Paul, Alan, Wingman Making Drinks at the Roger Smith Hotel

My buddy Cort Johnson and I took a trip to NYC for the weekend for some usual work and play. We went there without an itinerary and we ended up having the one of the best times of our lives. This story comes from his blog which you should check out. And I suggest you follow him on Twitter as he is doing some MAJOR things.

I had never been to the Roger Smith Hotel before but from what I had heard from Alexa, Thomas and others was that this is the place to go for social media enthusiasts. Well let’s just say the hotel doesn’t disappoint, especially the Hotel bar Lilly’s.

Thomas and I spent the morning hustling to get a WingmanTV show together at Lounge 47 in Long Island City. Guests that cancel an hour before the shoot are never appreciated. But per usual we made a few phone calls begging people to overcome their hangovers and enjoy another cocktail with us at 11am.

Here is a bit of Thomas’ show that will air in mid October. I want to thank Allie (the sis always comes through to help) and Mickey for making the show happen.

After a few hours of sleep last night and the hustle of throwing a show together in 45 minutes, Thomas and I were naturally looking for a drink. We strolled down to 47th and Lexington for a cocktail from the infamous bartender Paul at Lily’s. If you haven’t been to Lily’s before the mere experience of sitting at the bar, watching and listening to how Paul makes a drink is unforgettable.

But I have to say that technology yet again makes for an incredible experience. After sending out a text to Alexa trying to get her out to the Roger Smith she had let a friend, Alan Webber, also staying at the Roger Smith know we were downstairs at the bar. Moments later Alan strolls through the bar and he, Thomas and I all became the captive audience for Paul’s Bespoke Cockail Mixology Show. Check it out!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Get Stains Out of Shirts Quickly

I came across this blog post by Blank Label (written by Youmi Park). Their information is very basic yet easy to ignore. I have always said that it's the little things that make the difference. I am posting the full post here but you can check out the original blog post here.

So say you’re out meeting a date, meeting the boss, meeting the parents, meeting and greeting anyone and everyone. Whilst your meeting, you take swigs of red wine, slurps of marinara pasta, bump in to greasy mechanics, and by the time you realize low and behold there is a stain on your beautiful dress shirt.

If you noticed, other people will too and let me tell you men, there is nothing more sloppy or cheapening than a giant stain on an otherwise nice shirt. No one wants a big child around that can’t keep his food in his mouth or his hands to himself, and that’s the vibe you send out.

Therefore, when in times of desperation run, sprint to these 6 tips on how to get stains out of your shirts (quick!):

1. Use Sprite: While your date or engagement is away, order some Sprite or other clear, carbonated beverage and use that to dab away at your shirt’s stain. The bubbles have the same microscopic scrubbing effect as soap! Especially effective for coffee stains!
2. Warm Water and Dryer: Excuse yourself to the bathroom and wet the stained area with warm water. Remember to blot, not scrub. Then, dry the wet shirt with the dryer in the bathroom.
3. Soap: Self-explanatory. Still, do not forget to only dab!
4. Shampoo: If you are at your home, girlfriend/boyfriend’s, or at any sort of house party, make yourself to the bathroom and find some shampoo. This product works miracles on sweat stains and oil/ grease stains.
5. Vinegar and Warm Water: If you’re bold enough to ask for vinegar in a restaurant, use this to dab off red wine stains. It’ll probably be worth the strange look you get from the waiter. What does he know?
6. Put on Your Jacket: I don’t care how hot it is, if you have a jacket and a stain, the stain should be covered at any cost. Sacrifices, men. Sacrifices.

When you make a spill, make sure you notice before the person you are facing lifts her/his eyebrows and lets you know. No matter what, you should probably excuse yourself smoothly to the bathroom and examine the damage, then apply the techniques.

For another easy way to get stains out of shirts quickly, use Tide-To-Go or a bleach pen. Trust me, these are my saving graces and the only reason people can bear being with me.

But seriously, stains are a sign of carelessness and say you are a slovenly person that doesn’t really care about the occasion you are attending, even if you do feel it’s important.

So take care first, to try not spilling and if you do, (because we all do) take the right measures to make your shirt stains disappear. Then afterwards, take it out to the dry cleaners for proper cleaning so you can wear that shirt for a long time. So fresh and so clean, clean.

If you like these article, you should sign up for Wingman Labs below
and get even more exclusive content that will improve your social skills.

I Speak Spanish?!

Yeah, I had no idea either. But that was the case the other night when I went out with a buddy of mine to a Spanish-speaking Meetup. It was more his idea than me loving it. I will admit; I was a little hesitant considering I don’t know a lick of Spanish. Not to say that my buddy spoke Spanish but enough to carry on a much better conversation than I ever could. But you know, going to this actually made sense. How? Who knows…?

