Loving every minute in NYC

I am havinc such a great time in New York. I was able to fly in on Saturday since I had to be here for a trade show on Tuesday morning. It was the same price if I left Monday morning, so I thought, "Why waste time when I could stay with Nathan in the West Village?" I'm glad my boss allowed this. And I am not even staying in the hotel room when the show starts on Tuesday ($319 a night at the Westin in Times Square). So I am saving the company money and everyone is happy.

Heck, I didn't even need a cab to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana since I parked at my work garage, which is 1 mile from the airport. I researched and took the shuttle that runs every 30 min from the front of the Marriott, right next to my office garage in Irvine. Door to door from my apt in Newport Beach to the airport it was 30 min. Then from Laguardia I took this express bus that was only $12 to get to Grand Central. From there I took the subway to the West Village.

It got me thinking, it's amazing how wasteful people can be in Corporate America. People opt to stay at big, fancy hotels when there are so many cheaper alternatives that would save corporations a lot of money and keep a higher profit margin. Granted, not everyone has friends who have empty guest rooms that are convenient to the subway, but you can totally stay at a million hotels in much hipper and interesting neighborhoods.

It reminds me of a time when I traveled to NYC for a tradeshow in 2001 when I was a marketing assistant at now defunct NewsEdge in Burlington, MA. I opted to stay in a hotel through some online hotel site right in Washington Square. It was only $152 a night compared to the $279 per night hotel near the site of the trade show in Times Square. I took the subway everywhere (cheaper than taxis). Bottom line: I wasn't wasting company resources. I have been at group dinners with sales executives and they would order $50 and $100 bottles of wine. They would order like 10 appetizers and the $35 steak. They would order like 4-5 alcoholic beverages each! They felt entitled to do this. I'm sitting there thinking, "Wow, we are about to have layoffs, the economy is shit and you're ordering a $35 steak and 5 drinks on company dime???"

Times are tough, but I know how to "make it work" while traveling on business. Imagine if most people took this approach. Imagine if most people weren't trying to take advantage. Companies would save millions of dollars. I could be a personal consultant and help companies strategize in their corporate travel. If a conscious effort was made a real impact could be made at organizations.

I really love NYC and totally would live here if it wasn't so cold in the winter. They should uproot NYC and place it where Los Angeles is and everyone would be happy. Today I went up to 125th Street in Harlem with my friend Jason to see at the Studio Museum. It was several videos by performance artist Kalup Linzy, who dresses in drag and performs several songs and skits. It was pretty funny. He has a lot of stuff on myspace and Youtube. Oh, and this was totally FREE. We then walked down through Central Park and saw some cool waterfalls before getting too tired (we walked 3 miles) and caught a subway back to the West Village around 77th Street.

I went with my friend Anh to Rice to Riches in SoHo and got their Rocky Road flavor. This is one of my favorite dessert places. What a unique concept. You have about 12 different flavors of rice pudding and they put it in a plastic container that is reuseable. I now have two. A small creation is $6 and worth every penny. There's a sign on the wall that says "No Skinny Bitches" so my friend Anh took a photo of me in front of it. I will post once I get that photo after she posts to Facebook.

I'm headed to the OC it seems

Today I'm in NYC and headed up to Boston on the Megabus to see friends and family up there. Back to Boston on Monday and then I fly back to San Diego on Tuesday afternoon. I got here on Thursday (4/23). While I was on the plane I received a voicemail from the Irvine software company's recruiter. I got the job as a Marketing Programs Specialist! I had the interview last Tuesday and met with their VP of Marketing. It went really well. I talked to her for over 90 minutes and it just flew by. I went into this interview thinking I was going to be interviewed by an up-tight 50-something woman. I was surprised when I saw a woman in her upper 30s or early 40s who seemed young and vibrant. The entire vibe of the interview was warm and welcoming. It must be because she has toddlers. I was not nervous at that point once I started talking. 

I think I hit the home run when we started talking about social networking marketing. They were starting to do that and I mentioned a book by my former VP of Marketing called "The New Rules of Marketing and PR". I had read the first 3 chapters before going into the interview for ideas. I knew it was important. Actually 2 years ago when I was job searching back then my old VP (David Scott) gave me the PDF of the soon-to-be-released book. It is now a national best seller. Anyway, she said that she read this book, David's blog and bought this book for two of her employees. So we were on the same page and she seemed very impressed. I walked out thinking I got the job. I was conflicted though. 

At that point I didn't know if I got the LA job that I really wanted, I still had not heard. I knew the LA job would "BREAK THE CYCLE" of me getting these marketing jobs at tech companies. If I got the job I would finally be able to gain experience within another industry. I sent an email to the woman that night since I had not heard yet. The next afternoon (Wed, April 22) I got an email from her that said: 

"I wanted to update you that I made an offer to one of the other candidates and that person has accepted. You had some very relevant experience were a pleasure to meet and interview, though you are actually more senior than the position really requires. If a position comes up again on my team that can benefit from your great knowledge of email and direct marketing, I'll be in touch. Thank you for interviewing with me. I hope you find the perfect job soon." Obviously I was very disappointed. I guess she did have a point. I was a little too senior for the position but I thought my obvious enthusiasm for the company and sheer passion were going to overshadow this fact. I really pictured myself working and living in LA. So that was a huge disappointment. 

I am more at peace with it. On the plane to NYC before I even knew I got the Irvine job, I read about half of the "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" and became inspired. I told myself I would suck it up and throw myself into a marketing job at a tech company, something I have not really done before. I gained a lot of confidence reading this book and gaining new insights. When I got the VM with the offer I was thrilled. I was able to talk to the recruiter yesterday (we played phone tag on Thursday) and the offer was 2K less than my last job. I was able to get 1K more. At this point I don't care so much. I will just deal. they are performing the background check now with references and then I will get the official offer next week. In the mean time I am apt searching. I have isolated Costa Mesa and Newport Beach area as a place to live that is both close to work and a nice neighborhood. I have found several roommate situations that are affordable and not much more than my San Diego rent. I'll figure it out. I'll be starting the job on May 19, after I get back from Italy. I will most likely commute up there for a few weeks until I can get a place, but I am looking at renting mid-May or June 1. I already told my roommate I need to move out so he has plenty of time to get a new roommate.