"Life Hack" - my new favorite phrase

SO: I have a new favorite phrase - "life hack" - and it has actually unseated my former favorite term, FOMO (fear of missing out). "Life hack" seems to have recently migrated from tech jargon into the mainstream. As explained by Wikipedia:


The term life hack refers to productivity tricks that computer programmers devise and employ to cut through information overload and organize their data. In more recent times, the same phrase has expanded to any sort of trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life; in other words, anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever or non-obvious way might be called a life hack.


There are two Skillshare classes out now which teach life hacks, one on how to life rent free in NYC, and the other which its teacher describes as "Tricks I have learned and created over the years to optimize my life." Sound too good to be true? We'll see - I am signing up to check it out.   


In the meantime, as my impending return to student life looms ahead, I am finding myself forced to invent my own life hacks, if for nothing other than to attempt to cut down cash outflows, whilst still taking advantage of what New York has to offer. For the first time in 5 years, I face the prospect of living without an income, and this is casting a serious pall over my grand plans to continue enjoying the good life.  Here are a few austerity measures I have put in place - and hopefully I will learn more at my first Life Hack Class in a few weeks:

1. Don't eat meat at home. Many of you will gasp in disbelief at this, but it happened quite naturally. I started craving spinach and brussel sprouts (!!!!) and simply stopped cooking meat at home because it was too much of a nuisance (although I broke this rule for Thanksgiving). I tend to eat a lot of veggies and splurge on meat when I eat out. 
2. Live in Greenpoint. Recently rated by L Magazine as number 1 in the Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings, I have to say it's not as trendy as Willy B, Fort Greene or Park Slope, but it's certainly cheaper, and it's right next to Williamsburg, which makes you feel like you practically live there (minus the crowds). My rent is cheaper than it was in Sydney (!!) and I still have amazing food, coffee and parks all around me - not to mention perogies. The area I live in is so Polish that we have our own local Polish psychic and the local Subway chain has created it's own Polish sandwich, the Zapienkanki, as shown here: 
3. Get your yoga classes free (or at least very discounted). Some yoga places now have a more populist approach to pricing - Hosh Yoga in Greenpoint, around the corner from me, is a perfect example. You can attend classes on an ad hoc basis and they simply ask that you pay a small donation fee of your choice. Amazing. 
4. Eat $1 dumplings. For $1, you can get a tasty snack to keep you going. For $2, you get double the serving - more meal than snack size. Try Prosperity Dumpling in Chinatown or the hole in the wall on Mosco St (between Mulberry and Mott streets). You'll know it's the right place because the sloping alley it's on is popular with skateboarders doing tricks...
5. Want to stay social and learn new stuff? Skillshare can't be beat. General Assembly and Third Ward have great classes, but are much more expensive. Skillshare's classes are typically around $20, but I got my last photography class for $10! Plus, in my experience, Skillshare students the type of people you'd want to hang out with outside of class as well.
6. Forgo the gym and just walk or bike everywhere. At first I was loathe to do this because I was worried I'd get run over, but now I'm totally converted to New York (or at least Brooklyn) by bike! If you must join a gym, try Boom Fitness for $20 a month - it's the cheapest one I could find, with classes all included. While my colleagues tease me about belonging to the 'ghetto-est gym' on the block, I can live without the eucalyptus scented towels from Equinox, which is over 8x more expensive.  
7. Get your hair cut for free. There are tons of students all over the city who need to finesse their skills. If this freaks you out a bit, don't worry - my student had her teacher standing right by her the entire time, watching, demonstrating and making sure she didn't leave a big hole in the back of my head. Check out the salon apprentice site for hair models wanted here.
8. Re-sell unwanted furniture.... Ok, so I'm not super proud about this because I know it will seem a bit ghetto. But I certainly made a profit... While out in Williamsburg with my cousin a few weeks ago, we came across this perfectly beautiful IKEA couch on the side of the road, with a "free" sign taped to the top. Impetuously I googled "pickup van" on craigslist, found someone to come pick us up right then for $40 and and then sold the couch a few days later on Craigslist for $100.  Not much effort for $60 bucks profit. 
9. Shop in flea markets - much more fun than IKEA! I bought this old hat rack at a flea market in Park    Slope and turned it into a quirky bookcase. 

