I'm a REE-surch-er

Since I introduced two of my researcher colleagues in July, four other researchers have started in the professional practice group at Ernst & Young.

Mary Katharine Farnell works on the income statement matters team, is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and attended the University of Florida.  Oh, and she was a Florida Tri Delt.  

Jessica Marek works on the audit team, is from Valparaiso, Indiana, and attended the University of Indiana.  

Lawrence Lin works on the financial instruments team, is from Seattle, Washington, and attended the University of Washington for undergraduate school and the University of Notre Dame for graduate school.  

Finally, Rebecca Anne Sasdlk;jfa works on the financial services industry team, is from Short Hills, New Jersey, and attended Boston University.

Rebecca's last name isn't really "Sasdlk;fja".  But her dad created a "Google Alert" that notifies him every time her full name is published on the Internet.  So she asked me not to type her last name.  Did you know there was such a thing as a "Google Alert"?  

The four of them plus Caitlin Kirio, Will Geeslin (whom I already introduced to you), and I make up the group of eight professional practice researchers.  It's a great group, and I really enjoying working with them.  We sometimes joke about calling ourselves ri-surch-ers instead of ree-surch-ers.  But I promise it's only a joke.  We all say "ree-surch".  We don't take ourselves seriously enough to say "ri-surch", and I'm not sure I ever want to take myself seriously enough to say it that way.  

Good people - Ana

I encounter so many great folks in New York City.  Many of them I see and visit with only for a few moments, but oftentimes their impact is great.

I am dedicating this series of blog posts called "Good people" to the good people I meet here in the city with whom I interact only for a few minutes.  (The members of the hotel staff about whom I have already written in a previous post are absolutely good people and would be placed in this post if I had not previously written about them).

The people I meet and develop close relationships here are not eligible for mention in this series.  But they are, of course, good people too.

Here is one to start:

Ana - Ana was the housekeeper that cleaned my room at the Courtyard Marriott.  One Saturday morning, I ate breakfast downstairs but decided to stay in the hotel for the morning.  When I returned to my room, Ana was already at work.  I didn't want to interrupt her, but I also had nowhere else to go.  So we just started to visit.  She has three kids who live with her in the Bronx.  She is very proud of them and even showed me pictures.  She is Dominican, and we bonded over my ability to speak a little bit of Spanish and over my trip to the Dominican Republic in 2010.  She was a great picture of a supportive, hardworking mother who loves her children.  She was kind, welcoming, and gracious to me - even though she didn't have to be.

One in 39 million

A few weeks ago as I was walking from Five Times Square to the TKTS booth to buy theatre tickets, I ran into my dear friend, Emily Smith, and her mother and sister.  They had arrived that afternoon  for a summer vacation and were walking around the area waiting for their hotel to be ready.  It was such a blessing to see Emily and to meet her mom and sister.  Emily is a fellow Baylor Chamberman is also the girlfriend of one of my Baylor roommates and pledge brother, Stephen Montellano.

According to Travel+Leisure, Times Square is the most visited tourist attraction in the world and is visited by more than 39 million people every year.  During my year in New York, Emily will probably be the only random familiar face I see in Times Square.  She is also one of the brightest, kindest, and most special people I know.  In both ways, she is one in 39 million.

Emily and I stopped for a picture in "The Crossroads of the World", Times Square.  

You never know when you'll make new friends

While I moved to the city on July 5, I didn't move into my new apartment until July 27.  Where did I live in the meantime, you ask?  I stayed at the Courtyard Marriott on 40th Street and Broadway in Times Square.

The folks at the hotel always made me feel special - they knew me by name and always greeted me with a warm "welcome back" whenever I returned.  I was closest with the nightshift team because I had more time to visit with them in the evening, and on my last night there, we took a picture to commemorate our special bond.

I gave them this blog address so that they could see this picture, and I spoke to Lucy on the phone as I was writing this post.  So, Ada, Lucy, Rene, and Brian, I miss you and hope you are doing well.