So going there, it ended up being a really good time. It started off rough because the organizers were sticklers about making sure everyone spoke Spanish, which is fine. But what if you want to learn conversational Spanish? Telling someone what something in Spanish means…IN SPANISH doesn’t really help. But as we moved along it got a lot better. We met a few people who only spoke Spanish and some who were trying to – not nearly as hard as I was. But I can honestly say that I was carrying conversation with two women using my best broken Spanish (thank you Emilie and Caitlyn).

AND THEY KNEW WHAT I WAS SAYING TOO!

Then, somehow, it was said that I could speak a little bit of French so then I was speaking in French while the woman was answering in Spanish. Needless to say, that became a mess quickly. But we had fun goofing around.

Just comes to show that you REALLY can do anything if you keep an open mind. It also occurred to me that these are the kinds of things that everyone should be doing. If you want to go completely out of your comfort zone, going to a meetup where they don’t speak much English would make the list.

Did I forget to mention that being daring and adventurous is attractive?

Sure, this would be a dramatic example but the important thing here is that I never once thought about saying NO to this. My mentality was, “How am I going to pull this off?” There was no doubt in my mind that it would work out eventually. But you have to build that kind of confidence within yourself to allow yourself to submerge into the realm of the unknown.

The best stories told are from the situations that were the least expected.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Rex Ryan, Because You're a New York Jet, You’re Scum, But You’re Also the Man

It should go without saying that the Jets represent everything that I hate about having a sports rival. At this point, I find them to be worse than the New York Yankees (that may change in a few weeks). Take this down as possibly the first time I’ve used the word hate ever on this site. I have disliked the Jets for years now and this year especially, there has been an increase of dislike after Kerry Rhodes's comments (who I can only hate on for the week he’s playing the Pats – he’s actually awesome) and some of the other Jets’ antics. When I heard Rex Ryan’s message to the season ticket holders, the first thing came to mind wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t stand the Jets.

It was the fact that he is REALLY trying to change the culture of the Jets organization. And I think he has.

I remember when I watched him as Defensive Coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens and he just had this swagger about him that made him look like the real deal. If you were to talk to any of the Ravens’ defensive players, they would be the first to tell you that Rex Ryan was a genius and an influence to the entire culture of the team. That Ravens defense dominated the league for many years and if it weren’t for the team getting old, they’d still be amongst the top 3 defensive teams in the NFL.

As a head coach, you wonder if he’d be able to do the same with a team that has struggled to become a championship contender since the early days of Joe Namath. Judging by the way the Jets performed last week against the Houston Texans and then this past Sunday against my beloved Patriots, I am nearly convinced he’s changed things.

Did you know that the New York Jets is the only team in the NFL to have yet to ALLOW an offensive touchdown? Yup. The Jets.

When you are able to come into a new place, filled with unstable rookies and very “settled-in-their-ways” veterans, and convince them that not only can they become winners, but they can become winners by following your lead, there’s no doubt that you are a leader. It takes strength, courage and a lot of confidence to be able to go into a place like that and shake things up the way Rex Ryan has.

Is there anyone in your life who can do/has done that to you?

Do you even need someone? Can you change your own culture?

Sometimes, all it takes is a swift kick in the ass and a good old-fashioned reality check to convince someone to TAKE ACTION instead of sitting around waiting for something or someone to happen. This is something you can do yourself. Motivation. It can get you fired up and ready to take on the world.

But what if something goes wrong? What if you get leveled and you’re looking up at the sky wondering, “What the hell just happened?” Do you have your own process of getting back up and bouncing back? I’m sure Rex Ryan has his system that he’s plugged into the entire team. I know I have my system of being able to bounce back from life’s counterpunches.

This is just another element of what it takes to be successful and as much as I can’t stand the Jets, I am hoping that he can prove that energy and optimism can change a culture.

Is there a way he can be successful and the Jets STILL lose?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Wingman Unapproved

Bar in Jamaica

I haven’t really talked about my time in Jamaica on here. I do have a dedicated article about the things that I learned while I was down there, which you will get to see soon. Needless to say, I vacationed HARD when I was down there. Every night was a crazy one and I had so much fun hanging out by the beach when I wasn’t partying it up. There are plenty of stories to tell and they’ll come out in due time. I do want to share one now from the Tuesday night I was down there.

So I went downstairs and hung out at the bar. I was supposed to meet up with a girl that I met a couple days before. We were hanging out a lot and that night was her last night. Anyway, when I got down there, I ended up talking to who ended up being a REALLY cool guy, Dave. He was from Sheffield, England, and was with a couple friends and their wives – all awesome people. Anyway, while we were all chatting it up having a good time, one of the other people at the bar wanted to get the bartender to put a cork into an empty wine bottle.

