Fall: September Issue (Excuse the delay please)

Hello friends and other good people. As you may have started thinking that I gave up on this endeavor, I must dearly disappoint you. I have been accumulating stories, and they now have reached critical mass, that they simply must come out into the internetz.

LABOR day. My beloved mother invited me to visit for Labor Day, a popular US holiday ( ДеньТруда, Ура!). Naturally, I was hoping to take a nice 3 day break from work. No. That's certainly not how my mom pictured it. However, until I really got to work and sweat, there was some fun stuff going on before.

Flying High. I left work at just about 5pm and drove straight to the airport. While there, got me a little shrimp cocktail and beer - I figured I deserved it after such a long week of work. Texas is quite famous for its Shiner Bock beer. Bliss on tap. On the plane, it turned out I'm sitting next to a particularly rowdy bunch of 20-something year-old guys. As the conversations I overheard suggested - they are all employed by a small regional baseball team. Priceless. To make things even more amusing, the middle-aged lade sitting right next to us happened to be employed by Southwest, and out of the bottom of her heart, started passing out drink coupons. I was very pleasantly surprised. So another beer followed. While the flight was only 1hr, they still had some time to pass the drinks out. But somehow, we ended up getting ANOTHER round, before landing. Very amusing flight.

Back to the 70's! As it turns out, after I landed in NOLA, the same night DJ Soul Sista was throwing her birthday party at Airline Skate Center! Yes, the same place I went to in middle school. And one of my favorite DJs was throwing a Roller Disco! The night was looking very promising.

Once I get around to it, I'll put up a video clip from the rink. Girls in leotards, guys in glitter pants, afro-hair. It was spectacular. The rest of the evening was spent at "Lucky Don's shooting pool to DJ Eddy, who was spinnin some seriously rockin' vinyl. To de-glamorize the event, it was a bar owned by my old neighbor, situated conveniently between a Subway and a nail salon, in a strip mall on Airline. Nonetheless, the night was a success.

Next day, my mother concluded that it would be a great use of my presence by getting me to cut down half of the trees in her back yard. Several hours of manual labor followed. The rest of the weekend I ended up having two barbeques and of course a trip to Frenchmen St. On Monday, the labor was wrapping up, and I managed to squeeze a rendez vous with an old co-worker and friend, Kelley M. It's amazing how certain dynamics change once you get out of college. Maybe it's just me getting older.

Working for the weekend - Or weekend during the workweek? The business week zoomed by, simply because it was shorter, and I flew out to DC on Friday, once again for training. Despite the rapid pace, I still fit two salsa outings. The weekend I spent at my friend, Stephanie's, house and we went clubbing with her friends on Saturday night to this neat little venue, called Cafe Citron. It was quite a blast - a mix of latin/house in a compact 3-level venue, with a pretty gritty, but not trashy feel. The next day, I offered to cook shashlik (Russian-style BBQ) for her family, since they have been to hospitable to me on numerous occasions. In return, her father offered me some "Russian Vodka", best vodka the guy at the store claimed to have - the Russian Standard. And it was good indeed. Quite an amusing evening, involving much laughing, and me doing karaoke in Spanish ("Mi Camisa Negra" by Juanes, if my memory serves me right.)

The Week of a Socialite. The coming week was training in McLean - the location of Capital One's headquarters. The layout was similar to last time - executive speakers, skill training (i.e. presentation CapOne style and valuation), but this time we also had a real assignment, a case study. The week also contained ample amount of social interaction. Cocktails were served after training on Monday. Afterwards, me and several co-workers, all Virginia-based, ended up going to a tapas restaurant in Georgetown called Bodega. Quite a win. Tuesday - CapOne took us on a quick bus tour around DC and brought us for cocktails and appetizers atop Old Ebbitt Grill, a super fancy restaurant that overlooks the White House. Stellar view, especially at sunset. That, however was only the beginning.

The Wild Side of Training. After a very pleasant hour atop the Old Ebbitt Grill, which was spent enjoying the company of several fine lady co-workers, consuming hor d'hourves, and topping it all off with fine chardonnay, someone from the Virginia office suggested the W. W as in the W hotel, downtown DC, which just so happened to be across the street. The festivities proceeded with a considerably smaller group, accompanied by oysters, tuna tataki, mojitos, and inevitably, shots of Patron. All of that certainly provided for quite a dinner meal. And this was only the beginning.

