"take the 9W north of the GWB, expensive up there but awesome. I usually take the 9W to the Tappan Zee, now they are taking down the Tappan Zee as they have built the Coumo Bridge"
I've taken that route a few times - the Tappan Zee bridge has a great view. There is a shopping mall just after you gett across the Tappan Zee on the west side. I went Christmas shopping there a decade or so ago and they were doing some excavation work to the souff ot DaMall mebbe a half mile (the mall parking lott looked down and souff to the dig site). Anyways(TM-Nasfan), when I was inna parking lott, I saw smoke to the souff, so I went and took a look - there were several fire trucks putting ~OUTT a fire - the large pile of excavated dirt had caught fire! Undoubtedly, the soil was soaked with hydrocarbon chemical waste and some dozer driver tossed a lit cigarette butt or sumpin and the dirt went up in blazes (actually pretty tame small flames like you'd gett from kerosene or lamp oil).
I thought - how perfectly that fitt the area wiff the rep of New Jersey (although I think DaMall was technically in NY state).
I am a creature of habit, so I stick with Paramus, Fort Lee, and Chestnut Ridge, sometimes staying at an EWR hotel (which, as you know, has a CONvenient Airtrain to Penn Station). I almost always stop into Chef Central in Paramus to shop for DaSquaw's kitchen gear - for holidaze/birfday presents. And I loved the old Suburban Diner on 17N - best when it was two ownerships passed - the current fare is less to my liking than the Ole Daze, butt I still eat there a lott. I also like Legal Seafood at the Paramus mall and the big Barnes & Noble bookstore is a great place to kill a few hours browsing and reading - mebbe having a rare coffee or iced tea. I usually gett into EWR quite late, so part of my routine is driving to the PathMark store in Ramsey which is open 24/7 to gett my goodies and then back to the hotel, whether in Paramus, Chestnut Ridge, or Fort Lee.
I take the GWB and then down the Henry Hudson about 80 percent of the time and 20 percent I take the Cross-Bronx to Harlem River Drive then to the FDR if my meetings are on the East side. In my 'sperients tho, if yer going during rush, it's quicker to take the Henry Hudson even though you have to cutt across Manattan on slow surface streets. The Harlem River Drive getts a lott of heavy traffic in the morning and then evening commutes.
One of the directors of a client company lives in Chestnut Ridge. She was a biotech partner at Bear, Stearns and lost a lott of her wealth when Bear took the dive. She now works as a CFO for a biotech trying to earn back some of the lost Bear munny/asset. She's a bit like your wife based on yer descriptions of your wife - CFOs are often of a kind, IMO - and quick on the uptake smart. Chestnut Ridge and Montvale are some really nice areas that are pretty CONvenient for getting into Manattan yett have a relaxed suburban feel and some countryside to look at.
Manattan can be a very fun place to visit, butt I wood never live there and I don't even like to stay there. I only do when I have to for client reasons or walk-to-the-yobb CONvenience. Normally, I drive in and park. I'm the tall dude carting the foldable hand truck with 2-3 bankers/DatSafe boxes on it behind me, a litigation bag in the other hand, and a large Kelty daypack with my notebook and IT gear in it. If you see me onna street inna morning, bring me a coffee (NYC is one of the rare places where I'll have a coffee now - need it to compensate for the 3 heure time difference and the hustle and bustle of Manattan) and a pastry and I can find 15 minutes to chat (and that's the best bill rate anyone will ever gett!!!).
BTW, do you know James Harpel? I did a few projects for him in the early '90s, mebbe 1990, when he was running Harpel Partners or Harpel Capital (I forget the name back then) and was innerested in doing deep-dive DD on biotech companies for his investment funds. He may be dead by now - IDK, butt you seem to have crossed paths with a lott of NYC munny, so mebbe you know him. At the time (early 90s) he was a very price-insensitive client - just wanted the info to be correct and investment-relevant (he played both long and short). Those are great clients - they just say 'use yer judgement just find ~OUTT where all the fleas are buried' - so you have the luxury of nott watching the clock (the tyranny of CONserving billable time) and just following every lead even if you go down a bunch of rabbit holes.
