A few weeks ago, Flo and I spent a weekend at the Corning Glass Museum learning how to blow glass. I highly recommend the experience, especially to anyone who appreciates glass as an art form. You will never look at glass again the same way.

The first thing our instructor did was to give us each a metal rod about four feet long that is used to collect the molten glass. After y... More >>

I ask myself, how much is enough? If I have all I need, what more could I want?
I drive past new, larger mega-mansions growing on formerly wooded land, and I try to imagine who could need so much space. And why?

Is it a sign of aging that I often think of the old saying about needing nothing more than you could fit in a Volkswagen? Sometimes, I warn my about to be married daughter not t... More >>

Black Friday is no longer good enough. This year many retail stores opened as late as midnight or as early as 8 am on Thanksgiving Day. The news reported hordes of people waiting outside stores for the doors to open.

What is this craziness about? Why do we need to approach holiday shopping with a frenzy? Why are we led to believe that there are only 24 hours in which to both start and compl... More >>

Since we now know that at least 30 or so of you read the blog, I figured I should take advantage of some convenient advertising for our new Gotham group: the Working Moms’ Networking Group. So far about 10 to 15 moms will be joining us on December 5th at 12 noon for lunch at the Friars Club.

We don’t have a definitive number just yet. And we probably won’t until that day. That is inher... More >>

While I was at the Knicks game last night I looked up and high above me I noticed the "Joel 12" banner. Apparently it has been there since earlier this year. I guess I missed the headlines about it.

It is to commemorate twelve consecutive sold out concerts that Billy Joel gave this year at Madison Square Garden. A record, I am told. Who cares. It made me lose my appetite and I could... More >>

As soon as I walked into his office, I was stunned. He has a view of the Hudson that is spectacular. From his vantage point he can see the Statue of Liberty and what looks like the entire state of NJ, an unblievebale view. After staring with my mouth wide open for several long moments, I realized that his chair and desk were faced away from this incredible site. He also had his head down waiting m... More >>

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I would like to give thanks to fellow blogger Julie Klein for tomahawking the Tribe upside the head with her last blog and forcing comments out of the ether. If I was competitive I would be pissed that as of this writing she has had 32 "Comments" and won the recent Favorite Blogger Poll. On the other hand it is validation of her as the choice to author Gotha... More >>

Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of another holiday season and the holiday season brings yet another obstacle to the ability of New Yorkers to move about town. I’m not talking about gridlock – I’m talking about tourists.
Tourists are always around our City, but in the past few days their increasing presence has become clear. Tourists don’t walk, th... More >>

Thanksgiving Poem

Turkey
with Herkie (the cat)
and
others who’ll be
at
Thanksgiving.


Thanksgiving Prayer

Please
grant me ease
to accept
relatives
I would rather
reject.
... More >>

Change is good. You have no idea what a metamorphosis that is for me.

Change has always made me uncomfortable. There is security in what you know.

Now I have grey hair (ok, maybe one week out of four) and change isn't the devil that it used to be. Change keeps life interesting and challenging -- and without change you stand in one place forever.

Pay attention today and change something. ... More >>

To Whom It May Concern (if anyone):

In some of my interviews for the Gotham Book, Tribal Networking, I ask the question, “Do you actually read the Blog?” It is an awkward question for one of the bloggers to ask, but I want to know if we have a real virtual audience.

In the beginning, I felt the need to write about networking topics. Quickly though, I started writing a web log about w... More >>

Everyone likes Thanksgiving. Especially me. My birthday is always within a day or two of it, so I get a turkey and a cake.

The day I was born was Thanksgiving Day. Feeling confused I once asked my mother about that when I was a little boy. I looked up at her while she was scrubbing the sink and asked, "was I born on Thanksgiving Day"? Yes, she said. "The real Thanksgiving Day?" ... More >>

I never wanted to stand out from the crowd. With red hair, I'm a beacon and have learned to accept that. My son, who has red hair as well, chooses to sport a mohawk. He keeps it up with glue (elmers actually ) in many different formations. - two, three, four or five spikes, a fan and he even shaped it like a heart on Valentines day. He wears it with no regard. It has become sort of his trademark.... More >>

I was away on vacation last week in Key West, but never far away from Gotham through my omnipresent Blackberry and thus experienced from not so afar the Tribal recognition imparted to departed Gotham pillar Phil Courtney by dyed in the wool gothamites Linda (self proclaimed ""Queen of Networking") Newman, Nancy, Bob Formica, Carolyn Mann, Judie Moceri and many others. Say what you will about Goth... More >>

As they wheeled me into the operating room, the anesthesiologist asked me what I do. "I'm a lawyer." He paused. "I guess we'll have to take care of you anyway." I was gowned, prepped, ready to go, and the straight man for the ultimate lawyers' joke. Very reassuring.

The operating table - with its protruding arm rests - reminded me of "Dead Man Walking".

