I'm getting older too...

I can't live the lifestyle I used to live. My body just rejects it. I get drunk after two drinks. If I drink too much, I'm hung over for two days. I'm desperate for sleep all of the time.

Friday I got out of work early because of summer hours and dragged Edith out to see Live Free or Die Hard, which tapped into my lust for the rough Brooklyn cop archetype and also my love for dazzling car chases and explosions. (Bonus: Justin Long) Afterwards we went for a couple of drinks at Under the Volcano (where I got to try Frida Kahlo anejo tequila and a mezcal that tasted like Band-Aids) = drunk. Dinner at Giorgio's of Gramercy where not only did I not drink, but I also did not hit on the cute waiter who seemed to be throwing himself at us.

I said to Edith, "You know who that guy is? He'll ask for your number and actually call you, take you out on a date and be really nice to you, and then explain how he doesn't want to be your boyfriend." She nodded empathetically.

Tired after dinner, I went home and to bed by 11:30.

Saturday I had the ambitious plans to get drunk in the afternoon with Tim at Sixpoint Craft Ales in Red Hook, where we got to see the last brewery tour before their expansion (necessary to up their production in order to meet the increasing demand for their delicious beer). Not only did I get the free beer that comes with the tour, and another free beer for answering the trivia question right (their "Sweet Action" beer is named after a locally published, not-safe-for-work magazine), but I also got to drink a beer straight out of the conditioning tank, which tasted cold and fresh and smooth - almost soapy. YUM.

Tim had to leave early but I stayed to eat pizza at the connected Liberty Heights Taproom and finish my beer. Nothing like being drunk and alone when the only way to get home is to take a bus/train/bus combo home.

Being a lightweight and old, I took a nap when I got home, which turned out to be a bad idea since I had my contacts in and I woke up with the worst case of bloodshot eyes I've ever had. I managed to keep the contacts in and drag myself out to dinner with Michelle, who was hoping for an exciting "night out," but instead she got goopy-eyed, yawning Sandi who couldn't finish her Sugar Hill Golden Ale at dinner and could barely drag herself to Flatiron Lounge for a drink.

That being said, we still had a great dinner at the new Borough Food & Drink, a NYC-themed restaurant from my favorite chef, Zak Pelaccio. We ate a mac 'n cheese pancake, which I cannot recommend more. Still, I felt like I let Michelle down. I used to be such a party girl, dragging her all around the city til 5 o'clock in the morning. Now I want to start early and go home and watch TV. I'm too exhausted to chase cute bartenders or throw myself at random guys. I'm too much older than the rest of the guys out there, and even though I don't look it, I'm embarassed to tell them my age. And if I'm drunk after two drinks, I don't really see the point of continuing to drink all night.

My time has passed. There are lots of other adventures out there for me, but I don't think they involve tawdry affairs or drunken blackouts. Sure, I have my relapses (see: Long Beach), but at some point I have to accept the path that I'm on. I'm responsible, organized, smart, and independent (read: alone). I'm successful at all matters academic and professional. My personal life is basically a failure but I've got at least another 30 years to try to turn that around. Stevie Nicks says that time makes you bolder. Maybe getting older is a good thing.

Beyond the Frontier

I've never been very adventurous when it comes to my travels. I like to plan, I like to know where I'm staying and where I'm going. Loosey goosey usually spells trouble for me.

But I knew I had to go to Minneapolis for business this weekend so I thought I would do some Minnesota exploring - namely, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway, or, as much of it as I could cover in a day and a half before I had to work. 

A day in the life....

I've been able to get up at 7 a.m. the past two days. That's really unusual for me. It means I've managed to get to work before 10 a.m., a kind of daylight I rarely see these days.

I walked to work kind of happy today, another new experience. Good things are happening. I think I've learned to appreciate them.

Still, I left work really late - 8:40 p.m. - and when I was walking down Bleecker to catch a cab, some really strange guy who was like a fat Truman Capote with a huge belly and a Walkman looked at me and shouted over his own music, "Oooh! Rockin' the legs with the brunette! Yeeeooooh!" I knew there was something magical about my dress today.

It was my cab driver's first day on the job ever and he didn't know how to get from MacDougal and Bleecker to Varick and Canal so I had to guide him turn-by-turn. Once we got on Varick, he started careening down the road. As I grabbed onto the backseat strap, he said in a thick Russian accent, "You like my driving? In my country, I was a race car driver!"

I laughed and then we both turned serious. I said, "Uh, really? Because if you say yes I'll totally believe you." He nodded emphatically and said, "Oh yes, back in Russia..."

