Jimmy in NYC

Part 1 of 2

When I took the new job, they initially said "West Coast"... but as things have developed, we're being a lot more opportunistic in how we divvy things up. So when some potential work appeared on the East Coast, I gladly added it to my plate. This week was my first trip out East with my boss/pal Mike, and we lived well.

We flew in Tuesday AM, getting to town around noon. On the way to the cab stand, we were hijacked by an Argentinean who had an SUV and a flat rate to the city... It was a good ride, even while the guy opined at length about the Governor's Troubles, the relative stinkyness of most cab drivers, and why Kenyans keep winning Marathons. Just smile and nod....

We did NOT know that there are three "Courtyard by Marriott" hotels within a 2 mile radius, and got dropped off at the wrong one. Once we did get that sorted out (with another short cab ride), we decided to walk the 20 blocks to our first meeting at 2pm (from 54th and 3rd to 32nd and 1st). We stopped on the way for a slice of pizza, which was a great starter. We ALMOST did the Soup Nazi, but ducked last minute to Pizza. Along the way, we checked out Rockefeller plaza, and other landmarks.

Potential Client #1 is a large academic medical center which is mere days from inking a deal to install the software that is the bread and butter for our company - A good 100 person team will need to hit the ground running, of which hopefully we could provide a dozen or so for 2-3 years. As they were technically still pre-sale, we offered a lot of advice on how to finish the negotiations, which I think he appreciated. The guy was a mousy radiologist with the classic NYC abrupt manner, so the fact that we actually took the whole hour was pretty amazing.

We walked back up to 5th Ave, stopped in the beautiful Apple Store (and resisted buying anything), and looked for an "old school bar" to toast our success with. The Oak Room at the Plaza? Sorry - closed for renovations until May. The sky bar at the Peninsula? Sorry, closed until October. We settled on the paneled room at the back of the St Regis.

Alas, things didn't go well with the drinks: I asked for a smoky scotch (the Ardbeg Uggeidal), and got a apple-infused cognac instead (the name sounded similar, but the flavor was NOT in the same league). I got it straightened out (though needed to settle on a different scotch, as their list was out of date). We then made use of their Concierge to get reservations at a restaurant (Seems that you can use any hotel's concierge even if you're not a guest, but be nice and give them $20 for their trouble won't you?)

Dinner was in a small Northern Italian place off of Park Ave on 54th that was infested by possible mafioso, with a headwaiter with an indeciperhable Italian accent, a fleet of silent and efficient staff that let no crumb settle, beautiful fresco art on the walls, and amazing food to match. The loud f-bomb dropping tables around us showed that if you're a man and eating pasta, that tie goes OVER your shoulder.. so we followed suit. We even spiced up our conversation with some effenheimers, but it felt forced. Dessert was an embarassment of riches: Creme Brulee, Creme Caramel, and Panna Cotta were all on offer.

Having been up since 5 in the AM, when we finished dinner around 11pm, our only real option was to go to sleep...

The next morning, it was up into the 70s and 2nd for the second meeting. This one was more tactical, less strategic. We cabbed up there, full of quad espressos to restart our brains. This is a HUGE orthopedic surgery group who is rolling out digital imaging to their ORs - which is EXACTLY what I did back 3 years ago, so the meeting turned unexpectedly into an interview of my skills. Not that I'll be doing ALL of the work, but if we got it, I could oversee another person and have an excuse to be out there for a few more days...

With a few hours to kill late morning to afternoon, we went shopping: A brisk tour of Bergdorf Goodman's mens store brought us face to face with $5000 bathrobes, and the scary 1980s fashion revival: A pink pair of shorts paired with a blue/white seersucker jacket had us humming "Love Plus One". Izod/Lacoste is back in a BIG way. I threatened to move my entire wardrobe to Blanc du Chine (chairman mao-style), and apparently White so white it hurts your eyes is the new white, and window after window on 5th ave blared these hard-to-clean styles.

A detour into FAO Schwarz for the kiddies: Bella's first Steiff (a Pug), along with a Steiff Owl for Isaac and a tiny hand-made steiff hedgehog for Pamela. (I should note that all three have already been appropriated by Bella for "safekeeping"). A second "resist" at the Applestore

For lunch, we were torn between deli food and more pizza, and found a great place that did both ably - so a pastrami on rye with mustard matched with a pepperoni and sausage slice. We could barely move after that. Oooooof!!!!

Our adventure over, it was time to head to Penn Station for the second leg of our adventure.