New York, New York

Sami and I had a wonderful weekend exploring New York City last weekend!   It was absolutely fantastic to be able to spend three full days hanging out with my beautiful daughter in such an interesting place and cool place.  

After all New York City is New York City, and it has so much to offer in terms of just being itself.   Its sheer size, the cacophony of sounds, its pungent and exotic smells (I’m talking Chinatown now), the nerve tingling visual images of the Big Apple can only be seen to be believed – it’s a phenomenon unto itself.  

We agreed that each year we would spend a weekend exploring New York together, just the two of us.  The reality is that I'm thrilled that Sami wants to still do that with me. Seriously I'll take that any day of the week and is such a blessing. J

Our adventure began after arriving into New York around 4:00 pm we caught a cab to our hotel on West Street down in the Financial District.  We like this locale because lower Manhattan is far enough away from the craziness of Midtown and Time Square where many of the hotels are situated, but still provides that truly New York City flavour.

After freshening up we wandered over toward Little Italy and ended up walking through Chinatown. Its such an eye opening experience at the best of times, but I must admit its a tad smelly on a warmish spring afternoon so Sami was not overly impressed with our detour, although I'm sure she liked seeing it, not too sure about smelling it.    

Afterwards we had a wonderful meal at Il Cortile on Mulberry Street in the heart of Little Italy, before grabbing some Canoles for our dessert as we strolled slowly back to our hotel.  The evening was a perfect temperature and it was such a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday saw us up early as we headed up to Tribeca for breakfast at Sarabeth’s on Greenwich Street.  The portion sizes were much bigger than our tummies could handle so afterwards we had to walk through SoHo toward Broadway to digest our brekkie. 

One of our favorite places to people-watch (yes, Sami is an avid people watcher as well) is Dean & Deluca’s at the Corner of Prince and Broadway.  And so by the time we made our way over there I was ready for a pastry and latte…   C’mon it took us a while to stroll over so I wasn't feeling bad about eating again so soon after the huge breakfast at Sarabeth’s. J   It’s always packed with locals doing their weekly shop as well as the out-of-towners like us who are content to have a coffee and watch the world go by at their leisure, it just feels homey.

With a latte in hand we wandered up Broadway to the NYUBookstore, where Sami and I checked out some NYU gear, she quickly found some running shorts and a t-shirt that had NYU Law emblazoned on them.   She excitedly announced that her dream was to go to Law School in New York City (either Columbia or NYU – it didn't matter) and that perhaps one day she'd have her own law practice right here in Manhattan.  What a wonderful dream to have!

Afterwards we continued up to Union Square before arriving at the Flatiron building on the corner of 5^th Avenue and Broadway around lunchtime.   We then realized that we had a show to catch so quickly caught the subway back to our hotel before cabbing it to the Broadhurst Theatre on 44^th street for our Broadway matinee.    

Sami had chosen Mamma Mia this year and selected some great seats (Orchestra, 5^th row center), it was a perfect location, close enough to get the full effect but not close enough to get the sweat flung on us from the performers. That girl has great instincts, and not sure we could have gotten better seats.  Plus Abba never goes out of style!

As a special treat Sami had asked if we could go back to the Tribeca Grill for dinner just like we did on our last visit in 2012.  So after our matinee and a rest back at the hotel we went for dinner.  No surprise that both the food and ambience was fabulous and the conversation thick and fast. 

I waddled back to the hotel completely full, although I've now realized that Sami has the ability to consume Hagen Daz ice cream even after our enormous meal…seriously I'm not sure where she puts all that food, but got to love her enthusiasm for dessert!

Sunday morning I took Sami to the Balthazar Bakery on Spring Street, which is quite close to Dean & Deluca’s for breakfast.  She loved the vibe and the amazing scrambled eggs with croissants…so delicious!

Afterwards we made our way up Broadway to 5^th Avenue and from there we power shopped (It's official...I've now been into every Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Brandy Melville and American Apparel in Manhattan) all the way up to Central Park. 

Eventually we found ourselves at Bloomingdale’s over on 60^th street (Sami was looking for some Van's) before calling it quits and having lunch at a local cafe.  By this time we were both shopped out and so with only one more official stop to be made (Dylan’s Candy store as she wanted to get lollipops for all her classmates at school) he took our time and eventually wove our way back to the Central Park Zoo. 

