To Pay the Incorrect Amount of Rent or Not to Pay Rent

Worked at Columbia today. Worried about paying rent on time because the management company never sent me a statement even though I tried calling them several times. Night was a lazy one and it was nice.

The Freak Storm

Worked feverishly to translate an informed consent form. Thanks to my mami I was able to make it perfect! I'm sick today and it isn't fun. Stayed home to rest and get better. A freak storm hit and to avoid indoor damaged, I forced Alex to help me close all the windows. Hens' AC was in the window and it was damn heavy. Thing fell & caused this gash. Totally ruined my day! :( The storm lasted about 5 minutes, but so much wind and water was coming through the windows, I think it was best I closed them. Didn't want the electrical stuff to get damaged. Still, it sucked... hard.

The Olive Garden Overload

After work, Bonnie, Alex, Keity & I went to Olive Garden for the unlimited pasta deal. 3 plates! That was my goal and I was successful :] Afterwards, we sat in a big round sitting area in Time Square and rocked back & forth. Overall, it felt like a good day.

LMAO!

   

The Website Design

I met with one of Lehman's web designers to discuss the office's new website. Again, wouldn't be able to do this in my line of work. Very fun to do and I loved organized it. Check it out! [my picture is up there under staff members:]

http://www.lehman.edu/teaching-learning-commons/index.php

The Next Investigative Interview

Today I interview another faculty member. She worked in Monte Verde on a digital library projects to address community health issues. Also very intriguing. I'm happy I can do this type of work. Wouldn't be able to do this at another job in my field (unless I was conducting a focus group/interview for a research study, but that's different)

The Day I Hope I Rested

This is very unlikely, but I hope I relaxed today. I don't have anything in my planner & and I don't have any pictures taken. I even checked my facebook.. aaaaand nothing. Just checked my emails. Nada. And now my phone... not even a phone call or text. What did I do?!

The Ikea Trip

I'm continuing to have a healthy breakfast, but it's so hard to incorporate it into my morning routine.

^^ I wrote that before & saved it as a draft. I'll just leave it.

We went to Ikea. It was pretty fun. We took a free ferry to get there since it's in Brooklyn and much faster this way. Got there & ate cheap breakfast, which was tasty. Then looked around for what we saw online and didn't exactly find what we wanted. We need to come back or go to a different Ikea to get the stuff. Btw, what we saw online was definitely not the same as it is in person!

It was also our monthiversary <3

Ended the night at the girls' place for Bonnie's bday. Crazy night, but fun!

I'm diggin the different styles of seating I see around here in NYC

Small couch! It didn't look this small online!!

Pretending he's at a computer

Five guys! Yum!

Lumberjacks :]

The Move-in

To start off my day, we decided that on the way to work I would help Alex take a few things to the apartment. I ended up being 15min late to work, but no one said anything. I'll put those minutes to use when I work from home. While I worked, Alex brought everything from Keity's to our new place. I got home, ate some sort of dinner (I don't remember) and went to Keity's to watch How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM). It was weird how I instantly felt like their apartment wasn't "home" anymore. I felt like a guest... very strange. Still wish we could've made an addition to theirs and just added a B/R haha. They made me not miss home as much. Gotta get use to that. But it was definitely time to have our own space. 5 ppl in 1 apartment does not work for long!

The Extra Hours

Today started off slow. I had toast with cream cheese for breakfast. Took my lunch to do other work & talk to my mom. Then went to an interesting event where professors talked about how to prevent plagerism in the classroom. Free lunch was an added bonus. Then had a meeting about the upcoming conference. I can't believe it's almost the end of September!
I found out that I have extra hours I can work if I want :] Also, Cobblestone is hiring me to translate a consent form into Spanish. The perks of being bilingual.
Got out of work and met Alex at Morton Williams (although we were each at different ones 2 blocks away from each other). Spent $69 on groceries. I hope this lasts us more than a week!
Made dinner. Potatoes and spicy pork. Watched Modern Family. Yay! And left to Jamba Juice and Barnes & Noble downtown.
Now on the train to do some work and then sleep!

