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Saturday, 18 January 2014 - Zurich, here I come (randomly)!

 
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I wasn't really working at the moment. The reason is my contract with UBS, with whom I've been working since arriving in New York, expired at the end of December. I've been on the side-lines since then (but still getting paid) waiting for a new project to kick off in there, initially scheduled for some time this month. Well that's been delayed slightly so in the interim I'm being shipped over to beautiful Zürich, Switzerland (where UBS is headquartered) for a couple weeks to work on something else with them over there hehe. After those couple weeks I'm then heading back to London for about five weeks to meet with the key players in this new project which I'll then continue working on from New York as before. It's all rather short notice but nevertheless I fly out tonight. My wife won't remember me by the time I get back. We've both briefly been to Zurich before as part of a larger road trip throughout Germany a few years back. I expect I'm going to be pretty busy over these two weeks and so I may not get as much opportunity as I'd like to explore the city further. Every endeavour will be made however, so stay tuned! :)
 

Sunday, 19 January 2014 (Zurich) - Zurich, here I am (randomly)!

 
 
Oh wow - it's not often London has a clear sunny day. So I got on a plane at 9pm in New York last night, got off it again six hours later at 8am (local time) in London, and bummed around for five hours in Heathrow Airport before getting on another plane for the 90-minute hop to Zurich.
 
Rural Switzerland. Unfortunately this is the wrong part of the country to see its stunning mountain ranges.
 
Coming into Zurich, looking much like how I expected London to look.

 
 
By the time I made it to the hotel it was getting dark, so I whipped out to find the UBS office where I'll be working for the next couple weeks. I mentioned yesterday that UBS is headquartered here, and it's not hard to tell. I found four buildings with "UBS" plastered all over them all within spitting distance of each other, and I have no idea which one I'm supposed to be in hahaha! I guess I'll just try each one tomorrow until I find somebody expecting an Aaron Morgan from New York.

Wednesday, 22 January 2014 (Zurich) - Busy, busy busy

 
On the left is our view from one of the UBS buildings (through a very dirty window), but on the right is an auditorium we all had to work out of today due to a lack of available meeting rooms hehe. Those are some of the Microsoft guys I'm working closely with on the project I'm here for this week and next. As expected, it's been 12-hour days so far and likely will be until I leave again. Good for overtime pay but I'm hoping to get at least one day off this weekend to go check out the city some more.

Sunday, 26 January 2014 (Zurich) - I miss Europe!

Central Zurich! After a 60-something-hour work week it was nice to have a weekend, and I spent it doing what I always do in new places: following my nose. Zurich isn't exactly 'new' - I've been here before as part of a Germany road trip a few years back. On that occasion I was only here for part of a day and night, so it was worth another look.

 
Zurich is located in north-central Switzerland, and is the country's largest city. Despite a population of less than 400,000 it is among the world's largest financial centres. The city is home to a large number of financial institutions and banking giants, including UBS who I'm here working for in partnership with Microsoft.

 
 
 
I remember central Zurich being a really nice, compact spot with a maze of little winding backstreets leading out from the river. Like I said I didn't really have as much time as I would have liked to properly explore it last time, so despite the cold I got stuck into it today. After spending five years extensively travelling Europe and then leaving for a couple of whirlwind years, I'd forgotten how much I missed it. As much as I love living in New York with all its chaos and wouldn't change a thing, it's awesome to be back here! I mean look at these shots - you simply don't get this on any other continent (apart from old men playing outdoor chess - they seem to be everywhere).
 
 
 
The city of Zurich surrounds the north-western tip of Lake Zurich, and the city centre here is divided in two by the Limmat River where it meets the lake.

 
 
This area here on the east side of the river is where Kristina, Katie and I stayed during that Germany road trip, and I actually remembered it pretty vividly.

 
So much so that when my guts started rumbling I headed straight for an awesome fondue restaurant we all ate at, and remembered exactly where it was :) Mmm, cheese!
 
Another 60-something-hour work week beckons after which I'm heading back to London for a bit. Next weekend before I go though I'm hoping to hire a car and go explore the mountains around Interlaken for a day. That was part of the plan for this weekend but the weather didn't play ball.

Wednesday, 29 January 2014 (Zurich) - Karaoke, late nights, and crazy crap

 
 
I have no idea what this is about, other than "Nein" is German for "No", and that man does not like trees.
 
