A friend of mine (former colleague from IBM) from Nashville called me last week just to see how things were going in NYC.  After some small talk, she really ticked me off.  She said I was losing my Southern accent.  Those are fighting words.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being in NY but I will always be somewhat of a fish out of water.  I will always be a Southerner, no matter how long we’re here.  I’m very proud of my Southern roots and Southern heritage.  My “thing” here, is that I’m from the South and I won’t give that up.  She went on to soften it and say my I had just lost a little of my “twang”.  I think I need a nice long trip to Polk County, TN.  To spend a long afternoon in Reliance at the Webb Brother’s store sitting on the front porch talking Trout fishing.  That will bring the “twang” back in a hurry.

Then she asked me a question that I initially downplayed but has stuck with me all week.  She asked me what I missed most since I’ve been in NYC for the last 10 months.  Of course, I miss Laura so much, and the kids.  I miss my parents and friends.  But everyone knows those things.  She wanted to know what I missed most about living in the South.  Food came to mind, I miss good biscuits, even though Jacob’s Pickles on the Upper West Side rivals any biscuit I’ve ever had below the Mason Dixon line.  I miss good barbecue, but Hill Country in Chelsea fills that void nicely.  I also miss Saturday’s with the college football atmosphere, specifically UGA.  But I’ve even found a place that is the UGA HQ on Saturday’s where 100’s of UGA fans congregate and cheer on the Dawgs.  It’s just like being in Athens.  After a lot of thought, it struck me.  The things I really miss most are fairly simple, Mountains, Stars and Crickets.  There is nothing like living near the Smokey Mountains.  There are mountains in NY, but they’re different, not as pretty as the mountains in TN.  As far as Stars go, with all the lights in NYC, you just can’t see them….ever.  I miss them.  At night, the sound of Crickets always puts me out like a light.  No Crickets here in the City, at least not enough to hear.  Now there are other things I miss, like nice soft accents.  However, I have enough Southern expats around to make it tolerable.  My secretary is even from Louisiana and can turn on the “twang” with the best of them.  I also miss open space in restaurants, fried food, parking spaces (even though I don’t drive) and reasonable prices.  But all in all, I wouldn’t trade this adventure for anything and when Laura joins me in a few weeks (yes, just a few weeks) life will be amazing again.

Enough about that, there are just a couple of other things I want to share in this update.  First, if you’re ever in NYC and find your way to the Upper West Side, you have to make a trip to the French Roast Cafe.  The French Roast is “old NY” at it’s finest.  They have the best humus I’ve ever had.  Great food, great coffee and a beautiful place.  Dining on the sidewalk on a beautiful fall afternoon is truly special.  It rivals Cafe Lola (from “You’ve got Mail”) which is just two blocks away as my favorite cafe’s in the City.

The last thing I want to mention is the subject of “pointing” or “repointing” in the CIty.  If you’re ever in NYC, you will inevitably see scaffolding around the base of many of the buildings.  In fact, when I moved in my apartment on West End Avenue last January, scaffolding completely surrounded the building and it’s still there.  Apparently, every 5 years, each building has to go through a repointing process where they test and replace the mortar between EVERY BRICK.  This process can take 1 – 2 years.  This really frustrates business owners and people who live on the 2nd or 3rd floor of buildings since it destroys their view.  But it does keep the City safe and looking beautiful.  One interesting fact as far as views go, when skyscrapers are built, they have the option to buy the air rights from other surrounding buildings.  Basically, they buy the air above all the buildings nearby to protect their views.  These air rights can cost multiple millions of dollars but they guarantee views for the owners of the buildings.  I love the idea and makes for good neighbors.  Well, thanks for reading and be blessed!

