A Yoga Coffee Outlook

Some Shopping on Melrose

I originally planned to stay another night in LA, but decided to leave today. In the end I was glad I stayed at the Biltmore. I have always thought that if you want to meet interesting people you have to go to interesting places, even if they're haunted. After a few morning appointments I had time to kill so I took the opportunity to go shopping before my flight left.

  Me & Ro is a fantastic place to shop for jewelry. I have been to their Miami store and shopped online, but had never been to the newly opened shop on Melrose. Almost all of their designs are available in sterling silver, 10K, 18K, 22K gold, and Platinum. I bought a couple gifts for friends, but nothing for myself.

It had been drizzling all morning, but was now a steady shower. I stopped in at Fred Segal. They have a little bit of everything here so it's a good way to see what's new without running all over town. I have heard people complain that the sales staff is rude, but I've always felt well taken care of. I found a great Trunk LE Beatles shirt in the Ron Herman section. Listen, I hate paying retail... I really do. But Tee's are different. If you find one you like in your size, buy it because you won't see it again. I bought it.. I'm wearing it now.

I still had some time to kill and it was dumping buckets. The good news is that parking is really easy to find on Melrose when it's raining like this. So I went back and forth and finally decided risk pneumonia and go into Ed Hardy. I had the store to myself and chatted for a bit with Nathan who (I think) works in the store and a photographer named Jeff Carrillo. Both were really friendly and Nathan arranged for me to meet Christian Audigier, the designer for Ed Hardy. So lucky me, I met Mr. Audigier and he signed a shirt for me. He was extremely generous with his time and was very charming. Jeff snapped some photos and took this one with my Treo. Unfortunately, I look like a drowned rat and my eyes are closed, but you get the idea. 

One last stop at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for a chai, dropped off the rental car, and made my flight.

New Friends and Old

I think I did a good job scheduling appointments with showrooms. I stayed on schedule until about 3PM. I'll write the details in my business blog. But I will say here that it was definitely fun shopping for the store. The actual running of hibelu has so little to do with fashion most of the time. It's nice to meet designers and see new lines.

Afterwords I met with Lorin Ely-Mcgregor and his wife Shannon to chat about the website. Lorin is a talented designer and his work can be seen on the 7 diamonds site and his own site LE creative. Lorin is currently doing the logo work for hibelu and will likely be involved in other projects. His wife designs clothing for her line Mixie. Both were super sweet people and were very kind to accommodate me by meeting me at the market canter.

After a very full day, I had dinner with my friend Amber who is a nurse for a Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon and her husband who is a dermatologist. Of course, Amber could not dish about patients due to HIPPA.. ;-) So I performed the Vulcan mind meld on her.

When I got back to the hotel I noticed "Nancy" was not prowling the bar. (I saw her there before going to dinner). So I sat down. A Russian man named Igor sat next to me and introduced himself. He was with a large group, all from Russia. Turns out Igor is the Sales Director for the Moscow division of the Ford Motor Company. His English was very good and we talked for several hours. I know a little Russian, and he taught me a few more things to say.

I was completely enthralled by our conversation. Maybe it's the business geek in me, how often do you get a chance to talk to a director of an American Corporation working to expand business growth in Russia? Apparently it's just recently that auto dealerships have been established in Russia. I hope I have the numbers right here, but they sell around 60,000 cars annually which is very small in comparison to US sales but in Russia shows great promise for the future.

We talked about the internet and e-commerce. Igor had never heard of blogs so I did my best to explain. I also gave him my copy of Naked Conversations. It doesn't sound like they're blogging much in Russia. It's just a matter of time I'm sure. It was wonderful talking to Igor. He loves his job so much and was so optimistic about the future. Really a very warm and considerate person I'm glad to have met.

A very full day.

Haunted Hotel

So I decided to stay downtown on this trip to L.A. mainly because the majority of my appointments are here now. I wanted to stay someplace different. Typically I stay at the Mondrian or W. The logical place for me downtown would have been the new Standard, or the old Viceroy (called something else now). However, for some odd reason, I booked the Millennium Biltmore.

Maybe I haven't been here long enough to appreciate it's charms, but it feels haunted to me. From the moment I stepped into this hotel, I've had a creepy feeling. The hallways are reminiscent of the hallways in the shining. I don't think it has anything to do with the age of the hotel. It's just seems eerie to me.

Last night I met Adam from the U.K. at the Gallery Bar. He designs furniture for his company Moda. He's in town for the home decor portion of the Market. His products have been featured in Vanity Fair, Elle Lifestyle, and Marie Claire Maison. This is the link to get to his showroom www.diliddoeperego.it. I had to type it about 10 times before I got it right. I'm not great with the translation here but, well maybe you get my point.

