The last time we saw cousin Sharon and her husband Shalom we were already pregnant with Sam, but didn’t even know it yet. So while visiting Atlanta this weekend for a clothing show, they had to swing by and meet Sammy. Sharon was a big hit with the little guy, as you can see by the photo above and in this photo gallery (all the photos are here). We miss these guys a lot and the visit was far too short. We’ll have to make sure the next visit comes much more quickly than the last!
All posts by jetrotz
Mitzvah Madness
Our synagogue, Shearith Israel, held what they called ‘Mitzvah Madness’ today, an event which called on the entire congregation’s family and friends to give something back to the community. Activities included fixing up the synagogue’s women’s shelter, creating art for local hospitals, and ‘Goodies for Good Guys,’ delivering cookies to several area firehouses. With the bonus promise of letting the kids explore the fire engines and station, we opted for the cookie delivery detail. And let me tell you, Sam had a blast. Trains may just have been replaced by fire engines in Sam’s fascination hierarchy. After presenting the cookies, the fire fighters gave the kids the full experience: touring the building, sitting in the driver seat on one of the engines (plus blowing the air horn) and even guiding a hose as they sprayed a huge arc of water. Click here for the full gallery.
Eating my Way Through NYC
So this post is more about food than anything else, but let me highlight the beautiful little dumpling morsels seen above, caught through a window of a joint in Koreatown. As far as work goes, I spent most of last week at meetings in the city, punctuated by a couple of fun dinners with coworkers and friends. First up on Tuesday and Wednesday were a couple of Internet Advertising Bureau events. I spoke on a panel discussing ‘New Mediums, New Challenges – How Ad Operations is Being Redefined.’ Former coworker Mike Stoeckel (now of Fox Interactive) was the moderator, and Tim Messier from Weather.com, Jared Iwata from Microsoft and I had an energetic discussion on podcasting, vodcasting, mobile, video syndication, AJAX and the general implications of Web 2.0 technologies on existing counting, ops and reporting methodologies. Wednesday featured more IAB meetings, including a joint publisher-agency ad ops summit at the NYC ‘Googleplex’ which only opened recently – with quite the cafeteria, let me tell you! Thursday and Friday was a return to all things Turner as we kicked off several major ad technology projects that will keep my team busy through January. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the awesome dinners I had while in NY. First at a great Argentinian steakhouse on 9th Ave with my fellow AdOps council members, then a great selection of gourmet pizzas featuring lobster and bacon on one and a white clam topping on another delivered to my old coworker and friend Hart’s place in Chelsea. And finally, a fun outing with coworkers Lauren Gardner and Beth Kuenzi to Koreatown for some hardwood charcoal goodness. That evening was topped off by cheescake (multiples for some of us) at a 100+ year-old bakery in the East Village. Yummy. Photos are here for your salivating enjoyment.
Head to the Mountains!
We headed off to Blue Ridge, GA, a small community about 90 miles northwest of Atlanta the weekend of the 13th to catch some color (in terms of foliage), 
relax with some great friends, eat some great food (courtesy of Joel’s deft touch in the kitchen) and let all our kids get to know each other better. We joined three wonderful families – the Silvermans, the Newmans and the Simons – and had an awesome time. Lessons learned – Apple Festivals can be ‘apples optional’, I still don’t know what a ‘jacket of legs’ actually is, and either my GPS is faulty or I am. Click here for a photo gallery of us chillin’ by the lake in the mountains. If I ever get around to it, we plan to let the town of Ellijay know they really don’t have the whole concept of running a shuttle bus to their event working all that well -but Sam does love the little wooden car we brought home! We plan on making this an annual event – perhaps in our fave little neck of the woods (literally) around Highlands, NC – next time around.