Before:

After:

10.  Shop at Housing Works - for furniture and clothes, but more importantly, BOOKS! For someone like me who could spend hours in a bookstore agonizing over which new book I want to spend money on, Housing Works' bookstore cafe in SoHo was a godsend. Most of the books out in full price bookstores (even relatively new ones) I found on the shelves of this amazing store on Crosby Street. I bought one book I'd been eyeing weeks for $2.72 (it was on sale from $4!)

NYC's Tech Startup Footprint & Co-Creation

The NY Times recently ran a very cool article, infographic style, on how tech startups are scattered across the New York Landscape.  See below for the image and check out the article here.

In a city where everyone is talented and ambitious, I am proud to be part of a community of people who are not only smart and passionate, but are also looking beyond the banks and law firms and attempting to build and create great things. One of the best aspects of Startup is that it is a fertile breeding ground for a cross section of industries, bringing together technology, business, art and design, marketing and entertainment.  The old divisions between these areas are starting to break down, with cross pollination and co-creation across different industries, skill sets and mediums coming more and more to define Startup. In a nod to this phenomenon, Fast Company is launching a website centered solely on co-creation, which will showcase "...pioneers who are meshing tech, culture, and commerce in new ways."  Personally, I think the startup and creative industries should continue to be celebrated. We need more creation in our lives, and less consumption.

New York Times,  AMY SCHOENFELD, TIMOTHY WALLACE and ALICIA DESANTIS November 19 2011 
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/20/nyregion/technology-footprint-starting-up-in-new-york.html?src=tp

Startup theme: Curation

One of the most prevalent themes that has been popping up in startup business models these days is curation. When I was a kid, the words 'curation' and 'curator' were associated most closely with museums, in that curators selected the content for exhibitions, baesd on their expertise in a particular area. Today, curation and curating have integrated into our daily lives without us even realizing. With so much information at our fingertips and the lack of time or desire to read it all, the need for curation has skyrocketed. We are constantly trying to answer the questions: how do I know which of this information is worth reading, and what is crap? What do I want to re-tweet, share and forward on to my friends because it's interesting or because it makes my brand stronger?

The most organic and unnoticed form of curation has been around since the birth of Facebook in 2004: social media and sharing of information through friends. Watching movies on Youtube and reposting the funniest one on Facebook  is a form of curation, for instance. Nowadays you would never walk into a random restaurant without a recommendation. The selection process would involve Yelping, checking on Facebook to see if anyone had recommended it or going to a recommendations page you trusted. Our friends share stuff with us, thereby guiding what we read and process. As we process information, we too are unconciously curating - we may trawl through many sites, blogs, articles and tweets a day but only 'on-share' the very funniest emails or most incisive articles with our own communities (or we might selectively pass on different information to different groups in our networks). The rise of the blog over the past few years has also supported the ease of curating, providing a perfect forum to curate products, ideas, and experiences.

Nowadays though, curation is truly becoming a revenue generating business model. Businesses have sprouted up to help us filter the vast waves of information and the sheer amount of stuff that comes our way daily. (It is not just information on the Internet which we need to filter and curate, but also the  products available for us to purchase - Americans today have more choice than any other country or generation in history. Even picking out a deodorant is sometimes overwhelming for me.) Apparently this was a challenge to others as well, because one day someone started a company which curated actual products and sent out monthly boxes to subscribers. Birchbox was one of the first to do this with makeup and skincare products, in their words, "a curated box of luxe beauty samples."

The coolest companies out there in the business of curation make it fun. Now there is Quarterly, where you can subscribe for curated care packages which are "engaging and have good taste". Subscribers don't technically need any of these things, but they are surprising and delightful "...and meet some standard of interestingness and originality." Others have made a business of curating happenings, culture, art and technology within a particular area. Cool Hunting seeks to provide inspiration by sifting through innovations in design, technology, art and culture for their readers. GOOD combines user input with curation through "Good Finder" where they invite users to "post anything inspirational, thought-provoking, mind-blowing, or otherwise good to share..." These submissions are then curated by GOOD's editorial team.

While the saying "there is no accounting for taste" is old and perhaps true, curation as a viable business relies on having the clout, expertise or track record to get people to shell out money because they trust or share your taste. In other words, what you recommend better be good. My sense is that many of these businesses started organically, with the Founders sharing something they were passionate about, and then realizing that being an expert in something that you are passionate about, and sharing that with the world through curation was actually a viable revenue stream. What could be better than having a day job that is all about sharing the things you love and think are interesting, with other people?