Bathroom thus far

The 10hr Work Day

Worked at Columbia today. Got my staff ID. ID person was really friendly. Had a team meeting at the Lamont campus, northwest of us. Had to go thru Jersey to get to the campus. Took a free shuttle that the school provides. The meeting went well; I have a better grasp of the project and how it's coded.

Got off around 7 to meet Keity at her place to go to Planet Fitness. Cardio for 30min, then some squats & crunches.

Made it home tired & hungry so I made whatever came to mind. Rice, fried egg, fried banana & toast. It was amazing! It's crazy how lack of planning can work out so well. Watched the wire and fell asleep.

The Investigative Interview

I met up with a faculty member to interview him on his business research in Turkey. It was quite interesting. I feel like I've written about this already... I went back to see if I did and I didn't. I'm confused. See, this is why I shoudl be writing on here.

The Sexual Harassment & Bills

Thanks to my planner I'm able to go back & mention at least something each day (we'll see how that goes;)

I completed a sexual harassment course today for RF at Lehman.

Today I also called con Edison for our gas & electricity. Bill bills bills...

The Apartment Cleaning

My day pretty much consisted of cleaning the apartment. Alex and I went to Applebee's first just to catch up; then to Target for cleaning supplies & essentials. Then 3-4 hours of cleaning. Even though it was relatively clean, we wanted to give it a nice scrub before we started living in it. Got back to Keity's and cleaned a little more and then bedtime!

The Hudson River Cafe

Woke up and ate delicious Indian food.

Took Keity to see the apartment and brought over some boxes.

Got ready to go out to Dinosaur BBQ & the Hudson River Cafe.

Ate dinner, walked by the Hudson River, and went to the club.

Got home at 2am... had a great night for Bonnie's bday!

Waiting for the train 

Dinner!

After our meals.

By the Hudson River Cafe

Birthday girl lookin all FIERCE

The gang 

Bright lights, big city!

The (hopefully) Final Interview (for a while)

I got up early today, probably because I went to sleep earlier than usual. I made Keity & I a shake for breakfast (strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple, oatmeal, almond milk, and honey). She made Bonnie lunch while Hens made her breakfast.

I got ready for my interview and left to get there a few minutes before. When I got to the A subway station, everyone was on the stairs and I didn't know why until I could smell the smoke. Then I saw the smoke. I'm not sure what happened, but I heard that somethings caught on fire, they put it out, and everything was fine except for all the smoke. When I get off the subway, I started walking in the wrong direction, good thing I left early. I still go there a few minutes ahead of time and walked into a beautiful building. It use to be a court (or is...I'm not 100% sure) and I had to take a picture and go through security to get it.

Smoke in the subway

Thus begins the interview. One of the girls interviewing me wouldn't really reply to my response to the questions, but the other one would say things like good answer. So I'm not too sure how to take that part of the interview. Then I had to do a statistical task. I had to import the data from some weird ass format (which I've never used), but I figured it out. Then the computer froze, but luckily I had saved my work. Once I restarted it, I finished the task right on time and had to present my findings to 4 people of the team. I wasn't too nervous, but every time I wanted to say something lie 52,400 I would say 524. Once it was over I felt better, but not as relieved as I thought I would. I never know how to take the interviews and I feel like I do a lot worse than I really do. I stuck around to take pictures of the beautiful buildings there. Then went to work at Columbia.

In the middle of the building

Where I interviewed

 Got home and celebrated Bonnie's bday. I got her a Hello Kitty lunch pail and Hello Kitty pasta. Alex got her flowers with Hens. They were very pretty! We played the celebrity game and ate a lot of food. Oh yeah, I ordered Thai and it was delicious. Overall, it was a good night.

Mini cheesecupcakes

Happy Birthday, Bonnie!

The Career Woman

Today I was in charge of a lot. I got to work and immediately started on a to do list because... there was a lot to do!!! I had to respond to large amounts of emails, update the conference registration, meet about the conference to order giveaways, prep for a faculty workshop that I lead, and order food for next week (via a fax machine that wouldn't cooperate).

I was proud of myself for having a salad and soup for lunch. Talked to my mom (which I miss more and more everyday) and finished some tasks for my mentoring position. I also had a meeting with my coordinator today to discuss how my coaches are doing.

