My three L's were inspired by a lecture given by Professor Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University. Over AIM, I sent Terrence the link to view the reprise on Oprah.com.
After watching it, he IMed me back: "Wow. That really hits hard at the end. I teared up and everything."
Today I decided on three L's ...
Laugh more ... Love more ... Live more ...
Because I can ...
Professor Randy Pausch's Last Lecture on Oprah.com
Friday, February 29, 2008
NEW POST from drafts ...
The Moments that Make the Ride
Have you ever wanted to run through the streets of New York screaming? I have and I did. As I recall, very few people paid any attention to me. And granted, it was the one night of the year when 90% of the city's population was looking, doing or watching what would normally be considered weird by society’s standards. Read more ...
The Moments that Make the Ride
Have you ever wanted to run through the streets of New York screaming? I have and I did. As I recall, very few people paid any attention to me. And granted, it was the one night of the year when 90% of the city's population was looking, doing or watching what would normally be considered weird by society’s standards. Read more ...
Thursday, February 28, 2008
"Things I Love" Thursdays - Bitching
New Yorkers love to bitch about the petty and mundane. And I love to join them. There are few things more enjoyable than grumbling with a complete stranger about the MTA, bad pizza, rude cab drivers, the Boston Red Sox, but mostly the MTA ... and now, bagels.
There is true fury behind the bitching over the subway fare hike and the inflated cost of bagels. If you want to see steam come out of a New Yorker's ears, just mention the MTA or the wheat shortage.
Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
There is true fury behind the bitching over the subway fare hike and the inflated cost of bagels. If you want to see steam come out of a New Yorker's ears, just mention the MTA or the wheat shortage.
Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
"Things I Love" Thursdays – Corporate Advancement
The view from my boss’s new office (a floor below the founder's office), which is ultimately my view through her glass walls from my new cubicle.
The best part about being an assistant is that when your boss is promoted, generally so are you. My boss was promoted to SVP so I received a promotion, a raise ... and a gold star. It's kind of nice to ride on the coattails of someone else's success.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
Saturday, February 23, 2008
My Best February Birthday Ever
My friends are so fabulous. Since I was in England during the week of my birthday, my friends planned a belated birthday celebration. Busy schedules pushed the date back over a month, but I was so touched by their persistence. Tasha and Gina B. sent out the following evite on January 28:
"Hey ladies..... So it's time to celebrate Katie's birthday! The day will start with brunch at the amazing Spring Natural. Following, we will work off our calories by heading to Bryant Park for ice skating!!! (Make sure you bring your insurance cards in case of emergency!) To warm up after the cold ice, we will head for hot chocolate in Rockefeller Center at La Maison du Chocolat. Please RSVP and let us know if you're "in" for this fabulous day!!!!!"
Since the ice skating rink in Bryant Park was replaced shortly thereafter with Fashion Week tents and coordinating the schedules of eight 20-something, fabulous women pushed back my celebration further still, we agreed on alternative arrangements: comp tickets on a Sex and the City Tour led by Natasha (her weekend gig) and dinner at a clique favorite, Wild Ginger. At a toast to me after the wine was poured, I said to them: "This is the best birthday in February I've ever had!"
But it may have been the best ever.
"Hey ladies..... So it's time to celebrate Katie's birthday! The day will start with brunch at the amazing Spring Natural. Following, we will work off our calories by heading to Bryant Park for ice skating!!! (Make sure you bring your insurance cards in case of emergency!) To warm up after the cold ice, we will head for hot chocolate in Rockefeller Center at La Maison du Chocolat. Please RSVP and let us know if you're "in" for this fabulous day!!!!!"
Since the ice skating rink in Bryant Park was replaced shortly thereafter with Fashion Week tents and coordinating the schedules of eight 20-something, fabulous women pushed back my celebration further still, we agreed on alternative arrangements: comp tickets on a Sex and the City Tour led by Natasha (her weekend gig) and dinner at a clique favorite, Wild Ginger. At a toast to me after the wine was poured, I said to them: "This is the best birthday in February I've ever had!"
But it may have been the best ever.