Startups - the latest hot ticket item for journos...

Despite the name of this blog, it's no longer summer, and we're almost beyond fall, on the cusp of winter. But I'm back and still blogging! It's been a while since the last post, for a few reasons. Workload is a pretty boring excuse and I do have a better one - Blogger changed their interface and during the interchange I somehow lost a post, which was really annoying. I was so pissed off that I am only now returning, after a brief flirtation with Tumblr.

There is a lot going on in the tech startup world here. Many of these themes seem to resonate with the media and it's amazing to me how often startups and Silicon Valley feature in serious sections, such as the Sunday Business section of the New York Times. Michael Ellsberg's article on whether "Dropouts will save America" was interesting. The Times also recently ran a feature on Andrew Yang, who is starting Venture for America, a "Teach for America for startups". I saw Andrew speak at the TiE FORSE conference in Boston and his idea is compelling. There are at least seven journalists with different slants writing on startups in the Small Business Blog and this is just the Times. We knew that startups had truly gone "Hollywood" after The Social Network hit theatres, but this cultural phenomenon was formalized when newspapers started covering which stars were investing in which new companies (in case you're curious, Leonardo Di Caprio invests in Mobli; for more gossip on which stars invest, read this Mashable article.) News vehicles from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal have been hitting the startup beat. Check out this article from Bostinnovation which associates entrepreneurship with being sexy.
The flavor of the moment is that startups are saving America from the recession and that we need to invest in entrepreneurship to drive our economy. Entrepreneurs are the new heroes because they are creating jobs. It's a hot ticket to be writing about startups, at the moment - which I love! However I can't help but feel unease at the bubble that seems to be growing around the startup sector, and the expectations that come with large IPO's like those of LinkedIn, Groupon (and maybe Facebook, sometime next year.)

I'm hoping to find the time and discipline to write more posts on the themes I've seen emerge in startup through my role at Catchafire. Tomorrow's post will be about curation: how it's emerged organically over the past few years and how entrepreneurs are taking it to a new level by building businesses purely on the basis of curation, or taste.

Picture courtesy of dierken on flickr

If you are interested in the tech startup world...

...these are some interesting sites to bookmark and read regularly.
Check them out here.

1. Smashing Magazine - Delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. What I like is their focus on user experience and design.
2. The 99% - Behance's think tank,which researches the forces that truly push ideas to fruition. One of my new favorite sites.
3. TechCrunch - Dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.
4. Mashable - I may have mentioned these guys before, but they are the largest independent news source dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology so they are core source of news to the startup community, the same way the NYTimes is core to liberal, well educated urbanites.
5. We are NYTech - The strength of New York's start-up community can be attributed to its diversity of talent and the strong collaboration between those involved. This site puts a face to the amazing people who are involved in this industry, some of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting and or working with. In fact, my friend Sarah Judd Welch was featured the other day!

Sick in the City

When you're living abroad in an exciting new city for a limited period of time, it's really a bit like the honeymoon period in a relationship: rose tinted, romantic and not exactly a study in realism. Therefore, I believe it's always important to try to experience a new city not as a tourist but as a true resident would. I like to think that this is what I did this week. I experienced what happens when you get really sick and need to see a doctor, fast.

While it was certainly not a pleasant experience (and initially made me feel like I had wasted 5 days of my life) I realised that I learned what the city had to offer me in a time of crisis.

Initially I thought it was just regular old food poisoning and that I would have done my time in 36 hours, 48 at the most. When day 3 rolled around and I felt I was getting worse, I freaked out and looked for a doctor online. Zocdoc, the amazing online booking system I found, was great - it listed available doctors in my area and highlighted which ones took my type of insurance, their specialty and all their available times for the next few days. I could even review their resumes, or look at their picture to see which face I found most appealing, or knowledgeable! (Only in the US would you have this much information with which to make your choice!) Once you've made your choice, you can then click in to make your appointment. When I had issues with the website and called the 1800 number for help, a lovely young man named Matt tried to assist me, and when he couldn't, he SENT ME AN AMAZON COUPON for my troubles! God, I love customer service in America!