He dropped me off at Tribeca Cinemas for Naked Angels, where I got a good up-and-down by the handsome gay organizer and a lot of eye contact from the female writer who cast me in her play. Love this dress.

I'm getting to bed about an hour late tonight so maybe I'll get up at like 8 tomorrow if I'm lucky.

Vacation vs Work

While I was in Syracuse, I was on email constantly and had co-workers calling me on my cellphone with one crisis or another. It didn't totally feel like vacation (more like working from home), but I chose to be so reachable so it would be easier when I got back.

When I got to Florida, I tried to make the work feel as much like a vacation as possible to even everything out. It started out hard enough: on Thursday I got up at 4 a.m. to catch a 5 a.m. cab for a 6:20 flight - which didn't leave til 7:10. Worried I wouldn't make my 9:35 connecting flight, I literally ran through the Atlanta airport from concourse C to A, getting there 5 minutes before the takeoff time (and wheezing terribly), and they wouldn't let me on the plane. Ended up running back and forth through ATL trying to catch an earlier flight, which proved impossible, making me have to bump my first meeting of the day.

Despite the difficulty getting there, we actually had a great meeting at Royal Caribbean - which is based in the Port of Miami among many other travel/hospitality/cruise companies. I was in a rental car (this time a red Aveo) for the first time in Miami in many years and I was zipping around like a pro, pushing my mental state aside and shifting into full work mode.

We had another great meeting, this time at the corporate headquarters of Burger King. Their offices are situated on a lagoon by the MIA airport, and when we walked through the reception area with the glass-topped Whopper coffee table, I knew I was going to have a good time. Upon our arrival we were greeted with complimentary Icee's (mine a frozen Coke which I used to be obsessed with, Kevin's a cherry limeade) and a platter of cookies. Like Wendy's, the hallways kind of smelled like the food they were marketing, but I found this scent pleasant and comforting, just like the times my father used to take us out for BK as kids (which was a "nice" dinner out compared to, say, McDonald's). By the end of the meeting, which went really well, I was bouncing off the walls, and gave an audible "oooh!" when they gave us parting gifts of Spider-Man toys.

The day ended relaxingly enough, with some poolside time at the Surfcomber Hotel (and a free cookie at check-in!) and a $25 Johnnie Walker Gold and Drambuie cocktail at the Raleigh before bed. I only got one night at the Surfcomber because of hugely inflated weekend rates, but I sure enjoyed it.

The next day we had one final great meeting and then we were off. We'd planned to stay one more night because we were trying to fill Friday with as many meetings within driving distance as possible, but we ended up staying the extra night just to enjoy Miami. After lunch at Nikki Beach, some more swimming (this time at the Riande Continental), some Lincoln Road Mall shopping and a quick movie on my own, Kevin and I had dinner at the Delano where I had the best bluecrab and shrimp cobb salad. I then struck back out on my own to experience some nightlife, and I actually managed to find bars that locals hang out in, rather than the nightmarish nightclubs that are frequented by sweaty goombas and their fake boobed girlfriends.

Automatic Slim's has a stripper pole for drunk happy hour chicks, hot female bartenders who stand on the bar and pour vodka down dudes' throats, and a DJ that plays rock and soul mashups that keep you there even when you're done drinking. It got a bit too loud for me so I followed the recommendation of a local (Rachael Ray would be proud) and stopped by a bar called Lost Weekends, which is tucked away on Espanola Way just off Collins, but faaarrr away from the bikini-clad mania that has come to define South Beach. I had a bottle of Spanish beer called Mahou and met a local guy named Mike, who thinks I'm a crazy chick but also told me about a couple of other good beer bars I should check out in the future (take note: Abbey Brewing Co. and Zeke's Roadhouse, which has $3 beers of the world!).

On Saturday, breakfast at the 11th Street Diner and a walk down the boardwalk (which is where I got sunburned, with the noon sun directly overhead) sent us off to the airport fed and sunned, hot and ready for home.

Now that I'm back, despite how much work I did all week, I've got a lot of work waiting for me. But I feel good about it. I accomplished a lot while I was away. And managed to have some fun, too.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Today marks my 10th anniversary in New York City.

On the Road

I took a nice day trip today, something I don't often do when I come Upstate. I realized I'd never been to Ithaca, and lucky enough my friend Liz from college lives and works there, so it gave me a great excuse to go visit. I rented a Budget Rent-A-Car, and in typical form I tried to get a modest compact car, but instead they gave me an orange convertible Eclipse Spyder. Obnoxious. But fun to drive at a very natural 80 mph.

Ithaca is best-known for its natural wonders, something I learned from all the "Ithaca Is Gorges" t-shirts that I've seen on college kids throughout the years. As a kid we always used to visit caverns and gorges, which makes it curious that we never made it to Ithaca, even though it's only about an hour south of Syracuse.

