Long Island

Day 1

I started the day by arriving early to the Houston airport and conducting my team meetings.   This was an unusual trip due to having a travel day on a Monday instead of Tuesday. 

I walked over to the National Car Rental agency after arriving at Laguardia airport and getting my luggage. This airport has gone through a major remodel and now looks very modern and sleek.   I also think it has one of the best United lounges within the country.

I drove an hour from the airport into Long Island to have a quick bite at Yiasou Yeeros.   After finishing my meal I headed over to the Hilton Garden Inn in Melville to change into my tennis clothes.   I had signed up for a drill at the Sportime club.   The session started at 9:00 PM and went through 10:30 PM.   This clinic was called “King of the Hill” which meant you are constantly playing with a partner focused on displacing other players who are the “winners” playing on the other end of the court.  

It was a lot of fun. The entire session was non-stop tennis action and very competitive.

Day 2

The following morning I met Ed, the local sales rep, at the Long Island service center before heading out to our first customer visit.   The customer discussion went very well. We both left with the impression that our company was in a good position to win future jobs.  Ed recommended looking for a place to eat and we ended up at the Cheesecake Factory.  While the meal was good it was disappointing to be eating at a chain versus one of the local establishments.  This part of the country has so many great food options and an abundance of ethnic restaurants.

In the evening we met with Scott who works at one of our vendors.    He treateded Ed and I to a fantastic meal at Blackstone Steakhouse.   This is an amazing place to eat a great steak. While I got the ribeye Ed and Scott shared a Wagu Tomahawk steak that looked and smelled amazing.   We ate our steaks accompanied with some tasty side dishes and fine wine. There was no better way to finish this day.

Day 3

On Wednesday I remained at the hotel to attend a team meeting where the business development sales reps were presenting their annual plans.  At lunchtime I had the opportunity to meet with a key customer at the Ivarone restaurant.   This place is one that I’ve most frequented during my trips to Long Island.    It provides a lot of tasty options at a very reasonable price.    Unfortunately the customer was not able to join us due to an unexpected emergency at one of their local plants.  At the end of the lunch I returned to the hotel to finish working for the day.

In the afternoon I had the opportunity to walk around Segamore Hill which was the home of the 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt. It was a beautiful day to be on the grounds of the home. I really needed to get out and enjoy an afternoon by myself. Its always great to have time to see these important sights. I find it to be one of the best benefits from my work trips.

In the evening I made my way back to the Sportime club for another session of King of the Hill.

Day 4

On Thursday Ed and I made our way over to Linden, New Jersey which is where the other New York service center operates.  Along the way Ed and I stopped at Coney Island to eat at Nathan’s hot dog.   I have always seen this place on television during its 4^th of July hot dog eating contest.   It was interesting to be there but was not overly impressed with  Coney Island.   It reminded me a lot of the Kemah Boardwalk back in Houston.   However this place was a lot dirtier and had a several homeless people pan handling for food and money.   

Once we got our hot dog fix we headed over to the Linden Service Center.   After a good discussion with the operations team we went to eat at Bonefish.   I had the Chilean sea bass which was quite good.  It took close to 3 hours to return back to Long Island. 

At that time I had already checked out of the hotel since I was spending the night in Queens. I was able to play another “King of the Hill” session at the Deer Park tennis club.    Before I arriving at the club I stopped at Juventus Pizza Ristorante to have a couple slices of NY pizza.   It was quite good.   I got to the club, changed into my tennis gear in the car and headed into the bubble to play another great King of the Hill session.

I then had to drive 1.5 hours back into Queens to spend the night.   I always try to stay close to the airport on the night prior to leaving in order to not worry about doing a long drive in the morning.  

Day 5