Eventually I got an appointment at Beth Israel two blocks from work. Just hearing the name Beth Israel  made me feel better. (For Aussies, Beth Isreal is a major hospital network with a very strong brand in NY).  I had chosen a professional looking general practitioner who was female and young. The appointment was pretty generic - lots of paperwork, doctor decor, super sterile clinical rooms and the doctor was 15 mins late as per normal. However, she had an air of efficient knowledge, and diagnosed me with absolute confidence. She even provided me with other useful life tips, before sending me out the door in just over 5 mins. I was impressed with her speed, but she was so quick it actually made me suspicious that she'd diagnosed me correctly.

When I wasn't getting better 24 hours later, I came across a little office in the East Village advertising "Dr. Dave", a man brave enough to actually post his cell phone number on his office door. In a panic, I texted him. We had a few back and forths, me frantically describing my symptoms and asking if I had Helicobacter Pylori (a bacteria from hell), and him calmly reminding me I needed to make a real appointment. What impressed me was that he actually responded to my text. What impressed me even more the next day when I showed up for my appointment was that he is obviously a doctor with a difference.

Turns out "Dr. Dave" is something of an institution in New York. Numerous articles have been written about him and he has been featured on CNN:

Sporting colourful tattoos up both arms and the mannerisms of a 21 year old, Dr. Dave runs a tiny office right around the corner from my apartment on Ave B. The population of people patiently hanging out in his waiting room indicates that he treats mostly immigrants, bootstrappers, and everyone else with little cash. Dr. Dave is most well known for his gig running a health co-op for food workers in the restaurant industry. He has been known to provide health advice from the bar and do house (restaurant) calls in the middle of the night when people cut themselves. As I sat waiting to see him, he treated a young guy seemingly for free. I seemed to have stumbled upon an honest to god community doctor, in the 21st century, in my neighbourhood.

In the end, Dr Dave confirmed that the doctor at Beth Israel had gotten the diagnosis right and it was just taking me longer to get better than I thought. However, he added another medicine to my list, as well as prescribing me Gatorade(!), which I actually think made all the difference in how quickly I got better.

Having had experiences on both ends of the spectrum, it is a nice feeling to know that I have choices, depending on what I need.  I could go with surgical efficiency, a brand name guarantee and mid town locale, or go the community style, slightly zany but discount route. At this point, I think I prefer the latter. It's hard to explain why I felt more comforted by Dr. Dave than my uber efficient Beth Israel practitioner. Perhaps it's because he takes care of the whole process, start to finish - from appointment booking (and texting, if you need that) through diagnosis to payment and followup. He seems to charge you what he thinks you can pay for, and humour never hurts when you're not feeling well. He made me laugh. Whilst Beth Israel is great, there is no substitute for a local experience that makes you feel like there is someone watching out for your community. Oh, and by the way, my follow up appointment with him is free. =)

Is our job market starting to embody the characteristics of a start-up?

 "The Start-up of You" - a GREAT article by Thomas Friedman appeared in the NYTimes today. I was super excited because Friedman, famous NY Times columnist and author of the much lauded book "The World is Flat",  has managed to synthesize into his op-ed many of the thoughts that have been swirling through my head recently.


Friedman starts by highlighting how the strongest sector in the still lacklustre US economy is now in Silicon Valley, which is embodied by internet and social networking companies like Facebook and LinkedIn. For job seekers, the implications of this fact are powerful:  the job market has increasingly started to reflect the lifecycle and environment of a startup. 
A few quick notes on what makes a "start-up" a "start-up": 

• Start-up business cycles are much shorter than those of regular businesses and move much more quickly. 
• Start-ups make decisions quickly, with much less information than corporations would allow. 
• Because start-ups are always developing innovative new products, their goal is often to move fast and innovate, with processes tending to be lean and iterative. I think Michael K, from the start-up Skillshare, said it best on his blog: 

"Our team doesn’t believe in “launches” [of products]  because we’re always iterating, improving and innovating on our product. We don’t follow “two-week sprints”  because the biggest cost to our company isn’t money, it’s time. Two weeks for our team is equivalent to 2 months in the corporate world. For that reason, we will be releasing daily and often for our product.  This allows us to fail faster, and invest less time in things that just don’t work." (1)