As he put th... More >>

I sat on my porch while the members of the Hatian Baptist Church filed into their Sunday night church service. They were excited, eagerly dressed in their Sunday best - little girls in pigtails and crinolines, men and boys in white shirts and dark trousers, women in dressy dresses, churchgoing hats and high heels. They appeared upbeat, happy, and secure in their sense of belonging. I'd noticed ... More >>

I am inspired by Mitch’s blog about slow drivers in the left lane. On either side of my naptime on the LIRR, my commute is mostly by foot. I constantly find myself maneuvering around slow walkers and those who seem oblivious to the etiquette required of footward bound commuters.

There are walking lanes at Penn Station. No, they are not painted on the tiles but just try to cross from Sevent... More >>

Twenty years ago my college drama professor at SUNY Albany imparted to his class, “Meet your obligations and your life will work.” It was an 8:15 a.m. class, twice a week, held on a cement-laden campus that was icy cold for most of the school year. He was probably trying to give us an incentive to leave our toasty dorm rooms and trek across the frozen earth to make it to his class on time, i... More >>

I am about 75 miles northeast of El Paso now, driving east on interstate 10. I plan to make it to New Orleans in about two days. There's lots to see on the way.

Actually, I am sitting in my office on East 41st Street. But that is where my son is. You may remember Josh, the son who moved to San Diego last October. I wrote about that.

Good news! Josh is moving back home. He packed up hi... More >>

I'm driving on the LIE the other day tooling along in the left lane when I need to slow down. The car in front of me is driving the same speed as the car in the middle lane. Okay I'm a patient man so I wait a bit for this car to move over and let me pass. At least that's what I'm thinking will happen. After all we were taught in driving school that the left lane is the passing lane.

When did d... More >>

When I was a young labor lawyer I was confronted by a beefy Teamster President whose members were striking my client. I had arranged a "sit down" in an attempt to resolve the dispute. He started the meeting by announcing "Counselor, there are legalities and practicalities and today--(he then slammed his ham fist down on the conference table for resounding emphasis)--we deal in practicalities"! ... More >>

Something is not working when Gothamites send requests to Fredslist for assistance, services or leads that are available within that member’s group or are readily identifiable by searching the Gotham website.
In the days “BF” – before Fredslist – if I needed a lead or referral I’d first think of the people in my group. If the lead wasn’t obvious to me, I’d call someone in the gro... More >>

Pet accessory part 2


David and I got married in the winter of 1980. We had both taken to playing sadly with Mexican jumping beans, longing for a pet. Lucy was an impulse purchase at a pet store in Stamford. She was an adorable, beagle puppy with the incorrigible manners of a hound who should have been out hunting in the fields rather than chewing her way through our apartment. My fon... More >>

Collaboration is a current day catch phrase. Seminars and speakers spend hours trying to impart and impress with its benefits. Here at Gotham, we inherently understand the power of collaboration and the ease of its accomplishment when collaborating with Gotham members.

Some examples. Does anyone remember the Four Pillars seminars put together by members of the Womens group including current m... More >>

May 13, 1987

She was 17 and in love with a Greek boy. He was in love with her. They dated for three years. It was their senior year and his parents had had enough. She was not Greek and they did not want their son to see her anymore.

They were permitted to go to the Prom together, but after that, it was over. She was sick over it. So was he. A month before the Prom, their days togethe... More >>

My 16 year old son Max says I annoy him. I see it as affection; he thinks I am just in his face too much. So we have a dissagreement.

He gets upset with me. Like when I give him history lessons, for instance. I love history and I read a lot of biographies. When I talk to my kids about it, they tend to roll their eyes, but they have become quite good at presidential trivia. (They know, for... More >>

I have coached my son, Jake, for over 10 years. Being a very competitive guy myself, I wanted him to put everything he had into each game "leave everything on the field." It's something I did, so I expected him to have the same attitude. I quickly learned that he must develop his own motivation, so I bit my tongue...literally.

He is now a junior in high school and runs track for all three seaso... More >>

In my last blog I referenced the Gotham Mission Statement as a Networking (code for finding business) primer. For those of you that did not follow my suggestion and look at it on our web site, it reads as follows:
The Gotham Mission
To forge a virtually cost-free partnership steeped in the spirit of fraternity (or sorority as the case may be) that goes beyond matters of immedia... More >>

When I started practicing law, the senior partner passed down his secret for keeping clients happy: “Return phone calls from clients within 24 hours.” The advice was not unique to the practice of law. At the time, it was good advice for keeping clients, customers and/or patients in any business or profession.
Without dating myself, the greatest change in my professional practice, i... More >>

Pet Accessory


I’ve been thinking that when we carry a pet with us, whether in a shoulder bag, in a photo, or in our mind’s eye, a pet becomes the repository for multiple feelings and memories. It is nothing new to realize that pets are a big part of our lives, but until I started to write about them, I hadn’t realized how I have a long history of pet ownership. The nam... More >>