Phone Photo Op - Their Job is So Much Cooler

While walking to work the other day, I saw "Good Morning America" news anchors bouncing on trampolines in Times Square; two blocks away, I got to answer phones, schedule meetings, create spreadsheets and process data charts.


A Year Ago Today:
Phone Photo Ops - End of East Village Servitude
Creating Coincidences
Reviving my Greek Life
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Happy Administrative Professionals' Day

... to me!

A gift card to Sephora and Starbucks from my bosses.
April 22, 2009 was definitely better than April 22, 2008.

Company name and logo blacked out to protect confidentiality agreements signed at the start of my employment.

A Year Ago Today: My First NYC Emergency Room Visit
Two Years Ago Today:
City Walk #5 - Lower East Side 1
Phone Photo Ops - City Walk #5

Another Day, Another Dollar, Another Headline

Just another day in New York City when three of your bosses are in The NY Post.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Phone Photo Ops - City in Bloom

Oral Fumble

I'm covering the desk of our company's executive assistant to the Co-CEO while she is out today.

Our company's celebrity founder just asked me about our Co-CEO's whereabouts.

I seemed to forget how to form a coherent sentence.

This is a classic example of the kind of impressions I make.

A Year Ago Today: My Best February Birthday Ever
Two Years Ago Today:
HBO's Life Support
Bald Britney Cut-Out

From the Desk of the CEO - Figuratively Speaking

Yesterday, I started blushing like a school girl when my boss asked our Co-CEO if she and I had met ... and, much to my surprise, our Co-CEO replied to my boss that she was my biggest fan. Our Co-CEO looked over her shoulder to where I was waiting to hand my boss a stack of reports and smiled, "You knew that, right?"

I hope this is a good sign that our Co-CEO has forgotten my rambling response and subsequent open-mouthed stare during our first conversation and a subsequent elevator fumble - neither of which could have made remotely impressive, lasting impressions.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Run-On Update

Returned to post-vacation reality last Friday, was thinking about aspiring to become a housewife instead of a Corporate New Yorker on Monday, hadn't figured out the whole "housewife-without-being-married" thing on Tuesday, but began to remember why I love working in New York City today.

Life on ...

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Phone Photo Op - Snow Day

Corporate afternoon view


A Year Ago Today:
Morning-After Text Messages
On Cloud New York
Two Years Ago Today:
I Love Michael Kors

"Things I Love" Thursdays - Evening Views

I love the view of Midtown from my boss's glass office.

"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: BNY's Installment of Gawker Stalker
Two Years Ago Today: Corporate Holiday Party

Moving On Up

I received a promotion of sorts. In addition to assisting the SVP of Digital Advertising, I am now also assisting the EVP of Media. It's a trial period - to see if I can handle both workloads. But if this week is already any indication, I'll be going to bed a lot earlier every night and blogging a bit less.

In fact, this post is going into the Drafts with the others until I find time to finish it.

Update: Publishing this post; nothing to add regarding this day - other than, I was very tired.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Name Dropping

Phone Photo Op - You Dirty Rat

A giant rat outside of an office building is usually an indication that a corporation within is doing something that someone finds worthy of protesting - in this case, poor asbestos treatment.


A Year Ago Today: Game of Grab Ass
Two Years Ago Today: Fall is in the Air

Phenomenal Life

Last night I dined on gourmet cuisine and listened to Maya Angelou herself recite "Phenomenal Woman" ... for my job.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Better Day

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

Paying rent aside. Having a (social) life in New York City is expensive. Even when ... and especially when you are trying to budget in a faltering economy.

Last night, I joined friends visiting from North Carolina at Comix and laughed hysterically at jokes that my parents definitely would not have liked or appreciated. Entrance to the comedy club was free, but a two item minimum still put me over $20 with one appetizer and a glass of wine.

And tonight, I struggled internally with the financial headache of widely-accepted corporate dining etiquette. Excited to accept a dinner invitation with fellow executive assistants within our company, we dined at the posh Gaby Restaurant in the Sofitel New York. Having carefully chosen a soup and salad from the appetizer menu and split a carafe of wine, I gritted my teeth and added my credit card to the restaurant billfold when it was suggested that we split the bill five ways rather than itemize our charges, which included several $30+ entrees.

