• by Kelly Samardak , April 27, 2009

This Week And Spring For A Cure, New York
April 27 - May 1, 2009

This morning was quite possibly the most beautiful Monday walk to work I have ever had. The smell of the air (minus the lung-crisping secondhand smoke I have to deal with) made me wistful for my old Internet technology lab team at IBM (it was called WebAhead at the time). Lousy with above-genius-level software engineers and inventive IT architects, the lab was corralled by the lone communications type, moi, on sun-drenched days just like today. Destination? Outdoor lunch of hotdogs and cheese fries at Corey's in Southbury, Conn., a no- dead hotdog stand situation with either a large carved bear outside or an Indian. I can't remember. We would bake in the sun with our cardboard baskets of food, throwing good-natured barbs from across the picnic tables resting in the never un-dusty gravel. Smiling from the sunshower of those memories I realized that we may FINALLY be out of the winter woods into a new summer where I'm still surrounded by some pretty great people, and I welcome the outdoor lunch miracle that is Shake Shack's cheese fries. So what's in store for us this beautiful light-summer week?

The buzz this morning was run off from the weekend's semi-focus on swine flu. NY1's Pat Kiernan (my favorite local anchor on Twitter, @PatKiernan) tweeted "I was tough on NY Daily News this morning over sensational SWINE FLU SPREADS! headline. Don't think we are at !!! stage. http://ow.ly/45Ag" Whether or not the worry level is necessary I'm glad I walk to work instead of stewing in the subways -- AKA NYC's underground Petri dish. I think the real issue at hand is which events this week will be offering pork products in snack form? (Beef) Frankly, this is a light event week externally. MediaPost is hosting two - Media magazine's 2009 Outfront show on Tuesday, April 28 and OMMA Mobile on Wednesday, April 29.

Thursday, April 30, is going to be off the chain, the charts, and the hook -- because first, at 12 p.m.. I'll be having lunch with Gideon Yago, Host of The IFC Media Project, as IFC hosts "Make Media Matter," a "lively debate on national vs international news coverage of current events." Yago is wrangling the panel, which includes Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary for former President George W. Bush; Katty Kay, BBC Political Reports; Tina Brown, The Daily Beast Founder and Editor in Chief, Peggy Noonan, author and Wall Street Journal columnist; and Josh Rushing, Al Jazeera English reporter and former U.S. Marine. Judging by labels alone, this is an incredibly diverse-in-thought panel and I'm bringing my flame-retardant Snuggie to deflect the sparks. The panel will be fire starting at The Paley Center for Media, logically.

THEN - because you know, one event just isn't enough for me - after quick-dropping my write-up of the IFC situation into your inboxes and the Internet, I'll be heading over to Happy Ending to help Andrea Rosen, Digital Marketing Manager, and the rest of the L Magazine crew celebrate their 6th anniversary. As always, I'll be photo-journaling the entire event so you will know if the ending truly is happy. I have that weird no-pants feeling that usually means I've forgotten something -- which makes me think I RSVPd for something tomorrow night (Tuesday), but that I forgot to put it in my Google calendar. Remind me if it has something to do with you.

Oh, so last Friday night (April 24), after having my invitation rescinded and then reoffered, I briefly attended Spring For a Cure at The Chelsea Art Museum. It was a charity party presented by the Millenial Society of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation with all proceeds going to the foundation for cancer research. The celebrity chair was Bethenny Frankel, one of Bravo's "Real Housewives of New York," but I saw neither hide nor hair of her. I did see tons of bowls of guacamole, however.

I have to get in line at Shake Shack now, so I can inhale cheese fries by 2 p.m. Enjoy your Monday and let me know if I'll be seeing you at an event this week!

Send event invitations to kelly@mediapost.com!

There's a handful of Spring For A Cure photos!