The Pod Hotel

I've stayed at the Pod Hotel on my last two trips and am in love with it. Twin bed, shared bathroom, cable TV and very affordable rates. It is the perfect mix of hostel and hotel. Privacy and flexibility. I like having mid-town as my starting and ending point of the day. I'm getting to know a few local businesses (Blockheads on 2nd) and my NYC navigation is improving.

Even though I woke up on Monday morning to a water-free hotel, the staff dealt with the emergency professionally. I couldn't get too upset about it - an annoyance that could have been a major headache.

The Port Authority

I got lost inside the building. I missed my bus. I texted friends for suggestions on how to get to Jersey. I tried to take a cab to Jersey ($72?!?!?). I cried. I got on the next bus. I had a great meeting with a new client and forgot the crying jag inside Port Authority. Mostly.

Crown Heights

After some confusion with Google Maps, I realized that my invitation to dinner in Crown Heights really was to Brooklyn and not to the Catskills. I accepted the offer and had a wonderful dinner hosted by @Mottel and his wife. After a lot of laughs, some Torah and way too much food, I went with some of the women to the Rebbetzin Conference of Chabad. 

There were 3-400 women in a massive room with 10 crystal chandeliers. My hostess would lean over and translate the Hebrew and Yiddish as needed. I stayed for 30-45 minutes before I said goodnight and started the two hour trek back to mid-town. 

It was really a lovely erev shabbat. Great to finally meet a long-time Twitter friend in person and to see the fabled 770 in person. (I walked past it on my way to the train.)

Last Rites Tattoo Theater

Saturday afternoon I had another Google Maps fake-out, but luckily I asked a waitress where Washington Square was before trusting Google Maps. (There is a Washington Park in Brooklyn, but I needed to stay in Manhattan.) I went and had a nice Barefoot in the Park moment in Washington Square (I kept my shoes on).

I met up with another never-met-in-person Twitter friend - Nater Kane - and we wound up at Paul Booth's Last Rites Tattoo Theater for an art opening. The art in the main show wasn't for me, but the few original Geigers were amazing to see in person. Overall, I loved the mixed-use space: tattoo parlor and art gallery.

It was fun to talk art, internet, music and tattoos for an evening, even if I felt a little square with my hidden tattoos and cowboy boots instead of platform dominatrix boots. 

Cowboy Boots

I bruised a good part of my ego that night after a major fall on the subway platform. Cowboy boots plus salt plus concrete plus running to the train I didn't need to run to... bad mix. I'm bruised but not too sore. The boots are going to get new soles soon. Something with traction.

I <3 New York

It is happening. That love affair that 22 year-olds have with New York, I'm starting to understand why. On these last couple trips, I've had down-time in New York and I'm developing a crush on the whole damn city. At least on Manhattan. I feel like I'm cheating on Tel Aviv when I'm in New York. I even have moments when I think I could live there.

Insanity, I know, but true none-the-less.

The G-dcast that I wrote and narrated is back. Here's what I had to say about Yitro.

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

My dad had a quintuple bypass on Tuesday and it was a textbook good surgery! He is now out of ICU and in a regular room. He's started rehab and mom checks in on him a few times a day.

I went home for the surgery and am glad I was able to zip to Indiana to be with my mom for a few days. Why own your own company if you can't leave town and support your family at the drop of a hat?

Thank you to everyone that sent emails, tweets, facebook messages. To everyone that prayed, lit candles, sent good vibes or thought nice thoughts. It really made a difference and Mom felt incredibly supported by your messages. I did, too.

Dave told me to write a sassy and irreverent post for Jewlicious. My very first guest post about a very important cause – helping the Friendship Circle in Michigan win One Million Dollars in the Chase Community Giving Campaign .

I struggle with sassy and irreverent, so I’m going to let you play Choose Your Own Adventure with this blog post. Here are your options for intros:

I’ll Take Jewish Geography for One Million Dollars, Alex

OR

A cause so important, Leah used a hashtag.

Jewish Geography

I met Pinny at WOMMA in DC. Pinny knew Abitbol from Montreal. Pinny knows the founders of the Friendship Circle through Chabad. Pinny called me to see if my company, Natiiv, would help manage the social media campaign for his friends at Friendship Circle. I said yes and Dave asked me to write.

Deep breath.

That’s how I came to be involved with Friendship Circle. A game of Jewish geography going back years and connected online. The short of it? I want you to join our game of Jewish geography and vote for Friendship Circle. Then I want you to do one of the five things at the end of the post to help promote Friendship Circle.

