Yesterday I headed to NYC for work. We took the train from the Hamilton Station in NJ to Penn Station. On the train, we sat near some twenty-somethings from a non-disclosed Nordic country. Basically I couldn’t understand anything they spoke in their native language, but it was delightful to listen to them.
We got off the train and subway and had to hurry to our meeting, which turned out to be very interesting to say the least. I was all worried about what to wear to a meeting in the big city, and I find myself in a meeting with this guy whose shirt was unbuttoned two buttons too far.
After the meeting, we had some food and drinks with out colleagues. All of a sudden I felt like I was in the middle of an episode of the show “Dragon’s Den” on BBC. It is disconcerting when you find that sometimes those reality shows are…real. I’m learning a lot about starting up a company…things you just don’t learn when you are hired by ABC company that has already established everything, or when you’re not involved (or privvy to) the conversations. I always thought that to start a company, you have a solid idea, you get capital, and you run with the idea. It is actually more like the bar scene. You walk into the bar with your assets–your ideas or your capital. Then it’s a game to see who ends up with whom, who gets into bed with whom. Sometimes you find yourself in bed with a prince, and sometimes you find yourself in bed with a frog. Sometimes the prince turns into a frog, and sometimes the frog turns into a prince. But you never can really tell what will happen the morning after.
After the dragon’s den meeting, my boss Ed, his partner Mike and I went to the Marriott Marquis and had drinks in The View. I’m sure my well-traveled readers know this, but it’s a bar that spins around. In one hour, you have had a panoramic view of NYC. Insanely cool. (I went to the bar in LA at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel last November that spins. I was so tired I could barely enjoy it…) I had the best martinis of my life last night–a pear ginger martini. Oh my goodness…oh my goodness…oh my goodness. YUMMY.
After that, we walked down Broadway, right through TIMES SQUARE, to go back to Penn Station. We walked about 10 blocks. Did I mention I was wearing heels? Yeah…I have the blister on the ball of my foot to prove it 🙂 I found out that Mike is a Monty Python fan. We tried to quote The Holy Grail in honor of Spamalot on our walk. Good times, friends, good times. (And I get paid for this stuff…kind of insane when you think about it.)
When we got to Penn Station, we hit the highlight/lowlight of the trip. We got beers…and drank them out of BROWN PAPER BAGS. Mike has pictures to prove it. Even as I am writing this, I am laughing.
I honestly don’t know what the future holds for me. This whole thing can end really, really well, or it can end really, really poorly. You know what? I’m enjoying the ride. Wherever it leads, I’m going to have a great story to tell and make some good friends along the way.
Deneen White 