There was a woman sitting at the bar who had a striking resemblance to Nancy Spungen, of Sid and Nancy. Her resemblance went beyond bad hair, she was cut off by the bartender around 10:30, fortunately she remembered that she left a glass of wine in the bathroom and was able to go back and get it. Whew.. Thank goodness.

NOTE to Self: Stash a glass of wine in the WC just in case you are cut off at the bar so you can continue your drunken whore campaign.

Adam and I chatted a bit about "Nancy's" condition and about the Sex Pistols. He has heard of Jezza's "virgin confessions" a radio program in London. So far he is the only one I have ever met from the UK who has heard of the show. Maybe that's because I listen to the the show over the internet and just like in the US, people are no longer listening to the radio. I was addicted to this show for about a year. It's a call in program where people confess their indiscretions and Jezza tells them what it's about "at the end of the day". Fascinating stuff if you ever have the chance to hear it.

Well, gotta run I've got appointments all day. Maybe when I get back to my room the ghosts will have made the bed up for me.

The Girls Got Wings

I got an email today from my 2nd cousin. Last December she graduated from the Air Force Academy. I couldn't be more proud. She's been flying for a while, but it's still crazy to hear her describe some of the things she's doing now. She's about 5 years younger than me and we never connected until recently. I have always been the daredevil in a very large extended family. I think now that I'm older the torch is being passed to her. When I think about it, the women in my family are just very strong. We're all a little wild and untamed.

I'm looking forward to being in LA next week. I'm having drinks with some friends I went to CU with. One friend is a nurse in a very well known plastic surgeons office, should be great fun to hear who's gotten what done to where.

I'm also very stoked because I'm the renter at Down With Pants. I don't know why I love this sort of Blog, I guess I like to see men being men. I'm not talking about the leaving the toilet seat up stuff or the lugie hacking, I mean the macho ranting and man talk. Kinda sexy, but please don't over analyze me.

I hope everyone reading this has a great weekend!

Scary moment in the stacks

Had a scary moment this afternoon.

Last year my doctor, who BTW also happens to be my ex, diagnosed me as having an underlying asthma condition. Whenever I would get sick, no matter what the bug was, I would end up with a rib breaking hack, making it difficult to breathe. So he prescribed advair and an albuterol inhaler to use whenever I'm sick.

A couple of weeks ago I started getting sick but I used some Zicam and I thought it (the cold) headed for the hills. Last night I woke up not feeling right but was fine this morning. Then this afternoon I was in a bookstore and I started coughing and couldn't stop. I was coughing so hard and gasping for air. At first I wasn't worried but after a couple of minutes I was just filled with this anxiety that it wasn't going to stop.

A woman at the desk knew exactly what was happening to me and gave me a couple puffs off of her inhaler. I never carry mine because I've never really had an attack. Up until today I thought that maybe my ex was just being overprotective and never took his diagnosis seriously.

So I'm a little freaked out about what happened. I was a criminal investigator for five years. During that time I investigated the death of a woman found on a jogging trail. She was found hunched over kneeling, she had her inhaler in her hand. Turns out it was so cold outside that the small metal delivery tube was clogged. I imagined her last moments and what it must have been like for her. When I ran her info through our department records, I noticed that I had issued her a ticket for selling tobacco to minors when I was a rookie. I couldn't remember the her or the ticket. I really should write a book about all of the disturbing things I've seen.

Anyway, I guess I need to keep my inhaler handy. I don't know why it bothers me so much. I guess I don't want to admit that there is something physically wrong with me. OK, I mean something physically wrong with me that could kill me. ;)

Happy St. Patricks Day

I'm heading out to drink green beer and act like a fool. Here's a transcript from SNL to help you celebrate this fine holiday.

