Greenbuild '09

Paid trip anywhere? Yes please! It seems like Greenbuild is the only time each year I can really take advantage of major expensed anything. It gets better when you get to the hotel (the Ritz), find out they overbooked, and then they send you in a car to their compensation, a luxury retreat in the mountains. Too bad I was there alone. But arriving back at the Ritz, I was upgraded to a luxury suite in exchange for the "inconvenience." Not gonna lie, I was kind of big deal, felt kinda baller that week.

Anyway, here's the conference booth area.

Evening plenary with USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi and keynote speaker Al "I invented the internet and am the former next president of the United States" Gore.

Thursday night was the World Green Building Council cocktail party hosted by Lend Lease. Attending were Lend Lease sustainability professionals and leaders of green building councils from around the world.

Rick Fedrizzi and Lend Lease global head of sustainability Maria Atkinson...

And this is Papago Park that I explored a bit with James after the conference was over.

Check out my flickr for higher res images.

Then I flew to Albuquerque to chill with Page and Joe, which was a great time as well. Then back to NYC and back to work.

NYC Marathon '09

After '08's roof-top marathon party's success, we didn't hesitate for '09. Mile-marker 17 is right in in front of 1352 1st Ave, so as long as you could get to the east side of the street before the race got heavy, our roof was the place to be. Beer + BBQ + Brotha Sean = Boo-ya!

The view is great, covering over a mile span of the race up 1st Ave.

The lead women's pack had striking similarities to the year before.

But I was really looking forward to seeing Zoe, who was running despite having a broken foot several months earlier (this is the same girl who hosted a marathon after-party at her apartment the year before, and was as bouncy and cheerful as usual, despite having just ran 26 miles). I had my camera ready, perched 50 feet up, but after the race got heavy it seemed nearly impossible to catch her. Fortunely, McGee had the eye and spotted her in time to let me get a shot of her right as she looked up at us. Score!

Here is some jammin down on the street by Andy et al.

Looking up 1st Ave during the peak. They've all been running for 17 miles at this point.

Here are some more shots on my flickr. Y'all should come next year.