immigrants. As Lrudlrick said to our board president, "I've lived in rat holes with better service staff and less physical condition issues."
Which leads to one of Lrudlrick's reasons for us to move to a house. Like I said last night, I never thought I'd be a 'grown-up' with a house. It just sounds too adult. Another issue is the leaving the city. I love the city. I love knowing that I can go out to the bodega at 11pm to pick up ice cream. I love knowing that any place, any culture, practically anything you wanted is a bus or train ride away. NYC is filled with alienation yet togetherness. We're packed so tightly together. Even though we live separate lives, we're all doing the daily grind in some shape or form. We know more about our neighbors than we think. I know that Indiana Jones to the left of us travels a lot and teaches at Columbia. I know the couple to the right of us has taco nights and their toddler just had a birthday party. Heck, I know my neighbor upstairs wakes up at 6am every day to go to the bathroom.
In the suburbs, you don't get that feeling. At least from what I see. Everything is socialization through gatherings. Neighborhood raffles and fund raisers are when you get to talk to your neighbors. I'm sure Lrudlrick doesn't see this as an issue, until it's time to pool together for the holiday light show. I'm just afraid of alienation. Which leads to Lrudlrick's suggestion of Staten Island. His father is there. Now, here is my problem. He thinks that his father will be there for us to help us if we live closer. I doubt this. He claims I only know the man for 9 years and don't truly know him for who he is. Fine. I won't go into that but in the 9 years we've been together, he has never offered to help us when we were saving up for our first apartment. He never offered to come over to visit. He finally came to our place last year for the first time. He didn't go to our wedding or his birthday party.
Of course I have other apprehensions about SI. The location. The resale value. The location. The school system. The commute.
The location. The residents. Have you walked down SI's Broadway? I swear I may have counted one full set of teeth from the lot hanging around.
When the ratio of wife beater shirts to full sets of teeth is higher you truly question the area. Now, I know there are nice places in SI but every time
we are there, the traffic is excruciating not to mention the fog of mediocrity. Mediocrity isn't right. How do I explain it? SI to me is the rest area on the highway from New York to New Jersey. Who wants to live in a rest area?
NOTE: Again, complain away if you must. I'm entitled to my opinion.
So here I am looking up Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester. Our key concerns is commute time, market value and crime rates. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone know of a good book or article on the transition from city living to suburban life? What if suburban life is not for me? God, it's sad that it's come to this but the sad truth is the cost of living in NYC is too high for the middle-class. Unless your last name is Broderick or Parker, you can't live in NYC, raise a kid and have enough for retirement years.
BTW, anyone know the tax differences b/w Jersey and New York? Do I really get socked for working in the city but living in Jersey?
I never thought I'd even be thinking of going this route. I'm going to down a couple of donuts to drown my sadness.
