It has been tons of non stop fun and learning (which is also fun)
We woke up on Monday and walked downstairs for breakfast. I had a specially ordered bagel and muffin which was pretty good.
I said hello to the people who I hadn't yet met because they weren't at the Irish pub when I got there. The opening session was walking around and when Ofir stopped the music, he asked a question that you had to answer for the person you were next to or the group. A funny moment was when he asked if anyone wants to share and Meni who happened to be my partner announced to the world that mt first kiss was at 15 (which was very surprising to hear and also nothing we spoke about - but it was a good icebreaker and good vibes.
Then there was a session about the vision and goals for 2025, as well as the results for 2024. After which, product presented about a sales tool they have built called Horizon 2.0 which the sales team was very excited about. After that, it was time for lunch, was nice to get to know more people.
Next there was a session about OKRs per department which I got a lot of shoutouts in, was nice to hear, and then another session about competitive analysis.
From there we had an hour break, and got ready for bowling. We walked to times square (I was in shorts - literally no one else in the entire city was, but I didn't want to bowl in pants and I knew that we were outside just for walking. Bowling was fun, there were some good games. They ordered me Bravo Pizza which was delicious. I played a couple of bowling games, not my best but I won one of the games. Then we headed over to air hockey to play with Tsuf who I beat 4 times, Ofir who I beat 7-0, and Or who I beat twice, coming back from 5-1 one of the times.
From there, we walked back, and they wanted to stop at Joe's Pizza. I went with Roei to the store, and found a supermarket, the Salesforce tower, watched some ice skaters at Bryant Park, and continued on my way, only to find that they hadn't yet left pizza. I did need to get toothpaste so I asked Ronen if he would come with me to CVS. Lee overheard and asked us to get her some body soap. We had a fun time trying to figure out which soap to get for her, opening and smelling them, asking women in the store, and making a decision - we picked right. All the soaps and deodorants are in locked shelves to prevent thievery which is crazy to me. Anyway, we walked back to give her the soap, only to find that they went to a different bar outside MSG. We walked to that bar ,hung out there for a while, and I ended up walking back from there to call Shifra, shower, and go to sleep. Was a full on day, full of good learning and social life. Then I sat until 1 AM fixing up my presentation for the next day.
The next day started well again. It was so nice to just come down from my room straight to breakfast. During breakfast I quickly prepared an addition to my presentation, which was the chandler Jones touchdown, simluating a bad handoff. I started with that and the crowd loved it. My presentation overall went really well. Lots of engagement, lots of questions, and hopefully the processes are clear now. Now I need to go change it. Felt great, but I didn't leave Lee enough time due to all the questions.
Later on, in a different session, I let out a dad joke. We needed to write a Sales email to reengage, and at the end I wrote P.S. I see that you just got a dog, I have 3 of my own - and I am sure you will agree with me that dealing with chargebacks without a solution like Justt can be rough rough. Roaring laughter, felt great. I also won the Data Wizard award which was nice to get recognition. The sessions were good and informative overall. We went out to a delicious Kosher restaurant in the city called Le Merais. Had a great time there with my group, both with the food and also with getting closer to the Israel team as well as the US team with the preasked questions.
After dinner, we went to Dave and Busters. It was really fun, especially the hungry hippo game, but we had so much money leftover that we were never going to use in a meaningful way. I walked Ashley back to the hotel.
Wednesday was the last day, and it was shorter. The sessions were great, I actively participated in them of course. I also won the missions competition, winning 200 shekel on Buyme. Once they ended, it was time to say good byes. (I now have an issue because I obviously wasn't going to start explaining to the non jewish women what Shmirat Negiya is when they gave me a hug or handshake to say good bye but since then the Israeli women are giving me high fives etc.) Once that was done, I walked to target in the city, and took care of a 7-11 craving. From there, I figured out how to take a train to Newark for the Devils Flyers game with Moshe.
It was fun walking into a stadium/arena for the first time in a while. I condifently walked straight down to the penalty box and actually got to sit inside. Should make for a great meme. I made friends with some people there, and walked around to sit behind the net. I convinced Moshe to come down when he got there, and we got to watch warmups from literally right behind the goalie. Then we walked up to our suite. The game was fun. First period ended 0-0 but lots of chippiness and fighting. At some point in the game, there were 7 players in the penalty box. . In the second period, the devils took control, scoring 4 goals. I got a hot dog, hot pretzel, and pepsi (I LOVE hot pretzels at games). The third period the flyers gave up, and so it ended 5-0. The in game entertainment was incredible too.
