Lil Spill

Friday, December 30, 2005

So I still stand behind my decision to moved back to New Orleans but man it’s hard. Jackson and I came back but his dad’s lease expires in the spring, so he’s not back and Jackson’s nanny ( for 4 years) moved to Austin. So let’s just say life is a bit different. I hired someone recently to help with Jackson but I feel like she is exhausted after only a few hours. I haven’t even asked about watching him at night yet. Tonight, I wish I could go down to the bar. I could really use a few beers and some R&R. But what the fuck am I going to do?
New Year New Hope

posted by Liliana @ 9:53 PM

Thursday, December 29, 2005

San antonio kicking butt last night!! Nashville not bad either. Tuesday night in Nashville is signing Coyote night and Poker night. I received an e-mail from Bert , the AM, saying that she wants to get rid of signing Coyote night because the girls work so poorly together. Every bar has something special. Austin has the best work ethic I have ever seen. NY girls are selling machines ( even though they are dead last in Calendar sales). San Antonio girls are nuts which makes them great. Denver girls are gorgeous and firey. New Orleans girls are have insane funny personalities which makes them sell. The specialness of Nashville is that they have a bunch of incredible signers and performers. No other bar can match them with this. ” Girls , cut the crap and make signing Coyote night great! I know you guys can do it!”

posted by Liliana @ 10:02 AM

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

This puppy is killing me! He’s up all night. I barely sleep as it is. Lee just got a new puppy, he called me today bitching about the same things. I started to laugh when I heard the name for the dog. His puppy is a pure breed Doberman. They named him Vigo, which is supposed to mean warrior. Chantel named her dog Zies ( sp ?) It’s supposed to mean something powerful , I just can’t remember what. I always think it’s so funny when these people with these big dogs worry so much about their names being so powerful. In my mind you have a doberman and a rottweiler, everyone knows that the dogs are strong. so name them something fun like Tulip or Charlie. My all black German sheperd , weighing in at 110 lbs was named Teddy Bear.
Who the hell am I to talk? I let my son name our puppy Cheeto. People either know that it is in reference to the snack food or they think it’s some hispanic gang name.
A lot of interesting things going on today. I’m hoping a few of them pan out.

posted by Liliana @ 1:13 PM

Monday, December 26, 2005

I heard a very funny story yesterday. A friend of mine told me about his nephew . This particular kid is 12 years old and he never loved reading. The parents found that the only book he ever read voraciously was a book about John Gotti. Well they decided to use that subject matter to keep him reading so they followed the first book with a book about Sammy the Bull and then of course Goodfellas. They were so pleased that he was finally reading regardless of the topic. The kicker to the story is that his Christmas wish list included only two things. 1. Pin Stripped suit and 2. a Rolex I laughed so hard when I heard this story. At least they can go down to China town in Ny and buy a fake rolex for $15. At 12 he won’t know the difference.
Santa was very good to Jackson and I was so pleased that he genuinely liked all his presents. His favorite present was a remote controlled T_ Rex. Unfortunately the toy was used primarily to torture our puppy Cheeto. Santa was also very nice to Cheeto. One of his gifts was a doggy sweater.
When I was 22 I got two dogs , both german shepherds. One from the pound and the other from owners who no longer wanted their dog. Teddy and Ajax were with me for 11 to13 years. Ajax was put to sleep when she couldn’t function anymore after being diagnosed with a degenrative desease only know in shepherds and Teddy died of ( I guess) a heart attack when he was around 13. Well the point of all this is I have only known big dogs. This particular puppy we just got doesn’t like to go outside if it is under 60 degrees hence he is peeing and shitting all over my house. So today I was a bit embarrassed as I took Cheeto out in his new sweater. At least it matches his coat.
Bar news: except for San Antonio all the bars sucked this weekend. Having the holidays on the weekends is an owners worst headache. I can’t wait until Christmas and New years Eve are back on a Tuesday or wednesday.
One of our former Denver Coyotes is gracing the pages of Playboy this month. Congrats to her!

