Aside from our quest for comments, bloggers may now be seeking a bigger payoff: the book deal! There was an article in yesterday’s New York Times Sunday Styles section covering the “blog morphing into a book deal” scenario.

It turns out that some literary agents are scouring the web for insightful, intriguing and innovative material that could be the basis for a book. And why not? Isn�... More >>

I know two things about the laws of physics. The first is that things fall down if you drop them. The second, actually a law of thermodynamics, is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, if I yell at my ex-wife, she yells back. This proves that the theory is correct. It is also the principal upon which rockets work.

It also applies to medicine. For eve... More >>

I see and hear we are having difficult economic times. Should I be cutting back? Doing things differently? Business seems okay. I'm getting calls and referrals however "they" say it's tough out there. Am I missing something?

The financial guys and girls and having fun. Mortgage and title people appear to be adapting. I guess if I was an employee of Bear Stearns, I would be polishing my resume.... More >>

We have just returned from our very first visit to Hawaii. Why Hawaii? I did it mostly for monetary reasons, correctly deducing that the Euro was too rich for me, but incorrectly ignoring how rich our culteral and sensual experience would be.

We used our frequent flyer miles to obtain first class round trip tickets and that alone was a mini vacation. Our ... More >>

Last Saturday was a day for errands. First we went to the dry cleaners, the tailor, and the shoe repair. We ended up at the Apple store because I needed a new battery for my laptop, and Flo was looking for a new computer. The shoe repair couldn’t fix my shoes, so we needed to add a stop at the shoe store. As the day wore on, we decided to have dinner with Flo’s parents.

... More >>

My daughter, Lauren, and her soon to be husband, Jeff from California, are moving to Lincoln, Nebraska. (She will be applying to medical schools and he will be in the graduate level space law program at the University of Nebraska - it's the first in the U.S.). Last week, they drove to Lincoln for a first look. Jeff’s slice of life email from the road made me laugh, and, with his permission, I... More >>

Did you ever have a startling experience at a hotel? Well, this story does not belong to me but as I listened to my colleague tell of his weekend experience, it seemed to me to warrant repetition (with his permission of course)

Peter and his wife left town for the weekend, as did many for the holiday. They arrived at their hotel late in the evening, tired and ready to end their trip. After ... More >>

My parents did something right. Although they have been in Florida since the day after Christmas, with plans to return in a week or so, my older sister decided to organize and host an Easter brunch. She invited my younger sister and her boyfriend, my family, and my mother’s favorite brother and his girlfriend.

Despite my parents being away, my sister hosted it, brought our family together... More >>

Sexual escapades sure have been in the news a lot lately, and I am not talking about Paris Hilton, but senators, governors and congressmen. The consequences are not always the same though.

Our new Governor tried confessing before the news became public. That seems to be working for him so far. Spitzer admitted paying for sex; they had him on tape, he had no choice. Senator Ritter from Louis... More >>

The final race of Jake's winter season. His last race at the Armory - the Nationals. He was ranked 57th out of 65 runners for his race - the 800m which is four times around the track. It's an intense race. You can't sprint it because the human body isn't able to deal with that kind of stress. It's kind of a controlled run. The runners who do well have trained their bodies to handle the lactic acid... More >>

This blog is written by my wife Joanne.

I think that I've reached the 'tipping point". What once was one of my favorite pastimes has become fraught with all sorts of issues.

Fred takes pride in seeing all the movies that are
up for Academy Awards and I am usually happy to accompany him but
lately it's just not so wonderful. On Presidents Day he suggested we
go see "Butterflies and The ... More >>

It’s been a down and up week -- the downfall of Spitzer, the rise of Paterson, the fall of Bear Stearns, the fall and rise of the stock market -- and I must turn to personal observations of a circular kind. I am also inspired by Fred’s blog about the newest common denominator among some Gothamites that will give rise to the newest Gotham group. I am married to a Curly Girl and I have lived vic... More >>

We went to a funeral on Sunday. While every passing is a loss full of sadness, this ceremony was bittersweet – a memorial to a 93 year old father and grandfather whose life was marked by business success and family happiness. The eulogies were heartfelt and full of admiration. The Rabbi spoke beautifully and reminded us to cherish those we love.

Funerals are part of the cycle of life, a ri... More >>

I am curious. What is your experience in your business right now? There are most noticeable, and scary, changes in the various markets. The drop in real estate prices and the related mortgage debacle speak volumes. Large, institutional businesses are disappearing, some because loose attention from the past is now catching up.

Today’s announcement regarding the purchase of Bear Stearns by J... More >>

“The Abstinence Teacher,”
By Tom Perrotta

What would you do if the Board of Education in your district decided that the “health” class curriculum would no longer include “sex education” as you know it, but would cover only the benefits of abstinence?

