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Wednesday
March 12, 2008 Imaho in OmahaWell, now that I have your attention, hi from Nebraska! Thanks to all of you who are reading my blog, which I can tell from the many e-mails I’ve received. First, yes, I do have the most fun job ever and second, yes, there really were two awesome gay bars in Des Moines. The consensus among my Merry Band of Revelers is that no one remembers the name of the first bar, but the second one was called “Blazing Saddles.” It was a blast, and if you’re ever in Des Moines I highly recommend it!
Tuesday
March 11, 2008 Advantages Roadshow — Day Two: Des MoinesFiled under: Travel Hi from the show bus in Des Moines! So last night my new friends and I went out in downtown Des Moines looking for some fun, and found it in spades. After cocktails at the aptly-named “Doozies” bar in the hotel, we started the evening at a “rustic” place where Dan Burke from Avaline took music requests from the group. Dan regaled us with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” not once, but twice. Then, we found ourselves in our first gay bar of the evening. Who knew that downtown Des Moines was so cosmopolitan?
Monday
March 10, 2008 On the Road with the Advantages Show — Day One from MinneapolisFiled under: Travel Hi from the Twin Cities! This is the first day of the Advantages traveling show, which will take me from Minneapolis today to Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City and St. Louis.
Thursday
March 6, 2008 Ball of FireHi Everyone — Well, we celebrated Ron Ball’s 30-year-anniversary with the company in fine fashion last week at a local bar restaurant called the Black Bull — which is perfect for Ron because black’s his color and for those of us who know and love him, no one flings the bull like Mr. Ball. See below for photos from the evening, and some classic Ron moments…
Friday
February 22, 2008 No Tools in this ShedOne of the questions I get asked most often from people in the industry, second only to the ever-popular, “You work for ASI?… Seriously???,” is “So, what’s Tim Andrews really like?” Maybe because people are accustomed to those holding the title of president or CEO at a company being aloof and unapproachable, many assume Tim is like that too. Well, if my employment at ASI (as well as Ron Ball’s & Christian Brandt’s, for that matter) isn’t proof enough of Tim’s sense of humor, I’m here to tell you — if you haven’t met him yet or don’t know him well — he’s a lot funnier and down-to-Earth than you’d think. Much like Jon Stewart (who I’ve decided is indeed the sexiest man alive), Tim’s got a whip-smart, razor-sharp wit, with hearty sides of snark and self-deprecation thrown in for good measure. He loves his Grey Goose chilled, his jokes racy and — as the Supreme Ruler of Michele World — I bestow upon him one of my highest compliments: He’s not a tool.
Friday
February 15, 2008 Come Fly With Me (Or Not)Hi from Philly! Well, after traveling to four shows in three countries already this year, I am thrilled to be home in PA for a few weeks. The great part of traveling, of course, is getting to spend time with friends, as I did this past weekend in Austin, TX. After the ASI Dallas Show, I went to hang out with my favorite industry family, the Lindermans — Michael, Jane and Matt. Austin, if you’ve never been, is a very eclectic, idiosyncratic blue reservoir of liberal cool in a big ‘ol red state. Its slogan, of all things, is “Keep Austin Weird” — which should tell you a lot about why I love it so much. Michael & Jane Linderman, who are not weird but definitely fun, took me to an awesome area of Austin called the Domain, where fantastic restaurants, fire pits and upscale shops like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. reside. There are condos above the stores and don’t think for a moment that if I lived in Austin, I wouldn’t buy one just so I could say I live at Tiffany’s.
Friday
February 8, 2008 Get Yer Za-Za OutHey Y’all — The first day of the ASI Dallas Show was a good one, with lots of happy, friendly Texans and some awesome new products. My favorite? Selco’s new “Hardcore” watch line (see photo), which is hip, edgy and totally cool. After the show Christian Brandt, ASI’s executive director of catalog sales and my show “handler,” and I went out to dinner with Mark Hobbs from DeyRey Nuts and Nadine Panetti from PromoBiz at the sensationally swanky Hotel ZaZa (www.hotelzazadallas.com). It was just awesome and it is definitely the place where the beautiful people congregate. Mark and Nadine are two of the industry’s pretty people and as a couple, they look like celebs. We should just merge their names together and call them “Mardine” — like Bennifer and Brangelina. (See photos)
Thursday
February 7, 2008 Michele Does Dallas!Filed under: ASI Shows, Travel Hey Y’all from Dallas, Texas on the first day of the ASI Show! I’ve been here since Tuesday, and spent that night catching up with the one and only Dan Townes, at the Palm. We have dinner there every year and we’ve become friendly with the general manager, Randy Hill, who is just the coolest guys and tolerates (and in fact often encourages) our bad behavior (because, when Dan and I are involved, there will be “incidents,” such as the one year when Dan hurled a pork chop two tables away to say hello to our friend Jay Donlin, the vice president of Visions/Awardcraft…). |
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