posted by Liliana @ 5:20 PM

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Had a great vacation with jackson. We went to Deer Valley , Utah. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see my son ski. He has so much fun. The last day I took him out of ski school and we spent the day skiing with his cousin. People must of seen the look of sheer terror on my face while trying to keep up with him. Kids have no fear. His older cousin even said ” Can you imagine how fast he would be when he learns to get out of snow plow?” That thought definitely frightens me. Until last year I hadn’t skied since I was in my teens. I used to love going down intermediate and andvanced runs. Well a undred years later and I go out of my way to find the longest yet easiest trails. I can honestly say this was the most relaxing vacation I have taken in years. Kevin didn’t call me once and Lee just e-mailed , he didn’t call either. Of course part of me is worried when they don’t call at all.
Ft. Lauderdale girl search continues to haunt me. I have had 6 or 7 letters from girls claiming that I called their number but they weren’t called about training. So funny. 1 girl wrote a letter saying that she was asked to come back Sunday night but didn’t so she was definitely picked as well. ” If you didn’t come back for the final cuts then you didn’t make it.”
Toronto is looking good.
Went out with Chantel and new guy Joe for lunch. ” New Guy Joe” picked a deli and they had sandwiches. Man I miss just having a regular sandwich. Since I don’t eat regular wheat or flour products , I can only eat sandwiches made out of certain breads. ” New Guy Joe doesn’t know that I am ” High Menu Maintenance” so I just had a hot chocolate while they ate. I’ve eaten so much recently and I woke up at 3am thinkingabout the god damn turkey sandwich Chantel was eating. Speaking of Chantel She is featured in the Calendar for August. Well I obviously didn’t do a good job proofing the calendar because I forgot to write in the day Katrina hit. We set up that whole shoot revolving around her being from the New Orleans bar, the rain, the devistation. yet we forgot to mention it in the calendar so people have no idea why we staged that picture . The comments I have received are ” She has the most incredible face, why would you make her look wet and depressed?” She is the GM of the New Orleans bar. She stayed in New Orleans through the hurricane until the Quarter started flooding and then they evacuated. We really fucked up not writing about it on the August pages. I thought it was so obvious but now I realize it was because Katrina had such an effect on my life. Well for editing my first ever calendar, I think I did a pretty good job. There will be changes next year but I’m very happy with it!
One last mention of the calendar. The last page we did a montage of off set photos of the girls during the shoot. The photographer put together the montage and I actually had to force him to put a picture of me in it. He himself has 3 or 4 pictures of himself in there. When I got the proof for that page I called Lee and I said ” I know I’m not one of the girls but I feel really bad that I am not in the calendar at all. I spent so much time working on it.” Lee agreed so I actually took a picture of myself for the calendar. What a fucking ordeal that was. Like some women I hate every picture of myself. I get totally scared to actually get a head shot so I never update my pictures. The only good thing is that I put the photographer through hell while I picked an acceptable shot of myself. Made me feel a bit better.
What is it about human beings? I have all this postive wonderful stuff going on around me yet I choose to dwell on a sandwich I can’t eat and a photo I don’t like. A note to all my girls: When you get to my age ( mid thirties, assholes) PMS isn’t a couple of days anymore. It’s more like the whole month. Be prepared!

posted by Liliana @ 4:06 AM

Friday, December 16, 2005

I forgot how hard a puppy can be. It doesn’t matter if you take him out for hours, he will wait untill he gets home to pee in the house. Unfortunately I have a leather shag rug that he feels is his own personal toilet. I figure we’ve got about another year of this. Not to mention the chewing. Just not the shoes or bags, that’s all I ask. I bought Cheeto about 7 different chew toys. Then someone told me yesterday that too many chew toys makes them think they can chew on everything. Again I can’t win. But he is really cute and Jackson is having the time of his life with him!
Yesterday big employee meeting in New Orleans. We were all laughing because the staff is so small right now. Tara said ” this is so much better then the normal meetings with 30 people. After working here for almost 4 years at least I don’t have to hear Lil say the same things as she does every other meeting .” Will comes up to me jokingly ” Lil make me head of security in New Orleans” ” Will I think we don’t need head of security with only 3 guys.” ” But Lil the job would be so easy” We all went out for lunch and chatted. the only bad thing is that they all smoke and by the end of lunch I had a pounding headache. Damn Smokers!
I would like to go on record as saying, The new blackberry sucks. I gave all of corporate new blackberrys. What a waste of money. The phone quality is horrendous. I can’t hear people, they can’t hear me. Every corporate member has the same complaints. It sucks. Then I gave both Chantel and Jeff M blackberry’s as well because they do alot of work for me outside the New Orleans bar. Well these two can’t even figure out how to turn the blackberry on. When it comes to anything remotely technical, it’s like watching dumb and dumber. I laugh because Chantel will admit that she is not technically savy. Jeffm. wants people to think he just chooses not to be. ” Ok Jeff, right.”I don’t understand why they can’t ccombine the technology of a cellphone with the computer ability of a PDA? ( I tried Treo, that sucked too but better then this)
I’m leaving tomorrow on vacation for 5 days, of course I get a call from Kevin ” lil you have to do this that and the other thing for Ft. Lauderdale.” ” Kevin I yold you two months ago I was going away” ” You’re right Lil, I will not bother you those 5 day.” $100 bucks says I get a call the first day I’m away. Kevin has worked for me for 3 years. From the beginning I have said to him, don’t call me in the evenings because I am with jackson. Like clockwork he calls every evening around 7 pm. It’s like a broken record ” Kevin please don’t call me at night.” ” Sorry Lil I forgot” 3 years this has been going on. It’s actually funny last night I was out to dinner and my friend said to me ” It’s almost 7pm and Kevin hasn’t called there must be something wrong.” Oh well!
That’s all I got right now.

