Recently, I made a list of the Top Ten List of Things I Love (But Do Not Include Family, Friends and Pretty Girls). The hotel mini bar was Number Seven. There is nothing better than checking into a nice hotel (#9) and hearing Mr. Front Counter Person say, “Mr. Ferguson, here is the key to the mini bar.” (It’s almost as nice as when I hear  (#3) a client say, “Ferg, let me buy you dinner.”) To me, a great mini bar not only includes Ka-Va-See-A, little bottles of Coca Cola, Kettle Chips and the prize of all prizes, a BIG Toberlone bar, but also an assortment of sweet-smelling bubble baths.

Great Bars (#4) where friends can sit and talk for hours and hours and enjoy an adult beverage (#2) are also on my Top Ten List of TIL (BDNIFFAPG). My favorite gathering/drinking holes in Dallas include, but are not limited to, Lee Harvey’s, the Loon, Louie’s (best pizza in Big D)  and the FOE (Fraternal Order of the Eagles) Lodge.

So you can understand my sheer joy when I learned about the Mini Bar in Amsterdam.

Get this: Amsterdam’s MiNiBAR! is “a new concept in nightlife that takes the hotel minibar concept to a new level. A concierge will show you to your table and present you with a key with which to gain access to your own private bar, stocked with beers, wines and liquors.”  Your help yourself and pay out when you go.

www.minibaronline.com

The MiNiBAR! Now, that’s a BIG IDEA (#1)  on my list of Things I Love (But Do Not Include Family, Friends and Pretty Girls).

I remember my first window office. Leo Burnett, l984, 11th Floor. I sat in an office with a single window that overlooked…nothing. It was on the side of the Prudential Plaza that had a wonderful view of a concrete building. I was “awarded” the window office after winning Best of Show at the Chicago Addy’s for the Seat Belt campaign. By the time I left Burnett, I had a corner office that overlooked the Chicago River and that crazy honey-combed building that Bob Newhart lived in.

Over the years, I have had lots of window offices, including a magnificant one at 285 Madison Avenue in New York where everyone stood and watched the World Trade Centers collapse on September 11, 2001.

The absolute best office I ever had was on the seventh floor of the Crescent Building when I was CCO of DDB/Dallas. Incredible view of downtown. There was even a private bathroom with a shower!

I have a window office here at JimBob_Dallas. Only problem is, there is a tree that has grown its leaves (it is early April) and  it is blocking my view of the Palomar Hotel across Mockingbird Lane.

Lots of celebrities stay at the Palomar. It’s a great hotel with an incredible lounge. I understand why it’s a wonderful place where the elite meet to eat. And now I can’t see them arrive. But I’ll manage to survive.

It’s a funny thing about offices at advertising agencies. I have seen creatives fight harder for a window office than an idea. I always thought it was silly. But then again, I’ve have a window office, but I won’t be able to see Pink when she shows up tomorrow…