Fashion's Night Out NYC was HOT

It was a fun weekend. I tried to leave work ASAP on Thursday evening to get back to the city for Fashion's Night Out. The plan was to hit the Fifth Avenue shops first, and then meet some friends in SoHo to check out the goings on there. Well, as soon as I walked into one of the couture shops a super cute guy came over and asked if I wanted to get a drink with him. (Conveniently, the stores were offering complimentary drinks. It was a very party atmosphere for the occasion.) At first I wasn't sure if he was for real or he was a model hired for the occasion and this was the way they were treating all their guests! We hung out in the store for a while, met the label's founder, then went for a few cocktails at a restaurant on the block before heading downtown in a limo to a cute little wine bar in Chelsea.

Saturday night I was back in Chelsea at a club where I have been crushing on a cute new gogo boy. I find it kind of embarrassing to go tip gogos when I'm with my friends, especially if said friend might kinda have a crush on me... Is there an etiquette to this?

After that, I met up again with the fashion guy I met Thursday (Call him P). I think I really like him. Then I rushed home to get the car back before my Mom or Dad wakes up and realizes I was out past 3:00AM. ("You're old enough I can't tell you what to do, but the car must be back...")

Sunday I went to a housewarming party a friend was making; he just moved in with his boyfriend to a new apartment. I told P about it and he considered coming with me, but then he had just gotten back from exercising and was tired.

The Economics of Congestion Pricing

Bloomberg's traffic reduction plan has won federal grant money to the tune of $350 million (Daily News). Why they need a federal grant to charge more money is beyond me, but let us examine the logic of congestion pricing as a traffic reduction plan.

Bloomberg argues that a congested city will not attract business as well and this will hurt New York's economy. He therefore proposes a plan to charge tolls for cars and trucks entering the city to reduce the amount of traffic and make the city more appealing.

The catch is obvious: The only way the fee will reduce traffic is if its cost is higher than the cost of sitting in traffic! If people would rather shell out than sit in traffic, the city will be clogged anyway. And if the fee is high enough that it is worse than the traffic, then it will drive people (and business) away faster than grid-lock. So what gives?