The First Update from NYC

Ok, so I'm typing this on the train, but you won't get it until I log into the network and well, that is way too much information….

But it sets the stage for the rest of the update! It has been a crazy few weeks, and what better way to reflect on them than to send an extremely impersonal email to update you all on the happenings. Plus it will make this commute go a little faster (I hope).

The other night (March 22), I had the pleasure of welcoming Regis and the kids to our new house in Jersey. The house is in Randolph Township, NJ, outside of Morristown for those of you looking for it on the map. As you can imagine, there was much rejoicing. I'd like to think it was because they had seen me only twice since I drove out here on Super Bowl Sunday -- but I think it's because they had to pee. Either way, it was great to see them and fun to watch the kids explore the new house. With boxes stacked from floor to ceiling, it was not as fun to watch Regis's reaction. But, I digress. We have busy days ahead, for sure, and for those of you that know Regis well, you know that the whole house will be repainted and decorated (and may even a few load-bearing walls removed) by sometime in May. Side note: A thousand thank-yous to Meagen Ryan for accompanying Regis and the kids on the journey. Not sure what we would have done without her! And, on that note, a thousand more thank-yous to every one of you that "took care" of Regis and the kids during the last 6 weeks. You guys are great friends. Anyway…...

Note: the next several ramblings are for those of you who are not familiar with New Amsterdam. All of those who are, my apologies. Send any quibbles or corrections to my editor.
I've been working in "the City" since February 8th. Anyway, every day I ride the train from Morristown to Hoboken (well, I had been in Madison, with Dan McKillop, ND Class of 1997, and his cat Clementine until very recently…many thanks to Dan and Clementine for their patience with my eating habits and assorted other idiosyncrasies). Once I'm in Hoboken, I take a ferry across the Hudson River (which is not a river at all, but rather a tidal estuary, more on that another time) to World Financial Center. The WFC, as we call it in the "industry" (just kidding), is right on the Hudson Tidal Estuary, on the southern tip of Manhattan. It is situated directly across West Street from the site of the World Trade Center. Hoboken is roughly across from Midtown Manhattan, which is where most of the Manhattan with which you would be familiar is located (Macy's, Empire State Building, Times Square, Theater District, etc.). So every day, I get to ride the ferry and see the Empire St. Building, the skyline, and finally Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (which is across from the WFC). Now, most of my fellow commuters have seen these sites about 3,000 times, so they don't care. Until I reach that point, I will be soaking them in every day.

The commuting is the hardest part, so far. Affordable real estate is, well, it doesn't exist out here. So to live in a house that was comfortable for our brood, we had to move to the "boonies." Real story from work: So, I'm at lunch and I tell a colleague that I'm going to be living in Morristown. He says, "that's pretty rural." I reply, "no, Indiana is rural." He says, "Do you have a tree [note: singular]?" I replied, "Yes." He says, "See, rural." Anyway, point being, that is going to be the big adjustment here - the commute. The good news with respect to the commute, if there is any, is that I can work on the train. That helps because the hour (or two, round trip) is not lost. Or I can type extremely long emails.
Aside from that, NY is not really as crazy a place as you might expect. Everyone keeps to the themselves and does their own thing. The main differences are 1) there a lot more of them and 2) the energy level. The city is always buzzing, no question, no matter what time of day (though it's pretty quiet before 8:30, relatively speaking). Don't let anyone fool you, NYC is not an 8-5 town. It's a 10-7 town, at a minimum. If you hear "people work late in NY" -- well, that's because they don't start early.

Well, that's probably good for now. Apologies if this was boring. I'm going to try to keep you as updated as possible. Once we're unpacked (more or less) we're going to plan some weekend trips -- Jimmy already has a list (look for a Gettysburg trip soon, I have a feeling).

Take care all and let us know how things are going!