Sam I am

I went to Serendipity 3 with a friend of mine of the weekend. We had a really good time. We both hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and by the time we finished our meals, we were both too full for dessert. Next time, I will get the Frozen Hot Chocolate. (I had a cheese burger with a side of chili. Decent burger and decent chili.)

Serendipity 3 is decorated with stained glass and Tiffany lamps.

Last night, I returned from St. Louis where Sports Illustrated was covering the Men’s Final Four, the Division I College Basketball tournament. I was pleasantly surprised by St. Louis. I didn’t think I would have a very good time, and I was delighted to say that it was quite nice. My opinion may be colored by the fact that I was in a nice hotel and that our handling of the event went really well. My favorite meal in St. Louis was at 1111 Mississippi. It had a great wine list, nice relaxed service, a casual atmosphere and delicious food.

The arch in St. Louis was much more impressive than I thought it would be. It soars high into the sky, and the surface looks really great.

I went to the park with Geoff on Saturday afternoon. We wanted to go to the Botanical Garden, but we received incorrect directions from the Concierge. We ended up taking the Metro to the wrong station. When we got out, no one could give us directions on the bus, and very few of the bus signs had any indication of the bus that stopped there. Apparently, in St. Louis, only poor people take the bus. We saw this duck in the park. James and I both think it is a muscovy duck. Birders, any opinions? It was around twice the side of the mallard ducks nearby.

I met Rich Clarkson a few years ago in the Sports Illustrated offices. He is a very experienced sports and news photographer. This was his 50th time shooting the Final Four. Dave Klutho, one of the photographers at SI, threw a party for him at his house. Dave lives in a suburb of St. Louis. Rich has a ton of great stories–from stories that every photographer experiences to stories that only a few people in the world have experienced. For example, he has a couple of great stories from when he was a wire photographer at the trial in Holcomb, Kansas that Truman Capote covered in his book In Cold Blood. The party was great, and I think Rich had a great time.

I’m trying out the new Google ad format on this site. Rather than a couple of ads, there are now around five links to different ads. I’m not sure how effective the new ad format will be, but it is fun to play with.

If you read a lot of websites, you have probably already seen a million photos of the gates. Prepare yourself for the best photos of the gates on this website! (I love tautological statements.) Unless you have been living in a cave for the past couple of months, you have probably already heard of The Gates. The Gates are an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, a husband and wife team. You can read about the project at their website; there are also some fantastic photos by Wolfgang Volz.

Betsy and I visited the Gates today. Today is the last full day of the installation, and I would have felt like an idiot if I did not see it given that I work less than ten blocks away. (Betsy lives even closer) Regardless of how you feel about the project, it is certainly a spectacle. I’m not sure if it the entire project was worth the publicly stated cost of over $20 million. You can fund a lot of independent artists in New York City for that amount of money. However, there are much worse ways to spend $20 million. And it is nice to see such a large-scale, albeit ephemeral, environmental artwork. As I wrote months ago, cities can always use more public art.

At left is a photo of a sample of the material used to make The Gates. It was being handed out by volunteers. A bunch of still photos are below; I also make two movies. I feel the movies give a much better idea of The Gates than some of the still photos. Please forgive my inane commentary on the first movie; not only is bustling a word, but also I even used it correctly. Movie 1 is 3.4 megabytes, and Movie 2 is 4.2 megabytes.

David Sabino, a friend of mine and a coworker, had a book signing on Friday for his new book, Dominate Your Fantasy Baseball League. Go out and buy lots and lots of copies.