Hashtaggery

On Twitter, a letter preceeded by a pound symbol is called a hashtag. I think they are ugly. They are, the #spinach in the #teeth of #writing. They have also become an accepted way of adding context to tweets to help people follow along with a developing story.

I’ve put aside my personal feelings about hashtags and embraced them for this cause. Using the #votefc hashtag (when appropriate) will help people find www.votefc.com where they can learn about Friendship Circle and our race for One Million Dollars.

Others also know that I hate the term flash mob, which is generally misused to described well-choreographed dances in public places. Lucky for me, FC Michigan is calling their stunt at the Pistons game last night a FREEZE and not a flash mob. Nearly 200 volunteers froze in the food court of the Pistons game – when they unfroze, they revealed matching yellow shirts and campaigned for the vote. 

 What does FC Michigan do?

"Since 1994, Friendship Circle has been providing assistance and support to the families of children with special needs. The majority of the Friendship Circle's innovative work with children with special needs takes place at the Ferber Kaufman LifeTown building, a 23,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility, which serves as a therapy and activity center, social meeting place, and hub for our network of volunteers, professional staff, and supporters.

"The Friendship Circle consists of five parts - volunteers, children, parents, staff, and supporters. The true beauty of the Circle is how all of the elements link together to form a seamless community of friendship. Just as a circle has neither end nor beginning, our community offers promise, hope and love that have no bounds." 

Here's the deal - FC Michigan serves Jewish and non-Jewish clients and has Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers, but is the only Jewish non-profit in the running. We were in 2nd place on Friday afternoon, but all volunteers and staff stopped campaigning on Shabbat. We slipped from 2nd place to 9th place and are trying to make up for lost time. 

Will you work your personal networks to get out the vote for FC Michigan? Here are things you can do to help.

1.     Vote on Facebook for FC Michigan! www.votefc.com for all the info and updates.

2.     Write a blog post and embed the FREEZE video. Include links to www.votefc.com where your readers can learn more.

3.     Tweet or make a Facebook status update about Friendship Circle. Include the hashtag #votefc for context.

4.     Check our resource page for text for email campaigns, tweets, notes and more. www.votefc.com/promote

5.     Change your Twitter avatar or Facebook profile picture to show people you’re supporting the cause. Find the logo on www.votefc.com/promote

There’s a lot going on in the world right now – but please take a minute to vote or 10 minutes to blog about Friendship Circle. Every click gets these kids closer to a bigger facility where even more people will be served.

While I was in New York, I got a text from my sister "It isn't an emergency, but dad is in the hospital." The non-emergency has turned into open heart surgery with a triple to quintuple bypass scheduled for Tuesday morning.

I feel very optimistic about the whole thing, but the truth is my dad was very close to a massive heart attack. Lucky for all of us it was caught before it happened. Last night at a networking event, a man introduced himself to me and lead into his elevator pitch about his wellness book. His elevator pitch starts, "My dad died because of heart disease."

I'm trying to keep my brain from going through the "could have" and "almost happened" scenarios. Stopping myself from "borrowing trouble" as my mom says. It's hard. My great-grandfather died of a heart attack in his 30s. Everyone knows someone that has lived because of bypass surgery and everyone knows someone that has died because of a heart attack.

The cloud of "your dad almost died" is heavy, so I'm staying focused on work until I head home next week. I don't have much more to say. Thanks to everyone that has offered prayers and support. I don't know what to ask for other than light, prayers and good vibes. I mean... someone can do my dishes, but that seem silly. 

This could be a post reviewing the year (mostly good) or the decade (mostly good), but it isn't. I'm looking forward. At midnight I'm going to do a havdalah of sorts under the full moon in Chicago. Goodbye to the good, the bad and the ugly. Hello to 2010. 

My company will grow. I will travel more. I'll finally figure out how to keep a closet sorted. I'll cook more shabbat dinners. I'll be stronger.

I'll learn how to properly apply bronzer. 

Maybe I'll give you some sort of retrospective tomorrow, but chances are I'll be too busy moving forward and shedding the aughts.

In the 90s, I wrote a lot of letters. In fact, I wrote letters into the early 2000s... then I started blogging. I wrote letters when I was in London, but after I got home in early 2004... I pretty much stopped.

That, my friends, is a shame and I want to send letters, postcards, and boxes of things again. 

To do that, I need people to write. Give me your address and at some point in Twenty-ten, I'll write you.