alex.polvi.net

First, before I even get started, I have to say thank you. There are sooooo many people that helped me make this summer awesome. You might be thinking to yourself, how did I help? Well, think about it a bit more, you’ll come up with something. Anyway, yeah, thank you. It was rad.

Where I lived

I worked and lived in Manhattan (NYC). I really feel like I got the experience or at least as much as I could only being there three months. My apartment was on the upper west side, right across from the American Museum of Natural History. I lived with fabulous couple in their spectacular pre-war apartment. I got a kick everytime I watched the doorman operate the manual elevator.

Where I worked

I worked as a Linux System Adminstrator for Google. Yep, I can confirm, Google is an amazing place. My first two jobs were pretty much start-ups; both workplaces at which I could be super idealistic and make crazy ideas happen. Moving to Google I was nervous that I would lose this. Well, I sort of did. I was an “intern”. Parts of the company were off limits. However, they were very open with what they could be. I got to see behind the iron curtain. I feel like I am better system administrator because I can now think at a scale much larger than I had before.

What I did

I went out a lot. My co-workers were very good at showing me around the city. Some of the more memorable times include running across town in torrential down-pour with sandals on just for a slice of pizza, getting kissed by an overweight 40 year old lesbian (she “wanted to know”), and the bar the Irish women forced us to stay at.

Then there were all the concerts. Here are some of the bands I saw, in no particular order: Say Hi to You Mom, Ozomatli, Panic! At the disco, Dresden Dolls, Jose Gonzalez, Damien Rice, Fiona Apple, We are Scientists, Belle and Sebastian, Martha Wainwright, Gomez, and Bloc Party… to name a few. Everybody plays in NYC, so I got to see TONS of great bands.

What else happened

I went to Europe! Spain and Italy were cool, but I think I liked Vietnam better. I’m glad I went… it opened my eyes a little bit. I mean, those places are OLD. I need to post photos. Katrina and I had a lot of fun.

OK, this is incomplete… but I’m posting it anyway.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 5th, 2006 at 7:14 pm and is filed under Personal.