Esther's Animal Farm

Was it only a week ago we were upstate in New York? The trip that was suppose to take just one week ended up taking us 2 because we got side tracked by the skiing in New York state. It's not to say that it is great skiing here on the East coast, (we were a little late in the ski season), but more like i was overanxious to get my new skis broken into. Anyway, i was very excited to spend more time with my sister in Mountaindale. I was also anxious to see how the cat is doing settling in with her. Imagine my shock & horror to find out how generous she is with the bed. Nope! Not with the 2 legged kinds, but with the 4 legged ones. Not only does Fleur get to share the bed with her, but Hunter as well. He is a humongous german sheppard. (and smelly too) Sure, he is a cute dog & he does have a very gentle temprement, but he is HUGE & HAIRY!!! (did i mention he is smelly? ... tee hee... Esther hates it when i call him that). At least Fleur gets along with him. She usually hates any other 4 legged creatures. I think sometimes she thinks she's human. Esther told me, that she caught the resident mouse just the other day, so we know she is making herself useful. I guess all is well in Esther's animal farm. We were sad to leave

Spongebob square pants

So i went for my first job interview last Thursday. I hadn't really applied for this position. I had put my resume up on Monster & i guess that's where they found me. It was for a financial advisor position at a pretty well-known American firm. So there i was getting quite excited about my first interview, not really knowing what to expect. Tabbert was being all supportive, helping me prepare for the interview. Even Jo-anne from over Skype was prepping me up for the interview. So i was feeling pretty cool about it when the time came. How did the interview go you ask? Well, i was prepared for a lot of things, but not this. It started out with him explaining what the job is all about and what the firm does.(pretty standard stuff). But next thing i know, he's propelling into this crazy salesman mode, pitching the job at me, telling me how great the firm was, how great he was & how great his friends are too because they are all successful like him. That was when i realise this isn't really an advisor position, it was really a sales position. But what shocked me the most was when he said to me, he was after a 'sponge'. He went on to explain that he didn't want someone who was too intelligent, just someone who will just listen to whatever he wants done because the firm has been around a long time & he doesn't need anyone to reinvent the wheel. Ok... i was thinking .. FREAK!!! At that point i knew the interview was over. Who would want to work for a freak like him. So Mr Spongebob Square pants & i parted ways, with a deep sigh from me. Gawd! I hope American employers aren't all like this, otherwise i'm in deep sh*t....

Giving birth to a cow

Can you tell the difference between a good steak & a great steak? Once you've tasted Peter Luger's in Brooklyn you will. There's only one cut, porterhouse aged steak. So the only decisions we had to make were the sides. Infact the side that we had was almost as good as the steaks itself, thick cut canadian bacon. Yummieee... absolutely to die for.... (literally, if you think about the amount of fat you're consumming). The deco isn't fancy, and it is rather expensive for what it is, but heck, they've been doing it for a century, so they must be worth it... http://peterluger.com/index.html So how stuffed were we after the night out? So much so that Tabbert said he was about to give birth to a cow... that's how good it is.

On the road again

Goodbye Rochester. Hello Mountaindale. Took us about 5 hours to get down here. It was sad to say goodbye to Tab's nieces. Uncle Tabbert doesn't see his nieces very often so they get very excited when he comes around, and sad when he leaves. But here we are in Mountaindale, where Esther is based. So far we haven't done much up here other than go skiing. Yes, finally tested out my new skis. We check out a ski resort about 1.5 hours away, called Belleayre. Like skating on ice. We were told it would snow but didn't see much of that, just lots of wind. Cold cold wind.
Update on Fleur, she has put on quite a bit of weight since i last saw her. Esther is spoiling her with good food & a warm bed. She also inherited all the toys from the previous cats that they had but she's doesn't like most of it. I guess her royal feline highness doesn't like the smell of other cats. I'm just happy she's alright and looking very contented.
We're going to head out to New York city this weekend. Apparently there's a great steak house in Brooklyn that's really famous, Peter Lugars. Something about their aged steaks that's suppose to be really good. Don't think i've ever had aged steaks, doesn't quite sound right. Isn't that just bad meat. Oh well, we will soon find out.

Skiing Bristol mountain

Here we are at Bristol mountain last Saturday, skiing with Tabbert's nieces, Sydney & Addie. Not a bad mountain, conditions were a little slushy but nothing is worst than our Thredbo experience, which was more like ice skating than skiing. Just our luck, if we came a weak later, there would be powder (according to the weather man, but heck, how often are they right). This will be our 2nd day skiing this season. We're gonna try to get a few more ski days in when we get down to Esther's place so at least we have 7 days clocked up. Oh yeah, i also bought my new skis today. It's called "fine thang" by Head. I really wanted Volkl's but the shop didn't have my size, & the guy really wanted to sell me the Head. (must have been a slow day, since it raining cats & dogs). Nonetheless, the ones i got are pretty cool, can't wait to test them out. The best thing about them is they go with my entire ski outfit... tee hee... Anyway, we're off tomorrow to Esther's place in our Beamer (about 5 hours from here if we don't get snowed out). Hope she has internet access so i can continue updating my blog & do some job hunting from there. Otherwise we'll be stuck in Mountaindale, in a very hacidic jewish neighbourhood, eating matzo balls. We're planning to stay there till the weekend so we can check out a few ski spots in the Catskills, and down to Manhattan to hang out. Yipee (sarcasticly), can't wait to smell those subways again. I was horrified by how dirty & smelly the subways were when Esther took me down a couple of weeks ago. This time i'll be prepared, i'll bring my sanitising lotion..... omygawd, starting to sound hypercondriac...

