This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Last week was crazy. First, the pope resigned (last time that happened? 1415). Then, a 55-foot-wide meteor crashed into the little Russian town of Chelyabinsk, sparking a 300-kiloton blast. Whoa. And then, an asteroid narrowly missed Earth (by a mere 17,000 miles). Yikes. Aaaand then....then everybody really went crazy and started doing the Harlem Shake! Google's doing it. So are Facebook and Linkedin. Even my friends at WeWork, BuzzFeed, CollegeHumor, NYU Stern & ERA have gotten in on the action. There's a cute puppy version and even a bookmarklet. Yup, it was a crazy, crazy week indeed!

Wanna hang out with David Pakman (Venrock), Esther Dyson (angel investor), John Frankel (ff Venture Capital) and other top investors at the Funding the Best in Global Innovation conference this Wednesday? But of course you do! I have a couple of free passes; email me if interested. (You also get 30 percent off with discount code "innovation").

My buddy Steve Rosenbaum (NYC EDC’s entrepreneur at large) is doing another virtual office hours tomorrow (12-1pm) to answer all your startup & entrepreneurship questions. Register here.

This week is Social Media Week. What does that mean? Why, a ton of social media events, of course! ;-) Three events I like are: New York City's Tech Future, The State of Civic Technology and Health Tech Innovation in NY.

This Wednesday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage is Running Away with the Band, a revealing conversation with music industry legend Ted Cohen (three decades in the business helping shape the careers of The Who, Prince, The Beach Boys, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and Van Halen). Go check it out.

Our "ULTIMATE Guide to SXSW 2013 Parties" list is shaping up quite nicely! 115 events and counting. Hopefully y'all have been smart and RSVP'd. You have, right? Here's a few you're gonna like: Klout Afternoon Delight, Innovation City, The MoPub, Metamarkets, Prolific Interactive Party, OpenWeb Pool Party and Mashable's MashBash. Rumor also has it that last year's uber-popular Conduit Corner is coming back, but this time as a carnival! Stay tuned for more details ;-)

I've been to photo hackathons, fashion hackathons, local hackathons, even food hackathons. And then, I came across a brain hackathon. Yeah, you heard that right. My buddy Ramzi Abdoch (whose team, Swatchit, won the Decoded Fashion hackathon, congrats!) told me all about it. One of the rules? Your project must involve a brain-computer interface. Yup, better watch out, the Matrix is coming, people!

A few weeks ago, I raved about the food at Danny Meyer's Maialino. Later that day, I got an email from Danny himself, appreciative of my enthusiasm. A few days ago, I ran into him in person. He remembered my comments and thanked me again. There's a lesson here for all founders and CEOs: Always be aware of your customer, appreciate their feedback (good or bad) and always make them feel special. If Danny can do it while running an empire of 24 restaurants, so can you! (I also highly recommend you check out his book, which is chock full of business wisdom).

And to all my Jewish friends, I wish you (in advance) Happy Purim! (Hope you enjoy your Se`udat Purim!)

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

[SMW] We Built This City: The State of Civic Technology
With Jessica Lawrence (New York Tech Meetup), Noel Hidalgo (Code For America), Lara Torvi (NYC Dept. of IT & Telecomm), Beth Viner (IDEO), Betsy Scherzer (NYC EDC) and others.
Tuesday (Feb. 19), 2:30 p.m. @ Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue

Confessions of a Social Butterfly: Managing the Future of Social Media
With Jeanette Horan (CIO, IBM), Fred Santarpia (Chief Digital Officer, Conde Nast Entertainment) and others.
Tuesday (Feb. 19), 6:30 p.m. @ Capitale, 130 Bowery

Funding the Best in Global Innovation II
With David Pakman (Venrock), Brian Cohen (New York Angels), Matt Turck (Bloomberg), Kirill Sheynkman (RTP Ventures), John Frankel (ff Venture Capital), Esther Dyson (angel investor), Ellie Wheeler (Greycroft), Adam Ludwin (RRE), Ann Li (NYCEDC) and more.
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 8:30 a.m. @ SNR Denton, 1221 Avenue of the Americas

