Motivation

Despite my stress levels being through the roof, I had an exciting day. First, my close college friend BP and I finally booked our tickets for Puerto Rico! It'll be a nice getaway for both of us and fun to do another one of our girls' trips.

Then, the wonderful boyfriend sent me the sweetest card. I love getting mail and especially the kind with such nice notes inside. :) Normally my mail box just sits empty day after day.

As if the card wasn't enough, the wonderful B also had flowers sent to me to keep me going through the next week of stress. Awwwww. Of course the girls in the leasing office were admiring them and didn't bother to call me so I had to track them down. But they are lovely and fill my apartment with the perfume of lilies.

I suppose I now have some incentive to crank through these papers. I don't know why my motivation levels are SO LOW, but I plan to pull it together, focus and just trudge through one page at a time, one word at a time.

Thanks for nothing

I'm having a rough week and it's only Tuesday. Apartment stuff blows. School blows. Moving blows. To-do lists blow. Long distance blows. Emotional meltdowns blow. Rain blows. Traffic blows. Austin drivers blow. And to top it all off, a big thank you to Craigslist for amassing the biggest bunch of flakes in the world. Why waste my effing time waiting around for you? Annoying! And the last thing I needed today.

More ranting to come until at least May 6.

Only in Austin

I took a break with friends yesterday and went to Eeyore's Birthday Party. It actually has nothing to do with his birthday, but it's a hippy fest in the middle of Austin's Pease Park. We had fun people-watching and enjoying a warm Austin spring day. For a minute I felt like I was back in Berkeley amongst people who just wanted to have fun and celebrate life.

Afterward, we stopped at Sonic for drinks and then I found a wad of cash that was hidden in my first aid kit. Always a nice surprise. What an awesome day!

Some photos below:

Frustrated

Continuing in my own little Twittery world...why do guys always stick up for people they feel loyal to no matter what that person does (or fails to do)?

Disappointed

Yeah, that's how I feel about this whole apartment search. No details to share here, just my version of a Twitter update I guess.

I will survive

Finding a place to live in NYC is like going through the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.

• Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
  
• Anger (why is this happening to me?)
  
• Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
  
• Depression (I don't care anymore)
  
• Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

I think I'm entering the depression stage -- I'm not really depressed, but I really don't care anymore. It's too stressful for both of us and I feel bad that I can only do so much from 1,700 miles away. B is probably still in the bargaining stage, but I suspect he'll move into depression pretty quickly after a few more apartment visits. We're both ready to find a place and be done with the shadiness of NYC real estate!

If we get through the apartment hunting process it'll be a miracle!!!

Hiatus

What a weekend! I had so much fun catching up with friends, but I didn't start working until 10:30pm on Sunday night. Not a good start to the week! So I am here to say that I need to and will FOCUS. Otherwise I will be one Miss Crankypants!

Grad dinner, sorted!

Met some friends for brunch this morning at East Side Cafe and realized it would be the perfect place for graduation dinner. Since it's pretty small, in an old converted house, I figured I should make reservations now. So I have a table for 12 at 8pm on graduation night. YAY!!!

Work hard, play hard

That should be the unofficial MBA tagline. After a long, challenging week (haha, even after missing all of Monday's classes!), I let loose at a friend's birthday party and had dinner out with friends every night this week and weekend. I guess we're coming upon our final days of the program and then we'll all be scattering to various cities around the world, so I want to relish as much time with my friends as possible. But boy this is gonna hurt the pocketbook!

So where does a local go?

Tuesday night it was Imperia with RR for sushi and small plates. Mmmm mmm good, but definitely tapping into financial aid for that one. I especially liked the warm and spicy edamame.

Wednesday night, Cuatro's with SA for tacos and cheap undergrad-priced beer ($1.50 domestic pints!). Cuatro's has a great open-air patio for those warm Austin nights.

Thursday night, One 2 One rooftop bar for SB's birthday. Another warm night, she couldn't have gotten better weather for an outdoor birthday bash!

For lunch today, Tex Mex at Guero's. Definitely not the best Tex Mex in Austin, but it's just up the street from me and has a fun atmosphere and live music on the weekends.

Tonight, Titaya's Thai for arguably the best thai in Austin. Now, that's not saying a whole lot, but it's the best we've found so far. Going with friends from the Southeast Asia trip to relive our time there.

