Today's Fortune

A week's gone by without writing a blog. Funny how I write more at the investment bank than at the retail computer job. It's just been difficult to get situated in my contrasting schedules. Mondays and Fridays I work the nine-to-five life, Tues-Thurs I work 5pm-midnight. I was working 7pm-2am, catching the subway and getting home at 3:30am... not my preference.

I used to do it all the time, cater-waiting, bar tending, working as a bellman at a fancy, boutique hotel. I didn't mind then, when I was single and had no one to come home to. But now I do, and home is all-important. I was also living in Manhattan, so the commute wasn't so bad. If it was way too late, I'd take a cab home. A $40 ride doesn't fly in the distant realm of Brooklyn, far, far away. A normal person with a car can go a hundred miles in two hours. But us super creatures, highly-evolved at public transportation, can travel 10 to 20 miles. By car, at night without traffic, we could drive to north New Jersey in a half hour. By train, two hours. That's why we rarely visit family across the Hudson.

And that's why we accept automobile donations. Feel free to leave the keys in the car. Just holla and pull the car up to the curb. We'll gladly take it off your hands. Hell, I'd take your yellow cab if you offered. It's just that people would try to flag us down all the time. It'd be a little weird with strangers jumping into my backseat all the time. "No, I'm sorry, can you get out." That's why they invented locks, yes.

We like to tell ourselves that being in the City is worth it. It's where we have to be. It's where all the action is and where all our business is done. Well, it is. But being a son of the South, where cars and trucks are lifeblood, I miss the freedom of just walking outside, braving the elements for only a minute or two while the car warms up or cools down, and propel myself to point B. In New York, there's no avoiding the elements. It is in your face.

Two days ago, it felt like spring. I was walking around in flip flops, T-shirt and jeans, thinking, I love November. Today, it's frickin' winter, and I'm ready to migrate my tail feathers to Miami. "That's the Chicago way. And that's how you get Capone." Huh? Sean Connery at his best.

Pulling back into the bank building - I like to pretend and use a car metaphor, I can dream - I realize it's the simple things that make me happy. Sharing the subway ride, snuggling up to my honey. Eating a nice warm Everything bagel, which includes rock salt on the Everything, giving it that extra Umph, stuffed with hot eggs, ham and melted cheddar. Breathing easy and in good health. A decent paying job that gets us by, allowing me to write a little, while holding onto the dream. A hot-as-hell apartment in frigid little Moscow (I've said hell twice, now three times - I'm so free-wheelin'). That's what keeps me going.

I'm really appreciating, in this moment, all that I have. I've got my family, friends, and the love of my beautiful bride. I'm a fortunate man.