NYC
 

So,

My job is taking me to NYC to test the latest geneation of our products.
The testing will primarily consist of driving to various locals, taking some readings and the moving on. At least part of the testing will have to take place in Manhatten.

Now, I have never been to Manhatten, or even the city central, and I was wondering:

1) I assuming that pulling over and parking on short notice is next to impossible in most areas?
2) Is the weekend significantly better as far as traffic levels?
3) Would I be better off renting a car for 3 days or paying a cab for 4-8 hours of driving around?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

How long does it take to take a reading?

NYPD down with this "reading" stuff?

A reading takes 2-20 minutes depending on a lot of different factors.

The NYPD knows I'm coming. And they will be thrilled should we hammer out existing issues with this next generation of gear.

What gear?

I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say.
I will say it is hella cool....

OK. This is totally unthinkable during a weekday, and only nearly impossible during a weekend. Eight hours of taxi will cost way too much, but if you rent a car you will get a hassle at most locations.

The only way to do this is to get somebody like me, pay them $500 cash, and haul your ass around town and drive around the block if necessary while you do your stuff.

OK, $450. But cash. Also, Jacquelita has to go along. Also, at the end of the day we must drive downtown and go to the Comedy Cellar for a set. It can be the early show.

Stick with the $500 ... Silent is on an expense account and should also therefore be responsible for meals and entertainment expenses.

Actually, if I said I had a contact in the city willing to drive the bean counters might go for it. Me renting a car for 3-4 days would run almost that much anyway.
Plus, I'm not at all keen on trying to navigate my way around a strange, heavily congested city while juggling a cell phone, laptop and test gear.
It would just have to be a "Don't ask questions" kind of drive...

Some expenses would be easy, others would be like pulling teeth. The CFO here will ask us to do some retardedly difficult things to save a few bucks.

"You don't mind flying into Newark, staying in Butt-Fuck-No-Where and driving 3 hours to even get into the city to start testing do you?"

Depending on which neighborhood of Buttfucknowhere, NJ ... you might want to make sure there's a vest in your luggage.

Check applicable NJ AND NYC laws first. They might not let you have one. Both areas are victim disarmament zones, although NYC is worse.

No shit.

I was doing a demo for NJSP, and it began by them showing me where the shotgun was kept and my driver informing me he kept a back up piece on his right ankle so if he went down I could grab his back up. :dead:

It sounds like your company's gear is police-related. Can you get the cops to drive you around, if they're going to be so happy with your product once it's ready?

For the most part, I agree with UT's suggestion of finding someone who'd be willing to drive you around all day. Check craigslist or ... yeah, that's my only suggestion right now.

If you DO drive yourself, doing this on a weekday will not be impossible. Honestly between 10 and 4 pm, the traffic in most parts of the city is not bad. I can lend advice on what areas to avoid during rushhour, if you need it. The only problem will be the areas that are perpetually congested, like Times Square, Rockefeller, Herald Square, the Brooklyn Bridge entrance, etc. Those will be a pain regardless of what day or time it is.

Honestly you can find Standing/Loading zones just about everywhere except on the major streets. All of the Avenues (north-south streets) are mixed - ex., I have a lot of parking on 8th Ave in my neighborhood, but further up near Penn Station/MSG there is no parking at all. As for the east-west streets, aside from the major crosstown arteries (Chamber, Canal, Delancey, Houston, 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 50th and 57th), you'll probably luck out and find a genuine parking spot with a meter (bring lots of change - 15 minutes for a quarter!). There are, however, lots of weird parking restrictions that won't be easily deciphered from street signs, so you'd need to be careful of that.

I'm assuming you'll be alone. Other question: Do you have to stray far from your vehicle? I've successfully warded off meter maids 2 of 4 times over the past year by staying close by and feeding a sure-fire BS story to the ticket officer.

If you need suggestions for good places to eat in NYC or NJ, I have those too!

BTW, how portable is your stuff? Always have the subway option, though it will take time to figure out where you're going.

Hooking up with NYPD is easy if you want a couple of hours of their time with no guarantees that they'll actually be there.
Most of these guys are so over worked it's not funny. And even if I could talk one of them into diving me around, if I'm in the middle of a run and they get a call, off the'll go and I'll have to start over.
Maybe if I make enough noise they'll cave in and send our sales guy for this area down with me. He'll bitch, but good at tuning that out. :lol:

I don't know man...

Craigslist has some really interesting people on it.

I will probably be alone and the gear will be packed in two 1500 series Pelican cases.
http://www.pelican.com/cases/cases.html
Plus I'd have a laptop with me. I would probably look pretty conspicuous out of a vehicle. Plus carrying around, ummm a significant dollar value of ummm, not for the general public type gear would give me ulcers.
Plus for large portions of the testing I would need be on the street or at least be able to see the sky.

Well, my offer stands. The GTI is a good vehicle for this sort of thing; the rear can hold the gear under its deck, the hatch to it can be unlocked with the press of a button. Its ride is a little stiff, but it's nimble enough to get around.

<a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/parking/pidpindex.html">This</a> is a cool site I found. It has interactive maps of NYC that show where all of the parking lots and garages are.

Does it include distance to crack corners in the info? Now that would be useful ...

Eventually it will. Because they just announced one for Chicago...

I can point you in the direction of cheap club drugs and transsexual hookers. They look so real, you can't even tell the difference. :eek:

Tell you what. Hold that thought.
Once I get more information on dates and if there is any hope of me talking one of the sales guys into coming down or not I may talk more details with you.

And anyone got leads on cheap tickets to Spamalot?

I hope not, 'cause then I'd feel stupider for paying a sucker's price. :(

Silent, your employer has a frighteningly mysterious homepage. I won't get one of those "firm knock on the door" visits to discuss the fact that I looked at will I?

You won't either, will you?

Oh my word that's sweet.

Philadelphia needs one of these. Once John Street gets Philly fully set up for WiFi it would be the most useful page in the city.

Nope. Our home page isn't hard to find so as long as you don't try and scan or hack it no one will take notice.

So what key words did you search on to find it?

Keywords? What keywords?

I'm a professional psychic.

If you were really a psychic that might generate a knock on the door... :lol:

I have a website ... okay, an unfinished website ...

Apparently about 5 blocks north of 290 and SW of 294 is the hot area for sex
and drugs in Chicago. Unfortunately it's also a hot area for homicide.

I wonder how it is for rock 'n roll?

It looks like I'll get my way and have our sales rep. for this area be my driver for the duration of my visit.
I'll be flying down June19th and out on the 23rdish. The next questions are:

1) What should be seen in Manhatten when I will probably only have time for a quick fly by?
2) Where are some decent (and by decent I mean reasonable quality but cheap. My per diem is only $50) places to eat?

actually, depending upon tastes the higher end places in chicago (like The Drake) provide the same services with considerably less danger to one's well being. places like Excalibur, etc... are also known to be purveyors of vice related entertainment.