As I headed out this morning, I knew I was looking for 1 Water St. So I headed down the street in that direction. As I approached the building I was impressed with it's size (like all other buildings around here). The name on the front of the building is "One New York Plaza". It is right on the coast, so it has some great views of the Hudson. Below are a few shots of the building. In the shot from a distance, it is the one furthest back.
I went into the building and was given a badge that lets me get past the security guard by the elevators. I was told my training was on the 31st floor. When I got up there, I found my class room and since I was about 30 minutes early, put my stuff on a desk and went looking for breakfast. I grabbed a few things to eat and went to a lounge area. This is were I noticed the beautiful view...including an awesome view of the Statue of Liberty. Below are a couple of images. One is a shot of the Statue of Liberty and the other is a shot of an interesting looking and tiny island with large buildings around the perimeter (presumably too large to be homes). In the center are a couple of open grassy areas and some smaller buildings that could possibly be homes, but I couldn't tell. If they are homes, that'd be a cool place to live.
So I finished up my breakfast and headed into class. As I unpacked my things I noticed I left the cord for my laptop back at the hotel, so I spent the morning frantically taking notes by hand in an old-school paper notebook. I ran back to the hotel during lunch and brought it back with me.
Before class began, I noticed that the name on the instructor's name tag said, "Eric Evans"! I seriously thought to myself, "No, that's not really Eric Evans. Either this is another guy by the same name, or it is the instructor goofing around." But, alas, it really was Eric Evans. (For those who don't know, Eric Evans is the author of "Domain Driven Design", the book on which this training is based.) I was so thrilled that I would be learning directly from Eric. There are a number of authors that I really admire including: Martin Fowler, Allistair Cockburn, Uncle Bob Martin, Dave Thomas and, of course, Eric Evans. All but Eric Evans are signatories of the Agile Manifesto, but Eric has earned his place among the ranks in my mind for his work on Domain Driven Design. And for the record, I'm not fans of these individuals because they signed the manifesto, but because I've read some their books and what they say makes a lot of sense. These are all people who, I believe, are pioneers in bringing the software industry (an industry that is still in it's infancy as professions go) out of obscurity and defining methodologies and practices that help the masses to write the type of great software that they've been writing for a long time.
So ya, learning that the class was actually going to be taught by Eric Evans was a thrill for me. I won't bore the readers of this blog with more technical information, that info can be found in my other blog (once I get it updated): UbiquitousGecko. I'll just add that the training involved some hands on work with others in the class, something that I wasn't really looking forward to, but the group of guys in the class is a great group and I'm glad to be working with them.
After the training, I headed back to the hotel to decide where I was going to spend my $50 for dinner (the training provides breakfast and lunch, so my full $50 per diem can be spent on dinner...booya!). I decided I'd try out The Palm, a steak house that my brother's wife, Teri, had recommended. Wise choice. As I approached the restaurant, I saw the a line of limos in front of the restaurant, as shown below, which indicated the type of restaurant in which I was about to feast-to-bursting. They had a special this month for a 4-course meal for $49. I got the three filet mingon medallions. One topped with crab, the other topped with onion straws, and the third topped with Lobster. Me oh my. It was amazing, as wer the side of cheddar baked potatoes and the creme brule. I'm seriously thinking about going back there Friday.
On the way to the restaurant I also snapped the picture below of the Wall Street subway stop. It was kinda cool to walk down Wall Street, although, I have no idea which buildings are of any significance. I'll have to do some research on that before I go I guess.Well, I think I've digested a significant enough portion of my dinner that I can lie down without the pressure crushing my internal organs and my stomach ache seems to have subsided. So I'm going to call it a night. Looks like I'll have to work on my technical blog tomorrow.
Goodnight all!
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