The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Oil

A few days ago I had a bit of a rant on The Huffington Post because I have been trying to collect some checks for some freelance work. The shakedowns were successful, and I should see some paper later this week.

The HuffPo blog got some feedback and was picked up on a few blogs, including the Photo District News blog. Okay, fine, whoever writes that blog sits probably just a few feet away from me. (E&P and PDN are both owned by Nielsen). In the end, I hope I inspired other freelancers to stay on top of their accounting.

Learning Experience?

Happy Thursday, everyone! Here's a LOLCat for ya!


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Huffington Post Blog: It's Freelance Labor, Not Free Labor

I have a new blog on The Huffington Post about chasing down checks for freelance work. Check it here.

What's The Deal With The New York Sports Club On 23rd Street?

Row of Treadmills, originally uploaded by vwong22.

Today I joined the New York Sports Club on 23rd Street. It's right by my house and I figured I'll need it with all the Christmas parties I plan to go to.

I signed the papers right after work, then went home, changed, and headed back to work out. By the time I got to the gym it was almost 8:00 p.m., so I figured the after-work rush would be over.

How wrong I was. The NYSC on 23rd is one of the busist gyms I have ever seen. Even when I left at 9:00 p.m. there was still await for treadmills and almost every elliptical and bike on the second floor was taken. How many people are working over at Credit Suisse that the gym is packed after hours. And not for nothing, but these people were doing some hard core exercising. Crazy.

If anyone has any insight into this bizarre gym, I would love to hear it.

Happy Monday!

It's Monday, which means we're all back at work and trying to be productive. A few things:

1. Dar Williams was sitting next to me on the uptown 1 train last night. I guess she was on her way to play at the tree lighting at Lincoln Center. Dar Williams! Okay, if you're not a fan of vagina rock you probably have no idea who she is, but there was a time not too long ago when her live album was the soundtrack to my life. (Iowa! Spring Street!) It just goes to show that even if you have five or six albums out, you still have to take the subway in New York City.

2. Now that Jerry's on Prince Street closed (a Michael Kors shop is there now) FR.OG has become my go-to spot for counter eating. I highly recommend the Moroccan poached eggs. It's basically a spicy eggs Benedict.

And since it's Monday, here's a LOLBear for you.

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Thanksgiving With The Millards!

It was a memorable Thanksgiving with The Millards -- to say the least. Instead of my usual photo wrap-up, I'll let you chcek out all my shots using Pictobrowser, a new, fun web tool.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving Day the kid gets a knife, originally uploaded by The Real Devil Doll.

Plans to go to Pennsylvania fello through, so I am spending the day with lots of Millards here in Old Greenwich. Photos to come, since there will be 30 people and lots of tom foolery.

In order to prepare for the feast that is to come, I have eaten nothing but a cup of coffee and two soft boiled eggs all day. Tomorrow, the gym!

Orange Cat Pic of the Day

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It's Monday, news will be slow for a while, so enjoy this LOLCat for a while.

Some Observation's About Target Clothing

Target Department Store, originally uploaded by Tortuga One.

Today I made the mistake of going to the Target in Stamford, CT. Under normal circumstances I love Target, because you can literally buy everything you need under one roof without suffering the shame of shopping at WalMart.

One of the biggest draws to Target, especially for a city gal such as myself, is all the Isaac Mitzrahi clothing on offer. A few years ago Isaac came out of left field with his designs for the chain, and now he even does wedding dresses for them.

I've walked out of Target with some great clothes from their women's deaprtment, things that I get compliments on every time I wear them. I am, however, wondering if Target is becoming a victim of its own success. Target, as I mentioned before, is a wonderland of finds for women who really like clothes and accessories. Almost all of my fashionista friend in NYC often say things like, "I have to go to the 'burbs this weekend, but at least I can go to Target."

Today, though, I realized that Target has gotten to a point where they're pretty much throwing the Isaac name on anything and calling it art. The thing is, for people such as myself who follows trends, we see that Target has reached a new low. Today the Stamford store was riddled with bad trapeeze dresses and poorly constructed babydoll shirts, which make everyone look pregnent and are very last year.

I realize that I shouldn't have high hopes for a place like Target, since it is, at its core, a discount chain, but I'm wondering where in the marketing/corporate machine did someone make a decision to start putting out sub-par clothes, even if they are made in China? Marketers are smart to put a designer's name on an inexpensive line (I'm looking at you, H&M) but consumers are also smart enough to realize when a garment is just cheap, and even not worth the $20 price tag.

That's all I have to say about that. On my way home I stopped by Anthropologie, which leans towards overpriced, but at least their fabrics are of higher quality and won't give me a rash.

It's A Norwalk Thing

Last night after stumbling out of The Junior League, my friend Carey and I went to look for a cab. She is also from my hometown of Norwalk, CT.

"Wait," I said. "I have to go to the Bank of America and get some cash. Lately I've hated paying ATM fees."

"I'm the same way," Carey said. "I think it's a Norwalk thing."

We both laughed at this, and I'm not sure why. Does this mean that people from The Whack are cheap, or do they just guard their money closely? Also, why is it that sometimes when I meet people now who are from other places, many never had jobs in high school, not even during the summer. (They went to camp, etc.)