They demonstrated an awesome example of how to be gracious and kind to everyone.  Always happy and smiling, these folks made my stay in that hotel great!

Another funny thing happened while I was behind the front desk (which, by the way, is as cool as I always thought it would be).  A man from Arkansas started talking to me as if I were a hotel employee.  Not surprising.  I greeted him as though that was the case.  He asked me if I got a hotel management degree from Baylor, and I promptly told him that I was just a visitor at the front desk.  It was funny.  I promise.

Here's that picture:

Ada, Lucy,  and Rene stopped for a picture with me behind the front desk of my temporary hotel.  Biran, the bellman was not at work that day, so he is not in the picture.  They are great folks, true professionals, and I'm glad to know them.  

the apartment

Last month, I moved into my apartment in Manhattan's Upper West Side.  It is a studio on the first floor of a post-war condominium building between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue - very close to Riverside Park and the Hudson River.

My awesome mom and my talented cousin, Kambree, traveled all the way to New York City to decorate the apartment for me.

When I first walked into the apartment and got the place cool, the cool air, fresh paint, and some other magical quality made it smell and feel like the basement of the SUB in New Student Programs in the summertime.  Now that was a nice feeling on my first day there!

Here are some pictures of it that I think you will enjoy.

An aerial view from the ladder to the loft area.  

The doorways on either side of that bookshelf lead to the bathroom (left) and to the kitchen (right).  

On the brick wall, you can see my framed copy of President Brooks' Message to the Senior Class of 1931 and a 1836 map of the Republic of Texas.  My piano is in the left hand corner of the picture; I play hymns everyday.  

Stay with me

In the past month, I took an unintentional break from writing blog posts, but that hiatus will end soon.

I plan to write about my adventures from the last month in the coming days.  

Stay with me.  My posts will be shorter and more frequent.  

Sic 'Em Bears.  

Only for now

As I begin to realize that the ones I love are no longer so accessible, I also begin to place greater importance on spending quality time with those people when I can.  For that reason, it was important that my best friend, Dakota, come to the city on my second weekend here – even if only for a short twelve hours.  

He is living in Washington, D.C. this summer to complete an internship with new student orientation at George Mason University, already fulfilling his calling as a professional in student life.  Dakota and I met when we were students at Baylor Line Camp; when he marries Shannon next summer, I will be his best man. 

He arrived late on Friday night (and ultimately had to leave early on Sunday morning, so we only had about twelve hours of usable time), but we did not let that slow us down.  He, Jordan Rippy, and I ate breakfast at Good Enough to Eat on the Upper West Side – that restaurant is a favorite for out-of-town guests (listen to me talking like I have been here long enough to have had enough guests to say that…). 

After purchasing our theatre tickets downtown at the South Street Seaport, we traversed uptown and rented bikes in Central Park.  Riding around the Central Park Loop was scenic, fun, and challenging.  The natural terrain of Manhattan Island is not the flat, gridded land that has been developed over the last few centuries.  Indeed, the natural terrain is hilly, wooded and can be found in the park.  The roads are closed to vehicle traffic on the weekends which makes biking a (mostly) safe and carefree exercise. 

Jordan, me, and Dakota with with our bikes by our sides and the Bethesda Fountain in the background

A map of Central Park
The "Central Park Loop" is the curved path that "circumscribes" the majority of the park's land.
It is 6.1 miles long, and we considered it worth every mile and every minute.  

When it seemed like the excitement  from the breakfast and the afternoon in the park could not be topped, it was.  The moment we had all been waiting for came at eight o’clock when Avenue Q began.  I had built up the show to Dakota and Jordan and felt invested in their experience.  I wanted it to live up to the hype.  It did.  They loved it.  The clip below of the opening number will give you a taste of its wit, humor, and smart (but perhaps not of its wild inappropriateness).  We all enjoyed the show and considered it time well spent. 

The Avenue Q finale is called “For Now” and discusses how life is mostly temporary.  And it is.  But friendship and our relationships with one another are permanent.  My friendship with Dakota is no different, even if his short trip to New York City was “only for now”.