posted by Liliana @ 10:15 AM

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I feel bad I haven’t been to the New orleans bar in over a week. It’s been crazy. Jeff Myers thought it would be funny to bring Jackson to the next level and switch him from the whoopie cushion to an actual fart machine. So disgusting. But Jackson is happy and that’s what is important. I think I’ve heard the line ” must of been the chilidogs” a million times. I keep telling him that it’s not funny anymore and he needs to come up with something new, so like all kids that means he’ll say it even more just to get under my skin. ” Switch it to enchiladas” His response ” what are enchiladas?” I can’t win.
Jeff Myers is moving to New orleans to help me out a bit. He must really love the company because noone in their right mind ( or has a home here) would want to live here right now. He called me last night and asked if Audobon park has a golfcourse. I said yes and it’s open. So he said buy Jackson a set of childrens clubs so he could teach him. I said “great could you teach me as well?” His response ” How about just your son for now” I guess being around your boss all the time can get annoying.
Daniel from Austin has become a pain in my butt. Every fucking thing is a difference of opinion. So today I wrote him a letter because I was proud of him for pursuing something that I asked him to pursue, without any lip. I told him that dealing with him is like teaching a ” Special Ed ” class. He’ll get it it just takes him a little longer. I always want my managers to ask questions and bring up their own ideas. I would like to think I have an open door policy. Sometimes this can get frustrating and part of me wants to say ” shut up and do it.” But in the nature of good business and open lines of communication I try to keep an open mind and open ears. Man if Daniel could just get with the program, buy me more presents and kiss my butt every once in a while, he would be great.
Nashville, great night last night!!!
One last thing. Joe , our new guy in ” Site Development” was in Ft. Lauderdale. Kevin starts bitching to me about how Joe got a platinum card from Jeff. I said ” Even I don’t have a platinum card through Coyote Ugly” Jeff W. is the one who sets everything up, he just wrote me and said he doesn’t have a platinum card either. The guy has been part of the company for 3 weeks and already is living the high life. I wrote Jeff and told him to watch for Joe’s expenses since I made him pay for everything on his platinum card this weekend.

posted by Liliana @ 10:28 AM

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Ft. Lauderdale girl search went well. We picked a staff of 45 girls 32 being bartenders already. A lot of accomplished salsa dancers. I would say that 60% of the girls who tried out were originally from New Jersey. About 10 % of the girls who tried out were from Georgia. I don’t even remember anyone telling us they were originally from Ft. Lauderdale. One girl put on her resume that her last job was 3 years ago. I said what have you been doing? ” Nothing” Do you live with your parents? ” Yes” Have you been going to school? ” No” So what have you been doing with yourself for the last 3 years other then nothing? ” Well I’m not just a freeloader off my mom, I did help put my dad in Jail last month!” What the hell do you say to that?
One girl came to audition, she is currently a stripper. She was very funny. She said ” I can’t bartend, can’t really dance, Can’t sing. But I love to sell and I have a shitload of dirty jokes.” Jacqui and I both looked at each other and said ” I like her” So I’m hoping the dirty jokes and selling can get in the ranks of a great Coyote. Esther, from Austin , asked me if I could get Marshall and Daniel an outline of what I look for in a Coyote? Obviously bartending is number one but sometimes you just have a feeling about someone and you make the decision to train them and see what happens. Personality is so important in a great Coyote.
One security guard from San antonio called me last week. He actually thought he could get by Kelly by going to me. The funny part was that Kelly had told me what was going on with him a few days earlier. I have no problem with any employee confiding with me or voicing an opinion but this person was specifically out to malign Kelly and it was bullshit. The worst part of all of this is that a former bouncer from New Orleans was instigating some of these problems. I don’t appreciate that after everything that was done for him when he and his family had to evacuate. I may live in New Orleans but the S A bar is my bar as well and I take pride in the accomplishments of the staff and management. So don’t fuck with me or Kelly!