Intermission, 9pm - the shuttle bus that initially brought us there, was now going to take us back. But wait - there was a second bus, and it wasn't going back to the hotel. This one was headed to the Mad Hatter, a pub near Dupont Circle. To my great dissapointment, several of the lady companions from the W got on the first bus. Now I have vague recollections of the trip, except for the fact that it was quite fun. Mad Hatter, in my opinion, was a pretty mediocre bar. The herd that actually arrived with us was quite buzzed by that point, and they only proceeded further. At that point, several female co-workers were not so much interested in standing around and drinking, but actually dancing. Ballroom to the rescue! I was very interested in trying to get the crowd out to Cafe Citron, and I was successful.

Grand Finale. Citron was kind of empty, but there is nothing stopping these guys. So a couple of lively VA folks and myself formed a circle and it was off. While I cannot recall exactly what the music was, I was certainly pulling my typical club-salsa maneuvers. Towards the end of the show, I somehow ended up chatting with a circle of girls towards the back of the club, and as it just so happened, one of them was Russian! So the conversation flips the language and we end up chatting the typical, how/where/when conversation. A mild ego deflation: I mentioned that I'm an analyst... at Capital One... and it was pretty obvious the lady was not impressed. Conveniently timed, my female companions were pulling me away, as the shuttle bus was about to depart.

After-party. The ride back to McLean was about 30 mins, and I vividly recall the broad range of caricatures I was surrounded by. There were people still trying to dance in the aisle between seats ( I think I may have been one of them) , some people trying to score some digits, and others slowly falling asleep. Back at the hotel, it just so happened that I had 2 other co-workers staying right next to my room, so we actually chatted for a bit before knocking out. And all this before 1am.

All in all, I must say it felt like I was a kid in camp, except now I had spending capacity and I was legally able to drink.

Re-cooperating. Wednesday was considerably quieter, just training, and dinner with some of my Indian co-workers, finished off with hookah at a particularly shady cafe, not far from the hotel. Thursday, however was a different story.

Work hard, play hard. Training was getting pretty tedious by now, and I had some worries that I could not get my work email, due to technical differences between the offices. However, all was fine on the home front. I spent a large portion of the day chatting and cracking jokes with a particularly boisterous VA co-worker, Andrea. I also co-incidentally ended up sitting in the middle of the party planning committee, I.E. I was sitting next to 2 McLean girls, Shania and Xinyi , who were quite knowledgeable about the DC club scene. Between the 4 of us, it was concluded that we were now due for a house music venue, so Club Lima was chosen. Yet again, not far from the Dupont Circle.

Logistical nightmare and handstands. We decided to take Andrea's car half way to the metro, and then catch the last train back at midnight. It turned out to be considerably more difficult due to traffic, directions, longer walking distances than expected, and later difficulties getting into the club. In the interim, we went to once again the Mad Hatter, and Cafe Citron, both of which were pretty dead. People started losing steam. However, come 11pm, we actually made it in time, and got to get our groove on pretty good. I distinctly recall us literally bringing the happening to the club. Our sheer numbers were enough to get the floor moving. A circle and the whole nine yards. It also helped that one of the girls at the club whipped out glow-rings and was doing some serious raving. Naturally, I had to join in, and we ended up having several dance-offs. During the pinnacle of one of my performances, I think I may have been under enough influence of euphoria and alcohol, that I decided that doing a handstand would be the right thing to do. Success. Sadly we had to run pretty soon, since we had to make the last train. A lengthy trip back was concluded by us arriving at the scene of the crime, or so it seemed. Fire trucks and people everywhere! As it turns out, the fire alarm was set off right before we got back, which was a bit after 1am. Quite an experience. While packing, I think there was yet ANOTHER fire alarm (but not on my floor) at around 2am. I decided not to leave... and lived to tell the story :)

For old times sake. The remainder of the week was spent with my friend Laura and her family. I know Laura from way back in my high school days, but we actually went to the same middle school too. I haven't ever met with her outside of New Orleans, and I haven't seen her family in a very long time. It was going to be quite an interesting experience.

