NYC Part I - Work

I really don't talk about my job that much on this blog. I love my job. Case in point, my job took me recently to NYC to give a presentation at Columbia/New York Presbyterian Hospital. I arrived on Sunday and checked into my beautiful hotel, The Lucerne. I can't recommend this hotel enough. It's not the Four Season's or anything, but it was nice, clean, friendly, and in a great neighborhood on the west side of Central Park (79th between Amsterdam and Broadway).

Hotel FabulousnessA room with a view

After check-in and a quick nap, I headed to dinner to meet some co-workers at Bettola. Delicious yumminess. Bettola is that perfect little corner Italian bistro (but modern enough for my tastes) with candlelit tables, mood lighting, good wine, and even a wood burning stove for tasty pizza. It was a good end to a long day of travel.
Monday morning found me catching a cab up to 168th to attend the Morton Administrators/IDX Billing meeting. I was a bit outside my comfort zone at the meeting at first, as everyone there (~30 people) was familiar with hospital billing/administration/finance, and my job is quality assurance related. No matter though, I got along just fine during the presentations, and actually learned a lot about the way other institutions operate. After a full day of conference, we got a nice evening break. A bus picked all of us up at Columbia and took us down to One if by Land, Two if by Sea in the East Village. One/Two is the original Aaron Burr carriage house. It's also apparently a really romantic restaurant where a lot of young guys stage proposals. I didn't get proposed to, but I did eat a fantastic meal, accompanied by some new friends (shoutout to Carol from UCSF for going splitsie's on the tasting menu with me, I love trying everything I can on a menu!). Dinner was more fabulous than anticipated, with greater company than I can imagine, and the wine was good and free-flowing.

Shrimpy shrimp appetizerChorizo stuffed chicken entreeElderflower chocolate souffle dessert

After dinner, funny guy Marty from University of Chicago (being from Brooklyn himself once upon a time) took me around the city to a few local watering holes. Puck Fair got me excited about Irish accents (and Chimay on tap, nice!), McSorley's reminded me of good beer and an earlier time gone by, and TenEleven was a silly final stop which happened to ironically be right down the street from Royale (the bar Seth's cousin co-owns). It was certainly a busy night, and a memorable one at that.
Tuesday morning was my time to shine; giving my presentation bright and early at 8:30am! It actually went really well, I didn't get too nervous, and there were a few administrators who enjoyed it enough to suggest I try presenting at another larger Administrator's conference in Miami in the spring. Guess we'll see what happens.

Fancy presentation clothes (minus shoes)

After my presentation, the day flew by, and before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye. It was great to network, I met so many interesting people who love their careers, and hopefully I'll run across many of them again someday. Finally, after a quick subway ride back to the hotel, I took a walk around the park near the American Museum of Natural History. It was a peaceful afternoon with just enough time to prepare me for the next part of my NYC adventure; vacation! Stay tuned...