By rote

Magnet #1294 - Dos Caminos

Ya'll. I keep getting lost on the way to work.

Ok, ok, not lost exactly, but whenever I'm on autopilot, I end up doing funny things. Funny things like:

- getting out at Union Square instead of 28th Street in the morning, or
- walking right past my office building til I look up and realize...I've walked right past my office building. Or,
- leaving the office, intending to walk up several blocks to a restaurant on 29th...only to remember I'm already on 29th.

It's amazing, in my head, I've stepped into the Manhattan map, only my origination/termination point, is my old office building. So, when I'm on autopilot, I end up completely disoriented, and not where I'm supposed to be.

I suppose it's natural - I mean, I spent a third of my life in that building (holy crap), but still, it's so odd!

Of course, the new gig in a new building does mean getting to know a new neighborhood, and new restaurants.

Dos Caminos isn't one of those new restaurants - my friends have been going there for years for lunch. And since I rarely did lunch, I never did get to go with them.

So I finally got to go, and voila! Magnet!

Fork, please?

Magnet #1032 - Republic

Republic, with its communal tables and really good hot soup, I imagine it keeps pretty busy during the winter months.

A confession:

I'm Asian.

I don't use chopsticks. Like, at all.

I know! It's the craziest thing being at an Asian restaurant, and being the only restaurant at a table full of gringos and asking the waitstaff for a fork.

You know that look that people give first-gen kids when they don't speak the native tongue? That's the look I get when I ask for a fork in an Asian restaurant.

But, here's the thing. I'm Filipino. We didn't grow up using chopsticks at home. And, as near as I can tell, neither did my mom or dad back in the Philippines.

So, no. I don't use chopsticks.

Except in my hair. I'm a damned whiz at doing that.

Be our guest, be our guest

Magnet #701 - Fiamma Osteria

And now I'll have that song in my head for the rest of the day, complete with the ahhhhh, chorus in the background.

One of the best things about my job, and working in client service, is that it allows me to visit some of the best restaurants in town. Love that.

Ok, really, I just love trying the desserts at them. One of my habits is making sure to request the dessert menu along with the regular menu, so that I can figure out what meal I should get in prep for dessert. That's vital info, or else how can you know what to order for the meal?

Obvi, if you're in a restaurant where there's a dedicated pastry chef listed on the menu, you can't go wrong. Unless you don't see anything chocolate on that dessert menu. And that's a sad little restaurant, indeed.

Anyway, ya'll, I haven't a clue where this magnet came from. I've never been to Fiamma Osteria, and it's not even open anymore down on Spring Street, though they still have a location at the MGM in Vegas.

It's a BR Guest Restaurant though, which means that it was pretty nice, with great food, I'm sure. But, that's kind of the guarantee you get with BR Guest places, methinks.

If you haven't visited any of their restaurants, get thee there soon.

Miso...oh no, you didn't!

Magnet #580 - The Eatery, Vancouver, BC

There's this fantastic article from MSNBC/Careerbuilder with an admittedly very "poor me, I still have a job" slant, that talks about the folks left behind. The ones who somehow, by the grace of the Protect the Bottom Line gods, still have a job.

It talks about about how "strategic eliminations" have basically left behind more work for less crew. And honestly? A crew of less-knowledgeable people who are now desperately running and gunning the vacated positions. That impact will have serious ramifications, at some point, and I anxiously await that day.

This is not that day. And this is not that magnet.

This superterrifically, somewhat inappropriate (and yet charmingly so) magnet, from the funky cool Eatery in Vancouver, came from a new friend I made out that way.

One, who, when I was frantically making calls late on a Friday night to set up a CEO video shoot for Tuesday, actually picked up the phone and took my call, even if he didn't know me from Jack. (Or Andy, given this magnet, I guess. Hee.)

He became a superterrifically valuable resource for me. He jumped in, guiding me through his questions, dealing with my manic, "OMG, how will we ever get this done and I have not a clue what I'm doing because we're so freakin' stretched they're letting advertising account managers do things outside their realm and even if it's not rocket science, it's now something that's totally getting added to my resume," so please help a poor soul.

By the end of a late night, we at least managed to set up the backbone of the shoot, ready for the real!producer to guide the rest of the process.

Whew. There are times when I love this business, and the people in it. It's not often, but when it happens, those people are like gold. Especially when they send you a magnet, without any clue why.

Hahaha, thanks for the help, the chuckles and the magnet, Jean Pierre with the supercool last name from Vancouver! Now you know!

Although, I will say, that after all that we went through all that agita on a Friday night (did I mention Friday?) to get that shoot set up, all we got from the client?

"Great. But note that our name is spelled wrong in the subject header."

Miso something, alright.

Sigh.