I walked down the escalators to the exits with some very happy devils fans and got on a train to the city. From there I walked 10 minutes to where the team was after going to the Knicks game. It was a semi private room, with a hilarious music guy and lots of alcohol. At some point, when I realized it was about to be my anniversary, I went up and sang Perfect like at my wedding. The team ws shocked I could sing. I also sang Country Road. The funny music guy asked me on the microphone why Israelis always sound angry. I said "We live in a tough neighborhood". Got a lot of cheers for that and for the singing. It was a really fun outing with everyone, and it was fun that my singing got people up to dance slow and fast.
The next morning, at 6:30 am, me and Mickey ran to the Hudson. It was the most I've run in a long time, but it was so refreshing (and cold). My hands actually fell asleep. we found the way to our office for a normal day. Was good to continue bonding with the Israle and US teams. We ordered second avenue deli which was the most delicious deli sandwich I have ever eaten, though it turned out that it was under the Kashrut standard I usually eat. After the work day, Aliza and the girls took me to Delancey, which was delicious too. We then went back to their house where we played piano and they showed me what a Cricut is (the coolest thing ever). We Cricuted a lot.
On Friday, Aliza drove me back to the city for a half day of work. Good to continue working with someone. One of those meetings highlighted the importance of being here in person, because the thigns that we covered would not have really worked online (Setting Nick up with outbound). I also finished my board slides. From there, I met Aliza at 10th and 28th somehow with no phone plan. We drove to Teddy's because there was no way I was coming to Passaic with no teddys - was delicious. We picked the girls up from school, Cricuted some more for Shifra (her logo too), and applied to enter UK. Then Tifarah drove me to her home, and I played catch with Tan in the front yard.
Shabbat was really nice and delicious. Great quality time to spend with the Starrs and also with the Blumenthals who came for lunch. Really really fun. No nap, since I was playing catch with Tan and hanging out with Tifarah.
Then we had the Moshe appreciation dinner which was so nice and special. So proud of him. Was so grateful to be there and get a shoutout as the Israeli nephew.
On Sunday I woke up early to beat Tan in Madden. That was fun. Then we went to Semichat Chaver Shiur with Rabbi G, all about interest. I asked a few questions, it was a really interesting topic.
From there I hung out with Tifarah more, and then Baruch picked me up. Was so great to see him and spend some in person time with him, sharing and listening. We went to Sammys, ordered too large of a pizza, went to walk around a partly closed mall, went to Kosher Dunkin Donuts (his first time), and then he dropped me off at Natalie and Arnie. It was fun to hang out there with them, I beat Yehuda at Madden (was a good day for me in the Madden department), and then Natalie took me to Target in Clifton. I spent about 2 hours there, walking through each aisle to pick the perfect presents, and I had no where else to go - got an Uber straight from there to JFK. Had a great conversation with my driver Ous, and it was fun to pass Yankee Stadium, Metlife, American Dream, and Citi Field.
The flight was very nice again, I had an empty middle seat and had a window, so I slept a lot of it. I also watched inside out 2, which was an incredible movie. A sequel that delivers. The funny thing about that flight is you leave at 10:30 at night ready to sleep and you land when its already 10 AM in London.
I got a train into the office at Camden, which was difficult to find especially with no cell plan but I managed. The work day was great, had some in person meetings to cover a bunch of things with pepole, train them, and much more. They bought Kosher food for me so that was very nice. From there I took the Underground except that as we were about to get to Hendon where Raachel was picking me up, they announced they would not be stopping at Hendon Station due to a fire alarm. I realized that the next station was further away from Hendon than the one before so I went back the opposite direction. I borrowed a fell Jewish women's phone to call Raachel and she picked me up. From there, we went with Shosh to a delicious place where I ordered a monstrous burger that was so tasty. Then we went back to their place, I was so tired that I showered and slept for 9 hours.
I woke up on Tuesday, had breakfast with Raachel, and got on the Hendon Station Underground, which had apparently been fixed. But I got off it and switched to a different line than I should have, so I went on 3 different lines today. Was fun navigating that system, it actually is built out very nicely. I got out at the Big Ben and London Eye, walked across the bridge walked along the river and back along the bridge, and all the way to Covent Gardens. A few people asked me to take a picture of them and so then I asked them to take a picture of me. One of them were very Muslim, so I was wondering if they would see my hostage logo on my phone, but they did not. I sat at an ice cream shop in Covent Garden to work. Then got back on a train to Heathrow where I sit now. It has been an amazingly incredible trip, so many highlights on the fun and also the professional side.
