I'll take a Dr. No

After an enjoyable day in the park, I had an enjoyable evening of steak followed by a singular cocktail potent enough to do the trick -- a "Dr. No," at 116 Crown, a nice, well-decorated bar and restaurant (with a limited menu) that attracts a range of ages and types, from hip students to older gay couples to groups of confidently dressed young women in tiaras. The drink consists of "miller's gin, zubrówka bisongrass vodka, white lillet - served straight up." Pictured is the tail end of mine.

Downtown New Haven is a funny scene to me. Obviously there are many students, as well as some older professionals. And then you'll turn the corner and see the male cast of "The Jersey Shore" queueing up to enter a club in which everyone will be shot, accompanied often by amply if not authentically breasted women dressed in no more than 14 square centimeters of clothing between them.

On Thursday morning I'm heading to Philadelphia for a regional CCBO (the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's Council on Chambers & Business Organizations) conference. I'm on the board of CABO, the Connecticut chapter of CCBO, and this is something four of us are doing. My main goal is to try not to start referring to the city as "Philly," because I find that, for whatever reason, maddening.

Anyway, I think these sessions will be especially useful for me because I just joined the board a couple months ago, and when you come into a mission-driven group late, some of the most basic questions are no longer being disussed, such as the topic of the first session at the conference: "Why are LGBT chambers relevant?" I hope the whole weekend offers some focus and perspective that can guide us going forward. Often, in these situations, the details end up taking over.