"Carl (@stuffcarlsays)" (carllevine)
05/07/2014 at 18:37 • Filed to: travelopnik, acela, nyc
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"Carl (@stuffcarlsays)" (carllevine)
05/07/2014 at 18:37 • Filed to: travelopnik, acela, nyc | 0
| 0 |
TL;DR Crazy day. 1000 Manhattanites got to see a 270lb man run three blocks. Entrepreneurs learned about how the internet works. Two trips on a 150mph train. Sushi is Kosher food!
Got booked to do a lunch and learn for work at a Jewish entrepreneurs accelerator down in NYC about a month ago, and today was that day. I'm not actually Jewish, but my name certainly is, so I rolled with it. Boarded the Acela at 7:29a out of Westwood, MA and arrived in NYC at 10:45. Took a taxi over to Coworkrs, the coworking space where the NYC class of JFE Network's accelerator is housed. Started the kosher lunch and learn just after 12pm with two decent sized platters of sushi for the group and lots of learning about DNS, Email, entrepreneurship, scaling a culture and minimum viable product.
By 10 minutes of 3, the conversations wrapped up and I realized that the caterer did not provide me with a receipt. Clearly, the financial gurus back at the office would not like to have that situation be the case, so I jumped in a cab and headed for the place, uptown, that catered the luncheon. The guy said, "yeah, so sorry. the delivery guy forgot to leave a receipt... if you're coming to pick it up, let me know what kind of sushi you like, I'm terribly sorry about all this." Mind you, I was midtown, like 23rd and Park Avenue. The cab lumbered towards the MetLife building in the stop and go traffic as the minutes ticked away. My train, the Acela 2166, was due to depart Penn Station at 4pm on the nose. I told the cab driver "227 W. 60th Street" when I got in the car, and about 10 minutes later, he was dumping me off in Columbus Circle... three long blocks, (E-W) from the place. I channeled my inner Forrest Gump and started running. Broadway, Columbus, Amsterdam... they disappeared in my peripheral vision.
As I descended the hill on 60th, all I saw was a college... there was no Cafe11. The clock, 3:31pm... 29 minutes to go. I went inside and talked to the man at the front desk. He told me that I was in the right place, and buzzed the guy at the catering company. A minute later, a man in a yamulke greeted me with a large satchel of sushi, a receipt and an apology. If I were to make my train at this point, I'd have a nice snack for the ride home. I thanked him, and bolted out the door. I ran back up the hill towards Amsterdam, with not a cab to be found. I started meandering down Amsterdam towards downtown. 4 blocks, not a cab in sight. Finally, as the clock turned 3:40, salvation... a Ford Escape taxi was dumping off passengers, so I jumped in. "To Penn Station!" I said, and the driver asked "What time is your train?" I says to the man "4-o-clock, sir." and he bemoaned the impending traffic hell that would greet us on 9th avenue. At 3:54, the taxi pulled up exactly half a block from Madison Square Garden. I reprised my Gump-like ways for the remainder and was able to meet the other Acela passengers who were just filing through Gate 8E towards our nation's best impression of the Shinkansen. I made it... and the consolation sushi was divine.
Tomorrow, I get to fly on a Cessna with the CEO. This, is the life of Carl.
For your attention, I give you with a song that always makes me think of Manhattan: