Today’s agenda was the American Museum of Natural History & the Rose Center for Earth and Space. We had a late breakfast at the nearby Pax cafe, then we took the subways across, then uptown, all the way to 81st St.

Our visit to the AMNH

After a quick picture, we were surprised to find such a long line to purchase admission tickets. Yowza! What gives? Then I was reminded today is Veteran’s Day and kids have off. Doh! Talking to one of the fellows selling annual memberships and hearing about the perks, including a speedy trip through another ticket desk, we purchased a Family membership, good for 12 months. Josh and I both love the AMNH, so we don’t mind coming back repeatedly.

For a year, $125 gets us:

• Unlimited complimentary general admission and special exhibition tickets for one or two adults and up to four children under the age of 18
• Four adult and 8 child complimentary seasonal live-animal exhibits or IMAX films
• Unlimited member discounts on Space Shows, additional IMAX films or live animal for two adults and four children
• A one-year subscription to Rotunda, our Member’s magazine
• 10% discount on Museum Shop purchases
• 15% discount on Museum restaurant purchases
• Discounts on selected Museum educational programs
• Invitations to special exhibition previews for your family
• $125 of this membership is tax deductible

We also got a nice (and free) children’s book on dinosaurs for Joshua. Pretty good deal overall, I think.

Once we got in, we moved on up to the 3rd floor to see our first included movie, the IMAX documentary “Tornado Alley.” Pretty interesting. Afterwards we hit the 4th floor prehistoric animals exhibits — seriously, could I deny Joshua his favorite period of history?

We had lunch in the cafeteria, then bought additional tickets to see Journey to the Stars, a 30-min film narrated by Whoopi Goldberg about stars. Josh and I saw this film last year, but it’s pretty enjoyable, and Nums apparently likes these kind of films. Color surprised, because I had no idea after all these years. I should record more space-themed documentaries on television.

The kids were getting tired, and we decided to call it a day after only a few hours. It was already 4pm, and there was no point in exhausting the munchkins. Besides, we can come back any time we want in the next 12 months. We took the subway back to the hotel to relax for a bit, freshened up, then met up with our friends Doug & Kathy downstairs in the hotel lobby.

On the menu tonight? Japanese! After some consultation, I made reservations at Tenzan nearby on 2nd Ave. I ate here with some friends earlier this year, and the food was excellent. Since then, I’ve been wanting to take my wife here as she also appreciates good Japanese cuisine. Dinner was very nice, no issues, and we stopped at a nearby cafe for a late night dessert before parting ways. Great day, I think.

Dinner @ Tenzan. See if you can pick out the sourpuss.

Waiting for the train

A few weeks ago, with the break between jobs in mind, we began planning out an extended weekend vacation trip. I had hoped to have a entire week off, but the background check took longer than I expected. In the end, I only have a four day break (Thurs-Sun) before I start my new life at Prudential. I would have liked more days, but it seems they want me to start right away. No matter. I suppose four days is good enough. Between NY Life and Citi, I only a weekend to enjoy any time off.

We looked at a few cities, e.g. Baltimore, Philadelphia, but ultimately on New York. Nums and I spent a romantic weekend in New York back in 2006, and that was a lot of fun. I took Josh to the Museum of Natural History last year via the train, and he had a blast. Sounded like a plan.

Lunch at Dos Caminos

So here we are after our first day. We packed most of clothes and things last night, with a few more items this morning, and caught a late morning train to NYC. Why did we opt for the train when we have two cars and a bus that hits our complex? Eh, the kids like the train.

We got to NY around noon, and we were able to check into the Marriott Courtyard New York Manhattan Midtown East on 3rd Ave early. We were supposed to meet up with our friend Kathy for lunch, but it was getting late for her at this point. Oh well, maybe next time.

Instead, we walked down 3rd Ave and ate lunch at our favorite NYC Mexican restaurant — Dos Caminos. Lunch was pretty good, even though Lily was fooling around on her side of the table, bumped her face against the table somehow, and is now sporting a well-developing black eye. I swear she didn’t walk into a doorknob.

Toys "R" Us Times Square

Everyone was a little tired, so we walked back to the hotel to chill out. In the evening, we strolled down to Grand Central Terminal to show the kids, then had lunch down in the lower level dining concourse. Afterwards, we took the Times Square Shuttle to 42nd St. We showed them Times Square at night, visited the big Toys “R” Us in Times Square, and even rode the ferris wheel. Best of all? We resisted their requests, and didn’t have to buy them any unnecessary toys!