Crashing the scene. The weekend was spent walking around the woods, lounging in a hot tub, crashing a birthday party, attending a particularly unique Greek Orthodox Church, and watching a couple of movies. A particularly pleasant way to close the week out. As the header implies, I would like to expand a bit on this party-crashing experience. I had great aspirations to make it out to the 18th Street Lounge. Quite an exotic venue, playing an incredible selection of lounge/chill music, very 19th century ambiance, dim lighting, and furniture to match. It also happens to be the headquarters for Eighteenth Street Label, the label of Thievery Corporation. On our way to the ESL, me and Laura end up dancing all up and down the streets of DC, from the subway, to the intersections near Dupont. When we got to ESL, there was nowhere to sit, but there was one couch next to a lady sitting on a chair next to it (as though she was holding it). We asked politely if she did not mind us sitting there, and she did not object. After getting our wine, I figured maybe we should try and be friendly to the kind lady. So we start up a conversation, and before long, we end up getting surrounded by her late-arriving friends, who were apparently there to celebrate a birthday party. At that point, it became kind of obvious that we were the uninvited guests, but nobody objected our presence. Majority of the patrons of this group were of a foreign background, which provided for some interesting interactions. A very random but pleasant outing.

Lounging & Old Town. After the very eventful evening, we decided to take it a bit slower on Saturday. I enjoyed pleasant company of Laura's family at her sister's BBQ. On Sunday, her family was kind enough to offer me a ride to a nearby orthodox church, St. Katherines Greek Orthodox Church. It was quite a unique church, mainly due to its architecture. It was basically a dome. Afterwards, we spent most of the afternoon walking around Old Town in Alexandria, VA - a particularly quaint little area of greater DC. Many picture were taken. And later much sangria was had. Along with a bit of tapas and hookah on the side. Then came the flight, and back to the real world.

Back to the grind. It seems like I now have a "standard" work week. Monday & Tuesday hold at least one salsa class. Friday usually has some salsa outing. One notable piece was that I ended up catching a random dinner with a coworker, Chris. He flies in for a couple of days per week and is new to Dallas. I suggested a dinner place and next thing I know, I'm having Mexican food with a senior director, talking about secondary markets.

Spontaneous Road Trip. On a fine Saturday morning, lazily, I wake up and reach for my iPhone, only to find a text from my NYC friend Lina. Apparently Lina and my DC-based friend Gosha were both going to visit Gosha's family in Houston. The message implied that I should drive to Houston that same day. And I did. It was wonderful being surrounded by over a dozen Russian speakers and being able to just relax, dine, drink, I ended up grilling a good bit, and later much fun was had on the diving board. Fortunately, nobody was injured. And all that was only Saturday. Sunday brought more adventures. Gosha and his family family, Lina, and I went up to Lake Conroe and set sail on a boat/jet ski trip for a couple of hours. I haven't had that much fun in a while.

When DDR skills pay off. September closed out with a pretty amusing event at work. We had a quarterly "fun day" where the company basically rents out a venue like laser tag, or in this case Whirly Ball, and has a departmental day of interaction in a completely casual environment. Beer was served at lunch. On a Tuesday. And the day closed out with a DDR competition against the VP. Success.

Anyhow, I apologize for having dragged this one out so far. I will try to keep my updates more up to date and more consolidated. Also, one of these days I swore to update all my back messages with photos. It will happen, I promise!

Back to it!

Weeks 6-8: In Motion

First, I would like to apologize for not posting in so long. I was sort of expecting that I will have less and less time to keep up with the blog, but I'm still trying. Work has been picking up. Numerous training sessions, new deadlines, ad-hoc requests… a little stress. However, I must say one thing: dancing is good. After the boys left, I was back in my groove. Every Tuesday I would go to Sandunga, my new favorite salsa studio. Wednesdays I started going to another studio, United Dance Academy. Staying busy certainly helps keep mind off negative things.

I discovered a few new venues: Pearl, a jazz/live music lounge with an impressive 2 floor setup, where ground floor is the bar and stage, while upstairs houses a gallery and pool tables; and Absinthe Lounge – a really shady but classy looking lounge in the basement of an eclectic loft building somewhere on the outskirts of downtown. Sandunga was also a completely different venue on a Friday night – they hosted a social, BYOB kind of gig with a good DJ. It was awesome. Other than that I also got to go to the Galleria again, but this time I went ice skating! One of these weekends, LaQuenta had a friend visit from New Orleans, so we ended up at Dave and Busters, sort of a Chuck E Cheese for people of 21+ age category. It was my first time, and it was quite fun.

Foreign Origin: It seems like I had much luck confusing people with my speech. A particularly memorable note – an elegant Latina I danced with asked me if I was Puerto Rican and told me that I sound like Marc Anthony. Another particularly amusing instance was when a middle-aged waiter took me for an Aussie/Briton. First time for both. Win! On the same note, I had another girl at UDA dance studio ask me directly: “Are you Jewish?”. It must be the dark hair and a foreign name…

That is all for now – Week of August 29 will be closing in the next posting, since the week ends with me arriving in NOLA.