Tomorrow, Mesa Ranch for fancy "Texas" cuisine. A TA, a GRA, the prof and his wife. So nice of them to take us out as a thank you for all our hard work this year.

Sunday is Easter mass and then brunch at Sagra for $0.75 mimosas!

I have another list I'm starting to compile of all the places I need to go before I leave Austin. I'll blog about that later...

Travel woes part 2

As if Thursday hadn't been enough, Sunday's journey home really tested my patience. B was sweet enough to accompany me to the airport and then have his own adventure taking public transportation back home from LGA. We had lunch and then said our goodbyes before I headed to the gate. At this point my 3pm flight was still showing on-time departure. When 2:45 rolled around and there was no movement toward boarding, I started to worry. Then the gate agent announces the flight is delayed until 4pm. Apparently there are mechanical issues with the airplane.

When it's determined that they can't fix the plane, they announce we will be taking a new plane which won't arrive until 6:40pm. Clearly I would miss my connection in Dallas so just as everyone else on my flight did, I stood in line to see what my options were for getting home. As I am standing there they announce that our plane has been fixed and we'll now be taking off at 6, but that still doesn't resolve my connection problem. An hour and fifteen minutes later I get to the desk and the gate agent informs me that I can stay on the 6:00 flight but they can't guarantee a seat for the last DFW to Austin flight and I would probably have to spend the night in Dallas. Um, no. Others in front of me were being rerouted to other airports but that wasn't an option for me since all of the flights were oversold, so I requested a flight out on Monday if American would pay for my taxi back to and from Manhattan. Done.

I was excited to spend another night with B, but frustrated that I had wasted the most beautiful Manhattan day at LGA. ARGH. I took my town car ride back to the city and felt like Mr. Big. :) Met B at the flat and we decided to take advantage of what was left of the gorgeous day and went and got margaritas and nachos and sat outside at a restaurant patio. It was lovely after the day I had had.

Monday morning B was off to work early and I got ready to head back to LGA. I had a sinking feeling that morning as I was getting my things together and could hear thunder and see gray foggy skies. The driver was waiting for me at 9:30 sharp and despite some heavy traffic we were at the airport in less than an hour. I was supposed to be on a noon flight that was now delayed until 12:30. Still not an issue, but I had been in this situation before, so I was not convinced. 12:30 became 1pm so I knew I would again miss my connection in Dallas but managed to get that changed quickly to the 5:30 flight. 1pm became 1:20 and I got more nervous -- anytime after 1:30 would make my connection in Dallas tight and I did not want to miss that flight.

We managed to board by 1:30 and again it was a horrid flight. Turbulent throughout, horrible take off and landing. I was a mess on landing at DFW and never wanted to get on another plane for the rest of my life, but didn't have time to worry since I had less than an hour to get to a different terminal and catch my flight. At least that flight went smoothly. Still bumpy and rough landing, but I made it to Austin on time and in one piece. Luggage showed up and the car started which were my next two concerns, so with that, I met RR for dinner and then settled back in at home to get back into the swing of things. Ugh, school.

Take me out to the ballgame

Saturday was ambitious. B wanted to walk around some more neighborhoods, check out some stuff for his work, make an 11am appointment to view an apartment, and then go to the Yankees vs Cubs game.

We got to go to Balthazar (yay!!!) and look at the apartment. It was nice, but way beyond our budget, so we decided we didn't need a fancy schmancy place, just one that was comfortable. We'll see what comes up in the next month!

We had some time to walk around before the game, so we went down to Union Square, hit a couple of banks, but it was brrrrrr cold and super windy, so we made our way on the 4 or the B train up to the Bronx and it was such an easy trip. It's the inaugural year for the new Yankee Stadium so it was exciting and I knew I would have a few envious friends.

The only snag was the backpack. Yep, no "large backpacks" allowed unless it's for your child. A family with children to spare offered up one of their kids but we decided to take it over to "the bowling alley" lockers that were recommended to us by the stadium personnel. Well the locker business is a total racket. We paid TEN DOLLARS ($10!!!) for a locker. Oh well, it was a fun afternoon even if it was a little cold! The sound system went out and we saw that as a sign to leave.

Here's a photo from our awesome seats:

After the game we did a little walking, had cannolis in Little Italy, and popped into Century 21. I was freezing and tired though so we headed back and ordered pizza and watched a movie. What a great day!

