Veritas NYC

I was really looking forward to this. Everything was in place.... Selma was in town from Montreal and I havent spent time with her since May. I had 3 full days off with no professional obligations in sight (thank you Thanksgiving), and a reservation for two at Veritas. Life was good.

My only experience with Veritas on 20th/Broadway was hearing Alan spout off about it every once in awhile when he was dropping names and bragging to others about how connected he was. He would always use that voice that spoke something like "You are a plebian and know nothing, I bet you've never even been to Veritas". Assuming everyone knew what that was, and I've seen firsthand a few people who didnt, but pretended they did. He didnt actually say those words... but I'm sure that's what people heard. I've also heard Tony Bourdain refer to it a few times on his shows or in his columns or whatever... so I guess they've been a pretty big deal.

Well, they are. Service and staff work like Jagr and Gomez (they dont necessarily need to see you over there wide open in the corner for the puck to end up on your stick for an easy tap into the net). Food was tremendous. Selma is going through a no-red-meat thing so the tasting menu was ruled out, but 3 courses (app/entree/desert) gave the good impression and we closed the place down without even being nudged once. I had grilled octopus (rockstar status) and the lamb main course. Selma did not. Fluke sashimi and something else.. I was busy.

I made numerous attempts to befriend Yoshi. I greased him appropriately when he brought our Cliff Lede "Poetry" and pulled the cork. I thanked him each time he topped off our glasses (even though the bottle was cold and needed a lot of air, so just when I'd get it to where I was enjoying it most.... I'd be smiling and thanking him anyway for the refill). After dinner Selma ran into some old friends at the bar (to include the sommelier for a new restaurant which was already on my list, so I'm psyched!).... she still had half a glass so I thought I'd ask Yoshi for a "taste" of something so I wouldnt be standing empty handed. He smiled and did that thing people do who realize they're being rude but think the smile is enough to make it ok. He might have been smiling because he knew I just spent $550 on dinner and was about to spend another $25 on a glass of something called "Cortina" that blew and did it's best to ruin my palate. To no avail. Dinner was too strong.... and everyone else in the restaurant too good at their profession to allow it. I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on him, he was very busy kissing the ass of some other sommelier from some other restaurant.

Sorrily Sifting Sorted Statistics

That title doesnt really make sense; at this point I care very little that it doesnt.
I really like that I used a semicolon there. I'm not sure if I've ever used one before.
Also unsure if it's even used properly. As you can see, I'm feeling a bit irreverant right now.

Norman Mailer died. I'm a reader and I prefer American writers and reading from an American male perspective, but I'm not really a huge Mailer fan. I always found his lust for life interesting, he married six times and stabbed his second wife nearly to death. You gotta have some passion to stab your wife. She wouldnt press charges against him so he never did any time for the crime, which makes me wonder if that would even matter anymore? If the cops roll up to your brownstone in Brooklyn to learn you stabbed your wife..... does it matter if she doesnt want to press charges against you?

Not that I plan on stabbing my wife, or living in a brownstone in Brooklyn. I plan on not living anywhere. Geronimo was quoted as saying "I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures. " Am I talking about marriage? or jail?

Discovery Questions

The Discovery Question should always lead to something you want to sell, so don't increase the scope of the conversation to the point where you waste your and your prospects' time. Finally, the most important questions are follow-up questions. After you get an answer to one of the following questions, ask "why?" Also, when you are following up and probing, probe for feelings, not just for an expected line. Ask people how they personally feel about things. Furthermore, if you ask the right probing questions, you can get people to think about their problems from a new perspective and to think more deeply about their problems and potential solutions.

Obviously, I didnt write the above paragraph. It's really step two (ish) in the steps to effective and efficient selling.

Should have asked some. I pray to God (whomever she may be) that somewhere along the line I dont find out I'm discovering for the wrong reasons.