The bartender was struggling so he gave up and wanted me to do it. I was able to get the cork in almost all of the way just using my thumb and then the bartender – we’ll call him E – used a spoon to get it all the way in. Then the guy slyly asked the bartender to get the cork back out of the bottle. At this point, E and I were completely baffled. How the hell were we going to get the cork out of the bottle?

Well, while all of this was going on, I noticed three really cute girls on the other side of the bar. They were having a good time and enjoying the entertainment that was going on. While, I was checking them out, a REALLY big black guy showed up and sat next to them. He instantly started talking to one of them and it seemed like conversation was going well.

Back to the riddle…

So while E and I are trying to figure out how to solve this, the guy at the bar mentions that we would need a piece of cloth. E decides to go to the back to get a piece of cloth and I’m still standing there trying to think about how to get this damn cork out. The guy, smiling, starts explaining how he would use the cloth to get the cork out and out of nowhere, the black guy offers his shirt for the other guy to use. Yes, the shirt off of his back.

By the time E got back with a piece of cloth, he notices that someone is shirtless at the bar. He couldn’t help but laugh. What happened to girl he was talking to? Well, she didn’t even know his shirt was off because she was turned around, talking to her friends. When she turned back around and saw shirtless guy, she burst into laughter and turned right back around. I guess it doesn’t have to be said that conversation ended there.

And you know, it’s not to say that he didn’t have a publicly decent body. He wasn’t a fatty or anything but it should go without saying that taking your shirt off at a bar is NOT going to get you the ladies. Doesn’t matter WHERE you are. Well, maybe if you were at a nudist colony, but even then, you wouldn’t be wearing a shirt to begin with so it wouldn’t even be an issue.

DON’T TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF. PERIOD.

For those who are curious, the guy was able to get the cork out of the bottle with the shirt. It was a crowd-pleaser.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Preview of Vinalia (A BYFAD Bar)

Address: 34 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110

Website: http://www.vinaliaboston.com/

Best Nights: TBD – Thursday evening looked pretty good

Who Goes There: Young and older professionals. Good mix of men and women. Mostly groups.

Cost: $$

Special: None

BYFAD Bar: Yes – Get your BYFAD Card now!

I rarely get a chance to venture out to the depths of downtown Boston to see the more interesting places. When I have, it’s been pretty fun, thanks to recommendations from other friends and some old school snooping around. Vinalia happened to be one of those places that was recommended by a couple friends but no one was able to tell me their true impression of the place. So, I went there myself. I must say, this place seems to be pretty cool.

Now because of the location of being downtown and little further from my place than I would like, I may not get too many chances to go there. But when I walked in, I loved the layout of the bar. Although it’s a small bar in size, it doesn’t pretend to be bigger than it really is, compared to other bars. The beer menu is surprisingly inexpensive and they have a decent wine list. When I went there, it seems like a lot of people were there after work, which is similar to Tia’s, exceptt I don’t think that many people know about this place.

It is a restaurant so most of the space is dedicated to that, but this place could be a fun place to hang out after work or before starting a night downtown.

I’ll look into this place more and give a full review when I go there again.

If you have any questions about the place, feel free to check out their site:

http://www.vinaliaboston.com/

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

 

One Year

Today marks one year of me starting this blog and essentially, starting my career. When it was Project Infinity, it was what it was named – a project with limitless potential. If you were to ask me if this was what I expected, I would have said you were out of your mind. This entire experience has been amazing, learning more about myself, relationships, how to run a business and most importantly, life.

Funny how I had started this blog because my girlfriend dumped me and I couldn't find a job in the video game industry...

But anyway, I want to take the time to thank all of you for all of your support. My devoted readers, friends, family, and new readers, you are all awesome. Year 2 will be amazing. You will certainly not want to miss anything and I look forward to sharing as much as I can with you.

As much as things may change here, I will always be the same. I promise that.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

The Return of the Hat

Ever since I was able to change my hairstyle, I have been obsessed with hats. I have always loved wearing them as it’s one of those overlooked accessories that can make an entire outfit complete. Some guys I know dress around the hat. I personally think that’s a recipe for disaster, as it will limit your options. A hat is just an addition to your style it’s not a foundation piece. Remember that.

But as I continue to try to bring hats back in style in Boston (sorry, Justin [Timberlake]), my barber told me about this hat place in Jamaica Plain that he thought I’d love. It was called Salmagundi. He said that it was ALL hats. I was sold. I went there on a Tuesday and much to my chagrin, it was closed (Salmagundi is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). So I made sure that I made time to go the next day with my cousin. When I walked in, I felt like I was in hat heaven. It’s a small store but has a lot of energy and personality. It’s easy to feel right at home at this place.

