O'Neal Happenings

Greetings from the Big Apple!! New York is fantastic!! I arrived really late on Monday night. Due to heavy winds my flight was delayed for about 1/2 an hour. I thought that was bad but some of the other guys that flew in were delayed 2 hours - I am glad I didn't fly into Newark which is what they did. Anyway, I was told I would have a driver waiting for me to take me to my hotel which was about 1/2 an hour way. It was shortly after 11:30 pm when I arrived and the thrill of getting to see my name on one of those little cards was quickly smashed when I realized they spelled it wrong. Not just wrong (like O'Neill) but very wrong - O'Nell. So, the thrill was gone!! We (actually the drive) grabbed my bag and it was off to the hotel. For the first three nights I stayed in Lyndhurst, NJ which is just across the Washington Bridge (I think that is what it is called). We were right near the Meadowlands & Giants Stadium. I got to the hotel shortly after midnight and went to my room and fell asleep quick.

I had big plans of getting up Tuesday morning and working out in the fitness center but that didn't happen. I slept in a little bit and then got up to get ready for the first day of training. I was sure what time the shuttle was picking us up nor did I know what any of the other people looked like. I was on the elevator with one of the girls and didn't know it. I sat in the lobby for a little while and then finally gathered enough nerve to ask if the person I saw in the elevator was the girl I deal with on the program we were training on. It was and all was better. We got a car service over to the Sony BMG building and training began. It was a lot of stuff I already knew but it was nice to get a refresher on what the proper way is to enter items. Anyway, that is the boring stuff. Lunch was served in a conference on the top floor of the building. PIZZA - amazing real pizza. It was fantastic. It helps that the guy organizing lunch is Italian!!! We took breaks during the training as well so it helped it not be too over whelming.

After the training we went back to the hotel room to get freshened up before heading into NY City for the night. It was the second coldest day in history on Tuesday and the day we opted to walk around outside. When we got to the city the temp was 10 degrees with a feels like temp of -7. So of course the transporation of choice is walking!!! We walked 20+ blocks around the city. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a drink when we first got in town. It was nice but completely a tourist thing to do. After that we walked up to Times Square and the Good Morning America studios then past some of the major spots of interest. It was so cold we hated to stop and take pictures of everything. I did manage to take a few pictures. Here are some of the spots we saw......

Spiderman billboard at Toys R Us in Times Square

Good Morning America Studios

Radio City Music Hall
Ice Skating Rink at Rockefeller Center

We tried to make it to the Harley Davidson before it closed but it was too far and by the time we got there it was after 9 and so we ended up eating at a TGIFridays. Can you believe it?!?! We had dinner and a couple drinks before meeting up with another one of the training attendees at a club a few blocks away. We stayed out way too late!! The nice thing is that I didn't spend any money at all the night!!! One of the trainers picked up the tab every place we went.

Wednesday morning was another sleep in day. I guess I didn't need to bring my tennis shoes. Actually I am not really sleeping in...I am still getting up at my normal time (6:15 EST - 5:15 CST) I am just not getting out of bed! Training on Wednesday was good - more of stuff that I use on a regular basis but still good. They were willing to put me on a live system so that I can listen to the training but still check e-mails and do what work I could. So, I have been multi-tasking for the past two days. After training we all went for dinner at a Hibachi Grill. It was fantastic. I had filet with shrimp. After dinner the head of the RAAS group (the program we are training on) for North America insisted on drinks at the hotel lounge. It is so interesting to me that they are that will to spend so much money. I guess since it isn't their money it doesn't matter. It was yet another late night. I will need to sleep all weekend to recover from the lack of sleep this week.

Tonight I am in the hotel in NYC. It is called the Dream and is right across the street from the David Letterman studios. It is only a couple blocks from the Sony offices that I have to go to tomorrow and also only a fewblocks from Times Square. An old friend of ours is coming in from Long Island to hang out with me tonight and I am really looking forward to seeing him. The last time we saw him was when Chris and I were up here 9 years ago. WOW time flies!!! I am not sure what we are going to do since it is another cold night but I am sure we will find something - this is the city that never sleeps!!! Here are a couple pictures of my room.