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So this is Jet Setting
By Administrator | May 19, 2008
I just got back from a raucous 24 hours in NYC. It was the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done and worth every cent. Here’s what went down.
On Friday, I was IMing with a good friend of mine, Marshall, who lives in Austin. He told me he was taking a surprise trip to NYC on Saturday. A core group of guys, the ones I normally go on our annual trips with were all already there (aside from Marshall and I) for the weekend. We had them convinced there was no way either of us could make it this time.
This weekend in NYC is big because of a party we like to attend. Each year, the New York Chapter of the Texas Exes Alumni association, together with the Texas A&M Former Students, jointly host a chili cook off party. What started as a small little get together with a handful of teams has now turned into a major event. This year there were 27 teams entering. The venue was amazing, atop a 24 story building in downtown Manhattan, overlooking the city on a giant rooftop bar and deck. Several hundred Texans and other guests show up to compete or socialize. The Texas Exes community in NYC is huge, crossing all industries. It’s always very interesting to meet and network with these folks. Plus there was a ton of eye candy.
Because there are so many Texans in NY and everywhere for that matter, compounded with our known ‘pride’ (among other things), we sometimes get a bad wrap. But this party, which is basically a high end 20/30-something fraternity party kicked up a notch, is becoming known as a major PR campaign to combat the haters. I have heard on more than one occasion at this party… “Wow, Texans have a lot of fun; I need to get to know more of you guys.”
So Marshall told me he was taking the 6am flight up to NYC on Saturday morning to surprise the guys at the party. I started thinking about the fun we have in NYC and about how many good weekends I miss with my friends by living overseas. I also became intoxicated with the idea of seeing all their faces when I showed up at the event on Saturday afternoon.
I told Marshall I was thinking about joining him in on the surprise. I did some quick ticket research and went through the motions of buying.
My heart started beating fast and adrenaline ran through my body. I got up and ran around my room and took several deep breaths, knowing this would be one of the most expensive, impulsive purchases I ever made, an international plane ticket leaving in 12 hours (7am Saturday morning from Montpellier through Paris into NYC, arriving at 12pm local time Saturday afternoon, return Sunday afternoon) for a 24 hour hop across the pond.
I sat down at my computer, composed myself, and bought the ticket. I couldn’t stop smiling for the next 3 hours and over the course of the entire flight. I also couldn’t stop thinking about the surprised looks that would be on my friends faces when we walked into the party, and how this act with Marshall and I could cement the weekend into our collective groups legendary file.
Saturday morning rolls around, and I grab my backpack with a change of clothes. I took no other luggage, only this carry on, which was a first for me, especially since it was an international flight.
When I touched down in NYC I called Marshall, who had already arrived and was putzing around. We met up. Conditions were great, warm and sunny with some breeze. It was about 1pm and we taxied over to the party. Perfect timing as the party was from 12-5 in the afternoon.
For some reason, the first year we entered we came up with the name Team Wild Turkey. We definitely didn’t use turkey in the chili, and I don’t even know if we included the liquor as a flavor. It’s just the name that stuck. We brainstormed some stupid team slogans and decided upon, Team Wild Turkey, “Chili aint the only thing we gobble”. Pretty crass, I know, but funny. We drew up a design and made aprons for everyone, created secret voting alliances (Survivor style) with all the other teams, and ended up winning People Choice Award for best chili that year. Did I mention we used the Asian flavor enhancer MSG as our secret ingredient? We were pretty happy with the results. People loved the aprons. That was three years ago.
For the last two years, our team didn’t win but we weren’t all there. This year, we were all back and coming strong. We still had the aprons and selectively placed the extras on key individuals…the good looking bar tender, a judge, you get the idea.
Marshall and I didn’t have our aprons so he went out and purchased some silly ones before he left Austin. His read “Kitchen Bitch” and mine read “Who are these kids and why are they calling me Mom?” The genius to his plan was that he also brought 2 felt tip permanent black sharpie markers so people could sign our aprons.
We gear up, get in the elevator up to the top floor and peek out to find our group. They’re surrounded in the chili area propping up our chili as people pass our booth and taste. We look at each other, take a deep breath, got the camera out to get their reaction, and work our way through the crowd to our team.
All I can say is that every reaction I imagined happened. It was a true adrenaline filled moment of blissful pricelessness. We took some great pics and Marshall and I couldn’t stop shaking. Our friends were generally amazed and we were all pumped for the day ahead. (Here’s a link to a quick video…watch that language Cody!) Here is Nil’s capturing of the moment.
The rest of the afternoon was spent socializing, tasting chili, and propping up our own to the rest of the crowd. (There are two awards, Judges Choice, which we never win, and People’s Choice, which we feel like we should always win. My friends can talk.)
This year, our team used a ton of sirloin and cooked the chili all night Friday. This year it actually tasted more like a really good stew than chili. Oh well. People work their way from booth to booth tasting the chili and socializing. Nils, one of the main chefs and master salesmen was talking his head off to the tasters, saying things to people like.. “Our chili is not made with turkey (a common question), rather, we used imported porpoise this year. We tenderized and marinated overnight and fused a special blend of select spices, then reduced in veil broth for 6 hours…” and on and on. He was pulling cooking adjectives out of the clouds and people were loving it.