The Sex and the City tour covers over 40 hot spots of Carrie and crew, including:
· Carrie's apartment stoop
· The Pleasure Chest where Charlotte bought her 'Rabbit'
· Magnolia Bakery, where Miranda stuffed cupcakes into her mouth
· Steve and Aiden's bar
· The church where Samantha meets "The Friar"
· The gallery in SoHo where Charlotte worked
· The furniture store where Aidan designed his tables and chairs
If you ever take the tour on a Saturday or Sunday, request Tasha (Natasha) as your guide. Tell her Katie sent you!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
"Things I Love" Thursdays - Coming Home
When I left for recent weekends in Miami and New Orleans, I got to return to New York City. I love calling this place home.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Official Quotes from Our NBA All-Star 2008
Quotes:
"C just started running!" - K, drunk and lost on Canal Street and wearing a hat that wasn’t hers, after A and B picked up me and Iris from the airport
"Get in that ass!" - K
"This shit right here ... This shit right here ..." - Katie and K in sporadic intervals (adapted from Katt William's Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1)
"We need a whole lot a' chicken in room 2214!" - Davin to the Sheraton room service at 4am
"[NBA player] ordered 12 breakfastses over an hour ago, and he's pissed!" - Davin to Sheraton room service at 5am
"This is K [pointing at K], this is Katie [pointing at me], and she smells like Icy Hot [pointing at Iris asleep], want to smell her?" - Davin to Anyone Who Walked into Room 2214 between 4:15 and 5am
"Baby, I'm bow-legged." - Uncle Junebug (Snoop Dogg's uncle) to A
"Lemme get a pencil and write your number down." - Uncle Junebug to A
"You are beautiful!" – An NBA player, the owner of a Miami radio station who introduced us to Doug E. Fresh, whoever that comedian was at the NBA Players Association Party, and a bunch of random people ... all to C
"K, he is not Deebo." - Everybody
"I am not Deebo." - The Actor That K Thought was Deebo
"Danity Kane!" - Dozens of people following us around NBA Jam Session after we were escorted courtside with talent guest passes (at least our colors sort of matched)
"I'm a Pisces; I just fall so hard!" - A
"C just started running!" - K, drunk and lost on Canal Street and wearing a hat that wasn’t hers, after A and B picked up me and Iris from the airport
"Get in that ass!" - K
"This shit right here ... This shit right here ..." - Katie and K in sporadic intervals (adapted from Katt William's Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1)
"We need a whole lot a' chicken in room 2214!" - Davin to the Sheraton room service at 4am
"[NBA player] ordered 12 breakfastses over an hour ago, and he's pissed!" - Davin to Sheraton room service at 5am
"This is K [pointing at K], this is Katie [pointing at me], and she smells like Icy Hot [pointing at Iris asleep], want to smell her?" - Davin to Anyone Who Walked into Room 2214 between 4:15 and 5am
"Baby, I'm bow-legged." - Uncle Junebug (Snoop Dogg's uncle) to A
"Lemme get a pencil and write your number down." - Uncle Junebug to A
"You are beautiful!" – An NBA player, the owner of a Miami radio station who introduced us to Doug E. Fresh, whoever that comedian was at the NBA Players Association Party, and a bunch of random people ... all to C
"K, he is not Deebo." - Everybody
"I am not Deebo." - The Actor That K Thought was Deebo
"Danity Kane!" - Dozens of people following us around NBA Jam Session after we were escorted courtside with talent guest passes (at least our colors sort of matched)
"I'm a Pisces; I just fall so hard!" - A
Thursday, February 14, 2008
"Things I Love" Thursdays - Anti-Valentine's Day Celebrations
In a city full of 20-somethings who'd rather be single in New York City than married in Ohio, I attended my second Anti-Valentine's Day celebration in row. I'm not entirely a romance antagonist, as I noted last year. In fact, I love genuine expressions of love. I'm just not a fan of consumer marketing-driven holidays. So I guess I don't like any holidays, but Valentine's Day in particular is the one that feels the most forced and insincere of all. It's the day when you say I love you because you have to.
I gathered with about two dozen friends and friends of friends at Divine Bar on West 54th Street. It was my second best Valentine's Day ever. This was the first.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
I gathered with about two dozen friends and friends of friends at Divine Bar on West 54th Street. It was my second best Valentine's Day ever. This was the first.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).
Monday, February 11, 2008
Bienvenido a Miami
Miami Weekend Highlights ...
Iris and I went to Miami for the weekend and stayed in a friend's 22nd floor condo in downtown Brickell overlooking the Port of Miami.
Friday Highlights:
Staying here
One Miami
Splashing here
South Beach
Outdoor cocktails here
Mandarin Oriental
Clubbing here
Mansion
Saturday Highlights:
Partying here
Privé
Sunday Highlights:
Brunching here
Big Pink
Lounging here
Nikki Beach
Returning here
New York City
Iris and I went to Miami for the weekend and stayed in a friend's 22nd floor condo in downtown Brickell overlooking the Port of Miami.