Sami has a deep affection for animals and so enjoys every chance she has of being close to them, even though in her heart she’s sad that they are in captivity it was fun afternoon.  Borrowing my camera she became our official photographer for the afternoon, as my Canon will attest to the 150+ photos from the Central Park Zoo alone.

All in all it was a wonderfully rich weekend and another treasured adventure in our collective memories!

Thank you sweetheart.

Some photos from our adventure:

Classic Sami drinking lemonade and watching the world go by at Dean & Deluca's
(Broadway & Prince - NYC)

SoHo is full of surprises on a Saturday morning!

Mural in Little Italy - NYC

Fish market in Chinatown (NYC) - the catch was cheap but smelly late in the day

Live eels for sale - Chinatown (NYC)

Empire State building from the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway
(Flatiron Building - NYC)

NYU Bookstore on Broadway (NYU)

My beautiful daughter at breakfast at the Balthazar Bakery on Spring Street
(NYC)

Bloomingdales on 60th Street - originally names Bloomingdale Bros
(NYC)

The New World Trade Centre (NYC)

Sami is always full of conversation - over dinner in Little Italy
(NYC)

Building the brand

You'd think I'd know better but earlier this year I made, what some would regard as the most fundamental mistake in marketing.  With the release of my new book (Indelible Adventures) why on earth would you stop publishing to a well-known and popular brand? The one, by the way that you’ve spent two years building and had over 35,000 people read? So tell me why again?

Vexing isn't it?   Especially to me since I made the mistake and that my day job is firmly centered in Sales & Marketing.   Well, the answer was simple…at the time. ☺ 

Initially I wanted to create something new and fresh that would include a lot more of my photographs with the possible future aim of publishing a coffee table book that incorporated both my stories and photos.  Ta-da!

I suppose at the time it was more of a calculated bet, given the breadth of my readership the hope was that I could morph my blog into a different format that included both visual images and the written word.   

To be honest its only been partially successful in that I haven't really been including enough of my photographs into the new blog, nor have I developed the ongoing and loyal readership that I've had for my past blogs, especially the “Indelible Adventures” series.  So it’s a bit of a rebuild effort.

In fact, as I look back at this year so far I haven't made much headway on my other area that I wanted to focus on either.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog I want to begin my career in motivational speaking this year, although I did speak recently at my daughter’s school to her and her grade 7 cohort.

My talk was titled the “Reluctant Writer” in which I spoke for 30 minutes about my reason and motivation for becoming a writer (my topic was at the schools request).  It went well, but getting the next gig is proving more difficult than I first imagined, especially since over the years I've done quite a bit of public and motivational speaking in my past roles.  

After recently meeting with Kelly MacDonald-Hill, Partner and Senior Vice President at Speakers Spotlight she outlined my competition in this arena. Basically I'm competing against a swath of Olympians, well-known authors and well established speakers.  She encouraged me to define and develop an area of focus that differentiates me from others speakers.   Ever since meeting Kelly I've been mulling over what differentiates me, not as easy as I thought, not by a long way.

My mind keeps coming back to the word “resilience” and how this simple word has been central to my life.  Many would say that this in unto itself is not that motivational nor is it topical, but let me tell you when you’re looking for a compass in your life and the only thing you can depend on is yourself you tend to become very familiar with how this word can seep into your mental fiber and drive you forward.

There were many days during my childhood, that even though I couldn't articulate the concept of resilience, I lived it.  Enduring deep shame as the child of a poor family, whom other kids weren't allowed or strongly discouraged from playing or associating with it ensured that I had a very healthy sense of self and where I stood in the local pecking order…ah, yes that would be at the very bottom.

Dealing with this sense of shame, for better or for worse has endowed me with a mental and emotional toughness that to some may seem cold or even a little clinical.

For many years the only person I felt I could rely on was me.  I struggle with trust even today and often seek the solace of my own company rather than rely on those around me for help or friendship.  

When you’re in this mode from an early age you either build a tough and almost impenetrable exterior just to survive emotionally or you retreat into other forms of escape – perhaps drugs, crime or other destructive ways to cope.  

Fortunately that wasn't for me, nope I knew the type of life I wanted to create for myself even though I had no idea how to actually engineer it I figured that if I believed in myself and was willing to do things others weren’t that I might have a chance.  My mantra was “if this is the worst thing I have to do in my life then I can survive anything”.   All I knew is that I could only go up as I'd already been at the bottom or pretty darn close to it.

