Last night Guvera threw a party just for me - with musical performance playing practically in my lap and sequined burlesque dancers swaying and twitching for my eyes only. Well, not really, but it sure felt like it. Step into the scarlet chamber of love, my friends, where Alice Cooper is the guide and the ice luge is the mood smoother.

I do like piña coladas, but I am not into getting caught in the rain. Perhaps getting caught without an umbrella in this hard city has stripped the plips and plops of any hint of romanticism they ever held, if they ever held it at all. The good people at Rums of Puerto Rico did their best to wipe my memory clear of grey skies and slush-filled streets, replacing it with the sounds of the rum capital of the world and the sweet and sultry coconut taste of summery piña colada as they celebrated "Reflections," their new ad campaign.

Welcome back from the weekend-long celebration of my birthday! Truly though, while I was celebrating my advancing age (and one gray eyebrow hair... what's up with THAT), love, and my childhood crush Abe Lincoln, some of you may have been shoveling snow, napping, or (gasp), working. This week is already making noise, so let's see what the fuss is all about

You know, when I was a kid, we'd have to wake up early and watch the scroll as Wilma Smith read through the school closings. We'd be all geeked-up, sometimes craning around the stairs until the very last minute, holding out hope that today would be a day for "The Price is Right" and "Days of Our Lives." Most often we'd be disappointed, and the bus would roll up through the blowing snow - a bright yellow nightmare delivering us from our cozy couch and into the math tests we hadn't studied for. New York kids don't know what hard …

At 8:30 a.m. Friday I swooped into The Princeton Club for The Social Media Society's contribution to Social Media Week New York: "Social Media Marketing & Millennials," an interactive focus group moderated by Doug Akin, ringleader and Chief Engagement Officer at Mr. Youth. Akin was actually the last to arrive, which no doubt had the coffee stinging Society founder Persia Tatar's belly a bit, but he had good reason for his late entry: he'd gone to the wrong Ivy League Club. How did he straighten himself out? "I saw a bunch of people from Mr. Youth checking into The Princeton …

Clomp clomp clomp clomp, I heard my boots thumping into the street as I made my way from 42nd to 44th to 46th. I breathed in the night air and second-hand smoked my way behind some arm-waving unfiltered cig puffer as I discovered I still had four more long blocks to clomp before reaching Hudson Terrace. That's where Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus; Nick Denton, CEO of Gawker Media; and Joe Marchese, President of SocialVibe, were about to tell us if we were indeed F#cked. Moderator Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM, was on hand to keep the panel lubed.

I left Hammerstein punching my fist into the air and chanting "GTL! GTL!" (Gym, Tan, Laundry), wrestling with choices: Do I turn around as quickly as Ronnie moves his hips on the Karma dance floor and do a shot with a monkey puppet? Or do I stay the course: honoring my commitment to attend "Digital Cocktails: Keys To Social Media Success" as part of my Social Media Week New York coverage? The whole -wheat side of me pulled stronger than the frosted side as I hiked into the black, cold NYC night, blinking through the snow toward For Your Imagination …

Last night I attended a Social Media Week Panel at Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center. The opening keynote was delivered by hip-hop artist and fleet-footed dancer Usher, while his business associates displayed his social graph through leather-leotard-clad gyrations. Wait. What?

Because of the glorious F train, I was running late to this panel, billed as a bright group of women in respected positions discussing how social media has changed the role of the news editor and most intriguing to me, "who 'owns' social media for companies that decide to enter the space to reach their consumers." The first thing I saw when I entered the room all frazzled and sweaty was a great head of fire-roasted hair. It was Charlene Jaszewski, a sharp, irreverent writer and editor. She offered to share her juice (see: outlet splitter) with me and I …

I made a big mistake today -- the mistake that no intelligent, event- and party-hopping photog/writer who resides in NYC should make during an Internety-themed event week. In between a panel and a party, I... I went home. If you're participating in Social Media Week New York, then you know how grr drat cold it is out there. Imagine if you could sit on your cozy couch and finish up your work. How easy would it be for you to head back into the cold? Now you feel me. I'm motivated, though, because if Toby Daniels can be up for …