NYC Day Two

Okay this is going to be another hurried entry- my apologies, but I am dying for some sleep.
I woke up at 6:30 this morning, mind you I went to bed at 2:30, and looked out to a beautiful city. Since we did so much last night it was crazy to see a city I was already very familiar with look incredible different. I was confused when we stepped foot outside the hotel because it looked so different.
From there we walked to the Jacob K Javtis Convention Center where the International Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Show was being held. As we waited in line for our badges, one of Dr. Umbreit's former students walked up and started a conversation after introducing herself. She was only 6 years past graduation and performs the international revenue management training for Marriott. In other words, she is headed to London for two weeks soon.
Jealous.
It is crazy to think that very soon Dr. Umbreit will be asking the same questions of myself. This time next year I will be filing my intent to graduation.
Wow.
Time flies.
I must admit I began dozing off during the first session, it was on CEO's in the industry. Basically they talked about themselves for an hour and a half. The next one was really awesome and had new panelists discussing trends and the future for the market. From there we moved to lunch where we enjoyed a "campaign update." Most of the time these mean Republican Rant Hour, however, they actually had a republican and democrat debating current policies as well as up and coming ones and how they will affect our industry. We moved into concurrent sessions from there.
I chose high turnover rates and how to lower them.
Super informative.
Although I felt as if a lot of it were common sense, the studies were pretty interesting.
We left this session and moved as quickly as possible to get back to the hotel, so that we MAY make the last statue of liberty ferry.
Try as we might, we were too late.
So we hopped back on the subway to head further uptown to a museum we had seen yesterday.
The museum of sex is on 5th.
And that's where we went.
I must say, it was really cool. I mean some was akward, of course, but all in all, really insightful. There was a section on art and one artist showcased a video of these robots fornicating in such a harsh light. It is really hard to describe, but in his interview video, he talked about how porn is so cold and heartless, just like the robots. He wanted us to feel as though it was sad and empty.
I did.
How insightful.
Of course there was a lot more uncomfortable objects, especially for someone as, well, sheltered, as myself. But it was a learning experience for sure. At one point in time, vibrators were sold in the Sears and Roebuck catalog as beauty products. Who knew?!
Plus I couldn't die without seeing animal penises. Or learning that a certain type of slug (sorry I can't remember the name) uses his penis once before his partner bites it off. If, for whatever reason, the partner does not bite it off, they will chew it off themselves since it grows on the side of their head.
We decided on the subway again. As we waited for the train a homeless man came up to us and asked Craig if I was his wife, lol! He told him no and the man pushed it a bit and said why not? You should do that soon.
At this point Craig decides to play along and ask the man where we should get married.
He goes on to tell us in detail how our wedding should be and where we should honeymoon.
I nearly wet my pants trying to hold in the laughter.
He claims it is the last time he will ever sit down in a subway station to wait.
Craig and I moved from here to Little Italy and ate at Saluggi's. Delicious pizza of course. Great conversation as always and cozy atmosphere.
We started roaming through Chinatown when we came across the folks selling stolen handbags. I was looking for a new clutch, why not! As I attempted to break away from a potential seller (he only had ugly clutches!), he suddenly stopped harassing me and moved along quickly. When I turned around a woman had one of the sellers against the wall and was handcuffing him!
Two nights in a row I watch a crazy NYPD bust!?
And this one was undercover!!
As we made our way down the street, word had clearly spread to the permanently installed vendors as they no longer had their original bags outside.
We roamed some more.
I could walk these city streets forever.
Just looking. Noticing. Observing life.
We hopped on the subway to go up to Central Park.
It wasn't until we got their that I realized what a big deal central park is. I have finally realized what a commodity space is. And to see all that nearly undeveloped space simply floored me.
Alas, it was cold,
and I wanted dessert,
so we rode back to Times Square.
We tried to go to Pop Tart World, but it was already closed, so we made our way through to M&M World. Afterwards we attempted Hershey's since they have a dessert bar, but they were also closed!
For the city that never sleeps there are a lot of things that close by midnight!
Speaking of never sleeping, I should get to bed.
My poor body is worn out.
Last weekend I told it to "fall back" and hour.
And this weekend it is springing back forward.
Sigh......


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