Friedman suggests that this environment is reflected in today's job market as employment lifecycles shorten further and job tenures become more uncertain. Most importantly, those who manage to thrive in this new job market seem to possess the characteristics of agility, adaptation and tenacity - in short, the ability to continuously reinvent oneself. What does this mean for job seekers, or those of us trying to build our careers? One of the quotes Friedman includes that hits home most strongly is from Reid Garrett Hoffman*, one of the most prominent figures in the Silicon Valley start-up industry. He says: "...you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business.” (2)   


The changing job market has been written about before - particularly in relation to increasing globalisation and the characteristics of Gen-Y. The popular prediction to emerge from this conversation is that we will now have 4-5 different careers in one lifetime, not 1 or 2. However, comparing the job market to the incredibly uncertain environment of a start-up is a different proposition altogether and one I have not yet read about. Rather than 4-5 career changes, this implies a continuous shifting, adjusting and evolution of one's career and role, rather than distinct, definitive changes over a career lifetime. This implies more subtle adjustments, more iterations and less contemplation before making a move.    
   
If this is where the job market is heading, one would think that a lot of the job seeking population would need to adjust the way they think about their jobs and future careers. However, a lot of us already seem to be in this mindset. The rise in popularity of this industry with young, ambitious Gen-Yers from decent schools is evidenced even in my own network - at least 10 of the kids I went to school with are now working for Google. A handful have even started their own start ups.

In closing, this is a great article for those considering switching careers, kids in high school contemplating what they should study in college, and anyone else interested in the start-up industry. Read on here!!!! "The Start Up of You".

*"RGH is one of the premier starter-uppers in Silicon Valley — besides co-founding LinkedIn, he is on the board of Zynga, was an early investor in Facebook and sits on the board of Mozilla." (3)


Credits:
"The Start-Up of You", Thomas L. Friedman. New York Times online. July 12, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/opinion/13friedman.html?src=recg. (2), (3).
"Creating a Product Focused Start-up Culture", Michael Karnjanaprakorn. Michael Karnjanaprakorn Blog. February 21, 2011.http://www.mikekarnj.com/blog/. (1)

Microactions and other interesting trends.....

Whew! It's been a long time since the last blog post!

The good news - it's been an inspiring time! Work has just gotten really interesting, and tellingly, this happened when I started to focus more on Product and less on being a consultant!

However, it's also been a week of learning more about what is out there in the social media and social good world. New York is many things, but it is definitely at the forefront of shaping popular and Gen Y culture, kind of like a magnet which attracts everyone at the cutting edge of their industry, whatever that might be.  These are just a few of the concepts / trends I have observed recently and found interesting...

1. Microactions

Have any of you heard of microactions? I hadn't until last week. It is the idea that taking tiny steps can move people forward without threatening their sense of control. Its an effective way of enacting change without overwhelming people. Microactions disarm our resistance to and fear of change because we commit to something so small and inconsequential that we are not worried about failure, and we're guaranteed success in completing this tiny action. They're much smaller than actual steps, and often seem almost ridiculous. For instance, I learned of a life balance coach who used microactions to help an overweight client who absolutely refused to exercise. She writes: 

"As the director of the Hypertension Research Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center I prescribed exercise for all my patients who wanted to lose weight. I remember one woman who hated to exercise. I honestly think she would rather wire her jar shut or eat a strict diet of earthworms. At each visit I instructed her to walk for thirty minutes each day and at each return visit she confessed she had not exercised at all. We tried every behavior modification trick in the book, but no amount of punishment or reward could get her to comply.

So I tried a microaction. I asked her if she could simply get dressed to exercise three times a week. She looked at me as though I was radioactive. “What a worthless thing to do! Let me get this straight. I am supposed to just get dressed to exercise? A sweat shirt will not burn any calories!”I agreed but replied, “Just this week. Humor me.”At her next visit I asked her if she had tried the “just get dressed “ prescription.“Yes I did.”“Great!. Now I want you to add one minute of walking,,,”She interrupted me with a crafty grin. “I walked for thirty minutes three times this week.”“But I gave you strict instructions not to.”She laughed. “I felt so stupid standing there, all dressed up with no place to go, that I decided to walk just a little. Five blocks from home I discovered that exercise is not so bad. My neighbor joined me and now between the verbal venting and the hiking I come back feeling wonderful.”

I don't know who said this, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (and I know from personal experience that the first step is often the hardest.) Microactions are being used more and more in startups and on websites to get users to do what you want. However, they are obviously useful across a range of applications.... 