Setting up for the event

I planned to meet the super today to get the keys for the new pad lock he put in, but I was late and he wasn't home and he didn't put a new one in.  At least I was able to drop off some kitchen supplies I snagged up from the event I planned. My boss was so nice to offer any extra materials I might find useful.

I got home and played a little dress up with Keity. Figured out what I'm wearing for Bonnie's bday.. as long as Hensleigh is cool with it :] then we went to PJ for drinks tomorrow.

I got back to the apartment and I started brushing up on my stats for tomorrow's interview. Too bad I don't have SPSS anymore to practice fully. I believed I got enough in and went to sleep (late.. again! I don't understand how this always happens).

The Arepas Bar with Bianca

I did NOT want to wake up this morning. But I prepared myself for a long day and off I went to pick up the keys to our apartment. The super let me know that the top lock needed to be changed. Boo. So tomorrow we're going to move in our stuff at 6pm. He also told me that we might want to get bars put up in our window to the fire escape, but that cost $250. I went to look at the apartment and the tub was dirty. Did some homeless person come take a bath? Idk.

Got to work and ate my oatmeal. Then I finished creating some excel files. Had a lunch meeting with my supervisor and then group meeting after that. My boss said that she's happy I am working for her and that she might have some upcoming projects she could potentially have me work on, which is awesome! Finished up some more work and then left to meet up with Bianca. I read some proposals on the way, something I wouldn't have been able to do in Cali.

I got to the restaurant ("Caracas" in Manhattan) and was happy to see a familiar face. We talked about our adventures as we waited to be seated in the cute & tiny arepas bar. She told me about her upcoming work, getting ready to leave NY, and I told her about me getting settled in NY. We were finally seated and ate delicious food! I got a chicken avacado salad arepa and she got a chrizo chicken chimi churri arepa. We also ordered tostones with some salty cheese. As Rachel Ray would say it, "Yumm-o!" It was really nice to hang out with Bianca and hope to do it again soon!!

Now I'm on the train back home.. about to read some more proposals.

G'night, New York.

Tostones

Arepa!!

On the train :]

The Lease Signing

Woke up super groggy, but got over it. I packed my lunch and ate Special K cereal (with 1/8 of a banana, Keity's leftovers) for breakfast. Got to work 5min late, again! Public transportation isn't quite reliable, but I guess I should leave early and just get to work early. We'll see. Things will change wen we move and I'll probably walk to work.

I was happy to again get most of my work done, but at one point in the day there were about 7 people in the office and it was hectic. That may not seem like a lot, but for our office it is! Then I had a meeting with my other coach, which went well.


Today I got my Lehman ID, only to figure out later in the day that it was a student ID. This occurred even though the employment letter clearly states I'm a part-time staff member. I guess I look too young for them to care. Oh well... I didn't return it hoping to use the perks of a student (haven't used it yet though).

Left to set up for the 1st year faculty seminar and attended the event. I realized today that these events are very telling of the higher education environment. I am learning so much about the guts of an institution like this and I think it is extremely valuable for my career. It really makes me want to continue with my research & evaluation efforts within the school system. I am grateful to have this opportunity to develop foreign skills and knowledge that can potentially benefit me in my future scholarship.

So after work I signed the lease. It was interesting to read the contract. Apparently if we want to install an AC unit, we need to notify the management company first and pay $5/mo. But that's not too bad, especially considering that they went down to $950/mo from $975.

After the signing, I had to go into work at Columbia. Alex and I attempted to eat dinner quickly, but we ended up in Time Square and it was way too expensive. Got to work and didn't stop for a good while. Made it home around 9, tried to order Thai but we were too far for the 2 places I called, made fettuccine alfredo, talked about Bonnie's bday with the rhombus, watched True Blood, and went to sleep too late. :(

The Productive Monday

I'm finding a theme with my Monday posts. They're definetly not as memorable, but I tend to do a lot to prepare for the week. I think its reflective of most people's schedule?
I got to work and finished many of the necessary tasks ahead of schedule. I had my mentoring meeting at lunch, where I got a salad for $5. I attended (because I planned the event) a 2nd year faculty workshop. It was very nice to meet them and to learn all about their research this summer.
After work I had time to relax, which was very much needed. Bonnie's cousin came to visit and brought her very cute daughter. I watched another episode of True Blood (I'm running out of shows to catch up on) and then played the name game, whichs fun to play and funny to watch people have their teammates guess the character/person.
Then Keity & I went to the gym. 30min of cardio and 20min of abs and arms. When we got home for some reason we started talking about our eating/exercise habits and decided to make some healthy commitments until November 13th. I will work out at least 3 times a week and eat a healthy breakfast. We will all try to eat more fruits & vegetables. Also, I will continue to drink 8 cups of water. It was funny how we kept saying we would go to sleep, but ended up talking until about 1am. I was tired in the morning :( so another healthy habit should be going to sleep at a decent hour.

