Best place to meet other people in NYC: Stone Street

Upon starting my latest gig around Wall Street last June, I came across one of NYC's biggest and best kept secrets: happy hour on Stone Street. Tucked away around buildings that contain the likes of Deutch Bank, Goldman Sachs, and other big fancy banking establishments, Stone Street offers one of the best happy hours in New York City. Filled with rows of tables on a blocked off street, there are a number of bars and restaurants that serve a bevy of different drinks and food options to happy hour goers . When the weather is nice , you can be sure to find lots and lots of young Wall Street-ers having a cocktail or two (..or three, or four). And most importantly, there is lots of eye candy. It is one of the best places to go after work, grab a drink, and hit on a member of the opposite sex. All in all, a perfect way to end a work week on a Thursday.
Yes you can bet your bottom dollar that when it hits 70 degrees outside again, I will be one of the first people out there getting a Carona at Ulysse's.

Money 101 for us 20-somethings

Money management is a something that I personally struggle with. Yes, it is true: even people with amazing style and wit have trouble sometimes managing their money and figuring out exactly what they spend their money on and why 5 lattes from Starbucks add up to one fat lump of money. But lucky for people like me, who could barely get past pre-calc part one in college, there is an awesome online program called Mint.com that does all the legwork for you. It works like this: you sync up with all your major credit card accounts, banks, loan companies, and anything you might have in your investment portfolio and basically let Mint do the rest. They can make budgets for you, offer advice, and graph out exactly what you are spending your money on, on a day to day basis. It has been great for me realizing that my networth is somwhere in the negative 10k's. Yes, upon seeing this lovely figure it came to me that this might be a good time to stop shopping so much and maybe, just MAYBE, start paying off my school loans. Good idea, right?

In any case, I recomend it for the money stupid like me: Mint.com.

Military Love

They say that whenever times are tough, fashion changes. People start being a bit more conservative and start staying away from glitz and glam in favor of more drab, if you will, dressing. I guess now is no exception as we have seen military fashion take off. And I am all for this trend. I love me my military green jackets and cargo pants. And this lovely jacket would perrrrrrrrrrrr-fect with just about everything and anything:

I can just imagine this top with jeans, shorts, a floral mini, and over a dress with a cross-body bag. Am I right or am I right? I think I am right! :)

You will definitely find me wearing army green throughout this season.

Television oh television ..

In the last 30 days, Hamas has been mentioned 1,262 on American television. That is 1,262 mentions of a terrorist organization, their "evil-doing", and how much of a threat they are. All justifiable. But how many mentions are there of what has been going on in the last few days?

My distant relatives live in a city called Ashkelon in the southern part of Israel. The city is about 10 miles away from the Gaza Strip - which means they are basically in arm's reach of one another. In the last few days about 60 rockets have fallen onto this little town. How many mentions are there of this news on television? 2.

Granted, this event especially strikes a cord with me, how many events occur on a daily basis that we simply do not get a chance to know about? Imperative events that effects global security?


educate yourself: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3512589,00.html

How many working hours do people really need?

Growing up, I always heard the expression "9 to 5" referring working life. Typical working day. Eight hours long. Eight very long hours long. But my first job out of college was a slap in the face. Not only was it not the typical "9 to 5", but we were generally not even allowed to leave at the hour we were told to leave.

But the question is, do people really NEED 8+ hours of work to get things done? Who was the person that mandated this 8 hour rule as the standard in the working word? The truth is that people don't really NEED 8 hours. They can probably get all of their work done in, dare I say it, 6 hours a day. Or, *GASP* even less. Having eight hours to fill, most employees are in no rush to get their work done. They take their time in the morning: check their favorite blogs, what's happening in the news, has anyone written on their Facebook / MySpace accounts. When 11 AM rolls around, most people I know finally get some work in - the timing of course being perfect to only get an hour worth of work in before lunch time rolls around. Now I know this system is not the same for everyone, but the point is that we don't use time at work efficiently because there is so much of it! Who really needs 8 hour work days? No one, really.

Any successful people out there who only do a few hours of work a day?