It seems fitting that Liz lives in Ithaca, since a fond memory of her is driving to Chittenango Falls together one summer during college and getting right in the waterfall together, just in our bras. The water felt like fists pounding on our backs. We rode back to Colgate in the car still topless, just in our bras. It felt very natural and liberating.

So before I met Liz for lunch I stopped by Taughannock Falls State Park in Trumansburg, which has a great falls overlook and Gorge Road, which follows the whole gorge (and which also has many pedestrian hiking trails). I couldn't figure out a way to actually get down right by the falls but there's definitely a walkway there...

We had lunch at the Cafe Dewitt in the Dewitt "Mall"...Then a walk through the Ithaca Common (the outdoor mall), where I left my ATM card in the M&T Bank machine. I hate the ones that suck your card in. I always leave my card behind in them.

Ithaca is in the center of the Finger Lakes Wine Country, nestled on Cayuga Lake, but most of the wineries are north of the city. I visited the one that's actually in Ithaca, Six Mile Creek Vineyard which is situated on a pre-Civil War cemetary and former stagecoach stop. For just $1 I got to taste six different Upstate wines. Of course on a Monday afternoon I was the only person there, but I was happy to bring back a bottle of Vignoles white and Dolce Vita sweet red back to Mike and Maria to imbibe later.

Before leaving I wanted to make sure I got to see one more waterfall - there are many more - so I swung by Ithaca Falls which is basically right in the middle of the city, across from a school, just off a pretty well-trafficked road. I got so close to the falls that I could feel the mist coming off of them, and I was surrounded by fly-fishers and local students lounging as they studied for the end of the school year...I think the area must be in a drought because all the water levels looked really low and receded to me, especially considering how close I was able to actually get.

On the way out of town, I had to stop by Purity Ice Cream, the shoppe that claims to have invented the ice cream sundae. I got a junior hot fudge sundae with Gimme Mocha Fudge ice cream, named after the local favorite Gimme Coffee. It was OK but Carvel honestly was better. The hot fudge sauce rocked but the ice cream was a little too much ice and not enough cream.

I tried not to get a speeding ticket on my way back to Syracuse and dropped my car off at the airport. I never drove it with the top down (considering my distaste for wind) but I had a fine time cruising around in it today.

When I got back home, Maria made pasta with mushrooms and garlic for me, which we all ate with some of the wine from earlier today. We all talked about our days. It felt like a real family.

Leavin' Las Vegas Behind

I had a good trip to Las Vegas, but I guess the price for that is working a 13 hour day today. You know how mass never goes away, it just changes its state? It's the same with work and time. If I'm out of the office for 5 hours, I've got to stay 5 hours late.

I flew out to Vegas Sunday on a 7 a.m. flight, a nearly miraculous feat for Sandi of the Rises-Late-in-the-Day tribe. I wanted to have some time by the pool and actually enjoy my trip, rather than just working the whole time. I'm glad I did - I flew on a refurbished Song airplane on Delta Airlines, which meant a TV at my seat and the opportunity to watch the fantastic flick The Pursuit of Happyness(which I'll be quoting henceforth until further notice). I arrived in Vegas happy.

I got sunburned in like 10 minutes at the pool, with record 90+ degree heat and burning sun. Caesar's Palace has three pools but I couldn't stay out any longer so I only got to swim in one of them...So much for the exercise I was hoping to get.

But, we were in Vegas for a work conference, so I can't complain much. And boy did we work. Lots of early mornings, chasing people down, handing out business cards, taking copious notes during keynotes and panel discussions....EXHAUSTING. We barely wanted to leave the hotel.


Had I been there on vacation, I could've made more of our crazy, gaudy, old school Vegas hotel. My room in the Forum Tower was some kind of hedonistic chamber, with two remarkable features: 1) a mirrored ceiling above the bed, and 2) a big round tub on a raised dias in the bedroom. Total party bath. What a waste to be there alone.

The last time I was in Las Vegas, I stayed at the Stratosphere with the worst flu of my life. Back then, even through my sickness, I always thought Vegas had no character of its own and, like Epcot, was just a composite of copies of other places. In good health during this trip, I felt the same. But my hotel room - despite its "Roman" theme - gave me a little glimpse of a bit of Vegas character. Or at least my fantasy version of it.

Still, most of the restaurants we ate at - Mesa Grill, RAO's, Spago - were just reproductions of New York or LA establishments.

