Monday, Feb 13
Breakfast: Au Bon Pain, $5.48
Dinner: Firebirds, $42.79

Tuesday, Feb 14
Lunch: Jason’s Deli, $11.73
Dinner: Buffalo Wild Wings, $21.60

Wednesday, Feb 15
Lunch: Baker’s Crust, $17.92
Dinner: Peter Chang, $25.20

Thursday, Feb 16
Lunch: California Pizza Kitchen, $19.16
Dinner: Bar Louie, $20.21

Friday, Feb 17
Lunch: Baker’s Crust, $20.92
Dinner: Red Robin, $10.79

Saturday, Feb 18
Lunch: Plaza Azteca, $18.64
Dinner: Bar Louie, $15.75

Sunday, Feb 19
Dinner: Maggiano’s, $30.92

Monday, Feb 20
Lunch: Chick-fil-A, $11.28
Dinner: Buz and Ned’s, $33.46

Tuesday, Feb 21
Lunch: Nordstrom Cafe, $14.60
Dinner: The Cheesecake Factory, $42.84

Wednesday, Feb 22
Lunch: Baker’s Crust, $14.26
Dinner: Lehja, $39.90

Thursday, Feb 23
Lunch: Jason’s Deli, $10.48
Dinner: Firebirds, $53.81

Friday, Feb 24
Lunch: Chick-fil-A, $10.61

It’s snowing in Richmond on a Sunday.

It’s technically my Saturday afternoon right now and I’m in an intentionally darkened hotel room.

“What’s going on”, you say? I’m here conducting training for the best company in the world. It’s the middle of my two week stint and I’ve earned a couple of days off.

I’m here with three other guys also going thru the same training. We’re bonding nicely but today is a day alone and to relax, although I’m sure we’ll get together for dinner later this evening, our Saturday night. Maybe some drynx will be had.

We’ve been put up in a great hotel, just minutes from our training location. I’ve got my own suite ($595/night) on the top floor so it’s called The Penthouse. We’ve also got a ridiculous food per diem so there has been a lot of eating like king’s around here. I’ll provide a list of those restaurants later in the week.

Tonight I was called selfish by a good friend. I guess I am.

Maybe this is why I write these things here or post things to twitter.

I’m selfish for thinking I am alone in the world. I’m selfish for thinking that no one will love me. I am selfish for thinking that I am unlovable. I am selfish for loving my new iMac. I am selfish for thinking while I write this that the new Pet Shop Boys B-sides collection will drop on iTunes in 2.5 hours and I can’t wait to download it. I am selfish for thinking people who walk slower than me are ignorant.

I am selfish for thinking anyone will read this and absolve me.

Incase for Andy Warhol desktop images to accompany their iPhone case line. Desktops also available for iPhone and iPad.

About a year ago, I stumbled onto Nile Rodgers’ Twitter account. Yes, that Nile Rodgers. I can’t remember how it happened. I remember him talking about how he was recently struck with cancer. He was in treatment, after surgery, and spoke about his doctor-prescribed daily walking therapy. The part that interested me is the way he narrated his daily walks. They were spotted with “we did this here” and “that was recorded there”. Of course, these references were always about some of my favorite soundtrack-to-your-life artists.

Of course I knew of Chic, Nile’s band along with Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson and the ladies. I remembered roller skating to them on Friday nights and dancing to them in my room as a young teenager. I knew of Nile’s far-reaching producing efforts (Madonna, Duran Duran, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Sister Sledge) and of course Bernard and Tony’s crucial contributions in Power Station but it wasn’t until reading his daily blog, and seeing wonderful vintage photos, that I realized how extensive Nile’s musical reach was into the fabric of the soundtrack of my life.

Last year when I was going to spend a long weekend in New York I thought “How wonderful would it be to run into Mr. Rodgers on one of his daily walks?” We had batted a tweet back and forth, about what I can’t remember, but he did start following me and I always appreciated that. The accidental meet up never occurred, unfortunately. Probably because I was way downtown in Chelsea and not waking up until the afternoon and I think Nile is up on the Upper East Side somewhere. And judging by the pictures he took of him bundled up from the cold on his daily walk, it seemed he started pretty early in the morning. No worries.

Tonight, I saw Nile post a tweet to Miss Jody Watley (swoon) about loving to play on her new album. I noticed he accidentally made a typo (@ jodywatley instead of @jodywatley) and I realized she wouldn’t get the message. I retweeted his tweet, correcting it so it would show up in her feed. This is what he sent back to me:

What a helluva guy. Maybe one of these days I’ll be in New York and accidentally run into Mr. Nile Rodgers and I would love to shake his hand. Shake his hand and say “Thank you, sir”, thank for all the wonderful music you have given to me.

You can read Nile’s Planet C blog here and his homepage here. You can also purchase his autobiography, Le Freak, (which I haven’t started reading yet) here.

Be well.

Thought I’d write a little before I head into work this evening…

I had the morning and the afternoon off. So I stayed in bed for a while, until about 1:00. It felt really good to snooze and just relax. It was also quiet (all loud, rude neighbors being at work) and it was nice to take advantage of that peaceful time.

I finally got up, made some coffee, surfed and here I am. I know, exciting, right?!

I went to ivan.com which is in the exact same state as the last time I went there, about fourteen years ago. Most of the links there go to Geocities (remember that?) or 404 broken link pages. I hope he’s not paying monthly to host that account. It’s a good example of what web design (if you can call it that) was back then.