Palm Beach look-back

January 17, 10:50 a.m.

On our approach to West Palm Beach for Lisa's wedding, we look down on neat rows of houses with terra-cotta roofs in developments that are golf courses first, communities second. "It looks like hell," I say.

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2:40 p.m.

We head to Burger Heaven in Palm Beach for lunch, sitting at the rectangular, three-sided counter, where Casey admires the giant lemon cakes in the middle and I idly scan the restaurant, still a little dazed from the morning flight. We're in New York five days a week, sometimes six or seven if we go in on day soff, but we come to Palm Beach and not three hours after landing, I spot Michael Kors sitting at a table on the other side of the room. His back was to me and a good-looking boy-toy sat across from him, facing our way. We might've been the only people in the place who would've recognized him, and I probably wouldn't have if he wasn't wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.


"Does Michael Kors hang out in Palm Beach?" I asked Casey.


"He might," she said. "Why?"


"Because that guy over there looks just like him." Just after I said that, he turned his head and I had the best look at him yet and Casey said, "Yep that's him."


It turned out later that she had a picture of the back of his head, from when she took a picture of the cakes.

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9 p.m.

Drinks at The Breakers -- early 20th Century Palm Beach oppulence, where a room for four nights costs as much as our monthly mortgage. One in our group said the valet scoffed at the $4 tip. On top of the $13 specialty drinks and $6.75 bottles -- bottles! -- of imported beer .. and the automatic 20% gratuity. I would've preferred to give two bucks for our two drinks, but $7 it is. But what do you expect from a place that offers, for $2 a drink, ice cubes made from Fiji water in place of the normal ones made from the swill that is tap water drunk by savages.

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January 18, 2:15 p.m.

How I know I'm getting old, from "Guide to the Photo Process," a sign explaining the various types of prints at a photography exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art:

Color print ... Prior to the advent of digital printing, it was the most common type of color photograph.

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8:37 p.m.

After the crabs are gone at Riggins Crab House, Brooke considers whether she wants to go to the restroom. Her decision is made when she looks at her hand and says, "I think I was bleeding from the crabs."