Everybody loves Vegas and Atlantic City for the gambling or the drinking or the general sense of debauchery I suppose, but the normally party-centric Sandi takes a break in those circumstances. Yes, I gambled a little, basically breaking even with a $2 deficit, even playing roulette for the first time - but the highlight of my trip was the relaxing massage I got courtesy of the conference hosts at the Bellagio spa. It was a little unnerving because during our tour of the facilities, they pointed out the jacuzzi room and said that swimsuits were "optional." After a double take and asking if they had any swimsuits to borrow (I didn't bring one, and they don't), I turned to Edith and said, "I dare you."

I got out of my massage before she did and ran right in there. Imagine her dismay when she entered the room in a robe and I'm submerged in the bubbling bath, wondering how she's going to manage getting in the pool naked. Of course I wasn't comfortable either. I don't think the bubbles hid anything.

But it was all very relaxing and set us up to have a nice Casa Noble tequila at Bradley Ogden and a business dinner at BOA. We didn't have much energy to go gambling again but we made a valiant effort to check out the MGM Grand and Paris casinos. I wished I'd been able to find a Press Your Luck slot machine like the one I won $100 on years ago, but I entertained myself with the bonus rounds on the I Dream of Jeannie penny slots ("Does that make you happy, master?").

Unfortunately my relaxation ended as soon as our return flight started circling over New York City, unable to land because of JFK's inclement weather closure Tuesday night. When we finally did land, the lightning on the field prevented any staffers from guiding us into our gate. We sat a long time on that plane.

The weather was still bad when we finally deplaned, and I had the pleasure of waiting a half hour for Carmel to pick me up in the rain. No Carmel. No cabs (and a looong taxi stand line). I finally had to call my old Atlantic standby car service NYC Two-Way, who came to my rescue and finally got me home at 2:30 a.m.

I'm a little dragged out and have got to take the train out to Connecticut on Monday for work. But three friends' birthdays this weekend should help me find some, ahem, relaxation before I have to start working like a dog again.

Elephant Walk

Tonight Eric and I stood over by the Queens Midtown Tunnel to catch the annual Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey parade of animals down 34th St. to MSG. The highlight is the elephants - about a half dozen of them, followed by some horses and ponies. No tigers, though.

It's quite a hipster destination, and the drunk frat boys of Murray Hill were particularly enjoying it in front of Twelve sports bar on the south side of 34th. But lots of people who walked by had no idea what we were lining the streets for.

Here's the account of last year's parade from Gothamist.

It goes by pretty quick and it's late at night (12:30ish) but it's probably the closest you'll get to an elephant in Manhattan unless you actually go to the circus.

Back For Good?

Well, at least until Las Vegas at the end of April. At least I get to go with a cohort. She doesn't know this yet, but I may drag her to the Luxor to do some Criss Angel stalking. I caught a marathon while flying back from Miami and I'm hooked. He's hot.

But for now, at least for a month, I'm back. I flew to Columbus, OH for the day yesterday, which is something I don't often have to do for my job. I know there are account exec's and Corporate America upwardly-mobile people who do that all the time, but I'd kind of rather stay in a town and settle in a bit. But I've actually been to Columbus before, visiting my sister, and I can't say I'm dying to spend a lot more time there.

We actually had to go to nearby suburb Dublin, OH - home of Wendy's and Dave Thomas. Dublin appears to be a cute, shamrock-speckled town, with little shops and restaurants surrounded by the strip malls and family dining establishments that completely dominate the Columbus area. After our meeting (at Wendy's corporate office, of course), we stopped into the non-chain Jason's Restaurant & Bar, where I had great lettuce wraps and a salmon and asparagus salad. Was it really local flavor? I don't know, we were the only ones there - it seemed maybe too sophisticated for the surroundings. But for a couple of New Yorkers, it was perfect.

The Wendy's offices literally had the scent of square burgers lingering in the air. The conference room had a huge drive-thru menu against the back wall. The kitchen had a soda fountain, with their trademark yellow paper cups, of course. I kept hoping for free fries but no luck.

Even the ladies' room was unmistakably "Wendy's." I felt like I was in one of their restaurants. Even the soap dispenser reminded me where I was.

I haven't eaten in a Wendy's in a while but I actually worked at one for five days in 1993. It was my first job out of high school (my parents wouldn't let me work during high school) and I was the Superbar girl. I liked making the garlic bread but I often burned it, and I would always forget about the tortillas which would get dry and crumbly if left out too long. A lot of the job was stirring and scraping - the salad dressing containers, the alfredo sauce... And then sometimes I would have to sweep up the fries that had been mashed into the carpet in the dining room, and even worse was cleaning the restrooms. No wonder I felt anxious when I saw that soap dispenser yesterday.