If you can’t tell from the title, this weeks update on my NYC adventures will be loosely connected at best and totally random at worst.  A lot has happened since my last blog entry.  Namely, Laura (the love of my life) was here for several days.  Those were the best days I’ve had since moving here.  It nearly killed me when she left, it’s been hard to shake off the funk her departure put me in.  However, I know it’s just another month before she comes back for a week and I return with her for Thanksgiving.  Anyway, while she was here, we had a blast.  We went to beautiful Beacon Theater to see Earth, Wind and Fire (they’re actually older than me…in their 60’s, but are in their prime).

We ate a lot of course, walked all through Central Park, even getting lost near the lake (my fault), introduced her to my staff at work, took her to some of my favorite places, and even saw a motorcycle gang of business men in suits (only in NYC).

Most important, searched for our future home, an apartment for two.  The apartment I’m in is really small but in a great location on the Upper West Side.  No way we could live here for more than a couple of weeks.  Apartment hunting in NYC is not for the faint of heart.  First, the competition is fierce.  There is less than 1% occupancy on any given day.  In order to find anything decent, you need a broker.  The first time I found this out I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.  Who needs a broker to rent an apartment?  I can understand if I were buying, but renting…come on.  But it’s true, the brokers have the inside track on things hitting the market and can get access to the apartment managers.  There are such things as “no fee” apartments, but they’re either in terrible locations, or super expensive (by NYC standards).  Plus, there is so much competition, many apartment managers won’t return calls if you don’t have a broker.  Now just to put things in perspective, brokers typically charge 15% of the first years rent!  I have made some good contacts here so we got one to ONLY CHARGE 10%.  Now renting an apartment in the City will typically cost you 5x – 8x the cost of an apartment in a city like Chattanooga so you can do the math.  In addition, you have to typically pay one months rent for a security deposit and one month rent up front.  Nothing here is easy…or cheap.  On the plus side, he helped us find a place in one day.  We found the perfect apartment for us on 96th and Columbus.

We will only be 1 block from Central Park (we even have a view of the park from our front window), all new kitchen and bathrooms, doorman and gym in a beautiful building on the Upper West Side.  Also there is a Whole Foods next door and a coffee shop on the first floor of the building.  We’re very near Columbia University with easy access to the 1 (local) or 2 or 3 (express) as well as the C, D subways.  So we’re excited….and our wallet is a lot lighter.  I’ll move into the new place in November and Laura will join me in December.

Switching gears, one of the cool things about living in NYC is all the TV shows and movies that are filmed here.  So many shows I watch, I recognize places I visit or see everyday which is exciting (at least to me but I’m easily excitable).  Thursday morning, I walked out of my apartment headed to work and West End boulevard (where my apartment is) had been transformed into a TV backdrop.

Right in front of my apartment, sitting on the back of a truck are several of the cast members from the Michael J. Fox show, just not him.  The food truck was nearby and scores of people were setting up lights, cameras, etc.  There were 4 semi’s and 2 trailers plus a large food tent, just to film one scene.  Naturally, I was late to work as I slowly walked toward my train just taking it all in.  Several shows have filmed in my neighborhood since I’ve been here (Smash, Person of Interest, Blue Bloods and Elementary) plus a few movies.  It’s an interesting, exciting place to live.

It seems there is always something happening here.  On Saturday after my run in the park, I had a hard time getting back to my apartment because they had closed down Broadway for the “Grand Marian Parade of New York”.  I’m not sure what it’s all about (something to do with the Latin community and the Catholic church) but there were some of the most colorful, eccentric floats and people I have ever seen.  Latin music was blaring and the people in the parade were having an absolute blast.

The weather here has been incredible, low 70’s, bright sunny days of low humidity, perfect for running.  However the days are getting shorter.  I used to run at 5:45, but it’s still dark so now I have to wait until 6:15 or so.  Every season has it’s pros and cons but I wouldn’t trade fall for anything.  The weather is perfect, my Dawgs are playing their hearts out every Saturday, and the Braves are in the playoffs.  Now if my Falcons could get it in gear, my sports life would be complete.  That’s it for now, thanks for reading!