Welcome precious...

Aug 30, 2005: At 7pm Sydney time, 5am New York time, the world got 9lbs 15oz better looking... not to mention the new bouffant that entered the King-dom along with it... Annabelle Deane King... sure to be a Wheel of Fortune champion with that letter line up... Mum, Dad & Grandma are all well... Mark your calendars: Wie vs King is only 15 years away... Sharapova vs King is only 16 years away... Ali vs King - not for my god daughter!! (yeah baby yeah!)...

US Open Opening Night 2005

August 29, 2005: US Open tennis... why not? Jumped onto the Internet and bought a single ticket... now, buying a 'single ticket' is fraught with social commentary 1) do I have any friends? 2) how can you enjoy sport alone? 3) do I wish to be sandwiched in between two large American people in the stands high up on a hot night?

Luckily for me, the Internet is also a social commentator, possibly the highest in the land... its response was "would you like to sit less than 10m from the bass line in the players friends/family section?" okey-dokey then...

So with Big Mac & Bo Diddly bashing out some tunes, Michael Bloomberg opening it up, every Marine, Air Force & Navy guy & girl not in Iraq, Jim Carrey, and some fireworks, we got underway... I was sitting with the 'other player's people ie Sharapova & the other player... Agassi & the other player... but apart from having many people assume i was the new boyfriend of Daniilidou (who lost to Sharapova), the seats were AMAZING, the tennis entertaining, and the atmosphere of a rowdy New York crowd was excellent... Agassi's last US Open campaign? If it was, I was there for the first match of it... cool...

It begins...

Aug 17, 2005: Well, finally, yes, finally, after saying "i'm going to get fit" innumerable times... it begins... Between the M Hotel & the office is The Printing House Fitness Club... Inside it are my two responsible trainers Michael (boxing) & Michelle (fitness)... between them they are making me work 3-4 days per week... no sordid before & after shots here!... but by Christmas, I can expect a very different hunk of meat called Matt... a crazy, but possible idea... Manly Beach - here I come!

The M Hotel, Horatio St, New York

August 17, 2005: Yep the M Hotel is re-open for business tonight in our new downtown location... The uptown location served us well with around 17 guests enjoying the 110 degree panoramic views over the upper west, hudson river, and the tree tops of Central Park from 36B... our new location, now nestled in the Meatpacking District, two streets from Gisele Bundchen, Horatio St looks to set a similar standard for hospitality. Tonight's first visitor is Janine all the way from Bondi Beach, Sydney...

Friday night = Museum night?

August 13, 2005: On one of the hottest nights in New York I have experienced yet (still 95F / 35C at 11.30pm!), my NYC buddy Kat, my new Brazillian friend Mariana, & I, went to the Smithsonian. More specifically to the grounds of its Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. Here we were promised that on Fridays from 6:00–9:00 p.m, we could "Check out our sultry sunset parties filled with killer DJs, fabulous nosh, and the stellar design of Extreme Textiles: Designing for High Performance" and it didn't at all disappoint... Didn't actually make it inside to check out the exhibitions (sorry Marisa - as resident art teacher/critic extraordinaire - despite this photo - you would probably be most disappointed in me)... Definitely in the diary for next Friday night... Plus had a small, superb, "weird :)" (estranho?) dinner at Supper in the LES... not to mention the glass of wine beforehand at the bar next door... i will definitely never forget this night :)

Sailing with Michelle

August 7, 2005: Fresh off my course to qualify to sail, it was time to hit the Hudson again... this time it was with the owner of d.b.a a bar in the Lower East Side with 150 different beers & 130 different scotches, who owns a beautiful 60' yacht moored down at the Dennis Conner Marina in Manhattan... The "Ideas Woman" was my friend the superb Michelle one of the aforementioned Transplant crew... a journalist & presenter with BBC America, english, fluent in french, and owner of many garish 'TV suits' as it turns out...

Still "The Sash"

August 5, 2005: Shout out to my great friend Sasha... care package with letter, photos, Tim Tams (3 kinds) & Twisties... love your work... This is an incredible woman... I have a great photo of us from the FCB Christmas party at Tatler framed in my flat here in NYC... she can sing, make wine, design interiors, house sit most of the eastern suburbs, listen, write, give fantastic relationship & love advice, and generally brightens up the life of all who know her... yes I owe you a letter.. a long one...

Happy Birthday Mum

August 3, 2005: Yes it IS that time of the year again... I will protect the number to protect the very very innocent... love you mum...

My boys all loved up...

August 2, 2005: I realized today that my boys are all loved up. The FNG are falling like flies: Paul, Gavo, Adam (awesome with Leanne coming to be a Chicago chick early 2006) & Sam. Sam as usual is pictured with two fillies, and while I haven't met her, my money is on it being the girl making the tennis racquet smile...

Aug 1, 2005: I have been recently brought on board the Entourage wagon... another awesome series from the HBO Network, the people who brought us Sex & the City... this is the male version... and if Sam had ever become the movie star he promised, this woulda been my, gavo, adam & paul's life... superbly written... the best character though is Ari the Agent... read about the series here... the best thing Mark Wahlberg has done for the world since dropping the name Marky Mark... Hey Danielle - make something like this show please in your future...

Is his fringe the reason they're all smiling?

August 1, 2005: If so I might have to get one...