Long Time - No Post

Exploring Dallas. Week 3

This was the first full week of work. While it was somewhat scary and exciting at the same time, all in all, I ended up being a pretty good balance. I worked a lot – main task being, preparation of a monthly report about the mortgage market. Outside of that, I got to network with coworkers, go out with friends, and explore Dallas. Mid-week I ended up going to a roller rink, trivia night at a bar, and I landed the tail end of the Asian Film Fesitval of Dallas, thanks to Vlad from New Orleans. Moreover, I finally have a bed… but no mattress still. The weekend still retained much of the momentum from past weeks – party on Friday, going out uptown, Saturday and Sunday I spent catching up with my two friends from HS, Mike and La Quenta. Sunday I also went to an Orthodox church, which inevitably had a large Russian parish.

Work Hard – Play Hard. Week 4.

In some sense, I am already getting into a routine. Work pace was picking up, and on Monday I left work at a ridiculous hour – 9:30pm. Granted, it was largely by choice – I ended up chatting with a senior guy on my floor, who shared some very interesting insights about the most complicated part of the office culture – the year end review.

Random Networking. Mid-week I ended up going to this Art Institute of Dallas networking event, predominantly to keep LQ company. After enjoying a Kobe beef burger at the Gordon Biersch restaurant, I proceeded to chat up a storm with all of these graphic designers and the likes. Quite thrilling actually.

Dance Deprivation. In addition to the late hours at work (which were actually more like 8:30am-6pm most days) I ended up going salsa dancing 3 times this week. Certainly a welcome change. I realized how badly I missed it. In the end, I even made a new friend out of the experience. Also quite a thrill.

On Sunday I went to another Orthodox church, and yet again, dozens of Russian speakers – certainly good to have. The weekend closed with an incredible outing to the arcade with La Quenta, during which we really brought back some old school memories – DDR! Yes, Dance Dance Revolution. I felt like a kid all over again. It was pretty incredible. This was further followed by an outing to the movies with LQ and some older co-workers to see “The Other Guys” – hilarious movie.

The Boys Are Back in Town. Week 5.

This was yet another week packed with work – my report was actually due on Friday. First deadline… seemingly successful. Tuesday, I went to another studio for salsa lessons, this time by my self. Wednesday night – saw the coolest concept ever, a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt. You grab whatever you like and they charge you $2 per plate. So effectively you can get a quarter/half of a roll or single piece of sushi pretty easily. Quality of food was decent, but service was great. I don’t know what is it with me and theatrical girls, but something just clicks.

The weekend was quite epic. Patrick and Aaron came in at 4:45am on Saturday, unbelievably unprepared in terms of packing, but in good spirits. We spent most of Saturday dining out, driving around Dallas, and catching the Dallas street car for fun. Come night time – we hit first Greenvile, in hopes of landing a spot at one of the most intense sushi restaurants without a reservation… and to my great surprise, we got in! Of course we did have to wait 45mins, but that’s quite alright – we got to explore Greenville, the club/bar row in Dallas (reminded me of Bourbon a bit) and ended up at a really killer hookah lounge, Kush. Mike joined us. So by the time we got to Teppo, the Japanese restaurant, we were starving. Bad combination since it was a particularly expensive restaurant (as we learned once we got the check). We enjoyed ample amounts of exotic Japanese dishes, in my case I was all over the sashimi and with great difficulty refused the yaki-tori (since Saturday was the first day of the Dormition of the Theotokos fast)… and we coupled it with 2 bottles of sake. Then we headed out to Deep Ellum – effectively the French Quarter of Dallas. Very sketchy looking area, biker bars and country/blues lounges all over. After realizing that it was already past midnight, and Dallas closes at 2am… we learned that many venues are already winding down. Therefore, we just picked what sounded good – no cover and live music. CC Cross was the artist – a solo vocalist with a guitar. I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Sunday, after going to Church, me and the boys got lunch. This time – econo $8.99 mongolian grill at Ghengis Grill. I still feel a little guilty eating there… but price point does not get better than that. You can effectively get 3lbs of meat/seafood with noodles for that price. Nothing can match. We were all still in mild shock after the $400 bill from Teppo last night. Shortly the boys rolled back to NOLA.

Later that evening, I realized that I have an aching for DDR again – so I met up with LQ for dinner and another awesome DDR session at the local arcade complex.

