Like Donald, I sometimes find inspiration for my blogs in The Sunday Times. An article I found especially interesting yesterday concerned the proliferation of technology and devices for self-monitoring and behavioral change.

I am stealing from an article in the New York Times this weekend.  It was about the relationship between what you spend your money on and your happiness.  Do you choose to spend your dollars on things, or on events like vacations.  One is long lasting, the other fleeting.  

After a two year break, the world's largest atom smasher is about to enter uncharted territory.   The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17-mile-long (27 kilometers) underground ring in Geneva, Switzerland, revved up again last week at double its previous power. The humongous particle collider will now begin searching for elusive subatomic particles and quite possible a new dimension.  

I had the poignant experience of attending Gotham member Jack Friedman's funeral last Sunday. It was so well attended that the room was overflowing with humanity. My impression of the man was confirmed by the eulogies of his friends, relatives, wife and children. He was a very decent, friendly, nice, giving, collegial and potent man. Driving home, Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic masterpiece Freebird was on the radio and the combination of the funeral experience and the words of that singular piece got me thinking about life as it is, the rest of my life and possible afterlife.

Cameras are ubiquitous and the pictures and videos taken by them are playing an ever-increasing part in our lives. I recently heard a legal analyst refer to videos as the new DNA of criminal prosecutions.

If you've ever served on a board, a co-op board or an association board or a not-for-profit board you know it's not easy to get things done. Things just seem to go around in circles and never get anywhere. Well, there's one place where that's not true, one place where they hear you, listen to you and you can write your own ticket with other like-minded people. Yesterday I had a great fortune to meet with four other Gothamites and start planning the fifth annual Gotham Film Festival. This is just one of many of the great events in Gotham that have been born this way.

  I met a lovely young law student today who told me that she knew she wanted to be a lawyer from the time she was in third grade. She is clearly a very focused person with her eye on her desired end game.

When Passover ends, my thoughts every year turn to the same two items, pizza and bagels. I love a thick slice of pizza loaded with extra cheese and as many vegetables as will fit on the slice. Similarly, I am not a plain bagel person. I cannot resist an everything bagel, bursting with seeds.