Tuesday, February 28, 2006


(view from our condo in the Bahamas)

Wow, what a much-needed break that was!

We dropped Asher off with his grandparents on Thursday morning, and were on the Bahamas beach by 4pm. By 5pm, my cold was gone. By 6pm, I didn't have a care in the world, save battling against my friend Mark's desire to go to Johnny Rockets for dinner.

Talk about luxury - this was a far cry from my last vacation, when Sarah and I scurried around rural Mexico on the backs of pickup trucks and slept in flimsy wooden cabins.

The condo was just off the beach, where Sarah spent virtually all of her time. I got sick of the sand by the second afternoon, and hung out with Matt and Ronit at the pool. Mark and Gina split their time between the beach, the pool, and the lounge chairs on the balcony.

On a slightly more sober note, I learned that the Bahamas' sole industry (other than a bit of offshore banking) is tourism. In fact, the 300,000 citizens of the country cannot even feed themselves; they have to import most food from nearby Florida or Cuba. It's sort of a depressing economy.

Asher was none the worse for wear when we returned. I took Monday off to catch up with him, and ease back into frigid New York.

Now, I'm back at NPD, squeezing in this post between meetings. Same old, same old, but it doesn't bother me so much today.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Said to me in the past 24 hours:

- "We have a mouse living under our oven!"
- "We're not sure we are going to be able to renew that seven figure contract."
- "This is going to cost the business tens of thousands of dollars to fix."
- "I've reached a boiling point. If you can't help me with this, bad things are really going to happen soon."

On the bright side, I'm going to the Bahamas tomorrow.

That's right, Sarah and I are taking a beach vacation - and without Asher. From Thursday through Sunday, we will be sitting in the sand and sun, accompanied by my college roommates and their wives. Asher is staying with Sarah's parents.

I'll fix all that stuff when I get back.

Monday, February 20, 2006

A year ago today, I was staring at my newborn boy, all bloody in Sarah's arms in a hospital bed at 101st Street and 5th Avenue. The sun had just risen and we could see Central Park out the window, snowbound and dotted with Christo's saffron gates.

I had no idea what to do.




Happy birthday, Asher! We've had a tremendous year with you.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Another division at my company just hired a woman named Gennifer Flowers. I've asked three people here, and none of them know why I find that funny.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

And the award for best reference to a late 1980s Aerosmith power ballad goes to...


We are eating ourselves, or Isaac's Political Post of the Week

There's a currently a movement to challenge right-wing Democrats in the primaries for the upcoming mid-term elections - folks like Senator Lieberman (CT) and Representative Cuellar (TX-28). A fair amount of money, time, and energy is being spent on these efforts. And while I agree in principle, I don't think it makes the most strategic sense.

Democrats should be focused like a laser on regaining control of Congress. That would give us control of committee agendas, which means we would - among other things - decide what to investigate, and which bills are submitted to the floor for discussion.

Any time, any money spent on moonshot candidates like Ned Lamont (to challenge Lieberman in the primary) takes away from time and money spent on regaining control of Congress. Period. We lose our focus, we lessen our chances.

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Monday, February 13, 2006

Arctic Monkeys

Ten Word Summary: Spin Doctors and Mooney Suzuki give Kula Shaker music lessons.

First Reaction: I'd listen to it if nothing else was on.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

After a wonderful weekend filled with nothing but quality family time, I'm less than thrilled to be returning to work tomorrow.

Today, we made a "sled" out of the lid to the laundry hamper, sat Asher on it, and pulled him up the block to the Tea Lounge where some of our friends from the neighborhood were also letting off snowstorm-induced stir craziness with their kids. Asher was not impressed with our makeshift sled, but he had a good time once we got there.

After the Tea Lounge, I engaged in one of the last, small masculine acts available to urban, weak, twenty-first century men - I shoveled the walkway, and dug our car out of a five-foot drift. Kinda felt like I killed my meal or something.

Sarah's cousin Micah and his wife Ayelet are visiting NYC from Tel Aviv, and came over for dinner tonight. Was fun. I'm full. That is all.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

In three minutes, I pack up my computer, check out of the hotel, and head to the airport for more meetings in the Bay Area.

Last night's Grammys party was exactly how I thought it would be - a lame industry gathering with a lot of people who I didn't know. Dave, Stephen and I (co-workers) talked to each other for an hour, at which point I decided my time would be better spent in bed with the new Zadie Smith book. The best part of the party was watching the valet parking guys bring my cheap Chevy rental around to where all the limos and Bentleys were pulling up. Too cool for school.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Every time I come to California, I schlep a bunch of CD's across the country to sell back to Amoeba, and then sink what they give me right back into their stock. Last night, I dropped off about 40 CDs, and picked up:

Dressy Bessy - Electrified
Ted Leo - Hearts of Oak
Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration
Steve Bernstein - Disapora Soul
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself
American Music Club - San Francisco (replacement copy)
Green Day - American Idiot (yes, I never owned this!)
Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights
Tina Brooks - Minor Move

In other news, my 7:30am phone meeting was just cancelled, which gives me more time to work on the presentation for my noon meeting. Is that good, or bad?

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Does this make me a right winger?

Let me get this straight: Muslims respond to a political cartoon on how their religion is being consumed by a culture of violence by... engaging in acts of violence?

And the world all clamors to condemn the cartoons? What about all of those anti-Jewish cartoons in Egyptian newspapers?

Jeez, we gotta figure out this oil problem.

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The captain has now turned off the seat belt sign

I'm cruising at 36,000 feet as these words hit the screen.

After 5 hours of feverish powerpointing, 4 glasses of water, 3 trips to the bathroom, and 31 emails waiting patiently in the Outbox for when I re-connect, I finally feel like I might actually not drown in this sea of work.

It was hard as hell to leave Sarah and Asher this morning - especially since work took me away from them more than I would have liked over the past week.

Asher's a year old soon. Hard to believe.

Monday, February 06, 2006

I just realized that I'm that guy with whom it's impossible to schedule a meeting because there's never any time open. And if there is actually a meeting scheduled, I end up cancelling it half the time because I'm double-booked.

I don't like being that guy.
It's midnight, and I'm still working on a bunch of presentations for my trip to L.A. this week. I leave tomorrow morning, and get back late Friday night. Eight meetings, 400 pages in powerpoint, and a trip up the coast to Silicon Valley. It's all a bit overwhelming.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Fashion Question:

Can I get away with wearing jeans to a Grammys after-party if they're really expensive jeans?

I need to know this in the next 24 hours.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Fun things about my hometown that I learned from Wikipedia:

1. The corn dog comes from there.

2. The Donner Party started out there.
Wow.

55 military veterans (many of them from the Iraq war) are running for Congress this year. Hold for it -- All as Democrats!

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I don't know what to make of this.

Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Alito voted (against fellow conservatives Roberts, Scalia and Thomas) to stay an execution in Missouri on the grounds that lethal injection may be cruel and unusual punishment. The matter is going back to a lower court for review.

Is this precedent - legally or for Alito?

Is it just a hotbutton issue for the guy?

Would have been interesting to see a written opinion, but this was one of these quickies with simple yes/no votes.

I can't wait until the first case on abortion or Presidential authority bubbles up, so we can see what he's made of in those areas.

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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Oh yeah, last night's State of the Union address? I could say many things, but they all boil down to this:

Give me a fucking break.

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Remember that scene in Gross Pointe Blank where Joan Cusack is pouring gasoline all over her files, smashing her computer, and singing manically into the phone, "I'm taking down the office!"?

That's what I feel like doing right now.