That would be all for now - more to come later and I'll be sure to include more pictures next time!! Thank you for reading =)

//A

Week 2: Virginia

Week 2

I am writing this while sitting at the Samuel Adams bar/restaurant in the Richmond International Airport, finishing off a draft Sam Adams Summer Ale (which was exceptional, BTW) pondering over the burger I just finished off, listening to miscellaneous Russian pop and euro music in my headphones. After having gone through this pretty wild week, I must say life is good… for the most part. Eventful, if anything.

I flew out on Sunday, barely made my flight from DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth) to RIC (Richmond, Virginia.) The accommodations were Hotel Sierra in Short Pump mall – one of the biggest outside malls in the country. Snazzy contemporary-looking setup, with basically all the furniture I want for my apartment. I actually decided since I had all of this time on my hands (I arrived at 7pm), it would be cool to just explore. Most places were closed by then, with the exception of a few restaurants. Having grabbed a steak sandwich from Firebird’s and ate at the hotel. Further I decided that a work out is in order – first one in a month or two. Eating and drinking without much physical activity is not a good layout.

Virginia. On Monday we were expected to meet in the lobby after a pretty nice breakfast bar to get on a shuttle to Capital One headquarters. The lounge area was full of ADP kids, some familiar, some not. There was a group from McLean, VA staying there as well. The day was basically focused on HR, culture, history, etc… Good overview, but a bit overkill. Afterwards came the cocktails. Funny part – they gave out 2 drink tickets per person, since apparently the class before us was a little rowdy. There we got to hang with a bunch of McLean & Richmond, as well as some associates and managers. I hovered all around with my classy glass of chardonnay. Later was the dinner. In a mildly forced fashion, I sat with one of the senior guys at a table, surrounded by several Virginia ADPs. The evening closed with a miserable experience at a nearby bar. The ADP crowd headed out to Bar Louie’s, just outside the hotel. Apparently in VA, a temporary driver’s license is considered a “fake”. So is a Green Card. My attempt at getting a beer was an utter fail. Throughout the course of the night, I sipped water and spewed out nasty comments about the bartender and the bar in general. In the process, I ran into Nataliya, the only other Eastern European in the bunch. We chatted for a while, and then I headed out. The night closed out with me going to a gym with my buddy Ryan and pumping iron. I felt very accomplished.

Tuesday. More speakers, divisional overview, etc… Only thing I recall was that our crowd ended up at Applebees of all places. Fail. This time I had my passport, so I succeeded in getting a beer. There were some talks of going out downtown, but that never worked out. I actually knocked out way early, at about 10pm.

Wednesday. Capital One Economics – effectively, now I can explain exactly how a credit card company makes money. It wasn’t too bad, but the overlap was starting to get annoying. Lots of similar information all over. After work me and Ryan ended up going shopping with a couple of cute McLean girls… and man it’s been a while since I’ve acted so ridiculous at the mall. The night took us to the Fan district of Richmond. That is effectively where the college kids hang. We hung out at this absurdly crowded but interesting college/yuppie bar called 3 Monkeys Bar, which was pretty good for what it was. There were the usual suspects, mixed with a variety of Richmond and McLean based ADPs. Afterwards, I ended up driving the car, since Jacob and was already done by that point, and after getting lost 5 times in a 10 block square, we made it to the next venue – Banditos Burrito Lounge. Wow, Virginia, really? It was basically a college dump where they hosted karaoke. Hardly a pleasant venue, but a bunch of our peers seemed to be thrilled. We promptly departed, with me driving back to the hotel.

Competition. Thursday was the day of the case competition. Recalling the interview, I was expecting something similar to that. Actually it turned out to be a paper/computer based version of Markstrat (a marketing simulation game). While it felt a bit flawed, it was still a good experience. My team placed last, but I was more than happy with our strategy and results. I think we got a star for effort. The night was a spontaneous decision, based on a recommendation of a fellow ADP from McLean on Tobacco Company. It was a particularly fancy restaurant with a beautiful lounge on the first floor, and two levels of dining rooms above. Instrumental guitar jazz was in the air.

