The Car Bomb

This is what happens when Seth leaves Jena and I alone...we tend to revert back to college days of '98. However, instead of Players Dance Club and Top of the Hill, it's XR Bar and The Room. To re-emphasize, SoHo is one of my favorite places to hang in NYC!

SoHo in the Snow!

As the following post demonstrates, it was no impediment to the tour of SoHo. Definitely visit The Room, Peep, XR Bar and Jane.

Welcome to NYC...

I'm having lots of fun with traveling this week. Boston came in with multiple flat tires and went out with a torrential downpour (and a delayed flight to JFK). New York is opening up with some lovely weather, as seen from the Park Avenue view from StepStone's new New York office. Unfortunately, living in San Diego tends to lead one to under-invest in fuzzy boots, which isn't good for February East Coast trips...

Welcome to Boston!

There are a few joys about the East Coast I temporarily forgot about before my flight landed in Boston's Logan airport this evening. One of which is the crazy cabbies that pervade big cities like Boston and New York. The cabbie that transported us from the airport to the Marriott seemed relatively normal until he took out a median right in front of Copley Square. This caused the cab to immediately get not one but two flat tires. It was good for a chuckle (only because we were right in front of our hotel).

The other thing I temporarily forgot is how hostile Northeastern-ers can be. As we were de-planing, a man - who apparently left a bag on the plane - was nearly gunned down by vocal abuse from a United gate worker. Apparently the man was in some sort of security violation. However, the United worker seemed to lack some tact with his approach to dealing with the situation. Can't recall the last time I heard a San Diegan yell like that in public. A San Diegan's response would have likely began with something like, "Dude, why are you re-entering the plane? That's not cool - it's against our security regulations." But that's the difference between East and West Coast-ers.

Winter Olympics

I've been watching some of the Winter Olympics over the past few days. I'm definitely more of a Summer Olympics fan - soccer, track and field, etc., and am convinced that many of the Winter Olympic events really shouldn't even be classified as sports. For example, if I ran the Winter Olympics, the first event I would strike down would be ice dancing. This should be a Monday night reality TV show following "Dancing with the Stars," and IMHO is not an actual sport.

However, there are some events which I've found to be incredibly exciting. Last night's 1,000 meter short track speed skating final with Apolo Ohno is a great example. Short track speed skating is volatile and definitely a full-contact sport. From the athlete's perspective, it must be challenging to prepare for an event in which someone can bump you and take you out of the race and there's really nothing you can do about it. In last night's race, Apolo was bumped and lost a significant amount of speed, allowing the two Koreans to pass him. However, in the interview following his bronze medal performance, he was very classy about it, acknowledging that that's just part of the sport.

I've also been impressed with the downhill skiing. I think you have to be a bit crazy to do it, but it's fun to watch and I've been excited to see the Americans have such success this year. Go USA!

Flu Season is Here

I work in a small office and several of my co-workers have been sick off and on over the past several weeks. After initially thinking the Green Vibrance might have boosted my immune system so much that I could avoid the sickness, I was brought back to earth on Wednesday. I woke up with a tickle in my throat and by the time I left work it felt like my throat was nearly swollen shut. Since I have a busy travel schedule over the next couple of weeks, I almost flew into a panic because there is nothing worse that traveling when you're sick. I drove myself down to the Urgi-Care in Pacific Beach, where the doc told me I didn't have strep throat (whew) and prescribed a Z-Pack.

Although I felt considerably better by Friday afternoon, I have been doing a lot of sleeping and relaxing this weekend. The sickness seems to be lingering, which makes me a little nervous to get on a plane tomorrow morning. I'll keep downing the orange juice and Mucinex-D and hope for the best...

Soaking up the Rays...

Like her Aunt Avery, Reggie loves to soak up the sun after a long walk.