Baby drive my car

Yipee, we now have a car. Actually it's Tabbert's car, but what's his is mine, and what's mine is mine. (as Anna Nicole would say) We flew up to Rochester yesterday, where his brother has been looking after his car for the last 4-5 years. It's looking good. Took it for a spin around the block. (Well, actually we kind off got lost trying to get to the grocery store... in the 'burbs of U.S. every block looks the same). I must say, i do like having a beamer. It's an adult car. No more Toyota's for us, it's sooooo last century. Only problem for me is that it is a stick shift so that's going to be interesting. Not only do i have to get used to driving on the other side of the road, i also need to learn to drive stick with the other hand. Good luck to the other cars on the road.

So while we're here, we're going to spend the weekend skiing with his brother & his family. Tabbert rarely sees his 2 nieces, Sydney & Addie, so it would be fun to hang out with them. I'm now on the prowl for a new pair of skis since selling my last pair to Lilanee. Don't really know what i want yet so i'm going to demo a few pairs here before i buy. It's sale time now so skis are cheap cheap cheap. No doubt Tabbert will be tempted to get a pair too, he's already devising ways to sell his skis to his brother so he can get a new pair. (he only got them like a year ago) Anyway, after this weekend, we'll be heading back down to Maryland with a stopover at my sister's place for a couple of days in upstate New York. Actually, i'm really there to check up on Fleur. Just wanna make sure she's not starving or torturing the cat. I also hear there's a good ski mountain nearby where she lives so maybe we'll check that one out too. Yup, we're really trying to get the most out of this ski season, which surprisingly is still considered peak season. It's tough living the life of the unemployed, but someone's gotta do it....

Smelly pool

So Tabbert & i joined the gym nearby. The way we've been eating here means we really need to get active or we'll end up like porkers. BTW, entrees here are called appertizers, and mains are called entrees. So when you order your mains, you are ordering your entrees & when you want your entrees you ask for an appetizer. Got it. Anyway, sorry to digress, back to the gym. It's a pretty cool gym with yoga, kickboxing, aerobics classes, great exercise equipment and an indoor heated pool. We went in last week for a tour & managed to score a free 7 day pass before we sign up. Pretty cool. Today was my second visit to the gym & i used their pool. Phew, indoor pools are intoxicating. The smell of the chlorine can be reassuring (at least it's killing off the germs) but not very pleasant. No matter how many showers one takes after a swim, you still smell like the pool. We tried the yoga classes yesterday which was a little too slow for me. I think i need to do something more cardio first & than the yoga classes. Anyway we better sign up with this gym soon, the guy who took us for a tour around the gym keeps asking us what we think of the gym. I'm starting to feel quite guilty about using the free pass. That's how they hook you in, give you a free pass and then guilt you into joining up.

On the side note, i've also started my job search. Well, not really, i've just started Americanising my resume. Making sure that the spelling is American. i.e color instead of colour, flavor instead of flavour (not that i have any of those words in my resume). I also need to cut it down to one page. Apparently American resumes need to be just one page. So all i've done is just shrink the font size. I'm exhausted just trying to find the best font type. One that looks pretty but professional. That says i'm serious but not too dull. You'll be surprised what your font says about you. ;-) I'll keep you up to date with how my job search goes. Till than, if anyone has any advice on job searching please post them on my blog. I need all the help i can get.

P.S. If you're wondering why Tabbert's picture is on this post, well... i just thought this blog just can't always be about me now can it. Besides, i couldn't find any other pictures that made me look good.

Waiting for that smooth transition

It's been almost 3 weeks since i left Sydney for the U.S of A with 2 large bags, a hyperthyroid cat & a rabbit in tow. After several pit stops in L.A to drop off the rabbit and than Long Island, N.Y. to drop off the cat, I'm left now with just my bags, in Maryland, and Tabbert of course. Not quite settled yet but i cannot complaint, Tabbert's parents have opened up their lovely home to us.

My biggest fear about this move was whether the pets would make it. Sadly, that fear became a reality when Zoe, my precious little bunny, passed away on the 23 Feb 06, only a week after we dropped her off in L.A to stay with some friends. The irony (or rather the regret) is that it was Fleur i was worried about with all her hyperthyroid issues, when it should have been Zoe. I still wonder what i could have or should have done, but i realise there's no point going there now. I miss her.

What can i say about living with the folks in Maryland, other than, anyone over 30 should never live with their parents. I'm sure that's what they're thinking too. Kidding.... it's not that bad. Mom is really quite a good cook so we decided joining a gym is a good idea. Living in landlock Maryland doesn't quite provide us with the sun & surf lifestyle we've been used to but it's not without it's benefits. There are some decent ski slopes just a short drive away. Tab & I scoped out one about 2.5 hours away just last week called Wisp. Similar to our movies version of tight arse Tuesday, the ski lifts are half price on Wednesdays, which we have promptly named Wicked Arse Wednesday. (yes we thought we were really smart too, thinking that one up all by ourselves). Once i figure out how to work out the intricacies of this blog site, i'll post up some pictures. At some point i'll also put up something about little Zoe, in memory of her.

This weekend we're off to Rochester, which is near the border of Canada to pick up our car. Tab's brother has been 'looking after' it while he has been away from the States. It's going to be interesting driving the car back down to Maryland (it's takes freaking 10 hours, and that's if it doesn't snow). Wish us luck..