The décor was something of an early 20^th century feel, showcasing a massive “Adams Family” elevator in the middle of the restaurant. After enjoying a gorgeous New York Strip with a cherry reduction and a Red Diamond cabernet sauvignon, we decided to go to the rumored “club”, which was supposedly located in the SAME building. The hostess directed us outside and down into the basement. And to my amazement, there was an actual top-40 night club with lasers and everything right there! Moreover, there was a blackjack table (seemed unusual), but what made it particularly incredible was the fact that it was for CHARITY! They even issued a receipt for the $5 buy-in. The crowd was a mix-bag of college kids, yuppies, and a healthy amount of a well-dressed older crowd, spread across the whole cultural spectrum. Cupid Shuffle was a pure win. Later me and JoAnna decided to pull a little random Top-40 salsa to Modjo, of all things. The night closed with a miserable attempt to get into a couple of other bars with our Plano crowd. A couple other ADPs had some ID issues and were denied.

Ropes! Friday was the Challenge Discovery (CD) team building day. CD was an outdoor sport activity type of place with a variety of climbing locales, tight rope setups, etc… My team, unsurprisingly a mix of Plano, Richmond and McLean, was pretty heavily weighted on girls – we had maybe 5 or so out of 14 people. Some groups had none… In either case, we started with a criss-cross tight rope where 4 people had to get to the opposite side at the same time. I loved it. A couple of our team mates didn’t do very well though. Then was the incredible 15FT wall, over which we all had to get across. It was concluded that I was the best fit to go last (since the person on top would have to pull me up). In the process I got to throw at least 10 people up. The end was spectacular, however. I got my running start, and very much in a Spiderman fashion, nearly ran up the wall, latched onto John’s wrists and got up. Massive win for the team. Nobody fell or got hurt. Then was a pretty mild activity where we had to lower a tent pole with nothing but 14 index fingers, without anyone losing contact with the pole. Pure precision. We finally got it after a dozen attempts. Last was the best part. A 50ft tower, built of 3 pillars in a pyramid fashion, with rock-climbing attachments all over, and a platform up top. Our goal was to climb up 4 people at once, with the aid of another team, and push 2 humongous exercise balls up to the top. That was an incredibly difficult task, but we succeeded a couple of times, even though we never quite got them on top of the actual platform. Wow that was plenty of adrenaline. CD experience closed with a 4-way tug of war. We were directly opposite a team with nothing but guys, several of which looked to be of the football/baseball player variety. And I am proud to say that we held up incredibly well, all thanks to a strategy of synchronizing our pull attempts, rather than applying static pressure on the rope.

The Drive. Thanks to Dhruv, a McLean based ADP, I got a ride to DC. Despite the ridiculously cramped headroom of the Scion TC back seat, we had a pretty good road trip. With us was Justin from Plano and Dave who was also in McLean. Oddly enough, both Dhruv and Dave happened to be dating Russian girls. I found that particularly amusing.

DC. Once I got in, I quickly hopped on the rail and headed towards Stephanie, my good friend from RPI. In Wheaton we linked up with several of her friends for dinner and hit the club later. We got on the list at Tuscany West – an upscale Latin club downtown DC. It felt pretty awesome to be able to do salsa again.

Russian Saturday. The next day I met up with my dear NYC friends, Elina, Alla and Gosha. We went to eat lunch at a marvelous Uzbek restaurant, Café Assorti. I had okroshka, a unique Russian cold soup, pirojki, and manti, Uzbek dumplings, following with kompot, a classic fruit drink. We were later joined by the one and only Alexander Zolotov.

Heat. Despite the absurd triple digit temperature, we still ended up going on a tour of DC hosted by Alex. The tour effectively ended with the National Harbor. Here is a picture of me standing on top of a huge silver man stuck in sand... he is biting my leg off?

A spectacular development just outside of DC, with a massive resort hotel and plenty of mixed-use buildings.

Clubbing, part 2. Saturday night took us to Slaviya, on thanks to the suggestion of Alex. It was a Serbian/Bulgarian restaurant, with a very modern, club-like décor. Soft lounge beats filled the atmosphere. The heart of the meal was a Wine Kebap – closest thing I can think of is like a crawfish etouffee, but with beef and more of a red bell pepper type feel rather than tomato base. I was impressed. Towards 11pm, our area started getting roped off, and tables nearby were carried to the back. Soon, powerful house beats started kickin. And the club was on. I was thrilled with the transformation. Alex knew the owner, the DJ, his wife… and at least a dozen more people in the place. It was kind of nice to get grandfathered into VIP. The party was organized by a certain Troika Party, a DC based entertainment group. Alla kept trying to get me on the dance floor, since they were departing soon, but I was locked up a bit on the fact that it was still pretty early, and the club was a bit bright and hardly full. After a little while I worked up the courage, and we turned out to be the only people on the dance floor. However, in a little while, girls started edging closer to the dance floor, and before we knew it, the crowd was bouncing. Win.