To this day I'm amazed at my inner strength and resilience, my ability to stay strong and my innate proclivity for constantly reinventing myself.  Although not consciously thinking about it day-to-day it’s formed a central theme to my life and has been the cornerstone of my success in life.  

Is it lonely?   Absolutely, I tend to push people away from me, and run from those who want me (well except for Zach & Sami that is) in their lives.  My reasoning, albeit flawed, (yes, I know that I'm completely irrational on this one) is unable to believe that anyone in their right mind would want to have me to be a part of their life.  Sorry, did I tell you that I'm a therapist’s gold mine?   I’m sure Jung and Freud would have a field day working on me…  I guess that’s why I struggle with sitting still, always on the lookout for my next adventure and relentlessly moving forward.  

Given the circuitous journey that I've travelled in my life I'm successful just being here and telling you my story. ☺



This weeks photos - courtesy of my recent explorations to Palm Desert, California (so beautiful!)

Mountain contrasts before dawn
Palm Springs, CA

Vibrant colors at dawn

I loved the symmetry of the bicycle rack at first light

The texture of the plants captured my imagination

Cactus flower - why is it that the prickliest plants have the most
beautiful flowers?

Although not a religious man, the cross on a distant
mountain drew me in

Feeling thankful

I realize it’s such a cliché to say how fast time passes, but really it feels like my life if moving at the speed of light sometimes.  This past weekend at Coachella and then again this week when Sami and Zach were with me it struck me how grown up they've both become. 

Zach, TW and Sami in the pool at Longboat Key, Florida.
(Zach was almost 3 and Sami almost 1)

 In fact, Zach is almost as tall as me now, Sami not far behind although she swears she’s stopped growing, which is always accompanied with a loud sigh.  Sami believes that she’s going to be too short and that all of her friends will be taller than her, even the thought of it drives her crazy.  Perhaps it’s her competitive nature or maybe her athletic persona coming through, but for some reason she honestly believes she’s stopped growing no matter how much I try to convince her otherwise.

Admittedly it’s a little scary to see your 15 and 13 year old kids becoming young adults and no matter which way you cut it, its scary and freaks me out. For the most part I think it’s a realization that the circle of life moves inexorably forward and that somehow I'm not keeping pace… 

Sami and Zach aged 13 and 15
respectively...wow

Strangely that all coincided with my birthday last Sunday, I suppose birthdays make you stop and take stock of where you are in your life and reflect on those important to you so it comes as no surprise that I've felt a little discombobulated this past few days, although I have been trying to break out of my funk but to no avail.  A truly weird feeling to be sure, but bugger all I seem to be able to do about it.

Earlier today I caught up with Sparksy (an old teammate originally from Australia who lives in Toronto) for beers and to watch a little footy on TV (televised from Australia) at Hemingway’s, a downtown pub.  We reminisced about our playing days, told stories of our crazy teammates (yes, you know who you are), and generally shared some great memories from those fun and frenetic days.  It was fabulous to catch up over a beer, and it reminded me that I needed to do that more often.

On my way home I realized that my last competitive game of football was in 1996 when I broke my thumb in the next to last game of the regular season.  It just seemed like the right time to retire and give my body a well-earned rest; after all it had been twenty plus seasons of training and playing almost continually and my body was definitely showing signs of breaking down.   For example it took me more than a year after I stopped playing to be able to walk down a flight of stairs straight without holding onto the handrail, rather than one at a time sideways (that’s what will happen after three broken ankles and numerous torn ligaments in my ankles, a complete loss of flexibility).  The final years of playing ice became my best friend – what can I say?

Feeling thankful for such a
wonderful life...

The definite upside was that I was in phenomenal shape in those days, although I'm still at my playing weight today its not quite the same…if you know what I mean.  J

Interestingly whenever I watch football my mind still wants to believe I could play, my body on the other hand laughs uncontrollably at the very thought of the punishment you actually take, all the scrapes, bruises and the hits you endure and that’s just the training.  It would be nice to play just once more, but during my youth when I was at my peak and super fit.  If only - right?

 All I can say is that I'm very fortunate to not have any long-term injuries or issues from my playing days as I'm still able to run and work out a couple of times per week, play golf and hike over the summer, ski and snowboard in the winter, plus practice soccer with Sami at the local park and throw the rugby ball around with Zach. 

Yes very fortunate indeed and feeling rather thankful for my wonderful life so far.

Next weekend Sami and I are New York City for a dad and daughter weekend exploring Manhattan and catching a Broadway show – stay tuned!   J