posted by Liliana @ 11:17 AM

Saturday, December 10, 2005

The Nashville staff was so nice the other night. It was the 1 year anniversary and they were so kind to all of us, it really touched my heart. The management and the staff gave me the best present. They bought me an i-joy massage chair. I am so happy. I love those. I’m going to have it in my corporate office so I can use my computer while sitting on the chair. I told Kyle that I will allow only him to sit in my new chair. Man those girls are talented. Between the fiddler, the dancers and the singers, they cover all the bases. The only thing that bothered me that night was a feeling that everyone wanted a piece of me. From the minute I got there I had various meetings, Jeff set up an interview with a possible AM during the night, and I spent a lot of time taking pictures with people. I felt pretty tapped out by the end of the night. A security girl kept buying Jacqui and I shots, she would even bring these shots into the office while I was conducting an interview. I was amused to here that she was passed out by around 12:30 am.
The people in Nashville are very nice and Jeff Myers being from Tenneessee is true to that stereotype. I was bothered that night that they allowed so many regulars to come and chat with them in the bar’s office. It may be the New Yorker in me that I’m not very trusting but I called Kyle the next day and told him he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore.
By the way the morning of the anniversary party I was on the Morning Show with Kelly and Charlie ( in Nashville). I think it was too early in the morning for me because I fucked up the New Years Eve promotion at that bar. When it ended both Kyle and Jeff were like ” you screwed up the prices” So for New Years Eve The Vip package at the Nashville bar is $150 and the walk by cover is $25. Sorry.
Tamitha wrote us a beautiful letter. She wrote all about how being a Coyote made her a stronger person and woman. It was so nice and represented exactly why Coyote is a success. I’m so glad she said that it made my day.
Ready for Ft. Lauderdale Girl search. They’ve been lining up outside! Cross my fingers

posted by Liliana @ 11:40 AM

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Another grueling day. I’m sorry to disappoint people but we have decided not to open on New Years Eve in Lauderdale. But opening night is January 18th. I love Lauderdale it should be great!
For two weeks there has been a water leak in front of the New Orleans building. We have called the Sewerage and water Board everyday and they will not come out. Today the building had no water and the leak is worsening so Chantel had a private plumber come and look. He is saying the same thing that as long as the leak starts under the sidewalk and not under the building it is a city problem. That is all well and good but nobody will help us. I still have not gotten anyone to fix the building, what a fucking nightmare. Today I asked a man to clean up my yard. Guess what his quote was $200. I would love to say fuck off but that is the going rate now. Someone wrote me recently about coming down here, my response was ” there certainly are plenty of jobs. ” If you do any type of yard work, carpentry, electrical work, you can make a killing down here. The contractors I have asked about repairing the building told me that they have 3 years worth of work. The prices are just insane down here.
Very excited about the Nashville anniversary on Thursday.
This weekend is the Ft. Lauderdale girl search. I’m curious how many girls show up and how they are. Usually Floridians are transplanted New Yorkers. Let’s see if that is true. Remember girls, no high heels. Cowboy boots or motorcycle boots. Dress for success. Go on the website and see what Coyotes normally wear. I can say this about the clothing until I am blue in the face but I still see the girls in stilettos and then the other extreme which is no make up and sweatpants. Hopefully, this girl search will be different. Cross my fingers!
Lee’s girlfriend tried to teach me to put fake eyelashes on. Tonight 1/2 hour trying to do this by myself like some fucking idiot. Jacqui and I always talk about the fact that our mothers never taught us this stuff. My god being a girl is hard nowadays.

