Tag Archives: moving to nyc

Funny as hell SNL skit from last night

November 16, 2008 Hobie Leave a comment

I don’t know how long this particular clip will be up and available for use, so here’s hoping NBC.com or Hulu put it up once this gets taken down.Â But in the meantime, I ended up having to watch this Beyonce video shoot a few times last night because it is that hilarious.

Oh dear lord, that shit is just funny.

Some recap fun for you since the last time we checked in with each other:Â Friday night, I met up with Larry and Shelly and Claudia for belated birthday fun.Â We went to Pastis (a very popular place and one that I’ve been wanting to go to forever) and had a great meal.Â I also began drinking in what would become the Hobie & Larry DrinkFest.Â It was a great time with delicious food and delicious drinks!Â Having started with two beers, IÂ naturally moved on to red wine.Â (Yes, seriously).Â After we finished dinner at Pastis, we went to visit where Claudia’s husband, Gualti (sp?), works as the executive chef.Â Yes, I know people.Â He is at the restaurant/bar called Revel and was literally across the street from Pastis.Â We ended up getting a sweet table there and just continuing the drinkfest.Â After red wine, I naturally moved on to Mojitos.Â (Yes, seriously).Â We ended up sitting there for nearly 3 hours, but it was a blast.Â By the time we left, Revel was packed, and when we went outside, the MeatPacking District was mobbed.Â It’s only at nearly 1 in the morning does the place become seriously crowded with the ‘beautiful people’.Â Good times.

Yesterday Larry had to work again, so I spent my time being lazy indoors away from the rain.Â Good times.Â More Fallout 3 and rewatching of Casino Royale because I can’t wait to see Quantum of Solace!!!!

I’m also searching for a place to move to in Manhattan!Â It’s exciting but scary because DAMN, places are expensive in the city.Â But the prices aren’t quite so ridiculous as they once were due to the economy.Â So here’s me hoping to take advantage of that!

just a post

I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here

September 26, 2007 Hobie Leave a comment

I had my true first-day of work here, and while it was overwhelming, I’m also totally psyched to be there.

I was truly at work today. I went around and saw a ton of the things that I’ll eventually become an expert on but have only a bit of knowledge about now. I realized where we fit in the NBC network wheel and basically we’re the ones who maintain and manage the system that ensures that NBC’s entire broadcast schedule, 24/7, goes on the air without a hitch, from the placement of commercials to show overruns. If the system we take care of breaks, NBC doesn’t have a show on the air. Kinda awesome, but also kinda scary. Because if I or the group fucks up, then you’ll know about it. But after one day there, it was pretty damn cool. I don’t have a true office or a desk yet, but that’s hopefully going to be remedied soon. I will be getting a Nextel blackberry though (joy…) so work can reach me at any time….

On the way to work today, I made some friends. Well, they’re not really friends, but I talked to people on the bus after getting off the ferry in Manhattan. They were nice, especially Lisa with the Cowboy Hat. She totally had the New York accent going on (I LOVE that – everyone around here has it – I keep developing mine because seriously, the more you’re around it, the easier and more likely you are to use it) and was really funny and gave me advice about Manhattan living. She told me about the various transportation routes and other sage advice: don’t eat cooked stuff from street vendors; you’ll learn the hard way otherwise. We ended up chatting on the bus because traffic was RIDICULOUS slow on 50th Street going east, mainly because of the whole UN thing going on. Eventually walked the rest of the blocks, and even after we parted ways when I started walking down 6th Avenue to enter 30 Rock but via 49th Street, I start hearing my name being shouted out and it’s Lisa – she comes down to me and points out to me a quicker door into 30 Rock and sure enough, it worked. Lisa rules.

So that was my first true day at work. It was cool. I like my boss. I met a ton of my co-workers, but it was the firehose treatment so I really do not remember names but as time goes on, I’m sure I’ll learn who is who. Tomorrow (Thursday) I head up to the Englewood Cliffs facility to visit the CNBC folks there and more of our system facilities. This will be a drive then, and my trusty GPS will guide the way. I get to drive under the George Washington Bridge!

Jumping back to Monday – that was my Orientation Day. It didn’t start out very good though, except for the actual commute, which turned out to be pretty easy by just walking to Port Imperial ferry from my place, taking the Ferry across the Hudson, then jumping on the free NY Waterway bus down 50th street. I got there about a half hour early (about 8:30am) so I walked over to where the Today show was filming, which is right where I work. Sweet. I got to see a little bit of it, but then it was about 15 minutes till, so I went in to the visitor’s counter to check in, but alas, my name wasn’t there, nor was Marta Barnes. And for the next 45 minutes, I was calling all the numbers I had and no one was picking up. Turns out the HR people didn’t put my name on the visitor’s log nor on the Orientation listing, so I was basically crashing this party. Eventually my boss picked up though, and escorted me up. Orientation was cool, and provided a great way to meet others who were just entering the company; it also provided me great warm fuzzies in that I’ve joined an awesome company in GE. I can see myself being under the GE umbrella for a long time, especially in the entertainment division, as there’s so many places to go within NBC Universal. Oh yeah, also got a cool tour around the studios, including the Saturday Night Live and Conan O’Brien studios. Sweet. And to top of this pretty easy day, after Orientation while walking to the bus stop, there was filming going on for the upcoming Sex and the City movie, which was filming a scene at Christie’s Auction House, which is right across 49th street from 30 Rock. I ended up seeing Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristen Davis and Cynthia Nixon filming a sidewalk strolling scene right there. It was pretty cool.

