Howdy from Houston! So, as I chow down on my “chicken-fried chicken”, I figured it was time to write another little post about my experiences here at the URJ Biennial. Now, having been to a few of these, both as a participant and an exhibitor, I was impressed with the coordination of getting 5000 people where they needed to be when, plus the sheer enormity of the George R. Brown Convention Center. I mean, I’ve been to the Jacob Javits Center, and it doesn’t even hold a candle here. Not to coin the phrase, but I guess “Everything is bigger in Texas”.

So, I’m staying downtown, about 6 blocks away from the GRBCC (or as I’ve been taking to call it, “Ground Zero” or GZ for short), and in between my Hotel and GZ is The Toyota Center (basketball), Minute Maid Park (baseball — where I got to walk the bases! How cool is that?! Unfortunately the top was closed), and Foleys (I had to included it, because, like Traffic Lights in New York City, there was an Asian couple taking pictures in front of the store). But I digress…

So, highlights so far from the conference:

1.) Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State, did a book signing

2.) Houston Mayor, Bill White, Former NYC Mayoral Candidate, Ruth Messenger, Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, and Carrie Fisher all spoke here (alright, Carrie Fisher spoke at the hotel next door, but still, it was Princess Leia!!! Stupid Lucas!) Plus, Paul McCartney playing here (without Wings, but I won’t judge).

3.) Steak here is goooooood. (think Samuel L. Jackson saying it in Pulp Fiction)

4.) While having steak, I was talking to some budding entrepreneurs the other night at dinner. A great conversation. Well, we were talking about names for their new venture, and the trouble they’re having for picking a name for an amalgam of friendster, calendaring, social networking, et al. software tools company. So far, some of the names we’ve come up with are “OrgConnect”, “Genergy”, and “Zyzzyx”. Any suggestions or thoughts? (obviously, we haven’t had much luck so far)

5.) Famous quotes from the week: “A collection of original Jewish music? Whoo-Whee!” “Whoa, the glasses show Jewish starts when you look into the lights? Whoa-hoa-hoa!” (No kidding, she actually spelled it out like it was LOL or ROTF or WTF).

6.) I love people watching here. For example, as my booth-mate put it, “and here comes Ester Goldfarb, God Bless Her - in all her glory. She’s been on every committee, was a founding member of the shul, was president twice, husbandpassedawaystillcomestoshuleverysaturdayandsheisstilldoingherpart.

7.) And talking of my boothmate, he told me a story of his one of his first few days in New York city, after he moved from Austin.

“So, I was sitting in Cosi, and there was a stunningly-incredibly-gorgeous girl working as a waitress. As I was saying I was starting a new life, I decided to go up to her and introduce myself. But, I needed a hook. So, I walked up and said, ‘excuse me, but do you do any acting.’ Not surprisingly, since it was new york, she said, ‘yes, I do.’

“Quickly, I responded, ‘Oh, great. Well, I’m going to be doing some small projects later in the month, if you’re not too busy.’ She said, ‘No, that should be fine, let me give you my number.’

“Well, wouldn’t you know it, her name was Noel Gentile, or as I have been calling her, ‘Christmas Mc-You’re-Not-Getting-Any-of-this-Jewboy’”

Hope everyone has a good weekend!