First NY Celebrity Sighting!

You'd think you’d only see a celebrity at a fancy café, walking through Central Park, or out in a big bar somewhere. Nope. We actually stood right next to Harry Connick, Jr in the elevator of the building we work in!

For those who don't know who he is: he's an amazing singer and pianist. He plays big band music and sings like Sanatra. He sang “It Had to Be You” in the movie When Harry Met Sally. He's been in different movies such as Independence Day, Copycat and Iron Giant. He's also been on the tv show "Will and Grace" a bunch (so I hear).

My favorite album of his is "We Are In Love" (1990). I have a special place in my heart for that album…I was on a date experiencing my first fondue dinner at The Melting Pot, and heard a few songs from the album being played. The music was so carefree and romantic; I just had to ask who the artist was. Some of those songs really make my heart happy.

I noticed him as Eric, Dave and I approached the elevator- we had just returned from a meeting at McGraw. I was thinking, "Naahh"...but when all of us got in, we quietly stood together and I glanced over a few times...I keep kicking myself for not saying hello!!!!!! Maybe he would have been cool, hung out at the doorway of our studio until I ran and got my camera…. I wish I had a photo of he and I to show you. Bummer. BUMMER!

All 12 floors of the building we work in are major photo studios, except for the bottom floor (which is Atta, Inc.) and ours on the 3rd floor. Maybe he was there for a shoot or something.

OUR FIRST NY SNOW!

We were finishing up decorating our tree...looked outside...


Our first New York snow!


And earlier today outside the bus station on the way to IKEA...


MISS YOU GUYS!
Love,
Sharon and Dave

Our first snow?

Has the time has finally come? The biggest experience we attributed to New York? The one event we were excited about...but wondered if we could make it through? ...Will it snow?

Tonight will be a low of 17, with a 40% chance of snow...Tomorrow's (Monday's) temperature will be a high of 22 and a low of 18 with a 30% chance of snow. Will it just be a tease again? There was a chance of snow a month ago, but it ended up being just misty rain that formed little tiny ice crystals on your jacket. Last week, I saw my first ice puddles, but then the weather went back to its average 34 degrees a day later.

Last year this time, a major blizzard had already blown through and the rest of the season was terrible. This year is quite mild. But what I don't get...for example...the temperature today is going to be a high of 47, and a low of 17?! That's quite a bridge of temperature! And after tomorrow's "chance of snow", Tuesday will be low of 36, Wednesday a low of 44, and Thursday a low of 44. It's like Florida weather. How could the temperature be so back and forth?

Click for New York Weather.

Christmas on the way!?

Friday night: After work at Tempest on 31st and 8th

What a week. I think we're doing well...everyone seems to be happy. I sure have a lot to learn about all the different projects!

I can't believe Christmas is next week already. I haven't shopped for gifts. We haven't even decorated our place yet!!! Dave and Eric went out tonight to do a little Christmas shopping...tomorrow morning we're going to IKEA to get a few items so we can decorate our place at night!

Dave's parents will be here on Christmas evening and Eric is heading to Boston by bus the day before Christmas to meet up with one of his brothers, Mick.

Gearing up!

Hmmm....so where to start?

What went on all this week? Well, I am up at normal time on a Saturday, so I must be excited/anxious about something...It's 8:30am!

We received our first paychecks that have minimal practical responsibilities… no rent to pay, not really any bills...It reminds me why I handle the stress and pressure at work. We've been working pretty much 10-11 hours a day, leaving at 9:45 at night. Dave is taking over my position as traffic coordinator, right at the time we're dealing with 2Rs and confirming pages, getting ready to ship to sep, and *just* getting all the in-between feature pages for both grades! It's crazy.

I'm sorry if I'm talking book garble and it's not clear- basically the project has a million pieces for two different grades of a Social Studies book, we're nearing the last steps of the process, and we're still getting a crapload of extra pages to pour and design last minute from the Publisher.

ANYWAY, Eric and I are starting OUR new job on Monday. And even though I'm the Production Manager and he's the Assistant Production Manager, I'm afraid he's the guy with most of the info. I'm a little nervous starting out without any information on where the other books in house are at- I'll have to do the "Sharon crash-course" and pull through. I feel like I'll still be ok. I guess I'm just over-anxious to get the hang of it.

I have a great desk with a window for the first time! The office is overlooking the street that takes the cars to and away from the Lincoln Tunnel (Dyer Ave.). Around 4:30pm, cars start piling up trying to merge together to get into the tunnel, and it gets so jammed cars end up getting caught in the middle of the intersection, blocking traffic trying to get through. I've never heard such a noise! I swear every car in a two-block radius holds down their horn for a whole 2 minutes at the same time! Even giant trucks that sound like a cruise ship horn... WHOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Sometimes you can even hear people yelling out their car windows in that great NY accent, "MOVE! What's amatta with you!? @#* MOVE IT!"...I'm going to record the noise and upload it to my site (which is nearly complete, by the way- I'll anounce it when it's ready)!

Today I'm going shopping for ME. It’s been soooooo long!!! I know what I need, and I'm going to try and be very patient. I'm a terrible shopper. I've been poor for so long....I hope the Shopping Gods are with me, because I won't have much time to do it later! I also want to get some personal office supplies to make my job even better.

I believe we are going to hit the Manhattan Apple Store tonight (Eric and I are very excited!) and I think I’m going to buy that iSight I’ve been blabbing about so much. I’m already feeling guilty spending the money on it. I mean, neither Dave or I know anyone with one, so we won’t be conferencing with it. Do I spend $150 for just a web cam for my web site? I can’t seem to find a cheap cam for Mac OSX….it’s crazy! That’s all I really need…we’ll see. Anyone have an iSight or have any comments?

Also, we're going in to work on Sunday so I can start the Christmas decorating in the office for what I hope brings a happy first week as "the new boss”. I will also be reorganizing my new desk and rummaging through Jim's stuff (the guy I'm replacing). I have QUITE a lot to learn in a short amount of time!!!

I'll fill you in this weekend if anything cool happens, but for now, wish me luck for the week!!! =)

Madison Square Garden

So, of course, the Orlando Magic won. ;)

Friday night was the Magic/Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, my first time at "The Garden". Out the windows before we entered our gate, you could see straight down 33rd street and look upon the Empire State Building, which was lit up red and green for the holiday season.

We had good seats and almost the entire game was close up to the past half of the 4th quarter- Very exciting game! The fans weren't as noisy as they are in Orlando- it was weird! I guess they're used to having a team (the Magic was just born in 1989). We actually saw some Orlando fans there- I think there were possibly 20 of us in the whole stadium! Out of that, we had two Magic fans to our left and two to our right. We even made friends with some cool Knicks fans sitting behind us- Kelly and Jemel!

Knicks Fans vs. Us!

After the game, we wandered over to Joe O's. We made great friends with a guy named Michael who was in town from Dulbin, and introduced him to Darren (the bartender who was also from Dublin). MUCH fun! Later, Eric's youngest brother Mike and girlfriend Abby came by, who were in town on vacation.

After a hard week's work, the night was much needed!

No room to work

This is the room my big fat cat, Louie, gives me to work at my computer.

Note the small sliver of space to his left. That's where my arm fits. Also notice his big butt hanging off the edge of the desk.

My Lou...

Kewlbox has Santa Balls

I download this game every Christmas: Santa Balls.

You can find a ton of great games at KewlBox.com.