Friday Highlights:
Staying here
One Miami
Splashing here
South Beach
Outdoor cocktails here
Mandarin Oriental
Clubbing here
Mansion
Saturday Highlights:
Partying here
Privé
Sunday Highlights:
Brunching here
Big Pink
Lounging here
Nikki Beach
Returning here
New York City
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Any Given Super Bowl
Because this journalist, with an equal love for New York City and a true passion for football, retells it better than I can ...
One for the ages!
Matthew Schneeberger, back in the U.S. after a year in India,
relives the culture-spanning excitement of the Super Bowl
A consortium of shouts, whistles and cheers pours into my friend's apartment window on Manhattan's Upper Eastside: "Yea, baby!" "Go Giants!" "Boston sucks!"
Peering out said window, I see drunken revellers swarm past in droves. They high-five one another, swill from open containers of booze and proudly point to their team's logo on blue hats, shirts and jackets, which everyone seems to be wearing. A man does an Irish jig on Lexington Avenue, while a companion plays accompanying bagpipes. Horns honk, girls scream and a few testosterone-riddled alpha-males heckle a lone man in Patriots clothing, who scuttles down into the subway, covering his head and moving quickly to avoid confrontation.
Heavy bass lines rattle the apartment building, as a next-door neighbor plays rapper Camron's version of Welcome to New York City!
My friends, New Yorkers through and through, run around the room like excited school children, slapping hands and howling in ecstasy. Chris, who stand 6' 5" and weighs 240 pounds, crawls out of the window (with difficulty) and onto the fire escape, proceeding to shout, "Plaxico Burress is god!" A volley of similar-minded shrieks comes in response from the street below.
"Dude, if you could bottle this feeling and sell it, drug dealers would disappear," he says upon re-entering the room.
My friend Greg exclaims: "What are we waiting for? Let's get down there and celebrate!"
On the street, we greet strangers like brothers, hugging and raising our beer bottles skywards. A group of twenty - comprising African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and Asians - walks arm in arm, chanting, "Here we go, Giants! Here we go!"
A quartet of homeless men play the saxophone, horn, trumpet drums, decked out in Giants' garb; passer-bys liberally toss money into an upturned hat at their feet. A crowd eventually gathers around them, and what a sight it is to see: Wealthy Upper Eastside residents completely at ease with a group of vagrants, interacting freely, sharing laughter and tears as if they were long lost friends.
A stocky, middle-aged man walks past me, jabber away excitedly on his cell phone: "Dude, can you f*****g believe it? The New York f*****g Giants won the Super Bowl! I never thought I'd live to see it again!"
It's not how the story was supposed to end ...
Read Matthew Schneeberger's entire article here
... For me, watching the game took on special significance. Back in the States after 12 months in India, I was able to watch my first football game in real-time in over a year; and what a game it was! ESPN.com is already polling its users, asking "Is this the greatest Super Bowl of all time? Is this the most shocking result you can remember?"
Furthermore, seeing the mighty Patriots get their comeuppance, after years of borderline dirty play and ethically questionable tactics, made the viewing experience doubly special. In fact, a smile is still plastered on my face; and I keep watching, rewinding and rewatching the game's highlights, some three hours after its conclusion.
The Super Bowl is annually the most viewed programme across America, and has been since the early 1970's. It's watched by approximately 40% of households in the United States, and has become a major cultural event and national holiday of sorts. It features the most expensive marketing space in the world, set at RS 80,000,000 for a thirty second advertisement.
And this year's big spenders got every bit their money's worth, as the game was truly one for the ages.
So while some members of my craft may be bemoaning the result, trashing pre-written headlines that read "Patriots make history, finish undefeated", and staying up late to hastily rework copy, this journalist is ecstatic.
The game reminded me why I love American Football. It was intense, frenetic and action-packed. The hits, blocks and tackles were bone-jarring, and actually resulted in several small injuries for both squads.
Manning's Houdini move to avoid a sure sack and 32 yard pass to David Tyree with 59 seconds left will be shown on NFL highlight videos for the next thirty years. Had the improbable play gone the other way, the Patriots would have clinched victory. For a team that seemingly had the stars aligned in their favour throughout the year, it was surreal to see all the bounces go against them.
But that's why I love this game; because, as the slogan goes: "Any team can win on any given Sunday."
- Matthew Schneeberger
India in New York, A Guide to Events and Entertainment from India Abroad
Vol. XI No. 32
Rediff.com
One for the ages!
