It's a beautiful day in New York City, and that means it's time to do whatever it takes to escape the office—even if it means talking to PR people who are way too excited about things that aren't that exciting. Since it pretty much feels like the first day of Spring, it's also the beginning of weird outdoor promotional events. Lunchtime in Madison Square Park today saw Zyrtec promoting it's new liqui-gel tabs. I'm going to make fun of this PR event because, come on, it's a PR event, but let's be clear: Zyrtec is actually awesome. When I somehow became allergic to my own dog upon returning home from college, you were there for me, Zyrtec, and I'll never forget that. Rest in peace, Daisy.

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Nathan Sawaya’s works make your kids’ Lego sculptures look even more like crap. For the past six years, he’s worked as an artist and earned a living creating large, awe-inspiring sculptures out of thousands of pieces of Lego. His studio currently holds 1.5 million pieces. His new show at Agora Gallery will be the first time a fine art gallery exhibits works where the medium is solely Lego bricks, and it’s also his first solo show in New York City, his home for the past 19 years. What with Christoph Neimann's lego-focused book, it seems to be a renaissance in Lego love.

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The crowd at the 92nd Street Y on March 14 wasn’t the usual crowd. Normally people are there for round table discussions, but this evening they were crowding around tables overflowing with some of the best chocolate in the city at the Chocolate Fest 2010. Conversations were more focused on exclamations of culinary pleasure; although because of organizer Alexandra Leaf’s choices, many conversations could drift into political and ethical discussions.

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Reporter Adam Bloch has taken to the streets in the Upper West Side and reports for West Side Spirit that there's been a slight uptick in the number of retail tenants in the area. He canvassed Broadway, Amsterdam and Columbus avenues from West 59th to 110th streets, "counting all the ground-floor, on-the-avenue businesses. Overall, 108 units stood empty, four were closing imminently and five more were planning to open soon. The total vacancy rate was 8.12 percent, slightly down from last year’s mark of 8.44 percent," he reports.

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This Friday The Hookies take place, an awards show for male escorts. Raven O will be the MC for the evening, and I agreed to be a "presenter" at the awards, which take place at Chelsea nightclub Rebel (251 W. 30th St.) beginning at 11 p.m. I'm still not sure what award I'll be presenting, but categories include Best Newcomer, Best Pornstar Escort, Best Top, Best Ass, Best Fetish Escort, Best Tattoos, Best Body, Biggest Cock, Best Duo, Best Boyfriend Fantasy, Best Mature Escort 40 , Best Escort Blogger / Writer, Best Escort Agency, Mr.International Escort 2010. So you get the idea. If you'd like to vote for any of these categories, whether you have firsthand knowledge or not, visit the site, and you'll get an eyeful. And the event is free if you arrive before 11 p.m., so come on out and cheer me on. And if you hang around afterward, you can join the F Word party, which moved from Santos to Rebel a little while ago. No matter what, it'll be a fun night.

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Tourist traps make eating around Times Square an expensive endeavor. And while tourists, no doubt distracted by all the pretty lights and big buildings, are willing to shell out $20 to eat a hamburger next to Julia Roberts’ hooker heels from Pretty Woman, the average New Yorker would rather gouge an eye than eat an overpriced meal surrounded by crowd of fanny-pack flaunters. So why are some many natives intentionally noshing on Ninth Avenue and 41st Street? Simply answered: the pizza is 99 cents.

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Bowery Boogie has posted a great video of artist David Livingston visiting the New Museum with his upholstery sculpture that resembles a large, flaccid penis. As you can see from the video, Livingston is asked to leave the premises. Maybe if he had checked it as a piece of luggage, would it have been allowed?

Big Dick enters The New Museum from David Livingston on Vimeo.

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Two Boots pizza, named for the shoe-shaped lands of Italy and Louisiana, which inspired its Creole-tinged slices, is probably best known as a Downtown institution. It’s a bit surprising to realize that the shop is celebrating the tenth year of its location in Grand Central Station, an anniversary being marked tonight with a party and the unveiling of a new pie. We caught up with Two Boots honcho Phil Hartman to find out about how he’s fitting in with the Midtown crowd and what the next 10 years might hold.

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Some enterprising New Yorker has finally mapped out the legal parking places all over this fine city. Parallel spaces is "a Map for us, the New Yorkers whose several hundred thousand cars are on the street right this minute." The project started as a labor of love and has turned into quite the feat. And while I'd love to explain it to you, it's 3 p.m. Friday afternoon and this thing looks a bunch of Egyptian hieroglyphics right now. It's confusing, and I really don't feel like going through the tutorial, so that's all you.

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If the incredible views of Downtown, Midtown and Jersey City aren’t enough to look at, The Standard Hotel is offering something else for its guests to take a look at: The StandART Channel. As of March 5, the Meatpacking District hotel will show the channel, which features work from 10 celebrated video artists and was created in a partnership with the public art fanatics at Creative Time.

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