posted by Liliana @ 7:07 PM

Monday, December 05, 2005

What a fucking day. Tension is mounting in Ft. Lauderdale. Myself and the investor put a lot of pressure on Lee and Kevin to get us opened for New Years Eve. I am now not sold on the economic bennefit to being opened. The more investigation Lee does the more it seems that we will not recoup the cost of flying a full staff in there. But I told them we will see how this week goes before we cancel.
Something seems to have stalled in New orleans. I don’t know if fema workers, construction workers have left for the holidays ? Or if the frieght train like progress in the city has just come to a halt? But something has changed. ( I’m sure with the right punctuation that could of been 1 sentence but I didn’t feel like attempting it). The city seems more deserted. This is going to be a long road back !
The good news is that Jackson got a puppy. ( terrior mix from the pound) He lovingly named him ” Cheeto” He said that he loves Cheetos so he thought it would be a good name. I told him that it was his dog so he could name it whatever he wanted. Of course the whole time I’m thinking ” I don’t allow Cheetos in my house. How the hell does he know what Cheetos are?” I am a bit of a health nut, I know. I keep on grilling him to make sure that he doesn’t drink soda, even at a party. He claims he never has. With all the education out there about nutrition it bugs me that parents are giving their toddlers soda and other crap. It’s not even about money, for god sakes give the kid some water instead.
Back to the dog. I forgot how much work a puppy is. He had me up 3 times last night. Today I walked him to CVS about 1/2 mile away and back. Of course we get back and he pees on my leather shag rug. But he is unbelievebly cute and jackson adores him.

posted by Liliana @ 5:50 PM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I had all these clothes and things I wanted to give to the Salvation Army or another charity organization. I had gone to 5 places and noone would take donations. There are actual signs posted ” No Donations”. It is so ridiculous that in a city ravaged by devastation and poverty that you can’t actually donate. I finally found a poor Hunduran family and gave them everything so they could help their own family. Now I’m trying to return my u-haul trailer but the u-haul places that were close to me no longer exist or they just never reopened.
I received a funny e-mail from one of the investors of Ft. Lauderdale.
Lil: Very funny on site today when it came to selecting the paint colors I’ve never seen so many guys collectively turn the other way and say “I’m not picking the paint color” Lee, Joe, Contractor, etc. Poor Kevin had to step into the breach. You have them scared to death to screw up the paint color 🙂

I’ll give you 3 reasons why they ( not really they, Kevin) shouldn’t pick out the paint colors 1. Original idea by Kevin for San Antonio floor 2. Actual color of San Antonio office 3. existing color choice of Denver floor.
But what has given me great pleasure this week is just saying to Kevin ” look your color blind, it’s not your fault.” I can hear his blood boiling whenever I say that. Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make you happy.

posted by Liliana @ 2:54 PM

I had all these clothes and things I wanted to give to the Salvation Army or another charity organization. I had gone to 5 places and noone would take donations. There are actual signs posted ” No Donations”. It is so ridiculous that in a city ravaged by devastation and poverty that you can’t actually donate. I finally found a poor Hunduran family and gave them everything so they could help their own family. Now I’m trying to return my u-haul trailer but the u-haul places that were close to me no longer exist or they just never reopened.
I received a funny e-mail from one of the investors of Ft. Lauderdale.
Lil: Very funny on site today when it came to selecting the paint colors I’ve never seen so many guys collectively turn the other way and say “I’m not picking the paint color” Lee, Joe, Contractor, etc. Poor Kevin had to step into the breach. You have them scared to death to screw up the paint color 🙂

I’ll give you 3 reasons why they ( not really they, Kevin) shouldn’t pick out the paint colors 1. Original idea by Kevin for San Antonio floor 2. Actual color of San Antonio office 3. existing color choice of Denver floor.
But what has given me great pleasure this week is just saying to Kevin ” look your color blind, it’s not your fault.” I can hear his blood boiling whenever I say that. Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make you happy.

posted by Liliana @ 2:54 PM

This CMT thing is getting ridiculous. I woke up pissed off about it. Every suggestion I have made has been, respectfully, shot down. And then I get an e-mail that really pissed me off. Now everyone involved is fighting and all I can say to all of this is “bullshit.” The bottom line is that part of this is about egos, and that’s including mine. Whatever!
I’m so riled up I’m going to take a walk and try and calm down.

posted by Liliana @ 10:14 AM