09 Jul DAY 13+14
{ back from a bit of technical difficulties }
Two long days of work for clients back home. Got up both mornings by 7 and worked a solid 10-12 hours each day on the computer. I miss my good ol’ Mac back home – with its big screen. My eyes are refusing to cooperate with this little laptop screen.
Another problem I’m having is that my Quark (design software) won’t open for me on this laptop, so I’m being forced to use InDesign. For those of you who aren’t designers, InDesign is the latest and the greatest. Only us ‘purists’ are holding out for Quark. I lost a client last year because I wouldn’t change over. She was from Upper State New York and I guess didn’t like my comment, “Sorta like the South, Quark shall rise again!”
As I type this blog post I realize just how much this trip has forced me to change and update myself in my line of work. It’s forced me to (1) buy (big one for a tight wad!) an iPhone and familiarize myself with apps, (2) forced me to use InDesign, (3) to understand the purpose of FourSquare, (4) set up, run ads and track analytics on Facebook, (5) use MeetUp to find classes, (6) load and tag YouTube videos, (7) understand email management programs, (8) collect and write content for a blog. Next week I’ll take an intensive class on SEO. Let me tell ya, I’m getting so socially adept I can hardly stand myself.
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IRS, please take note. This trip is an educational trip through and through. I’m not having one bit of fun. So please accept all receipts and expenses. Ok, maybe not the $125 dinner at that cute little Italian restaurant, but the rest of them? Legit for sure.
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Yesterday I took a break and went outside about 7pm. It was nearing sunset so I walked two blocks toward the Hudson River. I have been curious about this little jut-out piece on the map labeled “Football Field” 
so I walked toward it, south along the Hudson Riverwalk. The running trail was full of young 20-somethings running off steam after a long day at the office. I closed my eyes at one point and just saw myself in their shoes. Oh, if I could only be twenty again!
Anyway, back to this football field. I had to laugh. Poor Manhattan has no land. So they build a finger out into the river and plop a football field right on top of it.
In the summer they make it a soccer field, a baseball field in the springtime and in the fall, they roll out the goalposts. Pretty ingenious I would say. It definitely made me realize how lucky we are back home to have such large open spaces for our kids. (Inside joke, but you think NYO has a space issue, just look at this!)
See the warehouse-looking doors around the field? I peered inside one – it was a batting cage full of young boys. Behind another door were kayaks that people use on the river. At the front were men swinging on what looked like a trapeze. You gotta give it to New Yorkers, they REALLY know how to maximize their space.
As I left I saw the ‘The Greenwich Village Little League’ sign. It just made me laugh out loud. We may think folks in this city are sophisticated and high fallutin’. But you know what, they are just as small town as you and I.
A view from the Hudson Riverwalk Park:
Leila Hartley
Posted at 03:23h, 11 JulySounds like the trip has been very productive for you! You have really crammed a lot of learning in a short period of time! Glad you are doing so well with this and I hope to have an opportunity to hear about the whole experience when you return!