Lumbar. So sitting in this airplane seat, finishing up this post, I am coming to a conclusion that airplanes really should at least try to add some comfort to these seats. There is absolutely 0 lumbar support. But that’s beside the point.

Return. Sunday morning, I woke up at a pretty early hour of 8am. Stephanie’s family was going to church, and out of respect mixed with curiosity, I decided to join them, despite it being a Catholic service. After the service, we headed out to Richmond. I am particularly grateful to her, since driving me to an airport 150 miles away is not exactly fun. The reason for the inconvenience is my obnoxious tendency to try to “wing it”. When I booked my flight, I was under the impression that Richmond and DC are right next to each other. Fail. Before I flew out, I assumed I can get a $50/day rental and just go to DC and back. Well little did I know that a one way rental would cost close to $200! Fail 2. So I tried to change my flight on Saturday, and was pretty unsuccessful, since a flight out of DC would be close to $400. Well to be precise, I ended up dropping my reservation by accident, panicking, but still reinstating it. After 2 hours of stress, I was back where I started. Fail 3. Boy, is it good to have friends that are willing to help out when you just fail all over.

So in the end, I concluded that in the future, it would probably help to plan a bit more in advance. Tomorrow is going to be crazy – my first day without much of a program. I have to learn new software and start completing projects soon. My first deadline – July 30! Despite it all, thanks to Vladimir Z., a Dallas veteran, I got connected to a certain international loop here in Dallas, and will be going to an indie movie opening event on July 29. Quite excited.

First Week in Texas

Tuesday Night - The show was actually a success – a guitar, a vocal and a trumpet. Such an unusual combination, but worked very well.

Wednesday – July 14, 2010 – First day at the office

9:03am – I’m bolting out of the garage, frantically trying to locate “Building 1”. Capital One’s Plano campus has 4 buildings, 5^th under construction. I was supposed to meet my supervisor, but instead I got to meet the guy just below him. We have a tiny team of 3 guys, an intern and myself. Quite an eclectic mix. Ian – a very sharp guy, he’s boss. But he also can pull off neon-pink socks with a pink/blue checker white button up. The guy just below, Galen – a very Texas kind of guy. Like Dodge Ram extended cab, jeans at the office and the slight accent thing going. PhD in computer science, nonetheless. Then there is Adam, a very Jewish gentleman (wearing the traditional cap), who was particularly astute with the technical stuff. The intern is this Chinese-American girl from Rice, Wendy. An awfully nice young lady. The team seems like a win at this point.

The Boss. I did not get to see Ian until later that night, at dinner. We had a very active conversation, seems like there was a connection. Overall, I suppose I’m a bit tired of constant presence of my coworkers. The day promptly ended as I got home.

Thursday - July 15, 2010

Tax Office. Aparently in Texas you have to go to the tax collector to register your car. As of today, I am officially a car owner, with my own insurance and Texas plates. Now I have to have 2 plates on the car =/

Hurry Fail. So as I run into the office, all happy that I’m coming in at a very mildly late 9:15am, announce to Galen that I’m finally legit. Only later I realize that I am missing my driver’s license. Fail. Now I’m worried that I left it at the tax office. I bolt back to my car, and it turned out that it was just stuck with all the other papers in my bag. Lack of attention – not good.

Work. For real. This was the first day I actually was at my desk and in meetings the whole day. It’s like a bizarre combination of self-teaching and mini-seminars. We all got loaded with about a dozen slide decks, expected to get through everything pretty quickly… but the only problem is that with meetings and seminars eating up half of the day… you realize that getting work done is going to be quite difficult.

Teh Computa – For all my tech people, I figured you might enjoy this bit. My workhorse – HP Elitebook (Core 2 Duo vPro) with a docking station (keyboard and mouse) and a 19” HP screen. HUGE desk. And actually a really decent chair. I know in some companies it’s actually not the case, so I suppose I’m pretty fortunate.

Happy Hour. This time I and the ADPers ended up at the Uptown Pub, and I think I observed some of the worst service ever. The waitress would give people a hard time for ordering water. One kid simply never had his order put in, because “she didn’t hear him”, but naturally, it was his fault. Best part – she gratted us 20%! It also didn’t help that the burger was mediocre.

Friday – July 16 2010

DMV. I tried to wake up at 6:45a to make the DMV for 7:30a. The reality was more like 8:30a at the DMV. Fail. Then came the incredible 1.5hour wait. DMV in Louisiana might have actually been faster… but only marginally. Moral of the story – block out 2 hours for the experience, and try to get there 15mins before open. But I am now officially a Texan.