Then, as if it were a scripted performance, Cody, teammate #2, would join in saying, “Tasty huh? Remember we’re Team Wild Turkey, lets go over to the voting booth together and cast that People’s Choice vote.”
Well something worked that day, whether it was the chili or aprons or ‘the energy’ created from our surprise visit, but of the 27 teams, Team Wild Turkey won the event’s People’s Choice Award for the 2nd time. Naturally, we went crazy and took a great pic for the Alumni Magazine, The Alcalde, with our spoils – two cases of Shiner Bock Beer. It was a good moment, and solidified ourselves once again as master marketers (Aside from our first victory, some may also remember the smurf stickers campaign during “Texas Smurfs do Halloween in NYC” fiasco several years back.)
Marshall and I had our aprons signed all over. I was telling girl signateurs that whoever signed the wittiest statement would get to go out with me later that night. There were some funny and sarcastic comments but others were of high school yearbook quality. One person came back for seconds, saying, “Can I try again?” A for effort.
During the afternoon, the brilliant idea came to mind that I needed to do a little free website advertising. After a person would sign my apron, I would sign them. I was fairly surprised with the ease of convincing my newly recruited “marketing agents”. I was tattooing in big bold black permanent marker letters, MattSiller.com, in highly visible locations on random people throughout the party.
For the most part, all was well in my campaign, until they started noticing each other and becoming upset that their “conversation piece”, or “Item of Flair”, if you will, did not make them the unique ‘agent’ for me that I must have convinced them they were being in the first place. Some agents remained cool and did not call me a bastard and rush to the bathroom to scrub it off once this fact was discovered. Others did. Props to Marshall for bringing the aprons and markers. Lots of fun.
After the event, we were invited over to an apartment, which was owned by a friend of a friend. We grabbed as many friends as possible, the beer, and taxied over. Initially we were going to the rooftop of his building for the after-party. This place is pretty much as posh as you get in NYC. The rooftop terrace is 45 stories up. The views are sick. We went up but it was so windy we decided to move into his corner apartment several floors down, which was equally as stunning.
To get an idea about who the owner of this apartment was, his dad owned some production company and passed it onto him. He must have been early 30ies. While we were all decked out in aprons, he wore a dark blazer with a scarf around his neck and had inherited hair. His girlfriend was a splitting image of a young Sharon Stone. I was told a story that the first time my friend met him, my friend, Matt, was drinking a Bud Light. This guy came up to him and in a pompous voice asked, “Bud Light, What does that taste like?”
Anyway, it was a cool apartment, but we didn’t over-welcome our stay. Shortly after, we all piled into Taxi’s and made our way over to Tortilla Flats, just north of West Village, a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant/party bar, known for making cheap giant pitchers of strong margaritas and poor behavior from its clientele.
Through some connections, we (that is 14 of us) secured “the booth” in the corner of the restaurant, open to the restaurant for everyone to see, but cosy enough to remain personal. After the first round of pitchers, we all stood up on our chairs and started dancing and singing to all the songs being played over the loud speakers, to include the likes of Journey and Rianna. Corny, I know (in order to properly engage in the moment, your eyes must be closed), but lots of fun.
There were two big bachelorette parties sitting next to us getting their night started. Some of us had funky sunglasses that the waitress and bachelorettes wanted to wear. Others had normal sunglasses. We all wore something. The two bachelorettes sitting next to us joined us to dance. One said, “You guys are having so much fun. I want to hang out with you.”
We made a loud mess of that place. The two bachelorette parties, individually, were doomed at that point. Granted, it was 8:30 and we had been chili festing all day, so we were a little more progressive in our state of mind, but they just seemed lame, even if they were just starting out.
I felt for one of the bachelorettes. We knew the best part of her night would be hanging out with us. The rest of her friends were sitting politely at their table watching their bride-to-be in a dance off with the other bride-to-be atop our table. Her maid of honor came over to the table looking concerned and we could see her mouth to the bride… “You’re ok, right? Let me know if you need anything.” Boo…
The night went on after Tortilla Flats, but it was less eventful because we were all pretty spent. It was a great surprise and a great day in NYC with my friends. I am reminded of a speech I heard by Jimmy Valvano when he was at the ESPY awards, some years back before he died. Check it out here.
He was a great motivator. At some point during the speech he spoke about the three things you should do each day to have a complete and fulfilled life. He said if you can laugh each day, if you can take time to really think each day, and if you can have your emotions bring you to tears each day, you’re going to lead a pretty good life. Of course it’s hard to do all three of these regularly, particularly the last, but on Saturday I was reminded of him. I had plenty of time to think on the flight, I laughed all day, and at Tortilla Flats, we laughed so hard we spent a good hour in tears. I really feel lucky to be able to have moments like these.
**Update** Here is a link to Nil’s pics from the weekend as well, which include them going to Fox’s Up Front party in Central Park on Thursday Night, which is the big roll out of all their new shows for the season. If I was smart, i would have made it back to this as well, as you can see from the pics. I went a couple of years ago and it definitely gives you your celebrity fix for NYC. Click Here. It also has some great videos from the chili making experience, at the event, and throughout the weekend.
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May 19th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Unprecendented!