Woke up around 7:30 am and went to breakfast with everyone. We chose Cafe Metro again because it was cheap, fast and pretty tasty. I had the same thing I had before, because I’m nothing if not predictable, so it was the omelet with sausage, jalapenos and feta cheese for me. We finished and headed to the conference for some last-minute setup stuff. I spent most of the day walking around, picking up swag and making connections for my new project I’m starting at work. I was pretty amazed at the amount of people stuffed into this Hilton for AdTech; if I were a guessing man, I’d say there’s probably around 25,000 people roaming the trade show halls. They really, really need to look into getting a bigger venue, because the Hilton is incredibly crowded.

Decided around lunchtime that I wanted some Starbucks coffee, and more specifically a frappucino, and even more specifically a Pumpkin Spice frap, so I made the trek across the street to get a cup. I’ve discovered that no matter where you go in New York City, there is always a Starbucks across the street. You can be in the Starbucks across the street, and I’m almost certain that there will still be a Starbucks across the street. Coffee nerds would be in heaven, if they only enjoyed Starbucks coffee instead of ranting against the consumerism of it all. Anyway, during my journey across the street to Starbucks, I notice that the building across the street is on fire; there’s about 10 fire engines battling the flames. I opt against walking into the Starbucks in the burning building and instead walk up one to the next Starbucks.

Manhattan is a place that really shouldn’t exist. It seems stressful, all the neon and steel and sky and people, but in reality it moves like clockwork, as if it was made for one thing and one thing only. There’s a very wide chasm between native New Yorkers and the rest of the world who invade the city on a regular basis, and it’s pretty easy to discern between the natives and the aliens. The natives walk facing straight forward, focused on the mission, while those of us invading the cityscape either slowly walk around and stare in wonder at the skyline of skylines (while snapping pictures in the process, either mental or digital) or opt to move very quickly, hands on wallet and heart in throat. I am a combination of the two, as I can’t help but look up and imagine a New York without this skyline, while at the same time creasing ridges into my wallet with the fear grip I have on it.

We spend the rest of the afternoon at the trade show, and then Mike takes us out for dinner. Since it’s my birthday (and Bruce’s), we go to Carmine’s, which is the most fantastic Italian food in the history of the entire world. It might also be owned by the mob. It’s served family-style, which means they plop down gigantic portions of food on huge plates in the middle of your table, and everyone eats. Somehow, we order two appetizers and four entrees, which is far too much food, even for the seven people in our party. Mike wants us to eat some kind of dessert with a candle on it, but I groan that there’s no way I’m fitting any more food in my stomach.

After eating, we head back to the hotel to get ready for the LeadFlash party at Marquee. It’s hopping when we arrive, so we head to the bar and get our drink on. I have a bunch of drinks featuring Grey Goose and finish it off with two Long Island Ice Teas. At this point, I don’t feel like partying anymore, so Bruce and walk for a bit and take the A train back to Times Square. We walk beside David Letterman’s building and make our way back to the hotel. I immediately shower and get in bed, for my feet are absolutely screaming and I want nothing more than to rest my legs. I decide that I’ve never enjoyed simply laying on my back more than I do at the end of a full day of AdTech-ery. I fall asleep quickly due to the three Tylenol PM I ingested to help me sleep through the snoring of my room mates, and sleep through the entire night, which is a sort of miracle considering that we’re in Times Square and we left the window open all night.