Matthew Schneeberger, back in the U.S. after a year in India,
relives the culture-spanning excitement of the Super Bowl
A consortium of shouts, whistles and cheers pours into my friend's apartment window on Manhattan's Upper Eastside: "Yea, baby!" "Go Giants!" "Boston sucks!"
Peering out said window, I see drunken revellers swarm past in droves. They high-five one another, swill from open containers of booze and proudly point to their team's logo on blue hats, shirts and jackets, which everyone seems to be wearing. A man does an Irish jig on Lexington Avenue, while a companion plays accompanying bagpipes. Horns honk, girls scream and a few testosterone-riddled alpha-males heckle a lone man in Patriots clothing, who scuttles down into the subway, covering his head and moving quickly to avoid confrontation.
Heavy bass lines rattle the apartment building, as a next-door neighbor plays rapper Camron's version of Welcome to New York City!
My friends, New Yorkers through and through, run around the room like excited school children, slapping hands and howling in ecstasy. Chris, who stand 6' 5" and weighs 240 pounds, crawls out of the window (with difficulty) and onto the fire escape, proceeding to shout, "Plaxico Burress is god!" A volley of similar-minded shrieks comes in response from the street below.
"Dude, if you could bottle this feeling and sell it, drug dealers would disappear," he says upon re-entering the room.
My friend Greg exclaims: "What are we waiting for? Let's get down there and celebrate!"
On the street, we greet strangers like brothers, hugging and raising our beer bottles skywards. A group of twenty - comprising African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and Asians - walks arm in arm, chanting, "Here we go, Giants! Here we go!"
A quartet of homeless men play the saxophone, horn, trumpet drums, decked out in Giants' garb; passer-bys liberally toss money into an upturned hat at their feet. A crowd eventually gathers around them, and what a sight it is to see: Wealthy Upper Eastside residents completely at ease with a group of vagrants, interacting freely, sharing laughter and tears as if they were long lost friends.
A stocky, middle-aged man walks past me, jabber away excitedly on his cell phone: "Dude, can you f*****g believe it? The New York f*****g Giants won the Super Bowl! I never thought I'd live to see it again!"
It's not how the story was supposed to end ...
Read Matthew Schneeberger's entire article here
... For me, watching the game took on special significance. Back in the States after 12 months in India, I was able to watch my first football game in real-time in over a year; and what a game it was! ESPN.com is already polling its users, asking "Is this the greatest Super Bowl of all time? Is this the most shocking result you can remember?"
Furthermore, seeing the mighty Patriots get their comeuppance, after years of borderline dirty play and ethically questionable tactics, made the viewing experience doubly special. In fact, a smile is still plastered on my face; and I keep watching, rewinding and rewatching the game's highlights, some three hours after its conclusion.
The Super Bowl is annually the most viewed programme across America, and has been since the early 1970's. It's watched by approximately 40% of households in the United States, and has become a major cultural event and national holiday of sorts. It features the most expensive marketing space in the world, set at RS 80,000,000 for a thirty second advertisement.
And this year's big spenders got every bit their money's worth, as the game was truly one for the ages.
So while some members of my craft may be bemoaning the result, trashing pre-written headlines that read "Patriots make history, finish undefeated", and staying up late to hastily rework copy, this journalist is ecstatic.
The game reminded me why I love American Football. It was intense, frenetic and action-packed. The hits, blocks and tackles were bone-jarring, and actually resulted in several small injuries for both squads.
Manning's Houdini move to avoid a sure sack and 32 yard pass to David Tyree with 59 seconds left will be shown on NFL highlight videos for the next thirty years. Had the improbable play gone the other way, the Patriots would have clinched victory. For a team that seemingly had the stars aligned in their favour throughout the year, it was surreal to see all the bounces go against them.
But that's why I love this game; because, as the slogan goes: "Any team can win on any given Sunday."
- Matthew Schneeberger
India in New York, A Guide to Events and Entertainment from India Abroad
Vol. XI No. 32
Rediff.com
Monday, February 04, 2008
Aftermath of a Giant Super Bowl Win
All over New York City last night.
I got home after 4am.
I DID make it to work today. My hair was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail, there was fresh makeup caked on top of yesterday’s makeup, my skin may have smelled like liquor, but I was in the office on time.
I got home after 4am.
I DID make it to work today. My hair was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail, there was fresh makeup caked on top of yesterday’s makeup, my skin may have smelled like liquor, but I was in the office on time.
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