COOL THOUGHTS IN THE HEAT OF DAY

Man oh man how the weather changes here in a hurry!

Just a few days ago I was freezing my butt off thinking of beaches and steel drums. Now, just a few days removed, the weather is bright, the sun feels warm and my IPod finally randomly selected more than 2 songs in a row that I was in the mood to hear!

Going for a casual walk and running errands on the back streets of New York's Meat Packing district, The Cowboy Junkies' Anniversary Song quietly moves me along Hudson Street. Turning left onto West 13th, Johnny Cash's only known collaboration with U2 - The Wanderer - lights up the headphones. As I turn right onto 9th Avenue towards Chelsea Market, the view of New York's newest "Most Trendiest Area" is in full view. Restaurants galore, sidewalk cafe's packed with brunchgoers, I laugh as Rod Stewart's Some Guys Have All the Luck finds its way into the random selection (how many guys do you know that would admit they have this song in their collection).

Random Thought: 5 Years ago, this area was deserted. The Old Homestead and the Western Beef supermarket were the only reasons you came to this area, other than Hogs n' Heffers. Now it's another place. Stella McCartney opens a store here and now its Rodeo Drive. No matter, the sun and the music have me on another planet.

At Western Beef I head straight for the freezer - it's a walk in room where the temperature is like 12 degrees but feels great coming in out of the sun. You can take it for 5 minutes before growing frost on your mouth.

Random thought: The register lines at this place are legendary. The prices are cheap so people load up. If it takes less than a solid 15-20 minutes to be checked out, you've won.

It was right then that Phish's You Enjoy Myself makes a cameo. The song is 11 minutes in length and gets me through the line in fine fashion. Back to West 4th, and this is no joke, John Denver's Take Me Home Country Roads chimes in.

Random thought: This is my least favorite part about going to Western Beef...West 4th is narrow and brunch is all of a sudden the new "dinner." Why did NY restauranteurs think it was a good idea to put restaurants on the sidewalk that accommodate huge groups when there is no room on the sidewalk in the first place? Or better yet, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

The world may never know.