New York City: First Time, Long Time

I'm going to New York City.^1

A friend is getting married, more specifically one of my wife's college roommates.

I've never been to New York but have always wanted to go. And so it is that I'm looking forward to this trip.

If you're from New York City or have spent time there in the past and would care to drop some recommendations on what to do, see, eat, etc., please do so. I'm all eyes.

Statue of Liberty, eh?

Now to track down a couple of friends who may still live there...

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Notes:
1. Is it really New York City? Is "City" really a part of the name? I don't think it is because when most people talk about New York, they just say "New York" as in, "When you were in New York, did you go to a Broadway play?" or "We saw the Sex Pistols at CBGB in New York."

In these examples, these people don't specify state or city, the they are obviously referring to the city, right?

Now consider "Kansas City". You never hear, "The Kansas Chiefs lost in the first round of the play offs." But you do hear, "The New York Yankees lost the World Series."

So if the word "city" is not really a part of the name of the city of New York, why then does the AP Style Book say to capitalize "City"? It's not a proper name.

Ahh, what do I know?

New Year, New Job

Happy 2004 everyone!

Last night some friends came over with their son. We shared some laughs and a few drinks and played with our kids until the stroke of midnight. Then we promptly ran everyone out and put our kids and ourselves to bed.

In three days I'll be another year older officially. Next week will be my last week at my current job, where I've worked for more than seven years. The week after next, I'll start a new job. What I'll be doing is still not entirely clear to me.

When I interviewed for the position, there were lots of questions about Java. I still don't know the language and haven't really done much Java programming. The group I'll be working for was looking for a system and database administrator and developer. I've been working in that role for the last three and a half years.

I'm looking forward to the new job. I'll be working with other developers. I've always developed software solo in the past, so working with others should be a great learning experience.

During the next twelve months, I am hoping to expand my knowledge of the software development process. I'll continue my pursuit of a degree in Computer Science or some other field of engineering. I'll be starting college Calc I in a few weeks. I managed to get a B in my Trigonometry class, that's the highest grade I've ever rec'd in the college level math class and I was happy with it.

I'm hoping to learn Java in the next twelve months. I think my new employer is expecting as much. Before 2004 is out, I'd like to have performed enough market research to have a good idea (or three) for a software product that I could produce and sell on my own.

Eventually, I'd like to start my own independent software vendorship, creating software for business. For the past three years I've been working with a product that cost more than $100K and I have to say it's not worth it. I think I can do better.

Here's wishing you and yours a great new year.