Running Away with the Band
A revealing conversation with music industry legend Ted Cohen (three decades in the business helping shape the careers of The Who, Prince, The Beach Boys, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and others).
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 12 p.m. @ The Museum of Jewish Heritage, 33 Battery Place, The Pit

Get To Know DreamIt Ventures (Happy Hour)
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 6 p.m. @ Bulls Head Tavern, 295 3rd Avenue

NYC Data Business Meetup #13
With Mike Simone (global head, CitiData platform), Emile Werr (head of enterprise data architecture, NYSE EuroNext) and Raj Patil (former data innovation CTO, UBS). Talks by Quantopian, Plaid and ZestFinance.
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 6 p.m. @ Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue

The Intersection of Tech & Media in NYC
A Conversation with Rachel Haot (Chief Digital Officer, NYC)
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 6 p.m. @ TimesCenter @ The New York Times Building, 242 W. 41st Street

[SMW] Its Complicated: Dating and Relationships in the Digital Age
With Sam Yagan (cofounder & CEO, OkCupid), Brian Schechter (cofounder & Co-CEO, How About We) and others. Moderated by Joyce Chang (executive editor, Cosmopolitan).
Wednesday (Feb. 20), 9:30 p.m. @ Hearst Tower, 300 W. 57th Street

[SMW] New York Citys Tech Future
With Alan Patricof (Greycroft Partners), Ann Li (NYC EDC), Jonathan Bowles (Center for an Urban Future), Steve Rosenbaum (entrepreneur-at-large, NYCEDC) and others.
Thursday (Feb. 21), 9:30 a.m. @ Bloomberg LP, 731 Lexington Avenue

Lean Startup Meetup: Fireside Chat
With Charles Adler (Cofounder, Kickstarter).
Thursday (Feb. 21), 7 p.m. @ Meetup HQ, 632 Broadway, 9th Fl.

Queens Tech Meetup 6
With Wiley Cerilli (CEO and founder, SinglePlatform, sold to Constant Contact for over $100M). Demos by Derby Jackpot and Falcon.
Thursday (Feb. 21), 7 p.m. @ Hunter's Point Plaza, 47-40 21st Street, 10th Fl., Long Island City

Tails and Rails: Tech Innovation for Pets and People
One-day hackathon bringing together technologists to build a better life for pets. Develop apps for pet food, pet adoption and pet recreation. Hosted by Mashable and Purina.
Saturday (Feb. 23), 10 a.m. @ Harbor Room at SoHo Grand, 310 West Broadway

Assembled E-Commerce
With Shauna Mei (AHAlife), Adam Schwartz (BustedTees), Alex Taub (Dwolla), Andrew Kortina (Venmo), John Rote (Bonobos), Nihal Mehta (LocalResponse), Shan-Lyn Ma (Chloe+Isabel) and others.
Saturday (Feb. 23), 12 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

More events on the horizon...
Entrepreneurs Roundtable 55 on Feb. 25 @ NYU Stern
Analytics Roundtable on Feb. 26 @ SNR Denton
Is Ownership Obsolete? When Sharing Isnt Enough on Feb. 26 @ Studio X NYC
The Story of the Paper App on Feb. 26 @ Huge
AIPAC Technology Division: Launch Event w/ Dan Senor on Feb. 27 @ Bloomberg Tower
IA Ventures on Leveraging Big Data on Feb. 28 @ Orrick
Mobile UX Design Four-Part Series: Theory, Science, Optimization & Design on Feb. 28 @ Venue
2nd Annual NYU Entrepreneurs Festival on Mar. 1 @ Tisch Hall
NYC EDU Startup Weekend on Mar. 1 @ Alley NYC
Startup Funeral on Mar. 1 @ New Work City
BRITE 2013 Conference on Mar. 4 @ Columbia University Lerner Hall
Founders@Fail: How To Build A Community on Mar. 4 @ General Assembly East
In NYC for SxSW? Join us for Brunch! on Mar. 10 @ Venue
Unleash the Beast: How to Hack a Hackathon Save the World and Make Your Parents Proud on Mar. 14 @ Internet Media Labs

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)