Anyway, the madness continues here in Zurich and has included such highlights as random karaoke at the Chinese restaurant across the street, pulling million-dollar computer servers to pieces (above), and other such crazy crap. Too many good stories to tell :) Meanwhile we're all still pulling anywhere from 12- to 16-hour work days. At the end of this week the plan was for me to head to London for several weeks for a different project, but that has now been postponed and I'm instead heading back to New York this weekend (much to my wife's delight). So I packed about two-month's worth of stuff for what will end up being a two-week trip. Never a dull moment.

Friday, 31 January 2014 (Zurich) - Ciao Zurich!

 
It's been a fleeting and hectic visit but it sure was awesome to be back in Europe again! It's a quiet and gorgeous wee city is Zurich. During the whole two weeks I've been here I've heard just three car horns, two sirens, and witnessed only one person ignoring the red pedestrian light hehe. Tomorrow I'm back on a plane and headed back to New York, which is anything but quiet :)

Sunday, 2 February 2014 - XLVI and XLVIII

 
 
Manhattan's West Village neighbourhood is one of the most expensive in New York City. It's normally a fairly quiet spot, complete with its pain-in-the-ass (if you're a cyclist) cobbled streets. Kristina and I did a good walking tour around here last year.
 
Today however it was full of cops, news vans, news reporters, and news helicopters overhead.

 
Film and theatre actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead this morning in his West Village apartment from an apparent heroin overdose, with the syringe still stuck in his arm. Lovely. He was 46 years old. Hoffman starred in a multitude of movies, most recently the second instalment of the Hunger Games. The final instalment of the Hunger Games is currently filming in which he also stars so that's going to mess things up, much like Paul Walker's untimely death in November with the next Fast & Furious.
 
While doing my thing I was asked by a passer-by what was going on. His response was "Oh no, we always see him around here." Well not anymore you won't unfortunately. Stay away from kids. And refrain from littering.
 
 
Meanwhile, today is Super Bowl Sunday! As I talked about last year, the Super Bowl is the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. This year is Super Bowl XLVIII (48 if you don't know your Roman numerals), and is being played between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. The game is played in a different city every year, and this year it's being played at New York City's nearest football stadium, Metlife Stadium across the ditch in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As such, New York has had a host of events going on in and around Times Square all week. Having been away, I've only seen it all on the news and by the time I got there today it was all being packed up. Bummer!
 
 
Aside from the game itself, the Super Bowl is famous for the commercials shown during breaks in play, and the half-time show. Last year it was Beyoncé singing up a storm, and this year it was Bruno Mars with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Good stuff.
 
After last year's close game, this year it about as one-sided as it gets. The Broncos managed to mess up the very first play of the match and it never got any better from there. Their first points only came in the final play of the third quarter, by which stage the Seahawks had already amassed 29 points. When the slaughter was over it was 43-8. A Super Bowl to forget for the Denver Broncos. Gotta feel for their fans who forked out a stupid amount of money for flights and tickets to the game!

Tuesday, 4 February 2014 - I love summer!

 
At first it was a bit of a novelty. Record-breaking dumpings of snow and artic temperatures and all that. Hell, I was even out riding my bike in it. But now we're just all completely bloody sick of it. A ton of snow yesterday, sunny today (good good), another ton of snow tomorrow, and apparently another major dumping expected on Sunday haha! This has apparently been one of the worst winters for flight cancellations - 40,000 so far and counting. Summer's coming, summer's coming.
 
The garbage goes out front, and the recycling goes out back. Someone in our apartment building has a good game plan for being snowed in. Not my first choice of beer if I'm honest (dirty old Budweiser), but whatever.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014 - Slush

 
 
 
Another large dumping of the white stuff over night, but that wasn't the problem.
 
The snow turned into heavy rain early this morning, and rather than drain away as would usually be the case, it mixed with the settled snow and lined every street curb with ankle-deep slush hahaha! By the time I made it to the Subway my feet and pant legs were drenched, as were everybody's.

 
Given the subways run underground for the most part (hence the name) they're usually unaffected by snow. But this slushy shit tends to collect in places it shouldn't and causes problems (power outages and signalling issues mostly). As such, the subways were few and far between this morning and those that did arrive were full to the brim anyway.

 
 
In the end I gave up on the subway but the buses were no better hehe!
 