I eventually had to quit my Wendy's job because my OCD mom couldn't handle me coming home every day smelling like chili. For those five days I practically lived in the bathtub. But, it turned out for the best because it led me to working in clothing retail, which led me to music retail, which led me to my career in the music industry, which led me back to Wendy's. Funny how things work.

Back from the Beach

After spending four hours in the Ft. Lauderdale airport because I couldn't get on an earlier flight, I'm finally back - just in time to fly to Ohio tomorrow. I like travelling, but my work schedule has left me exhausted lately. Just keeping up with the emails feels like moving a mountain.

I've been to the Miami area several times, most recently last summer in Hollywood at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel (the very same place where Anna Nicole just died). I've been going to Winter Music Conference since '99 or 2000, skipping only two years since then (once when I was unemployed, and last year so I could go to Budapest).

This year's trip to WMC made me want to not go back.

First of all, it was rainy. And cold. So cold that not only could I not swim in the ocean (one of my favorite things to do), but I couldn't even dip a toe in the hotel pool. I was wearing long sleeves and jeans (which had to be rolled up because of the downpour).

You have to understand, WMC is all about the hang. Nobody except radio programmers and aspiring DJs actually go to the conference itself (the panels etc), so you have to make yourself as visible as possible at all the parties, most of which are poolside or on a roofdeck. That kind of sucks when it's raining.

The events that were inside this year seemed more disorganized than ever. I felt like I was always arriving everywhere too early, with events starting 30-90 minutes late, open bars not happening, no free food where there was supposed to be free food...

Plus - and maybe it's because I was away last year - I felt more alien to Miami Beach than ever. I actually got turned away from The Setai for wearing flip-flops (at the beach!), and when I returned with heels on, the party I was there for wasn't even starting for another hour. I'd been there the night before as well for a Tiesto release party, which apparently Tommie Sunshine got turned away from though I got in. That was a disappointment too, since there were no free drinks or food for us - only for the suits in the back room who were having some kind of law firm corporate meeting. (One lawyer named Sergio stole a white wine for me, thankfully.) I also got turned away from the Delano for dinner, even though there were a million empty tables. The excuse? Too many reservations.

So I trotted over to The Raleigh, where I felt welcome. I could listen to the great music coming from the Stones Throw party at the pool, and I had a nice, reasonably priced meal with impeccable service. Screw the snooty Delano. I'd rather sit on a patio with lanterns swinging in the breeze above me, and a twisted-trunk tree with an orchid growing out of it in front of me. Until I can afford to actually stay there, I think I'll keep making reservations at the Richmond, the hotel next door. At least that worked out well.

My trip wasn't all bad. I met lots of interesting people: the PR manager for J. Sisters (resulting in a free manicure), the co-owner of Rowland Coffee Roasters (manufacturers of Cafe Bustelo and their new cafe con leche in-a-can), and a hot model/rapper/actor/political activist named KDubb The Truth. Besides standing in front of BT in line at Walgreens, I also managed to get some meetings in and see and be seen, which is really all you can do down there. I wish I could've accomplished more, but the rain definitely thwarted a lot...

I spent most of my time at Cafeteria, which is ridiculous because that's one of my favorite New York places and you'd think I could find something different in Miami. But generally unless you're at a nice hotel, the food is touristy and a rip-off, and chain restaurants (even fast food) have such bad service and are so dirty you don't even want to go in there. Cafeteria had great events, great networking, good food, and a hot bartender named Joshua who works nights til 6 a.m. and was making me gigantic tequila gimlets in big plastic cups.

An exception to Miami's bad food problem is the late night must-visit Raffy's, which looks totally scary but it's great cheap Cuban food and they have a nice overhang to protect you from the rain. It's part of the Rabrinni Hotel which looks terrifying.

Definitely the best part of the trip wasn't even officially related to the music conference, though it fit alongside it well: Night Tennis, hosted by Sony Ericsson, which was a UV tennis tournament set to dance music. Let me say that again: glow-in-the-dark tennis. !!! They played all these crazy remixes and mashups (like one of my favorites, Party Ben's "Pump Up the Doorbell" MP3) and there were strobe lights and video projection - it was like being in a videogame. Plus it was open bar, and closing out the evening were DJ sets by Paul Oakenfold and MURK (who I really wanted to hear but I was too tired and had to make it back from Downtown Miami).

I was really hoping to track down some of the event organizers or someone from Sony Ericsson but it was really a consumer event, so I had to just enjoy myself. I was standing courtside, so close that I actually got hit in the elbow by a tennis ball. Awesome! Best of all? The whole thing was FREE. For everyone.

For more photos from my trip, check out my photo blog.