Would you be glad to know that your 16 year-old was not going to learn about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy... More >>

The last week of sleep away camp was Color War. This was serious business back in the 60's, not like the watered down Color War-lite of today. The two teams, Green and Gold, would each be in odd and even numbered bunks, respectively. So if you spent the summer in bunk 10, let's say, and you were on the Gold Team, you might have to move your bed and all your clothes to Bunk 9 for the week. It w... More >>

This past week, Sarah was home on spring break and our house was full again. It was great to have both of my children home. It reminded me of a moment a long time ago when visiting my grandparent's apartment. Somewhere in the middle of being there I remember sitting next to my mother and noticed she was smiling. I asked why. She said grandma was happy. Of course being the silly kid I was I asked "... More >>

Last week our firm Office Manager Pat Castrovinci was having lunch with Nancy and, as the story goes, (I was at the Open House lunch) the girls (women to be politically correct) got to talking about their mutually naturally curly hair (see Nancy's blown out "straight" hair in her web site photo) and girls being girls, Pat joked that there should be a Gotham Curly Hair Group. Later Nancy continue... More >>

I am at a loss as to how to respond to the downfall of Eliot Spitzer. As I write this on Tuesday, his lawyers are probably in talks with the United States Attorney's office to determine whether he will be indicted and whether they can bargain his resignation as part of a plea bargain. By the time you read this, it may be history.
All of the questions and rhetoric that we have heard before... More >>

I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want to be a world famous actress. I don’t even want to be a world famous author or artist. I don’t photograph well and I’ve noticed that famous people need to bask in the spotlight. Secondly, I don’t want my past and future indiscretions broadcasts to an avid public.
So I don’t want to be President of the United States and I definitely... More >>

You may recall from a post I made to fredslist a few weeks back that my 8 year old son expressed interest in learning to play the guitar. As we watched my daughter perform in her school’s winter concert, we noticed my son’s fixated upon the 6th grade boys playing electric guitar. He announced that he wanted to learn to play guitar too. We immediately shared his excitement particularly since... More >>

A large part of my free time these days has been devoted to researching books for the newly created Gotham Book Club. I spend inordinate amounts of time reading reviews, wandering around book stores, sifting through the “staff picks” at my public library, and talking to friends and acquaintances about the books they’ve adored.

I love every minute, truly I do. Now here is the regret.

... More >>

Few Americans are proficient in a foriegn language compared with our friends in Europe, where most people speak at least two languages, and sometimes four. We seem to think here that the rest of the world should learn English.

They offered Spanish in high school. It was either that or French, and maybe German too. I say that only because there was a German Club, and it wasn't just for eatin... More >>

A blog from Jake

Tuesday last week, was a day I thought was special for multiple reasons. It was the day of Eastern States. I ran my personal best in the 800 and improved my seed from second to last to 14th out of about 38 runners. To me on that day, it was being at the Armory at 168th street in New York for the last time, and it was a special moment for me. I hadn't even thought I would be at... More >>

Tuesday night was the first Gotham Wine Tasting. It took place at the newly refurbished "Mac's Steak House" in Huntington on Long Island under the auspices of Gothamite Paul Napolitano. Mac's is owned by Paul's friend Ron Gelish who is also the Chef. Paul is Gotham's self proclaimed "wine geek" and/or oenophile (a former beer drinker, no less). We were treated to a special six course tasting ... More >>

This blog is inspired by two things. First, Fred said that he planned to blog (tomorrow) about the same topic that I had in mind for today. Respecting my elders, as I do, I reluctantly agreed to defer to him. Second, I received an email from a fellow Gothamite who suggested this topic.



Last week I attended the Long Island Women’s Group meeting. Nancy ran the meeting... More >>

Sometimes an existing word doesn’t fit the topic or the situation. We reach for the right phrase and something magical happens. A new word, perfectly a propos, appears and our ears perk up. It’s just right. We’ll use it again and again. After all, it is, in an over-simplified fashion, how all language arises.
One afternoon in the recent past, our daughter, Lauren, made an ann... More >>

Did I get your attention? Great, now insert your own opinion. I have many theories but I think this may be a very personal question. As personal as what kind of food, or wine you like or where to vacation. As they say, that’s what “makes the world go round.”

After one networking meeting recently one member whose opinion I value commented that he thought he meeting was awful. [Actually... More >>

It was almost a year ago when we found out my son earned a coveted spot on one of the Long Island Edge’s travel hockey teams.

And this past weekend was the final tournament of the season -- in Delaware. I could go on about how intense the schedule was, how our family devoted a great deal of time to the sport, how we all made new friends and had a really good time with them, how my son grew... More >>

In an effort to entertain, and be more creative than my day job allows, I try to throw in a little humor in my blogs now and them. I try to have fun with it. It doesn't always work. One person's humor is another's idiocy. Sometimes walking the line and being edgy, even if funny or amusing to some, deserves its own place, not always here.
So I have deleted my blog from yesterday.
Be back next... More >>

When signing up for classes in November, there was one I absolutely had to take: the Horror Film. As fate would have it, I got the last spot in the class, and I waited in anticipation for the duration of winter break until this semester started. The class is an exploration of the genre of Horror Film as it relates to literature, but also how it has evolved over time, and what kinds of things were ... More >>