I generally find it tacky to itemize charges in a fine-dining restaurant, especially when the difference one might end up paying between their bill and someone else's is less than $5-10. It is often easier to simply split the bill equally throughout the table. As a waiter in an upscale establishment in Cashiers, NC, I was often annoyed listening to groups of old ladies argue over a $4-difference in the cost of their meals when splitting checks. However, it is equally aggravating when no one acknowledges that you ate a much cheaper appetizer course than the entrees that others ordered. Even more frustrating is the fact that you don't want to be the tacky one pointing out that you ate less, especially when dining out with colleagues. This is probably why I should get in the habit of carrying cash instead of regularly depending on my credit card.

Walking home to my Hell's Kitchen apartment, I regrettably lamented over the fact that I had spent over $60 in two days ... and just two days after I had sworn to better manage my money, cut down on brunches and happy hours, get fewer manicures and pedicures, and even chose a cheaper Halloween costume.

If you, too, are getting to know your inner Recessionista, visit City Wendy for tips on how to stay fabulous on a budget. I hope she adds tips on how to accept dinner invitations without getting stuck overpaying for your friends' or coworkers' sirloin steak. But when it comes to the cost of living in NYC, is there nothing to say but se la vie?

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today:
Far from Rice Crispies
Midnight Police Raid

United Nations-Related Traffic Delays

During the past week, you were more likely in New York City to receive a company-wide email, which may have been some variation of the following:

The shuttle van service [between our three corporate locations] is not running on time due to increased traffic in/around the UN/Clinton event, which is ending this Friday.

A Year Ago Today:
Gina's Front Stoop
Barack in Washington Square
Starting Line-Up (Happy One-Year Anniversary to the H&M on 42nd and Fifth)
"Things I Love" Thursdays - Lox (And Happy One-Year Anniversary to "Things I Love" Thursdays on BNY)
Two Years Ago Today:
America's Top Air Mattress
Infamattress

The British Are Coming Settled In

Walking home today, I noticed that the British had already redecorated.


A Year Ago Today:
[No] SubTalk
Weekend Recap
Two Years Ago Today: Magnolia Bakery

Housewarming

Natasha and I hosted a party last night to warm our apartment with the bodies of our friends to celebrate the miracle of leasing an affordable apartment in Midtown. Clothing was optional, alcohol was mandatory, and a password was required upon buzzing our apartment to gain entry into the building.

Recipients of our evite were given the following instructions:

Password Upon Buzzing Apt [number eradicated]:
"I Like My Muffin Buttered"

Directions
[Address eradicated] is located between 8th and 9th Avenues on the south side of the street.
By Subway: C,E to 50th St; 1 to 50th St; N,R,W to 49th St; B,D,F,V to 47-50th Sts.
By Bus: M50, M11, M10, M20, M104, M27 to 50th St (but we're not really sure so you should take the train).
By Taxi: Tell the driver [cross streets eradicated].
By Foot: Walk to [cross streets eradicated].
From New Jersey: No idea. And who really cares anyway.
By Watertaxi: Means you're probably coming from Jersey. See above.
From Newark: You're not getting out of Newark alive and you know it.

The highlight of the night was making a Flip Cup table out of our ironing board and a panel of birch that we hope to eventually have made into a built-in bar between our kitchen and living room. It was like college all over again except with 30 or so twenty-something New York professionals crammed into a Manhattan box.

Times haven't changed much between college and "the real world" - or maybe they've changed a lot - when Flip Cup and Beer Pong are acceptable staples of entertaining at home or in any other venue, including our company's national sales conference, where our own EVP of media sales proved to be quite a Beer Pong cheerleader.

A Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Crisis in Corporate NYC

44th Street Detour

Natasha and I walked to work together this morning for the first time. She recently scored an executive assistant job with a financial investment group a few blocks from my office and will be making as much as I do as an executive assistant in advertising. Not too bad for a girl three months fresh out of Idaho.