 

The Bikram Yoga

This time I woke up to get ready for bikram yoga, which is yoga in a sauna type room. Keity & I had a not so light breakfast, but I don't think that affected me during the class. It was a $5 donation and mat & towel rentals were $1-2. There were a lot of people at the session. Even though I've tried this type of yoga, it still was extremely challenging. I kept feeling light headed, but I pushed myself as much as possibl, especially at the beginning.

I've never sweat so much!

Then we ordered Dominican food: carne a la res, arroz y frijoles, y papas fritas. It reminded me of lomo saltado and it was yummy. We later bought some ice cream ($6 tub) and some groceries for the glampad.
Watched some True Blood (miss watching it with Becky!) Planned to go to ground zero, but it was too crazy and it was time for families and friends who were directly affected. We plan to go to the memorial soon though.

Saw this on our walk home from yoga. "From Lima to New York"

Thought of Craig when I saw this!

The "Work Day" with Hensleigh

Today I woke up around 8:30 today go to a free yoga class at a church with Hensleigh. Turns out, it's just a block away from my work at Columbia. The majority of the yogis where older, but the class was appropriately challenging since its been a while since I've done yoga.

Afterwards, we had breakfast at a bagel shop. I had a delicious blueberry muffin. Next, we went shopping. Got to Sephora and I did my make-up for the day, :] got free samples, and took pictures with a dog that had on little booties. It was funny; I pointed out the dog (as I was doing all day) and Hens suggested we ask to take a picture. The lady said, "Sure. Do you want to hold?" I'm thinking of course! So I do and then she ask if Hens wants to hold the othe dog and here she pulls out a second pup from her purse. Crazy. But super cute!

Went to TJmax next where I got a Steve Madden rain coat, Nine West winter coat, grey boots, a gift for Bonnie & green tights. It cost $150, much more than I was willing to spend, but I guess it was necessary. I'll still look for deals elsewhere and see if I can find coats for cheaper. If not, I'm sticking to my buys. We finally got home around 4; I had a really good, relaxing day with Hens :]

The Approved Apartment (that we didn't apply for)

I had a hard time waking up this morning, but I got to work on time. I brought my lunch this time, but forgot my water. Luckily I found out that we have a water jug in the main office. I got a good amount of work done again and had to delve out tasks for a new research assistant. This weekend I plan on coming up with a systematized way of organizing all the data. I think this is important before we move forward with data collection, that way we stay consistent, efficient and accurate with our research.

Found out that the manageent company for apartment we applied for has yet to respond to our offer. So the real estate guy we're working with applied us to another apartment down the street and we got approved. I'm on my way to go see it. Meeting Alex there. I hope it's amazing that way we can move right away!

Yesterday I noticed that most younger public transportation passengers tend to have head phones on. Here I am on a subway train typing on my phone.. blogging. It's interesting to observe this type of behavior. I'm comfortable sitting on the train not doing anything linked to the outside world, but I do have to find something somewhat produtive or I feel wasteful. I usually take this travel time to work out my schedule or blog. I use to think of my to do lists in my head while I drove in Cali, so I feel like this is definitely a benefit. Although, I am spending double the time to get to work and such.

So we saw the apartment and it was practically perfect! We will sign the lease on Tuesday and then it's ours! It's almost 100% so I'm excited!

Bathroom

Bedroom (fire-escape & 2 windows)

Living room (2 windows)

Kitchen

There's room for a small table!

 Then we had some McDonald's, I bought some MAC Hello Kitty mascara & eyeliner for $10 (going back tomorrow for some cheap nail polish.. thanks to the guy on the street) and now watching The Wire :]