Back in Norwalk, everyone I knew had jobs whether it was cleaning boats or waiting tables or working in pharmacy. No one that I knew went away to camp. I also don't remember anyone ever really sitting around being idle, unless there was a keg involved. (But even then we did keg stands.)

Chime in as needed.

Happy Friday, Everyone -- With A New Meth Minute!

A Can of Kitten

A Can of Kitten, originally uploaded by lisacat.

I love this woman's Flickr feed because she focuses on finding stray cats homes.

And who doesn't love a can of kitten?

I can haz paint job?

Halloween at The China Club!

Halloween at The China Club was one of my favorite nights to shoot so far. Getting a good shot was like shooting fish in a barrell, because everyone came dressed to the nines -- in costume. I love people who take Halloween seriously.

Below are some of my faves. The full set can be found here.

Top Banana


Edward Scissorhands


She's a gold digger. Channeling Jessica Seinfeld?


I'm Not Sure What's The Funniest Part About This Photo, the Fact That The Gal In The Middle Has "Guilty" Printed on Her Butt, Or That The Guy on The Right Is Wearing a Silver Mexican Wrestling Mask?


I Don't Know What This Guy Is Supposed To Be, But It's Awesome


This Guy Used To Be A Mortgage Broker, Now He's A Cat


Room Service!


Homey The Clown -- With A Stiff Drink


Where Does One Finds A Giant Nipple Costume?


I Don't Even Know Who This Guy Is


He Wants YOU To Do The Monster Mash


It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp


I Think The Girl on The Left Is Supposed To Be Christina Aguilera in 'Moulin Rouge'


Staten Island In The Hizz-ouse!

New Meth Minute!

It's Friday, which means there's a new Meth Minute. Holla!

Skinny Jeans! On!

This morning I was getting dressed at 6:30 a.m. without my contacts on. I was groggy and I reached for a pair of jeans in my closet, thinking they were my wide-legged (and lycra!) jeans.

I pulled them on and as I buttoned them I realized, No! These were no wide-legged jeans...these were my Citizens of Humanity skinny jeans and they went on without a fuss.

If this doesn't inspire me to keep working out and eating salads for lunch, I don't know what does.

Yay for skinny jeans! Welcome back!

Notables

I always wondered where Friendster fit in in this day and age of dueling social networking sites. Now, I know. Apparently they're huge in Asia.

Unrelated: What's up with women who don't wear hose with skirts and dresses in weather like this? Ladies, it's winter. You need to cover your legs when it's cold, not just to keep warm, but because without stockings you kind of look like a hooker.

I'm just being honest.

Happy Birthday, Pop!

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Today is my dad's birthday, and he likes cats just as much as I do. I found this on Icanhascheezeburger.com and thought it was appropriate.

Back in 1980s, I was the bored kid at the ice hockey rinks constantly begging my dad for quarters for the arcade games. (Never bring a little girl to an ice rink!) In high school he was ill-prepared to deal with the shopping habits of a teenage girl. He has also still not recovered from teaching me to drive a stick shift, although I passed my driver's test -- on a stick! -- with a 91%. (I lost points for not being able to find the hazard lights. Who needs hazard lights, anyway?)

China Club and Myst Photos -- Nov. 2

Last week was the week that just wouldn't end. If I wasn't at work, then I was at The Junior League, or teaching a class, or taking some photos. On Friday, I was awake for 21 hours straight before finally getting to sleep at 3:30 a.m. Yowza.

On Friday night I was at The China Club and Myst taking photos once again for Chris A.C.

I'll have a rundown of my Halloween photos from The China Club in a few days, (which was an awesome night) but you can see Chris' gallery of them here.

I started at The China Club, which at 11:30 p.m. was a little empty. Odd. This worried me, since I aim for 70 to 100 shots per club. When I arrived, the roof was empty except for a couple of people doing this hand-holding dance with middle eastern music playing in the background. No one could tell me what it was called.


As usual, the people at The China Club were ready to rock. This guy's shirt had bars on it that moved up and down like a stereo equalizer. Awesome.


Dancin' machine!


Smiley!


I fight for space with this photog every Friday.


Every week there are showgirls, and every week I try to get a good shot of them.


Every woman needs boots like this.


Apparently, getting groped is an occupational hazard of nightlife photography.


Soon it was time to head over to Myst, which was even more fun. People were everywhere. I actually had a hard time moving around. See what I mean?


On the job, 2:00 a.m.


I took this shot accidentally while adjusting the settings on my camera. Pretty cool.


Another great dancing shot.


Vampin'


This was one of my favorite shots of the night. I love this guy's whole urban prepster look.


I don't think this guy wanted to be photographed. Thank goodness for the zoom lens.


See ya next week!

I Finally Saw The Police Live!

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic is my favorite piece of recorded music. I pity the people who lived on my floor freshman year of college for many reasons, but mostly because I subjected those 100 students to my constant playing and replaying of that song.

It came as no shock then, when Jill called me up a few days ago and reminded me of my song obsession. (Not that I needed one.) Next thing I knew I had agreed to go to the show with her and with some amazing seats at that. Thanks, Jill!

A historical moment: Me, finally hearing ELTSDIM, live.

King of Pain was another pleasant surprise. It sounded a million times better than I ever thought it would.

New Meth Minute!

Aaaaw...yeah! The Meth Minute is back with a new episode about music dorks.

And for the record, my favorite Led Zeppelin album is "In Through The Out Door"