The unsung heroes of public events

{Not from my event, but I thought the picture was funny. From Southern Living. They thought it was funny too.}

If you think the life of an event planner is all champagne and parties and oh-so-glamorous, I wish you were with me at 7 this morning. I was trekking around chilly downtown Hartford, supervising the installation of port-o-lets for the CT Veterans Day Parade tomorrow. It's the only public (or local) event my company produces, and every year at this time we remember why it's the only one. But that's another story. Today I want to tell you about my new friends Angel and Luis, who got up even earlier than I did (and please remember I am not a morning person) to drive down from Massachusetts and deliver 20 'olets to various locations along the parade route. These guys have it down to a science. First they are driving huge tank trucks, pulling even larger trailers, which are not easy to maneuver on some of our famously stupid and narrow one-way streets. Then the 'olets themselves are unwieldy - large, bottom-heavy, and filled with whatever mysterious blue liquid they use to hide the basest of human activity. But they slide them off the trailer, shift them around a bit, assess the flatness of the area, shift some more, wipe everything down (while wearing big rubber gloves of course), and go get the next one. A thankless job if ever there was one (um, except maybe coming back to pick them up).

No one really likes port-o-lets, our modern-day outhouses. Blech. Big blue reminders of our common human condition. But when you are at a fair, or festival, or parade or other outdoor event, aren't you glad they are there? Whoever dreamed up the fancy looks-like-a-real-bathroom trailer kind was a genius. I wish I had the budget for those for this event.

So if you find yourself in downtown Hartford Sunday for the parade (and if you are local, you should come, it is a kick-ass parade and the weather will be gorgeous), enjoy the bands (more bands than the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, thank you), salute our fine veterans and active-duty military, and give a silent thanks for Angel, Luis, and other people with thankless jobs.

Connecticut Veterans Day Parade PSA 1 from CT Veterans Day Parade on Vimeo.
Created by Jeffrey B. Teitler, EnvisionFilms

I'm not a Mama, but I'm for Obama

...and liberty, and justice, for all, Amen.

Hang on little tomato

Silly little tomato doesn't realize it's October. It's the size of a golf ball and hard as a rock, and with 48-degree days and another frost predicted for this weekend, the tomato and the last vestiges of parsley and basil on my little balcony garden are doomed.

Go listen to the song that inspired the title of this post. It's a Pink Martini kind of afternoon.

Chicago is my kind of town

Wrigley Building and Michigan Ave at Dusk, originally uploaded by robinsegg0523.

This was the view from my hotel room (28th floor) every night. Too bad I was too busy with work to enjoy much of it. Maybe when I go back in December for our next conference....

Que syrah shiraz

{flights of wine and cheese at Bin36 in Chicago}

I'm in Chicago this week for one of my company's conferences and last night took the fab assistant Kelly and our VP of sales to one of my favorite restaurants, Bin 36. They have a great wine selection and offer it by the flight, glass or bottle, as well as in their retail shop (unlike CT, where our blue laws prohibit retail sales and consumption sales under the same roof). They also have an amazing cheese bar that makes me so glad I'm not lactose intolerant. The wine flights all have clever, pun-y names and the restaurant's Wine 101 & 102 classes have converted hundreds of wine neophytes into oenophiles. The decor is very urban loft contemporary and the menu is eclectic and planned with wine pairings in mind. If you are ever in Chicago I urge you to make time to visit.

On a related note, the owner of my favorite wine shop in CT doesn't know my name and always refers to me by the name of a wine I asked him about when I first visited his shop last year. "Hi Carmenere!". I guess there are worse things than being mistaken for a delicious Chilean red.