Puddle jumper

It was dreary and rainy on Friday but I didn't care, I was ready to explore NY! After a nice sleep-in and armed with my heavy-duty boots and an umbrella, I headed to Amy's Bread for breakfast. YUM, perfect rainy day breakfast of chocolate croissant and coffee. Like being in Paris, but not really. I had planned to meet B for lunch and since I had gotten off to a late start, decided to pop into H&M and wait for his call. Oh how I miss H&M. I spent way too much time (and $) there before I finally got the call and then headed down to his office. Oops, I went to the wrong H&M, so it was a little farther than I expected, but it worked out and we grabbed a quick bite. I popped in to meet some of his new coworkers before heading back out into the dampness. I thought it was sweet that he wanted me to meet them and got a chance to see where he is spending his days.

I wanted to explore some different neighborhoods and had a few shopping errands to run, so I started walking...and walking...and walking. From Midtown a shot over to Park and went south until I got to Union Square with a few pit stops along the way. I picked up a few things for B's place at Filene's Basement (just like Loehmann's, but with more housewares) before deciding to head back to the studio. Crazily I decided to walk back after all the walking I had already done. I was hungry too, so thought it a good idea to shoot up Broadway and stop in when I saw something. Yeah, maybe not the nicest blocks to walk on but soon I was back in Koreatown and Herald Square. Stopped for a quick bagel and by the time I got home my tootsies were aching!!

Of course when B got home he wanted to go for a walk, so I donned the boots once again and we set off for the Upper West and East Sides before our dinner at Nook which I mentioned in this post! It ended up being an impromptu birthday dinner complete with singing and candles. Very sweet evening in a sweet little place. But alas, no photos all day because of the rain!

Travel woes part 1

Yesterday I was scheduled to fly out of Austin at 1pm and catch a connection to New York's LaGuardia at 4:30, but had planned to try and get there earlier by flying standby on one of several other options. Well, I bolted right after my class and got to Austin in good time. The winds were lashing on my drive over which I knew would not bode well for my flight. Just a bad feeling all around. The wind was so bad I could barely keep the car in my lane and it looked like a sandstorm across the long-term parking lots!

I managed to get onto an earlier flight that was scheduled to leave at 12:15. All of my heavy carry-on luggage was a little bit of a hassle but we managed to shove it in an overhead bin and I felt relieved for a minute. As we taxied out, the plane came to a stop out on the tarmac and the captain came on to say that we would be "significantly delayed" due to the high winds. They kept us on the plane hoping that conditions would change. DFW was down to 1 runway because the winds in Dallas were even worse than in Austin. Maybe 30 minutes later, they turned the plane around to let us off with an updated time of 3:30. Of course, I was thinking I should have stuck with my original flight, but it's just as well since that one ended up getting canceled altogether!

Weather improved and we were back on the plane at 2 and I proceeded to sit on the worse 45 minute flight of my life. The winds knocked our plane around for the entire journey and my nerves were shot by the time we arrived in Dallas. Now, I love to travel and have done a ton of flying in my lifetime, but I am not the best flyer. The landing had my stomach in knots and I had never felt more relieved to land in one piece. But that was only the beginning of the adventure!

As it turns out, due to all the delays, I ended up on my same originally scheduled flight which was supposed to leave DFW at 4:30. Better than nothing except that it was also delayed as a result of the chain reaction from all the other earlier delays in and out of DFW. I looked around at all the people waiting at the gate and noticed alot of young professionals, no doubt consultants trying to get home on a Thursday evening, and thinking geez, this is gonna be my life soon. It was kind of a dreary thought. At that point I was only delayed about an hour and 15 minutes, so no big deal. By 6:20 I was finally on the plane - had to gate check my bag which was a pain but at least I didn't have to deal with shoving it in an overhead bin. I was thinking it would have been nice to have priority access!

But wait, we taxi out and the captain turns off the engines. Weather is deteriorating at LaGuardia. Well, expected weather at LaGuardia in 3 hours is supposed to be bad. So the estimated delay is 45 minutes just sitting on the plane. Finally around 7:30 we take off and again, it is a horrible flight. Bumpy for much of it, take off and landing both rough. But I finally made it to New York, 3 hours later than planned and perhaps with a few more gray hairs, but safe and sound. By 11:30 I was happily in B's arms and ready to forget about the day and take New York by storm!!