 

I was looking for a hat to wear in couple hours for an event and Jessen, one of the owners of Salmagundi, was there to help me out and see what hats I looked good in. Come to find out, I looked pretty good in many hats.

 

Salmagundi’s hats range in price ($40 and up) so anyone can come here. Jessen and Andria can tell you what hats to wear during each season and what materials last longer than others. A quality hat can last you for years if you are able to take care of them. Just like fitted caps and just like a nice pairs of shoes, these kinds of hats require care and a level of maintenance. Just like certain shoes, you shouldn’t wear straw summer hats in the rain. Then again, wearing a sweatshirt during a heat wave, it may not be best to wear a wool hat in the summer. These are all things you can learn from the peeps at Salmagundi.

I love this place and I plan to get all of my hats from here. Personally, I see hats making a strong comeback (once again, sorry, JT) and if you are looking for some quality hats and a little bit of flare, Salmagundi is going to be your place to get them.

There are located at:

765 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 522-5047

You can check out their blog at Salmagundi Boston.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Review of Whiskey Park (A BYFAD Bar)

Address: 64 Arlington Street (at the Park Plaza Hotel), Boston, MA 02116

Website: http://www.gerberbars.com/#/boston/whiskey-park/

Best Nights: Some Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays

Who Goes There: Healthy mix of everyone. Can be guy-heavy sometimes. Ages 25-45.

Cost: $$$

Special: None

BYFAD Bar: Yes – Get your BYFAD Card now!

I remember my first exposure to Whiskey Park. It was years ago, I was working at the Ritz Carlton and it was during MLB Interleague Play. The Cincinnati Reds were in town (Ken Griffey Jr. was playing for them – so I’m thinking it was 2005) and I was working the weekend shift. Late Saturday night, Ryan Freel came out with a couple of his buddies and wanted his car. I went to get it and then he came to the door and asked me if I knew where Whiskey Park was. I told him it was two blocks down. He had no idea and he apologized for asking for his car. It was cool. I even offered to drive him and his crew over there. They jumped on the opportunity.

When we pulled up, the line was so long that I couldn’t see the end. The place looked ridiculous. They didn’t seem too worried about getting in so I just let it go and dropped them off. On my drive back, I was wondering if it’s always like that on the weekends at Whiskey Park. Unfortunately, I never followed up on that. I heard many people talk about it, both good and bad. Finally, 4 years later, I got the chance to check this place out, albeit on a Thursday.

I feel pretty good about knowing what a place is going to be like since I go out a lot (ok, the proper term would be “too much”) and when I walked into Whiskey Park and looked around, I knew exactly what this place would be like at its peak.

The place itself looks really good. There are lots of seating, open space, nice lighting and overall, great atmosphere. It has the look of a high-end lounge. But let me tell you, the only reason why it would look that way is because it’s located pretty much in the Park Plaza Hotel. I really don’t think this lounge could stand alone and still have that same vibe. But I’m not knocking this bar at all. I think it’s solid, but for different reasons.

The bartenders are really fun and nice. They definitely look after their patrons and their well-being, which is a huge plus for me. Service can be better though as even when it wasn’t one of their busier nights, I had to wait quite some time for my drink. The music is also hit or miss as sometimes the music is good and other times, it just feels like fill music to fill the space with some ambient noise. Meeting new people can be hit or miss as there isn’t really a lot of bar space (maybe 7 or 8 seats) and the other seating around the venue is far enough from the open space that it could be considered isolation. So women, if you are looking to meet men, sitting in the corner isn’t going to help. This can definitely be a good place to bring a group of friends and just chill. But that’s about it.

I heard on the weekends, they may charge a cover, which I think is ridiculous. That’s just like if Vox charged five bucks for admission because a lot of people are coming in. Just not worth it for me. It doesn’t provide that kind of experience that would even make me consider pulling out my wallet for anything else than my ID.

In the end, it really is just your average high-end looking bar with furniture. Once again, this is not to say that this place isn’t any good. I had a good time there when I went. But I now understand why I subconsciously didn’t rush to go there after all of these years. I give this place a B- (80).

Pros
Great atmosphere
Really nice bartenders
Cool setup/furniture

Cons
Small bar
Music is weird
Cover on weekends?

 If you have any questions about the place, feel free to check out their site:

http://www.gerberbars.com/#/boston/whiskey-park/

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

 

Fitness Update

It's been a while since I've blogged about fitness. Being on vacation took me for a trip. I actually did eat really well, considering the circumstances and I was able to exercise and swim but still not the same. Since I've been back, I've only exercised once. My weight is still the same (around 170) but I don't feel so hot physically. I will be back on the saddle starting Tuesday, when I'm working out with Jason Resse and we're hoping to get some more content on here. Stay tuned for updates.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.