We hung out in the store until it closed at 10pm, walked further north to check out the rest of Times Square, then walked the long walk back to 53rd and 3rd Ave. It wasn’t an action-packed first day, but it was relaxing.

Gonna miss the old Warren campus

After 6+ years, we come to the end at last. This was my last week at Citi. It is done. I am free.

The past 10 days have been quiet. It is the end of the year, so many people like myself are wrapping up work. I have spent my time tying up loose ends, cleaning out my cubicle and my laptop, and letting my peers in the business units that I have met over the years that I was moving on. I had some nice conversations with them, and their sentiments were very thoughtful.

I was in NYC on Monday for a last lap around to say goodbye to colleagues, and a few close ones took me to lunch. During lunch, I thought to myself about the business trips and late nights in the office, and how much I would miss them. On Tues, my manager took me out to lunch, and organized a last group lunch on Wed before I left. I tell you, he’s a standup guy. He only started earlier this Spring, so I didn’t get much time to work for him. This is one of my few regrets.

Beginning last week, I cleaned out my desk, and packed up my things. After Wed’s lunch, I looked around one last time after handing over my laptop and other items. I said my goodbyes, and I walked out of the floor. It felt very odd to think I wouldn’t be in this familiar place anymore. I’m so used to being in this space, but that time was now over.

6+ years of ups and downs, and it’s now only a memory. I’m looking forward to the next big chapter of my life

This is certainly ironic. During the weekend of the freakish late October nor’easter that a whole lotta snow on the Northeast, we were lucky to not be affected by the storm itself. We know many friends and family that lost power and heat for days.

Now for the ironic portion of our sordid tale — we lost heat for the weekend, but for entirely different reasons. On Saturday evening, I went downstairs to the basement to get the laundry. Imagine my surprise to find water surrounding the furnace. I screamed, “Leak! Leak! We got a leak!”  The two thoughts racing through my mind were:

1. I’ve got to contain this water before it does serious damage.
2. Where the hell is the water coming from?

I noticed that water was slowly coming out of this small device/portion of the furnace, which is apparently a pump that collects excess condensated water and pumps it out to the sewage line or down a big drain in your floor. I quickly shut off the furnace, and then unplugged the pump. I didn’t even know there was a pump there, even after six years. You know, as a homeowner, people don’t have clue how a house works. I certainly didn’t know.

For those of you who, like me, were/are totally ignorant of a condensate pump, let me educate you. According to Wikipedia.

A condensate pump is a specific type of pump used to pump the condensate (water) produced in an HVAC (heating or cooling), refrigeration, condensing boiler furnace or steam system. They may be used to pump the condensate produced from latent water vapor in any of the following gas mixtures:

• Conditioned (cooled or heated) building air
• Refrigerated air in cooling and freezing systems
• Steam in heat exchangers and radiators
• The exhaust stream of very-high-efficiency furnaces

Condensate recovery systems help you reduce three tangible costs of producing steam:

• Fuel/energy costs
• Boiler water make-up and sewage treatment
• Boiler water chemical treatment

Who knew? I surely didn’t. After much research, I cleaning out the collection tank of a lot of brown sludge, and hooked it back up. I thought we were all fine and dandy until the next day Sunday afternoon when I found more water all over the basement floor. I shut off the furnace again, and I realized that maybe this pump has burned out. I checked out reviews of condensate pumps @ both Home Depot and Lowe’s online, but the reviews were terrible at best. The best brand was called “Little Giant”, and Amazon.com had various models at half the price of the ones available at the brick-and-mortar stores.

The one wrinkle? Even with one-day shipping, it wouldn’t be here until Tuesday, and we would most likely have to live with no heat until then. We agreed to deal with it. Once the pump got here earlier today, it didn’t take me long to read the instructions, test it out, drill a new hole in the HVAC unit to hang this slightly wider pump. It’s been a few hours, and the new pump is working well. I may need to call a HVAC guy to come in and double-check the furnace. I think it’s an awfully large amount of water pouring into the pump at times. For now, we have heat, and no water on the floor.

Check out the pics below. On the left is the old pump with the buckets to catch the water, which I pour out in the sink as the bucket fills up. On the right is the new pump working quietly and efficiently. BTW, let me say again, I’m very glad that I have a cordless drill. It’s during times like this that I’m proud to have the right tools in my closet.

Broken pump, and our backup buckets

New pump with a scootch more horsepower