2. If we ran the world.....

This is an amazing idea that I came upon when reading about microactions. Their mission, in short:

IfWeRanTheWorld is a real-world experiment in tapping good intentions and turning them into tangible, do-able microactions that anyone and everyone can help you to do. All of us can achieve more than one of us, and everything starts with a microaction.

I have just added my own microaction to the site - please check it out! Danz, you will love this one. 

3. "Reading the news" is no longer about reading the Times or the SMH

My friend Danz would be the first person to tell you that she now goes to Twitter and FB for her latest news updates. Traditional practices of reading the newspaper or watching CNN are becoming outdated as we demand more and more tailored news - news that is relevant specifically to us and our interests and lifestyles. We don't want to read about what some editor thinks is important, rather we want everything potentially newsworthy to be filtered through our own lens so we're left with the most pertinent and interesting information, without having to wade through a whole raft of things we care nothing about.  

Nowadays, Gen Y'ers tend to establish a collection of blogs or e-publications on the areas they are interested in and scan those every morning. Say you are really into American politics. Sure, the NYTimes may report on Capitol Hill  or feature the biggest news items in the main section, but the idea is that niche political sites will report on the same news but do it better, because that is their area of expertise.  Others 'follow' someone on Twitter who they know has the most up to date information on the issues they find compelling. 

In general, I would say, our world is becoming more and more tailored to each of us, as companies figure out how to leverage the vast datasets of personal information stored on the web - just look at the Google ads which appear on your side bars when you are reading your Gmail.......it's kind of spooky! There is even a new term now to describe these datasets: "big data"! McKinsey Global calls it "the next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity." Check out their report on Big Data here.

A day in the life.....

So a typical day might run like this....

6.45am - if Emily is strong enough to get me out of bed, she does, and we go for a run by the East River. Have made the unsurprising discovery that I am VERY unfit. 

8.30am - leave for work - get ice coffee on the way (I trial a new place every day but have not yet found the holy grail....) 

The walk to work:

 Stuyvesant Street:  an example of the ideal street to live on in the East Village..apparently it's heritage listed. 

A popular NY hang out for couples...(a common sight for me on my morning walk to work)

The dog park! The weird thing I've noticed is, New York dogs are ugly.  I know you are never supposed to say that about anyone else's dog, (it's like saying their child is ugly or stupid) but New York dogs are, on the whole, not very cute - in my humble opinion. (why is this!?!?) They definitely don't hold a candle to Blue. 

Everything here is so CHEAP! Fitness First, you are the devil!

9.00am-ish Start work at Startup X

Mid morning: Sales meeting! This is what a typical meeting might look like.....

Maile has no shame!

Lunch: COSI! Forgot how well America does salads.

6.30pm: Potentially hit up a "meetup" in the city somewhere. For those who have not yet heard of the meetup phenomenon, it's pretty cool. If you are looking for other people who also like to knit baby clothes and eat cheese together, you could probably find that. You can pretty much find any community your heart desires, no matter how niche. Some examples: Women Walkers of South Palm Desert, New York Gay and Lesbian Rock Climbing Group, Knit and Wine Brooklyn...

We went to a meetup recently of Australians in Tech, held at an amazing rooftop bar...

On the walk home.... There are a bunch of funky bars in the East Village....the following Soviet outpost has always fascinated me but I haven't yet ventured the courage to go in....sometimes there are KGB-esque types hanging around outside.

 

What New Yorkers do on the weekends....

So, I'm not going to lie - after living on the beach in Coogee it's been a bit hard to transition to the lack of space in New York. So I understand why New Yorkers need to "weekend" elsewhere. Southern Connecticut, known as a bedroom of New York City, has long been a destination of choice.

Luckily, the beach house was available for the final weekend in June and so we took major advantage...

Lazing around on the deck at "Pure Luck"...

Definite evidence of more lazin' going on...

This hobiecat really flies when you get going...

Maile was probably the most excited of all of us to get out of the city  ("no more pooping on concrete!") We were worried that the little bare patch on her nose was going to get burned as she lay in the sun, so we created a little tent for her schnoz out of an ad from the Wall Street Journal....

                                                                                           Maile and Thomas floating in the Sound together.

Emily doing some beach reading......

Food and Drink

This being New York, I thought I would have written about food and drink earlier than the 4th post! Luckily, I have some very sophisticated friends who know where to go and what to indulge in, or I would be lost at sea....
(Miles, this post is for you! Revisit it when you come to NY!)

