Industry Standard

An exciting week this week... a series of industry parties as a result of OMMA (Online Marketing Media Association) holding their conference at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. It was good to get back to the old 'hood of 42nd and Broadway.

Industry parties usually consist of open bar, drunk yuppies (is that even a word anymore?), and fabulous giveaways. Yahoo! had theirs yesterday, but we discovered last minute that it was invite only. Then we discovered too late that they weren't checking for invites. Last year, Yahoo! gave us fancy sets of martini glasses, but we were all too drunk to get them home in one piece. I remember holding three stacks of white boxes, four glasses in each, then dropping them all onto the sidewalk. And it wasn't just me - all my co-workers either broke theirs, or left them on the train (*cough*my boss*cough*).

Tomorrow is our company off-site; our first one. We're growing at a temendous rate, and this all day meeting wil be held at a theatre North of Lincoln Center, discussing the status and future of the company. Personally, I'm quite interested to see where we're going considering how rapidly we've grown in the past two-plus years. Even more interesting will be the Google party afterwards. A few co-workers (I got mixed up in this crowd somehow) took vows that we would stay out late and really "Google" it up (wow, that was geeky) at the open bar tomorrow night, to make up for the lack of good parties last night. (Expect some stories as a result of the inevitable drunkeness.)

One more positive: this has been my first lax week in a looong time. Look, I'm writing this during (almost) business hours! Getting out early (6pm early) for more than two days in a week, sleeping in to attend sessions at the Marriott, and killing time in Times Square is another added bonus of a week like this. So if you can't get a hold of me this week, you have some vague idea of where I'll be - out of the office!