During the orientation though, I started to stress as I started receiving word that my movers were going to be coming in the morning and then found out that the building I’m in requires you to coordinate your moves with them, reserving certain blocks of time (with the only one available on Tuesday being from 3-6!), insurance paperwork, etc.! WTF? Then I hadn’t confirmed my storage unit yet, and every time I called them, the woman who answered kept saying she’d call me back and when she did, my cell phone kept cutting out because T-Mobile coverage sucks deep in the bowels of 30 Rock. As I found out today, Nextel cornered 30 Rock’s market by installing repeaters, etc inside the building. So after orientation ended a little early, I made my calls and got the moving thing straightened out.

So on Tuesday, I stayed home to prepare for the movers. I first drove down to where the U-Haul Storage facility was in Jersey City. Ugh. It was a nightmarish drive and I started realizing how the hell am I going to tell a truckdriver how to get here? So I drove back up to my neck of the woods and went past it, as Shelly had told me there was a few shopping centers up in the Edgewater area, which is a few miles up from West New York. As I drove up, I saw a few more storage unit places up there and realized that would be a LOT more convenient for me and the movers if it was actually nearby. Then I saw the awesome stuff: a shopping center with a Barnes & Noble, an Old Navy, a Bed Bath & Beyond, a McDs, and get this: a motherfuckin’ OUTBACK!!!!! All on the riverfront so it’s effin’ awesome. This truly is a great stretch of Jersey. After a quick McDs lunch, I went to one of those storage unit places, got a unit there (bit more expensive, but for me, the location is worth it), and cancelled the U-Haul one. And then a few hours later (and quite a few Project Runway reruns later), the movers began to move my stuff, first to the storage unit (I have a LOT of crap still, even after selling a lot of stuff) and finally here, where I finally have all my stuff again! Amazingly, everything JUST fit. Almost perfectly. If the room had been any smaller or bigger, it would have looked weird, but it just works. I’ll take pics shortly.

So that’s about it. My roommate is cool, the job seems pretty awesome (i have a lot yet to learn still but I’m good with that), I have my bed back!!!, and I’m in New York. As the ferry was leaving Manhattan this evening, the sun was setting and I was pretty content. That’s when I took the picture on the front page. There’s still a lot I want to accomplish, I’d love to have some friends, etc, but right now, this has been a great start.

Oh yeah, I realized my old OLD pal from Elementary school, Warren, lives and works out here too. I contacted him on Facebook and it looks like we’ll get a chance to do dinner – perhaps that’ll be a way into a social circle out here? Anyways… I rambled on a LOT more than I expected. Typical.

just a post, pictures

Greetings from Cleveland!

September 20, 2007 Hobie Leave a comment

This is Night #3 of my cross-country journey!

I totally lied about not putting up pictures as you’ll see below. I realized I’d not get to these in a long time if I don’t do them tonight. So if you checked this site out earlier well, my bad.

The drive across has been fairly uneventful. Uneventful because there is absolutely nothing to see between Colorado and Ohio. Truly. There’s absolutely nothing but flatlands and corn fields and then occasionally a little river or something is crossed. And lots of ridiculous truckers. Lots. But I’m here safely so I can’t complain.

Not much to report on though so this’ll be a relatively short post. I did get to hang out with Jeremy yesterday and that was a lot of fun. In Joliet, Illinois, Harrah’s has a pretty cool casino and I actually mean that. They have really upscale restaurants and a their casino, while small, at least has craps and other games you don’t see at places like Indian casinos. What I was shocked about was that the casino had $10 Minimums!!!! WTF?! This is Illinois! But anyways, it was awesome to be able to talk with Jeremy and just realize how much I’ve missed having him around. I’m trying my best now to convince him how cool New York would be. I think that’s a possibility in a year or so. How much fun would that be?

So today is boring day in Cleveland and tomorrow I’ll finally get to see the infamous Jenny Jennertons in Philadelphia. I must be ready for anything. She’s insane. In a good way, but still.

And then after that, it’s Atlantic City time and you KNOW I’ll be getting my gambling on.

And for those who are looking for the massive amount of pictures that do exist, I’m sorry but I haven’t gotten to them just yet. Patience, patience.Â Such a liar, I am!

14 Sep 2007 – Dinner at AI

Gotta love TeppanYaki style Japanese food14-Sep-2007 19:31, Canon Canon PowerShot SD900, 2.8, 7.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 192

14 Sep 2007 – Dinner at AI

15 Sep 2007 – Bowling Goodness

16 Sep 2007 – Cleaning House

17 Sep 2007 – Last Night at the Outback

18-20 Sep 2007 – Colorado Springs to Cleveland

5 Sep 2007 – 1st Day of NYC Househunting Trip

6 Sep 2007 – 2nd Day Begins at the Lincoln Harbor Ferry Terminal

6 Sep 2007 – Times Square

6 Sep 2007 – Ground Zero & Wall Street

6 Sep 2007 – 30 Rock & the Top of the Rock Observation Deck

6 Sep 2007 – Circle Line Boat Tour (includes Statue of Liberty & Brooklyn Bridge)

10 September 2007 – Dinner at Chili’s

Since 2001 or so, sharing stuff