Airplane Ramble
Sunday April 17th. Night. 9pm EST, 6pm PST. Thirty-six thousand feet.
I just finished my first full week in SF. I liked it. A lot. I had to get up early and work on NY time (10am EST meeting translated to 7am PST meeting) but it was good. I got more work done in my home office overlooking a sunny SF skyline than I would have in my work office overlooking Third Avenue in midtown.
I was also spared the carnage of the NY office. Layoffs this week. Not sure how many total, but three people I know well. It sucked. Hurt feelings and sadness. It helped (me) being separated by a continent. I got calls and made calls, but the distance allowed me to remain somewhat removed from the emotions. I put my head down and kept working while my compatriots at the home office gossiped and commiserated and packed their belongings into cardboard boxes.
Advertising sucks.
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I just finished watching “Ocean’s Twelve” on the in-flight. The screen was too far away, the picture was washed out, and I had to lean to my extreme right the whole time to see over the head of the guy in front of me, but I still liked the movie. So it must have been pretty good, right?
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I love our new apartment. (There would already be pictures posted but I can’t find the damn cable that attaches the digital camera to the computer!) It’s so different having space, furniture, a real kitchen!
You people with houses! Multi-room apartments! Condos! Stand up! Walk slowly around your place. Look at the rooms, the floor, the couch, the windows, the chair (you never sit in), the hallway, the closet, the garage, the back yard. Now consider this fact: For eight years my wife and I have lived in a “studio” apartment. One room. (Plus a bathroom.)
Don’t misunderstand. This is not a complaint. We lived there by choice. We could have moved but we loved the place, Tenth Street our neighborhood (day or night), The City.
There are sixteen movie theatres within a half-mile of the NY apartment… but the new place has multiple rooms—two have a view of downtown San Francisco. It’s a transition, but one I will enjoy.
April 27th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
Sorry about your friends and their jobs. We had that happen a couple of times at my old office. You described it perfectly. After reading your post, I went and hugged the two chairs in my house we never sit in. They feel much better now.
April 29th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
I enjoyed your report(s) from SF.
When will you be there permanently?
May 2nd, 2005 at 12:05 pm
I should be in SF 75% of the time (or more) by June. I’m looking forward to it!