A few cool places from the past week:

1. Resto - Belgian, with a cosy bar, and good beer options. Crispy pig ear was surprisingly good! Thanks to SJH for this one...

2. Andaz - a bar hidden in the depths of the Andaz hotel across from the Public Library. Dark, mysterious and sophisticated (also, delicious smelling empanadas.) Thanks again to SJH.......

3. Rif Raf - a new, invite only (I think?) bar/club, where a large and imposing man in black seeks out every new entry to the establishment to apply streaks of war paint to their face. Like it or not, you get painted! With all the sweat produced from dancing and inevitable spillage of drinks, it is very likely that most of your war paint will end up smeared everywhere, so don't wear your favorite outfit... This was courtesy of SJH and her lovely other half..

4. Bianca -  a popular Italian restaurant which does romantic candlelight really well and has great value for money. The wait is often 1 hour from the point of putting your name on the list so go next door to the speakeasy to hang out. (This evening was courtesy of ML)

Seafood linguine

Enjoying his lasgana....

5. Blue Smoke - good BBQ in Murray Hill. Spicy tuna taco appetizer was great!

6. *unknown new york diner* - Love the diners!!! Don't even care which one this was....I missed them!

Diner folk.....

Diner coffee! With the plastic milks!! 

Apologies to those who aren't really into food, or details (like the diner plastic milks)...I like both.

From corporate to startup...

The startup scene is definitely a departure from corporate! A few differences....

1.  There are no glass corner offices - the CEO sits amongst the people.

2. Dogs (startup mascots) are allowed! (When we were sharing an office with another startup, Skillshare, they had a dog as well and we kept having to break up fights between them....)

3. Furnishings are sparse, whilst the computers are over the top! Gotta love the juxtopositioning of the old wood tables upon which are resting beautiful, new, all in one, Macs, sometimes turned sideways by coders for easier coding. FYI: computer programmers, obviously one of the most common roles in a startup, are loosely referred to as 'coders'.

4. My desk is different but process mapping  never changes!

5. No one tends to start before 9.30am (except for maybe the poor Sales team), again an influence from coder culture....

Getting lost....

I took a walk today to explore the East Village further and get to the East River. Somehow, though, I ended up in the Projects. Picture me, hand over my big expensive camera, hurriedly doing the 'head down' walk through the house estate. Anyway.

So a little about my neighbourhood.....

There are so many little gardens! Where did they come from? So much for NY being an "urban jungle..." It seems like there are community gardens on every corner, (not just in the East Village but all over Manhattan) each with their own theme and design. All are incredibly well-maintained and many have private nooks and crannies (e.g. benches hidden under weeping willows....) for D&Ms or thinking sessions with your diary and a coffee. Check out Grow NYC if you're interested!

The top prize goes to a garden on my street, E 4th, which has a "bird nest" tree house.

View from the treehouse is totally urban...

These little girls were playing in the garden, picking berries from the tree...

It turns out my apartment is in the heart of a Cuban community. There are literally 5 Cuban churches within a a block of each other and we live right next to one, Iglesia Pentacostal Camino A Damasco. Quite a mouthful.

Delightful bent over little men are permanent fixtures on the church steps and street.

Next post: FOOD!!!!!

Arrival!

Its the first day of summer! (Technically I have been here for 8 days now, but pretending I've arrived today is a much more symbolic way to start off the blog...)

This will be a short post because the city is already wearing me out (apparently I'm a wuss and haven't gotten my big-city-sea-legs back yet...)

A few things that have struck me so far: 

1. The walking! People talk '15 blocks' like its around the corner! And people walk fast. 

2. The walking AND successfully avoiding the dog poo...more challenging than you might think. Especially if you are trying to surreptitiously read a map while walking.  My first night, I put my toe in a nice pile and Emily wouldn't let me in the house without some serious negotiations about scrubbing my toes for a minimum of 10 minutes.....

3. Coffee situation here has definitely improved since I was last here. Not Sydney standards yet, but much better. It now seems to be like a new hobby for people - what is the most unique cafe for me to get my morning coffee at? What is the coolest name i can come up with for my new coffee specialty cafe? 

More to come! If you guys get bored of reading this and don't want alerts of new postings in your email, just let me know. 

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