Highlights:

1. Staying in a hotel suite directly off Times Square/Boradway, overlooking the Jumbotron and across the street from the TKTS booth. Jen and I calculated that our suite, located on the 39th floor, would cost something like $4000/mo. to rent if it was a standard apartment.

2. Channel 2 is still CBS, 4 is NBC, 5 is WOR, 7 is ABC, and 11 is PIX. The way it should be. Also: Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons still rock the newsdesk. Word!

3. We had a client meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center, which was pretty fucking amazing. The building is timeless, and it fills one with a sense of HOLY SHIT THIS IS ROCKEFELLER CENTER.

4. After the client meeting, we were offered lunch and a tour of the building—the cool stuff. So, we walked the set of Dateline NBC, and happened to see Brian Williams in the hall. Then, we toured the Conan O’Brien set (a tiny little set, and freezing) and then the editing and control rooms for NBC. Imagine the control room at NORAD in about 1/10th the space—you get the idea. From there, we were led onto the set and stage of Saturday Night Live, which was awesome. (While we were walking the stage, the standard NBC tour group was peering down at the set behind a glass wall from behind the top bleachers. Suckers.) Next, a walk through the datacenter of NBC, which is the largest, coldest, biggest datacenter I’ve been in. Wow. Then, we walked from 30 Rock across the plaza (Passing Tom Brokaw in the lobby) and into another building, where we found ourselves on the Today show set. (And me, without my camera.)

5. The Munch exhibit at the new MoMA, which was phenomenal. Jen was able to see the original version of a print she’s had for sixteen years, and we got to see some old friends, plus walk the halls of the new building, which is spectacular. Go.

6. HOLY SHIT THIS IS ROCKEFELLER CENTER.

7. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as the noon mass on Thursday was letting out, was beautiful.

8. Fifth Avenue, up to the park, is a beautiful stroll on a spring day. And the park itself was relaxing and peaceful. We sat by the water and rested our feet for a while, watching the ducks paddle around and a raccoon jump the fence into the skating rink to raid the dumpsters.

9. The train ride up and back is definitely the way to travel. 3 miles from our doorstep to the Amtrak BWI terminal, up to Penn Station, and a 5-minute cab ride to the hotel. Sweet.

10. Passing the Milford Plaza hotel, and remembering one of many old commercials from the 80’s:

The Milford Plaza is

The Lull-a-bye

Of Old

Broad

Waaaaay!

Anybody remember the Ritz Thrift Shop? Crazy Eddie’s? Potampkin Cadillac?

11. Rudy’s Bass Shop (Our hotel looked down on the Sam Ash store on West 48 Street), a third-floor walkup, which featured a mid 60’s Fender P-bass in sunburst/tortoiseshell and a nice old Rickenbacker 4001.