Today one of my monitors in my office burned down which is a sign for me that it is already time for me to pack my stuff, bring everything here in AT to an end and move over to NYC. The monitor always made some strange noises the last couple of weeks but I have always thought that it will make it until I am finally moving over. Today the monitor made just some very dubious final sounds until it was just turning itself off, relaesing a small cloud of smoke and a very bad smell 
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Archive for March, 2007
Signs/When you recognize that it is time…
Wednesday, March 28th, 20071st of May
Monday, March 26th, 2007… is the final date when I will start to work in NYC. I had some talks today with my old boss, my new boss and HR and finally we came to the conclusion – considering my open vacation days and payroll stuff – that the best date for me to start in my new role as senior consultant will be the 1st of May 2007 which gives some more weeks to finish everything here in Austria 
My plan is to use some of my remaining vacation days to move over earlier to have some free time handling all the organizational stuff in the US and search for a housing which is the biggest step waiting for me of course. I’m happy to have an ultimate schedule now; makes life a lot easier 
Andreas’ and Hard Rock Cafe
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007Yesterday I went to an Italian Restaurant which is called Andreas’. I thought with that name nothing can go wrong And it turned out to be true: The food was delicious. I had grilled salmon on top of a choice of pasta and it was great stuff.
In the evening a colleague of mine and me went to the Hard Rock Cafe on Time Square. We had a couple of beers and something to eat and the good thing was that I now got the first equipment for my kitchen here in NYC: a Hard Rock Cafe beer glass . You got that for free when ordering a large beer instead of just a pint.
VISA approved
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007Today I got an email from our HR department that my VISA has been approved which means that I have to get back to Austria once and take my passport and go to the US embassy in Vienna for the VISA entry. Then I’m free to enter the US without leaving it for 3 years. What a great day
It is very surprising that it took them only 2 weeks to approve the VISA because originally they have told me that it will last at least 4 to 6 weeks but anyway: I got it!!!
300
Sunday, March 18th, 2007“This is Sparta!”
I went to a cinema near my hotel yesterday and used the opportunity to see this movie before it has been released in Europe.
300 is a movie based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller and shows the battle of 300 Spartans against the Persian army led by their King Xerxes. The story is based on the Battle of Thermophylae in 480 BC but the characters and all the details of the battle are very fictionalized.
I have not expected to see a historical documentation but an entertaining movie and this is what you get. The pictures are unconventional and it sometimes looks more like a cartoon and they have used a lot of slow motion while the battle scenes which are very bloody and not for people with weak nerves. I would recommend this movie if you look forward to having an entertaining evening watching huge battle scenes without the claim to see something like a historical story.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Sunday, March 18th, 2007Yesterday, March 17th was Saint Patrick’s Day which annually celebrates Saint Patrick who was the patron of Ireland. On the 5th Avenue there was a parade going and they’ve said that around 2 mio spectators were watching it and so did I. Here is one picture of the parade:
On Friday (the day before St. Patrick’s day) it was snowing very heavily and as Austrian you normally think that 6 inches of snow shouldn’t be too much problem. But as it was the first time for me being in NYC while it is snowing I’ve now found out that it is indeed an issue. They seem to have not the capability to clean the streets properly which means that pedestrians have to walk through big piles of snow and what makes it worse: the melted snow is building big lakes on the crossroads and sometimes there is no other way than through this lakes. After walking around some time my shoes were soaking – I should have brought my winter boots with me. But they have managed to get at least the 5th avenue cleaned working all night long from Friday to Saturday.
But the central park was beautiful covered with snow as you can see on this picture:
As the sun was shining it was really nice to walk through the snow covered central park.
Here are some other pictures I took that day:
The flat iron building:
The building I’m currently working in:
The hotel for this time (as already stated not the best one):
Burgers and Beer
Thursday, March 15th, 2007Have I ever mentioned that I love that stuff and honestly you need some beers after work here to not get mad
But I really love this country for making these pretty good burgers. You don’t get such stuff in Austria and I think I’m already addicted to it although there is a lot other stuff to eat here like sushi, Indian, Italian, Thai, French….; in fact whatever you like you can get it here. I think I have to go to the gym to get rid of my gained weight while eating all that superb stuff. Anyway, I’m ready to have some beer right now
Will keep you posted….
At the client site
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007Finally I made back to NYC again. I am just sitting in the lobby of my hotel which is the worst hotel I’ve ever been to but the internet seems to work at least in the lobby for 3 bucks per hour. The flight was pretty much OK although it was Lufthansa. BUT: I arrived 9 pm here at JFK then had to wait 2 hours for immigration as they had only 3 guys sitting there for 3 arrived machines, then I had a formula one driver as taxi driver, so it took me only 40 min to get to Midtown but it was really scary and then I had to wait 40 minutes to get my room as there were 10 people waiting for check in and there was only a very slow person at the reception doing it… . So I made it into the bed at 1 am and had to be at the client at 9 am. You can imagine that I was very tired but I made it.
I met three guys of my company at the nearest Starbucks in front of the client where we discussed what to do there. The first surprise at the client was that the two persons who requested us to be there weren’t there. One was working from home and the other one was ill. So we talked to them over the phone what was expected from us. The whole day consisted pretty much of meeting people and get knowledge about their environment which wasn’t to bad for me as I had a hard time to keep awake. For lunch we went to the nearest “deli” where they have all kind of stuff and you can – believe it or not – also eat some healthy food there. In the evening a colleague and I went out for some beers and some burgers which was great and I really had a nice time talking to him. At 10 pm I went to bed was really happy to be there as you can imagine
Today was the second day at the client which started again at Starbucks meeting my colleagues there. Then we met the responsible people from the client and they told us what to do. So the job basically consists of generating test cases and test data for their planned regression tests. I am really surprised that I have to that as they could have pulled in a”monkey” from the street doing that. Anyway, I see it more as a possibility to get my hands dirty at the client site and to guide them how to do regression testing as they seem to me that they need some help to get this done.
In the evening today, just before I write this lines, I had a short chat with my future boss about my role inside the new team in NYC and everything sounded promising to me. I will have the possibility to get some training sessions here to learn about the business perspective which would help me a lot to do a proper job here.
For dinner I had a nice steak with fries and some beers – Great stuff! I will now go to my hotel room and prepare some test data for tomorrow to get the client satisfied
Happy Birthday Mum!!!
Sunday, March 11th, 2007
You’ll never guess how old she got!
NYC, here I come again
Friday, March 9th, 2007Just back to Austria I got a call that they would need me at a client site in Manhattan. Funny isn’t it? Why didn’t they tell me when I was still in NYC? Well, the story behind that is a little bit complicated and I don’t want to tell you here but I take it as the possibility to get my hands wet for my new team before I have officially joined them. And the advantage for you is that you will get some new stories and pictures out of NYC soon
I will keep you updated!