My hotel put a new copy of Westchester magazine in my room today; one of the cover stories was definitely not something I’d see at home: “Cater your Seder”. It turned out to be a one-page item listing a half-dozen caterers — but that’s probably five more than would be available in San Jose.

The Research Spring Strategy meeting, which is the reason for this trip, took up the whole day today; it was interesting, and might influence some of what I do this year. It was also probably rather fattening; I made the mistake of taking the bus over for the continental breakfast, which was nothing but carbs. And then both lunch and dinner were buffets, served on large plates, with lots of desserts as well as some actual food. I didn’t fill up my plates, but I did sample quite a few of the desserts (I didn’t finish them all, at least). And there were more goodies available at morning and afternoon break — those I was able to skip without feeling deprived. It’s a miracle no one fell asleep during the meeting.

When I got back to the hotel, I felt compelled to use the workout room. For some reason that I don’t understand, the hotels here feel compelled to overheat their exercise rooms — this one must have been close to 80 degrees. So I worked up a better sweat than usual, but I don’t think I actually exercised as much as I’d like to have done.

Tomorrow is the second and last day of the meeting; neither “breakfast” nor dinner is included tomorrow, which may be just as well.

My string of avoiding business travel came to an end today; I’m at the Hilton Pearl River, near IBM Palisades, where I have a two-day meeting beginning tomorrow.

So far, the trip has been pretty smooth, though I took my chances this morning — my flight from SFO was at noon, which didn’t give me enough time to go to the office. But instead of staying home, I worked out at the JCC after dropping Jeff off — then, when I came home, I did a bit too much e-mail. So I didn’t leave the house until 10:15am…and it was raining hard. Luckily, there weren’t any accidents or delays on my way to the airport, and I got to the gate almost five minutes before they started boarding the flight.

I hadn’t flown American on business for close to a year (since they dropped the SJC-JFK non-stop and JetBlue came to town), but I’m Platinum for Life, so I was still able to request an upgrade, and it cleared, somewhat to my surprise. Transcontinental Business Class isn’t what it used to be — the meal choices were a warm roast beef sandwich or a salad with chicken. I went for the roast beef, and it was OK (I had brought a turkey sandwich with me in case I didn’t get the upgrade — it would have been just as good). At least they still have the warm nuts. And I didn’t have a seatmate (which astonished the flight attendant — she said there were many people in coach unhappy because their upgrades didn’t clear). And we arrived at JFK about 30 minutes early — though we had to wait for our gate.

The drive to the hotel wasn’t bad, either. As soon as I arrived, I saw one of my colleagues sitting in the lobby — she had thought she was staying at this hotel, but her admin had booked her into a different hotel. She was waiting for a taxi. I commiserated with her a bit until her taxi arrived.

I had a quick bite from the bar — if I’d read the room service menu, I probably would have had it in my room, instead. Unlike most hotels, this one doesn’t rip you off if you order room service — the items are the same price as in the restaurant or bar. They do add a 19% tip and a $2 service charge, but that’s not unreasonable for the convenience.

Tomorrow is going to come early — I plan to take the shuttle to IBM Palisades, and it leaves here at 7am. So it’s time to call it a night.