Plans for the Future
After spending a day working from my “home office” I am back in the Jersey City office for the day. It’s really quiet here. All the other people that I started with are now on assignment so I’m the lowest level employee of anyone in the office.
I got into work early today in hopes that I could take some pictures of the New York skyline, but it was damn bright out and the torrent of people coming off the PATH train was enough to dissuade me into waiting to make it a lunch time endeavor. At least I have something to do. I think the remaining portion of my day will be spent on reading materials on SAP BW which is what I did all of yesterday. I will hopefully be getting access to the testing environment for BW so that I can actually apply all the concepts that I’ve been learning.
Last night Laura and I took a little bike ride over the Williamsburg Bridge, into Chinatown and then back over the Brooklyn Bridge and back home. It was quite nice and without incident. We picked up some crab on the way home, so we cooked that up and finished up watching the first season of 24 which I had downloaded. It was a nice evening and after downing a few beers it was easy to pass out afterwards.
I can’t believe that the week is already almost over. I am going to be going to the Mets v. Rockies game on Friday, so that’s something to look forward to for tomorrow evening, but the better news is that I have procured tickets to the Jets v. Patriots game on September 17th when the Pats come to the Meadowlands, so that’s exciting. I was able to get the tickets at face value, so that’s even better.
I spoke to a friend of mine from high school yesterday and she was telling me that she’s about to finish up graduate school (Mechanical Engineering) and trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her life. She’s been dating this guy for around 4 years and after he graduated from Columbia, he started working as an I-Banker at Merrill. I asked her when she was planning on moving out of New York and she told me
“I figure that in two years we’ll be ready to move and at that point I think we’ll just use my boyfriend’s 3rd year bonus to buy a house outside of Chicago”
I didn’t want to ask exactly how much he made, but she assured me that in his first year out of school he made more than double what she made (she who is also a Columbia educated mechanical engineer), so it’s pretty decent money. Although she did mention that he on occasion works 120 hour weeks. After this conversation Laura and I started to talk about our careers (as we have been doing in the past week) and came to some conclusions. We both realize that the whole “consulting” thing is good to get your feet wet, but at the same time, neither one of us is really passionate about what we do and while I haven’t had the time to really sink my teeth into anything, I just don’t see it happening. Somehow I don’t think I’m going to grow a heartfelt warmth for SAP and just want to devote my life to it. I think that Laura and I would do much better working in an organization with a product that you could really love and devote yourself to. I think about my brother and the work that he’s doing now. He currently is the store manager of a high-end cycling shop up near Boston. He LOVES his job and literally devotes his life to cycling. He has always been into biking, but since he’s been working there he’s really grown into a fanatic about it. I hope that wherever I end up, I too could be fanatical about my work and really enjoy going to work.
As an afterthought to my conversation with Laura, a few months ago I did have a meeting with a guy that owns and operates a hedge fund in Austin, Texas. I met with he and his wife about three months ago and they gave me some tips about applying to jobs in Austin while I was living in New York. Pretty much, after speaking to them, I got the feeling that it was going to be damn hard to find a job, but they assured me that I would, if I worked at it, be able to find something. They also told me that whenever I was thinking about seriously starting a search in Austin, to let them know and they would send out feelers, which is… well…amazing. Laura and I feel, especially with the days getting shorter, that we have about one more New York Winter left in us and after that we’re going to have to get out of here.
Long story short, I’ve set myself up with a game plan. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, such as my falling in love with SAP BW and never wanting to leave my job here, in February of next year, I’m going to get in contact with the gentleman that I met and his wife, and I’m going to start to throw my resume out into the world. I have a feeling that it may be fairly difficult for me to find something, but I’d like to give it a whole hearted effort. Hopefully by that time Laura has decided on if she’s going to attempt the Law School thing and hopefully she’ll be accepted or at least have a good idea of where she’s going to go (Psssst…. Probably UT) and we’ll take it from there. I just wanted to get this down in writing so that I can, when February (early March) rolls around, I know that this is my goal.
Oh, and on a more personal note: In 15 days, once I get my next paycheck, I will be able to completely pay off all my credit card debt that I have accrued since starting back up at school. It’s going to be nice to know that I’m totally free of debt (except student loans and the little money that I owe Laura), but free of all “real interest accruing” debt.
Now that I’ve successfully thrown myself an hour into my work day, I’m going to start working on building my love for SAP BW.