The Luck of the Irish
written by John Belushi

Jane Curtin: And now we come to St Patrick's Day and John Belushi is here to discuss the luck of the Irish.
John Belushi: Thank you, thank you very much. Well, it's come that time again, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and well, the sons of Ireland are basking in the glow. When I think of Ireland I think a lot of colorful Irish expressions like, "Top of the morning to ya," "Kiss the barney stone," "May the road rise to meet ya," "May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead," "I'd like to smash you in the face with my shillelagh," "Danny-boy," "Begorra," "Wail of the banshee," and "Whiskey for the leprechauns, whisky for the leprechauns." But the expression I think most people identify with the Irish, is, of course, the luck of the Irish.
The luck of the Irish. Sure. Let's say you're in a pub somewhere in Ireland, oh, anywhere in Ireland, some guy comes up to you and says, "Hey is that a bomb on you I hear ticking?" And then BAM!!! Your small intestines are on the ceiling and your brains are on your car across the street. That's the luck of the Irish for ya, who's kidding who, okay?
Let's talk about the bad luck of the Irish, all right? How about this, POTATO FAMINE!! How about that? It scares them, doesn't it? Well, it should. That's why they came here in the first place. So they wouldn't have to work in the potato fields. That's why they became politicians, priests, and cops. Luck? Gimme a break.
(he gets more and more worked up as he continues)
I got a friend, his name is Dan Sullivan, he's Irish as they come. We used to drink together a lot. After two drinks, he would look like an Irish pirate. You know? You think he had luck? In one day he got his car stolen, and the stupid, he had no insurance, and no license, and he gets locked up for being drunk. And after that, he takes off for someplace like India or Nepal, or someplace like that. And his mother dies, ya know, so they wire him to tell him to come to the funeral. It's his mother's funeral, that's all. And he's in India or Nepal, sitting squat-legged listening to some sacred cow. So he comes back and he gets stopped at U.S. Customs for trafficking illegal drugs, not holding, he's trafficking. I mean, here's this guy Sullivan, his old lady kicks off, he gets popped at the border and he's sitting on fifty pounds of black Tibetan finger hash and two keys of slam. Now that's not bad luck, that's DUMB luck. I don't think luck has anything to do with it, I don't think he has any brains at all. First of all, he's drunk, then he's a junkie. I don't know what's worse! Don't ask me, ask Sullivan! And what happens?! He calls me up and says, "Hey man, I got busted at the border. I need five grand bail." I said, I said, "Five grand man!? Hey man, I've never even seen five thousand dollars in my life, so don't ask me for it, man, why don't you ask your mother!!" (aside) Which was a dumb thing for me to say because his mother just died. (returns to his loud tirade) Right now, I got this drunken Irish junkie who wants to kill me because of what I said about his mother being in terminal dreamland! Oh pal. One thing! One thing!!! They love their mothers, boy, oh they love their mothers. It's momma this, momma that. (starts flailing his arms wildly in the way only John Belushi could) Oh my Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because my mother.. aauugghhh! Aaauugghhh!!! (as he flails he nearly slams his head on the desk and then falls off his chair, still screaming)
Jane Curtin: Well, that's the news. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Ate my weight in cheese.

But more about that in a minute.

I was hoping to be writing from my new computer. But not meant to be. Gentry, the computer tech came over to set things up today. He got the wifi set up but ultimately figured out that the card he had was bad and he needed to get another one. So he'll be back tomorrow morning with a new card. :( I guess I will have to wait.

Back to the cheese. The past couple of days I've been hittin' the cheese. Last night I went to the Melting Pot for Fondue. I would pick cheese over chocolate every time but I didn't have to because Derek our server brought out both and also lobster, steak, chicken, shrimp, OH and beer. It's so good and then you realize you just ate like a pound of cheese.

Monday night was girls-night-in. Myself and 11 of my girlfriends take turns hosting a monthly get together. Basically it's a lot of eating, drinking, and gossiping. My friends are all great cooks, so the food is always amazing. I definitely ate my share that night. Come to think of it, I hit the queso pretty hard.. Add another pound of cheese to my caloric intake for the week.

  Today hasn't been any better. So I'm sitting here eating mint chocolate chip ice cream for dinner wondering when the insanity will end.

Feeling Like Supergirl

I've got outlook (obviously). I have a Palm Treo. But I have to keep my daily to do list written down. I guess I just have to experience the actual sensation of crossing things off my list. And at the end of the day, I make my new list and ceremoniously throw away the old list. I've been doing this since I was in high school. Some days nothing gets done. Most days I get about halfway through and the things that didn't get done get carried over. Today, I finished my entire list. I'm beat, my eyes are bulging out of my head, but I finished. I do feel like Supergirl. So I'm gonna just enjoy this moment before I make tomorrows list.

A to Yoga

In an effort to help myself out alphabetically speaking, I'm changing the name of this weblog to A Yoga Coffee Outlook...

Genius

Got Miles?

Last year I did freelance consulting exclusively. I was away from home 36 of the 52 weeks in the year. Looking back I'm not sure what I was thinking, it was an experience to be sure. Constant traveling left me with a bank of 218,000 frequent flyer miles. Not all of that was from actual travel. I didn't save them for any purpose, they just compounded faster than I could use them.

So today I cashed in some of those miles for a fare. Maybe it's just me but it seemed a lot tougher than it use to be. I was on hold for 48 minutes. It was easy enough once I got through, but 48 minutes? Of course like a lemming I followed the automated phone directory and selected the option identifying myself as someone wanting to use reward miles to purchase a ticket. I'd be willing to bet that those calls are cued for a longer hold time. I know the airlines are hurting, but where is the love?

Note to self: Self, buy ridiculous hands free phone headset before booking next ticket.