Pinch Me!

Pinch me!  I have to be reminded that this is real and I'm not dreaming!

It's interesting how much my life has changed in the last year and a half since moving to Houston.  I recently was offered a job in downtown Houston and I accepted.  I would have never thought I would be working downtown in such an enormous city.  I have the option to commute via bus and my employer will pay for it, but so far I haven't had the courage to give it a try.  Perhaps some day in the future I will give it a try.

So I would be lying if I said the commute is a breeze.  It's not.  It takes me an hour in the morning and an hour and fifteen minutes in the evening.  The thing is, an hour commute is quite normal for Houstonians.  Once you get used to it, which I totally have, it just becomes a part of your daily routine.

 



Took this shot with my cell phone - this is where I work, on the 30th floor.  Parking is actually located inside the building, so there is no parking ramp three blocks away that I need to travel to and from. 

The most interesting thing to me about downtown Houston is its vast tunnel system.  In Minneapolis, everything is connected via skyway system.  In Houston, everything is underground.  It is amazing to a "foreigner" like me how it all works. 

Above is a cell phone shot of my walk through the tunnels to get to one of the food courts.  There's so much more than food courts down there - there's convenience stores where you can buy cards, sundries, etc.  There's boutiques, restaurants, banks, etc.  It's a sub city down there.  I LOVE IT!

 

 

Here's a snapshot of one of the many food courts in the tunnel system -- looks like a typical mall food court, but again, it's all under ground!

 

 

Of course, my favorite part is the fact that I have my own office.  It's got a gorgeous view and well, let's face it - it's not a cubicle.  Nothing wrong with cubicles, as I have been assigned to one for most of my adult working life.  I just happened to get lucky as the senior paralegal position I am in supports the general counsel and the CEO, and my office is located between the two executives.  I don't know what to do with all the extra space - I have put some of my own touches in it since taking the cell phone snapshot below - but you get the gist from looking at the photo.

 



 

 

If you would have told me a year and a half ago that I would be in this position, I would have laughed and laughed....yeah right!  Me!  Working downtown!  Hah!  And loving it? No way!

 

:)