Hectic. The rest of the day flew by at an incredible pace. I had an 11am meeting with my boss for the first time, since he has been in training the whole time. Apparently, I now have 2 projects with actual deadlines. That was a splash of cold water in the face. But I suppose it was a good reality check. Only problem is that I know nothing about what I have to do. Good thing was that it actually is moderately interesting stuff, despite being largely a reporting function. At the end of the day, it seems like on the entry level, you’re either selling or reporting, when it comes to business.

Meeting Madness. The rest of the day included a 2 hour lunch with the Mortgage team, another meeting with Ian, and then a 3 hour seminar with half a dozen mortgage kids.

The lunch was held at Razzoo's of all places. Apparently out here it is not a slimy bar, but actually a decent Cajun restaurant. So this is what a combo skillet looked like:

Next thing I know, it’s already 5pm and I have to get a U-haul and get to the furniture store in time to pick up my overdue bed.

The Move. Wow… I think there is a good reason why the mover/assembly service actually costs $75. Effectively, cost wise, I may have saved 20 bucks, but in process I had to deal with massive inconvenience of getting the truck, driving through traffic, and having a buddy from ADP suffer through all that mess. Not to mention the back breaking up the stairs =/ I think I’ll stick to movers, now that I can afford that 20 dollar differential. Plus I still have to put in another 30 mins or so to assemble it. On the brighter side, I still have the U-Haul, which I’ll probably use to get a TV Saturday.

The evening was pretty eventful. We went out to Idle Rich's, a pub uptown. Since I'm now a Texan, I have a paper temporary license, which means I have to carry an 8x12 sheet of paper everywhere they card. Naturally, I forgot it. So I convinced the bouncer somehow with my work clothes and my work ID that I'm a grown adult with a job and I do not need to show him my ID. At first he was hesitant, but then he assessed us to not be punk college kids, and let me in. Yuppie win.

There I had a pretty incredible roast beef sandwich coupled with a seafood chowder (0_O), chased with a Mardsedsous, a particularly bready dark German beer.

We then proceeded to Claire's house to crash her party. Apparently, Claire was throwing a house-warming party with her roommate, but mainly for the 2nd and 3rd years. Well the froshies were invited, but the quantity was not specified. She got at least a dozen. After a couple of beers, it seemed like we got kicked out of the apartment, just when I was getting into some great conversation.

Clubbin. Next was Blackfriars. Odd name, but it was a sort of patio-club/bar thing. The ID issue came up again. So the bouncer here was giving me serious crap. I tried the bouncer next to him... and without luck, I got turned around. I go back to the car, move it just in time to save it from a fat ticket, and end up scoring a spot just around the corner from the club. More bar than club. Typical college/post-college crowd. With typical crappy music. But the bouncer was so impressed with me getting the ID, he bought me a shot! Massive win. At that point, I was not interested in consuming any more alcohol, so I provided JoAnna, a fellow ADP with the shot of tequila. Further the conversation landed on Bhangra, the Indian kid Nachi was a huge expert on the subject. I decided to deviate from Bhrangra, on a much more familiar subject of salsa. That later resulted in me and JoAnna dancing salsa to some mediocre rap song. Double massive win.

After sitting around for a while, I brought Matt back home, and headed back. Knocked out after 2am.

Saturday – July 17, 2010

Surprisingly I woke up before the alarm again, and got up with the alarm right at 8am. I had to make the dry cleaners before 9am.

Yuppie Livin’.

So majority of the morning was spent at a coffee shop just outside my building. Breakfast, online errands, and plenty of people watching. The conversations passing by are quite amusing. Everything from the likes of a post-frat days yuppie, who was still acting like he was in his mid-teens; a few serious yuppies, probably early 30’s carrying on pretty deep conversations on politics, chess, car buying, healthy cuisine, etc... and then the sorority types chirping about miscellaneous junk. Amidst all this, there are a few 30-somethings, of familial nature. Some with a baby, some with a dog. Lots of runners. Overall not bad. And up until 11am or so, the breeze was actually really nice, causing the 90F+ temperature to feel closer to lower 80’s (while in the shade).

Off to chores - gotta bring back the U-Haul, maybe get a TV and a mattress. But I don't know... I kind of like my air mattress. Next update will probably be a little late, since I will be flying to Richmond, VA for training, and then visiting DC to see several good friends. Should be fun.