So another week flew by in a flurry of birthday celebrations, work days out, trapezing, a visit from our Bostonian companions, oh and some work of course!
In the office I have been continuing work on the two projects assigned to me. Both are progressing nicely with all the members of staff I speak to being very helpful in their knowledge sharing and advice. Gretchen has been great at helping Chris and I gather all the company wide information regarding events and publications required for the marketing plan as well as collaborating on developing some unique ways to promote the great work coming out of the Lab. One thing that has struck me this week is just how advanced the technologies and systems that Lab49 develop really are. After conducting some secondary research into the advances in the way client’s trade and the systems they require I felt I had a good grasp of the future trends in the way the equity market was moving only to be informed later that Lab49 has been developing systems using this technology for a while and has already moved on to what will be the next big thing- that really is “Innovation on Demand”! In addition to being super clever in all the work they do, the Lab49ers are also a trustworthy bunch: I managed to leave a British Dairy Milk bar, none of this Hershey’s rubbish, in the office fridge and it was still there at the end of the week (though maybe if they knew how good it was it would have been a different story!)
The previous week at work also saw Chris and I take a visit onto the trading floor of a large investment bank. I had the stereotypical image in my head of big city traders all standing and shouting at one another but this was not to be the case. There was a rather mellow atmosphere, just loads of traders sitting in front of numerous monitors, IM'ing each other with only an intermittent shout across a desk. This was a rather quiet point in the day as the London market had already closed but it was really good getting to see some of platforms Lab49 have built being utalized!
Wednesday was the company’s summer trip. Armed with all the ‘day in the park’ essentials we all hopped on the bus up to Harriman State Park just north of the City. It was a lovely day and great to get away from the office and the busy city streets. It was also an opportunity to socialize with a wide number of colleagues and their families and find out more about everyone’s backgrounds and what had attracted them to Lab49. There was definitely a general consensus that they are the innovative, technological face of finance and thus gives employees the chance to work on a range of exciting and complex projects, whilst being part of a company that has a very unique personality. Chris and I were also able to hold our own on the volleyball court and help our team to victory!!
The social side of life in NYC has been just as hectic this week. The weekend was action packed with us helping guide the Boston interns around the city, a tour around the Madison Square Garden, a trip back up Top of the Rock (this time in much warmer and sunnier climes), an outing to Broadway to see the fabulous Chicago, eating far too much cheesecake and the atmosphere at the sold out USA vs. France basketball match was fantastic (seeing Eva Longoria and Thierry Henry was an added bonus!)
Moving on to the title of this blog: New York is filled with street vendors selling everything and anything you can imagine including an ample number of $2 hot dogs. So when I read a news story this week that one vendor outside The Met at Central Park has to pay a license of over $500,000 a year I was pretty shocked- that’s a lot of hot dogs! I figure if all else fails maybe this is a future business avenue for me as they must be making sufficient money to make paying this worthwhile!
Finally, I have a few people to thank this week: to Ross and his wife for taking us out to a delicious Southern American BBQ restaurant; to the NY boys for my lovely birthday present and to Steph, Christine and Camilla for providing me with some female company and cupcakes J
C x