Seven Year Itch

UL. The Mothership. The Big Blue U. These are a few of the more popular monikers, often uttered with a mixture of affection and cynicism, for the organization with which I have associated with since the summer of 2004, and had been employed by since I graduated from business school nearly seven years ago.

Seven years? How is that possible? I cannot think of any other institution that I have been a part of for so long. No one school, no other employer. Heck, not even the institution of marriage (yet). My family is the only clan I can think of having been a part of for a longer defined period.

So no wonder that when I said my goodbyes, I felt like I was leaving my family. Older sibling-like mentors, co-conspirational brothers, distant cousins that are always fun to reunite with. While I'm confident about my decision to open a new chapter in my career, there was a certain uneasiness I felt driving away (rather unceremoniously) without my membership badge that identifies me as a member of this crazy family. I have once again moved on to the ranks of alumni.

I wrote the preceding text 2 days after my departure from Unilever, and time keeps slipping by as it has habit of doing and I've been in my new role for one month now. In fact, the first weeks in my new job have completely flown by, as I put all effort towards learning a new industry, navigating the world outside the lines, and reminding myself to be patient. I was warned this new world would be a little like the Wild West. It's not an exaggeration. But there are perks:

In addition, 3 more cases arrived today. But the above were "complementary"... all part of learning the brands.

When I have time to stop and think, I realize how fortunate I was to have spent my "formative" years at Unilever. I have learned from many talented people - peers and superiors alike - and have developed a sense of brands and business that I know I can be confident in. My only hope is that I've soaked in enough to make an impact outside those walls.

I'm also quite proud of my time at the Big Blue U - and while there is backlash against big corporations today...

This has been making rounds under the title "The illusion of choice"

... I was always impressed with what my former employer chose to do with its size:

No, I don't mean make videos about how great it is.

That said, in the end it was partially this monstrous size - and the feeling of being a tiny cog - that made me open to exploring an opportunity in a fragmented industry, where scrappiness seems to be a key quality of the successful and the barriers to finding opportunities and effecting change are lower. (That and the wine.) And while it's easy to look back through rose-colored glasses, I know that not everything was perfect. Yet I do find a lot of good in the rearview mirror, and regret that I won't be tagged in posts like this any time soon:

That, and I'm already dreading buying my first full-priced jar of mayonnaise in seven years.

Out and About

Funny thing about "real life": the days just go by while you're getting up and going to work, making dinner, relaxing, and visiting with friends. And then you look up and the year is already 1/3 over. Even in its mildness, we hibernated through January, which was easy to do after the excitement of Christmas, not to mention moving, finding and starting new jobs, and figuring out what the new normalcy looks like for us here in NYC. February was a little more active, but was much preoccupied in pursuit of a change I'll discuss in my next post.

Enter March, continuing The Winter That Wasn't, and bringing with it visitors from New England - Julie and Matt.

The Keenans @ Corner Bistro

Thank goodness! We finally got out and started exploring again, even in if it was just our own backyard. Lucky for us, our backyard offers almost anything you could imagine seeing, eating, doing. So we walked our way through lower Manhattan, ate our way through burgers, Italian, Korean (thanks to Matt for being a good sport!), and even took in a smidgen of culture at the Museum of Natural History (after which we took in Times Square, the ultimate tourist attraction of the city.

Our sightseeing also took us to the newly-opened 9/11 memorial. Surrounded by construction that looks like it will last at least another decade, the two tower footprint pools somehow exude myriad emotions in their elegant simplicity.

I won't get into specifics as I'm sure each visitor has his own very individual experience, and I have never felt I have the "right" to big emotions over 9/11, knowing that so many other people were affected more directly. Suffice it to say that it was powerful to observe, reflect and remember. And it made me proud to call this incredible city "home" once again, and glad to be out and about exploring in my amazing concrete backyard.

Brand New Year

Here we are again, at the beginning of yet another year. I've been trying to be reflective and philosophical about the year ahead over the past couple days, but found it difficult. Whereas we began last year with enormous anticipation of our round-the-world trip, this year, we're settling back in to "real life," or at least how it is currently taking form. I am afraid that I will spend the next 6 months saying things like, "one year ago today, we were eating pho on the street in Hanoi." I will avoid that as much as possible, first because it's annoying and second because it makes me a little sad. By the way, one year ago today, we got up early, strapped on our brand new backpacks, took off from London and landed in Nairobi.  *Sigh.*


In search of ideas of what to write here in this first post of 2012, I looked to my various cameras to see what inspiration they might hold. First of all, there were WAY more photos - and many ridiculous ones - taken from the LeMay family Christmas Eve party. I have to sort through them but will get them up soon. And then I found the following. I got a tablet for by birthday - thanks Mom & Dad! - and now taking pictures of my cooking is a newfound hobby (whereas the cooking is an oldfound one, one of the perks of being settled). So this is what I brought to the New Year's Eve party I went to: 

Fresh out of the oven

Do you know what they are yet?

Getting warmer!

The finished product

How much fun are those?  They were a hit (I think), but my biggest surprise was when I unveiled them and a couple people said, "Oooh! Are those meringue mushrooms?"  WHAT? I had only just discovered these the day before. 


Which just goes to show, there's always something new to discover out there.


Happy New Year!