She and I have had amazing - and unconventional - luck ... from our jobs to our new Midtown apartment. Although she interviewed for two separate positions within the media company for which I work and was not called back, she has now begun a fairly remarkable road to success in New York City. Not to mention that separately she has had amazing luck racking up quite a few celebrity admirers.

We walked down Eighth Avenue with celebratory Starbucks in hand, and at 44th Street, I said, "Hey, let's cross town here so we can get a peek at Chris Cuomo's fine self." [my celebrity crush]

"Sure," she replied and then reminded me: "Except he's in Louisiana right now." [He's covering the aftermath of Hurricane Gustov ... which we would know since we're tuned into GMA when we return from the gym each morning]

"Damnit!" I exclaimed, "I hate it when he goes on assignment without calling me!"

A Year Ago Today:
My Boss's Life
Sky Writing
Two Years Ago Today: Real Estate Stress

Pandamoniom in the Park

The Jonas Brothers are for children, what Jewish Holidays are for rush hour on the train. I don't think I saw one child under the age of 16 in the streets of Midtown on my walk to work. Now through my boss's closed window and seated outside of her glass walls in my 13-Going-on-30 cubicle, it sounds like Madison Square Garden is downstairs. The fire marshal should go inspect Bryant Park before the lawn collapses into the subway station.

The sidewalks surrounding the park became the 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue Campgrounds yesterday when teenage girls, armed with posters and homemade signs, and patient parents staked their claims on slabs of concrete in anticipation of the Friday GMA Summer Concert Series. Someone mentioned that they had started gathering on Wednesday. Looking down on the patchwork quilt of blankets and sleeping bags from my boss's window around 5pm, a coworker commented: "Miley Cyrus didn't even do that."

There is sort of a female cult following created by certain male phenomena. New Kids on the Block and Charles Manson come to mind.

I think we all know how this story is going to end.

Yesterday evening the children and parents marked
their territory.






This morning the perimeter of the park looked like
the door at Tenjune on a Tuesday night.


A Year Ago Today: No Post
Two Years Ago Today: Here I Go On My Own

Black Monday

We had more lay-offs as a result of further corporate restructuring at work today. I know there is always a better and more streamlined way of doing something, especially when the dollar is the bottom line, but it is even scarier to experience a restructure in the current state of our economy. It's also nerve-wrecking to remember that executive and administrative assistance is a luxury and not a necessity so I'm not exactly safeguarded from cutbacks. Eight employees alone were impacted in our department. However, the saddest by far was the termination of two mailroom employees that the executive assistants particularly liked because of their good humor and strong work ethic; one has a baby due in two weeks.

I should stop blogging on my lunch hour at work and look for more ways to make myself indispensable.

Zombie Fights Shark is always a good way to brighten any day, unless your employment was unexpectedly discontinued. That's a pretty dull day. Here's a particular funny read about reading the Bible on the subway and the way an apartment smells when the girlfriend has been away too long.

A Year Ago Today: Search-term Saturday: The Johns
Two Years Ago Today: No post

"Things I Love" Thursdays - Weirdness

I walked by this guy yesterday morning on my way to work.

Disclaimer: I only brave the crowds of Times Square ("bowling for tourists," a friend calls it), which actually aren't too bad in the early morning, just to catch a quick glimpse of my celebrity crush: GMA News Anchor Chris Cuomo. In the evening, I reroute up Sixth Avenue and cross town at Radio City Music Hall.

You know you're a New Yorker if you can see something like this and barely break step. You don't see this on Broadway ... yet you just did.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

A Year Ago Today: Good, Bad & Ugly First-Year Moments
Two Years Ago Today: Last Night in North Carolina

Job Market Realities

Trying to help my friends get a job at the company for which I work has made me realize how competitive it is to get a job here (my roommate alone has had two interviews in two different departments). Or any major company in New York for that matter, especially with today's economy. It has made me realize how lucky I am to be working here, and how amazing it was that I received the break I got.

A Year Ago Today: Lunch Break/ing News: It IS A Small World
Secret Asian Man
Two Years Ago Today: Two Weeks From Today