This one had completely crapped out and was left abandoned in the middle of Lexington Avenue.
 
So I called my boss to tell him I'd be working from home, and on the way back I came across crazy cat lady here. I first heard her coming up behind me. "Goddam subway! Shit! Fuck! Goddam it! Are you ok in there Mr Kitty? Fuck it!" and so on. I stopped and stared as she walked past to which proclaimed "I'm not crazy, I'm just frustrated!" hahaha! No love, you is crazy, but you're hardly alone in this city :)

Friday, 7 February 2014 - I know nothing

 
I just had four NYPD detectives at my door (not quite like this but you get the idea) working their way through the building asking me whether I'd seen this man (again, you get the idea). I hadn't, and they seemed very disappointed. Living on the ground floor though I rarely see anybody besides the dude down the hall and the chicky across from us. Anyway, they then went upstairs, hammered on a few more doors, and left five minutes later. Interesting.

Saturday, 8 February 2014 - Apollo Theater

 
 
Harlem. It's not the prettiest part of Manhattan but its name alone conjures up a lot of history, particularly among the black community who started swarming into this area during a real estate crash at the turn of the 20th century. True to form, the whiteys of the time were not happy about that, but try as they did, by 1930 the black population of Harlem had swelled to over 70%. Plenty more info here which makes for interesting reading.
 
Harlem is home to the infamous Apollo Theater. As far as musical legends go, particularly those of African-American descent, this place has seen them all. Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, the godfather of soul James Brown, you name it. Even the king of pop and plastic surgery - Michael Jackson. The building itself first opened 100 years ago in 1914 as a burlesque theater, and enforced a strict whites-only policy. During the early 1930s the theater fell into disrepair and closed. In 1933 it was sold and re-opened in January 1934 as the Apollo Theater. This time however, coloureds were welcome, and the theater's cult status began.

 
To celebrate its opening 80 years ago now, the Apollo is doing a free weekend event with various home-grown acts from throughout Harlem and New York City. Good way to spend a winter Saturday!

Monday, 10 February 2014 - Acapella

 
This here is a New York City-based singing group calling themselves Acapella Soul (brother on the right looks like Samuel L. Jackson). To quote their website, they are a "real doo-wop group, using the streets and subway stations as their stage for whoever is walking past". Their site goes on to mention they've performed for various celebrities throughout their ten years together and even featured in an episode of 30 Rock. Anyway, I knew nothing about them until they appeared on stage at the Apollo Theater on Saturday (see above) and sang a couple of golden oldies, and they were bloody good! Well, you'll never guess who I happened upon in the bowels of the subway this morning on my way to work. Very random :) Video here.
 

Thursday, 13 February 2014 - Six for six

 
 
Here we go again, for the sixth time in six weeks: snow, snow, and more snow. So far overnight and this morning we've had about 10 inches in the city but it's still pelting down out there! Up to 18 inches are forecast before the weekend.

 
 
Don't walk. That's fairly good advice.
 
During these last six weeks I've been out on the bike just once. Once! My legs are starting to waste away to normal. Granted I was in Switzerland for two of those weeks but it wouldn't have mattered. Last year I think there were only a few days I wasn't able to ride into work for weather-related reasons throughout the entire winter!

 
 
The snow is expected to turn into freezing rain and sleet this afternoon, followed by another heavy dumping of snow overnight and into tomorrow.
 
But whatever. We're all just longing for spring. Even the crazies who love winter, and who spend most of the summer longing for that, are themselves pretty sick of this hehe. As for Kristina and I, one more northern winter to go next year then we're outta here! Texas 'winters' here we come :)

Sunday, 16 February 2014 - Up on the roof

 
 
It occurred to me the other day I've never bothered to find out whether we can access the rooftop of our apartment building. Well it turns out the answer is no if you pay attention to the big "Keep Out" sign on the door behind Kristina there. So here we are on our rooftop ;) Not quite as impressive as the view from our apartment in Astoria (here).
 
Our back-door neighbours, smoking weed out the back. It didn't occur to me at the time but I really should have hurled a snowball down there.

 
Slightly more impressive by night. I noticed the neighbours across the street (shot on the left, apartment on the right) don't have any curtains or blinds. I'm not sure what he was watching on TV when I first got up here but it didn't look entirely savoury. I should've sent a snowball across there too.

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- Ba'y