Ah yes.

I promised photos. But, sadly, Kate's camera is, without debate, faaar superior to mine, and so when it came time to take pictures - why wouldn't we use the better camera? Which means that the pictures we DO have are wonderfully megapixeled - but for the time being they are on her camera, which is traveling around Dubai at the moment. Siiiiigh.

The pictures I probably would have wanted to post would have been from Cinque Terre - a beautiful little string of five towns along the Mediterranean where Kate took me for my birthday. There were walking paths and hiking trails that connected each town, and stops along the way where we climbed down and sat right along the sea and relaxed. Gorgeous.

It was of a shock to come back here and find myself back within the confines of "the cage." But I am coming up on the last 21 or so days of this job - and have a lot of things to look forward to in the coming months: a trip to Montreal with Mom and Dad later this week, then less than two weeks working back here in the city before a week back home (Oregon-home) at the end of May, Everett to be with Steve, Adrianne, Ellie, and the new baby for most of June, and then Michigan to visit Kate after that. By the time I get back to NY in July my lease will be ending and I'll be moving into a new (nicer) apartment and gearing up for school.

As a parting thought, I'd like to comment on the new ad campaign by Reebok. I don't know if you guys have seen it, but I think it's kind of interesting. The basic premise is to encourage people to enjoy exercise and "run easy." One of its ads, in particular, struck me as interesting because it ran contrary to a Nike ad from my childhood that had always resonated with me. The Nike ad was of a runner crossing the finish line, black and white film, she is panting and out of breath, looking miserable - clearly just finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack. A voice-over comes on and tells you that if you cross the finish line and don't collapse, you could have run faster. Somehow I always found that inspiring. Give it your all! The Reebok ad that referenced that ad spun the situation to focus on how miserable the person was, trying to give 99.9%… and told the viewer that it wasn't worth that degree of exertion if they ended up feeling awful. And I guess I like that message too. Enjoyment through moderation. So now I'm torn. Nike and Reebok have caused me to question the kind of lifestyle that I aspire to lead =). Wonderful. I'm such a mindless consumer of media messages.

Ha! And with that, I wish you all well, and hope that you are finding time to get out and enjoy the spring/beginnings of summer! AND I hope that you are all able to take it easy a little bit.

The Cage

Over here at Grand Central, my coworkers and I all very affectionately call our "office," located in "the bowels" of the station, our "cage"… mainly because just around the corner, to the right of what you can see in the picture below, is a stairwell leading up the tracks, that is very cage-like. Our office space, which is just under 5 feet wide, and 16 feet deep or so, is where I typically spend 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. We got Easter, Good Friday, Passover, and St. Patrick's Day off - all of which were awesome days. I think the next one is Mother's Day. All are days off because they affect rider-ship on the trains, and so the MTA isn't interested in collecting data.

That said - I love this job and frequently tell Janet (my friend who hooked me into it) that this is the best job I think I'll ever have. She always tells me that she seriously hopes I'm wrong. But there really are a lot of perks once you get past the space and the hours. For instance, the work is very straight forward - so it's very easy for anyone to feel very competent down here - and, I have about 100 surveyors deferring to me as if I'm important (which is a trip since most of them are in their 40s… doesn't feel right most of the time, actually) and, more importantly, there is a lot of down time. Hours between trains that I fill preparing for future days, and, when I've done all the preparations that can reasonably be made, I spend my time reading, surfing the internet, applying for scholarships, writing emails, talking on the phone, and playing the guitar (yes - I have a guitar and all the privacy I could want to play without fear of disturbing anyone/making a fool of myself): all of which my employers are totally fine with.

Other than that, I'm going to Florence again to visit Kate on Thursday and am excitedly bouncing off the white walls down here in anticipation! I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back. Hope you are all doing well!

"The Cage"