darkness

It's getting dark earlier. By the time I left work today the sun had already set, and I walked uptown through the twilight, which gave in to darkness by the time I reached 32nd Street.

Summer is over

on music

I'm over an hour into struggling with consolidating my music libraries, spread over two computers, multiple folders, and a mess of mp3, m4p, wma, protected wma, and recently (ahem) liberated wma. The wma's don't play on the Shuffle, the m4p's won't run on the Clix, and the protected files are completely useless when untethered from Rhapsody (but still clutter My Music). Argh. It really should not be this hard.

I want to get rid of my CDs but the prospect of digitizing the library is overwhelming. And what format to digitize to? A standard codec like mp3 is the best bet but at a max bitrate of 320 kbps (importing via iTunes) you lose clarity. I guess I could do flac or some other lossless format but we're talking huge file sizes...external drives...

Argh.

Stark contrast to Friday night, when for the first time in months I listened to some music the old fashioned way. On my stereo. In the dark. Insert and press play.

No shuffle, no cherry-picked tracks, no recommendation engine, no algorithms, no playlists, no editors picks, no free download of the week, no scrobbling, no nonsense. Just sit and listen. Loudly.

Will we ever find the happy medium between these two experiences?

nothing a chili dog can't fix

Tonight ended up being the "going out" night, but with me coughing up a storm I headed out early, leaving Michele at 18th Street Lounge with the cute vendor and neverending free drinks. Left to my own devices I decided to brave Ben's Chili Bowl solo, perhaps not the wisest of decisions but there I was nonetheless, ordering up a chilidog to go, and hoping I would catch a cab back, which I did. I had briefly considered walking back but between the heat and the distance it wasn't quite feasible, so cab it was, and I enjoyed my fourth meal in the comfort of the Kimpton, and now off to sleep...

one the road II

Conferences are hard work. Especially one that kicks off at 7:55am (I arrived shortly before 9, partly because I skipped the breakfast and partly because the Hilton is so incredibly vast I got lost making my way from the lobby to the ballroom.)

I'm finding this one on the vendor-heavy side, and the panels not particularly enlightening, but I'm a guest of the conference and I've made some new contacts, so not a total loss. I think I was spoiled by Promo Magazine's Interactive Promotion Summit, a quality event with great speakers and a low vendor to brand ratio.

So now I'm back at the bordello, enjoying a glass of wine complements of Kimpton, and catching up on work-work before I head out into the sauna once again for more schmoozing.

Exhausting.

Oh...and another cool hotel feature I noticed today -- the elevators have hardwood floors. Neat.

on the road

I'm traveling on business, attending a conference with a coworker but I'm basically alone, as I opted not to stay at the bland conference hotel (though it does have a pool) but rather a boutique hotel across town. The Hotel Rouge is pretty awesome, and not only is the room *huge* but they take the name quite literally -- everything is red, from the leather headboard to the velvet drapes to the red shaded lamps. I'm surrounded by red, which gives it a sort of bordello-y feel, a nice change from my usual color palate.

The leopard print bathrobe rocks, too.

Tonight I took advantage of Restaurant Week (perfect timing) and checked out Dupont Grille, a neighborhood place with great food and a friendly bartender, and walking distance from the hotel. Tomorrow is all work, but good to have some time away from the office to actually think about your job, and tomorrow night we're invited to a dinner at Marrakesh Palace, which should be interesting.

Time to sleep...