dangerous candy

Some accomplishments

2007-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Chris and I made a viral video that got over 11,000 views

We bought a mid-century 1969 townhouse in Marina del Rey

Who's on Top in 2006?

2006-12-04T22:55:00.000-08:00

The Yahoo! Top Searches of 2006 are live, and I wrote a post for the corporate blog, Yodel Anecdotal discussing some of the most interesting top searches. Check it out.

Also I was quoted in the last paragraph of this AFP story headlined "Internet users hot for female celebrities in 2006." It says:

I'm going to be on MSNBC's "The Most" with Alison Stewart again on Tuesday, Dec 5 at 12:15 PT / 3:15 ET to discuss the year's top searches. Fun, fun. Do tune in.

What do you think? Why has Britney been the #1 most-searched person on Yahoo! for 5 of the past 6 years? Are you the one searching for her?

Goodbye 'Portal Shortall'

2006-12-01T06:02:00.000-08:00

These past two weeks have been all over the place. I was up in Toronto to say goodbye to Greg Shortall (a.k.a. "portal Shortall") and to interview new editorial candidates for Yahoo!'s Canadian Broadband team. As Greg told the candidates we were interviewing to fill his vacated position, "Karaoke makes up about 18% of this job." How true! (Especially when I'm around.) The day after I returned to LA we moved into our new house (more on this soon), and my mom flew out to visit us from Boston on day later, and the very next day we drove six hours to Prescott, Arizona to see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and a lot of craziness.

Elex Success!

2006-11-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Even though I've been awake and working for most of the last 48 hours, I'm definitely excited about the Elections results. It's nice not to be incredibly depressed at the results after working for days straight as I was in the 2004 Presidential Election. It's excellent news that the Democrats gained control of the House, and that Nancy Pelosi will be the first female Speaker of the House.

I'm also excited to point out that SearchEngineWatch just published a post titled "In the Elections Results Race, Yahoo!'s the Winner," saying that Yahoo!'s Election Day 2006 coverage was better than Google's, MSN's, and AOL's. They called out this interactive map that Chris built in the post. Considering this is pretty much one of the only positive pieces of press I've seen about Yahoo! vis a vis Google in the past year (see this Drift post "The Swift-Boating of Yahoo!" for more info), I'd say it was a smashing success.

See, just as I pointed out two years ago in my blog post about the 2004 Presidential Elections as covered at Yahoo! there are benefits to having actual human journalists taking care to gather and present information, rather then computer algorithms choosing and presenting news -- especially about important, controversial, and complicated topics.

Turning Away from Jackson's Breasts for a Moment...

2006-11-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

For this Election Day, I turned my focus away from topics such as purses and Janet Jackson's breasts to something slightly more important... and political... for the Yahoo! Top 5 segment on ABC News NOW.

In today's special political video segment, I spoke about the Top 5 Political Blogs and the Top 5 Hot-Button Ballot issues. This wasn't my best segment. I was talking way too fast, and also my neck and chest broke out in a rash from the heat. (It was 92 degrees yesterday in Los Angeles when we taped this segment and there's no make-up person on-hand to save me...) Well, I'm just glad we got the important info out there.

Did YOU vote today? Why or why not? What's the big issue for you this election?

The Politics of Searching...

2006-11-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's U.S. midterm elections look like they're gonna be close. Please go out and vote. And if you need to do any online research about the ballot measures in your state, check out the Buzz Log post I wrote about the hottest ballot issues, according to the searches people are doing on Yahoo!

What do YOU think is the most important issue this election?

Photos and Video -- Halloween 2006 in Los Angeles

2006-10-31T23:40:00.000-08:00

Chris and I dressed up as Britney and KFed this year. Check out this video showing how we decided what to wear. We started Saturday night at the Halloween Vlog Fest party in honor of Amanda Congdon in the lobby of the Yahoo! Center in Santa Monica, and then we were headed to West Hollywood to a fabulous bash at Court's place. My two favorite costumes of the evening were Strawberry Shortcake (a.k.a. Sam of daily online video serial sow Sam Has 7 Friends at the vlog party) and a seriously decked-out Marie Antoinette (in WeHo). Check out the photos.

Halloweens I Have Known

2006-10-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, October 20, I went on MSNBC's "The Most" with Alison Stewart to talk about popular Halloween costume searches this year on Yahoo! If you play a drinking game and take a shot of tequila every time I said "sexy" during the 60 second interview, you might get sick. Pirate costumes are popular this year, particularly sexy pirates. I'm not revealing what my costume is this year...yet. But from 1997-2004, I've been Aeon Flux, Cruella Deville, a vampire, a devil, a bumblebee, a bad pilgrim, legally blonde, and most recently, Jackie Kennedy.

What are YOU gonna be this Halloween, dear reader? Tell me.

You Haven't Lived Until You've Seen a Very Pregnant Friend Sing 'Papa Don't Preach'

2006-10-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

My team members converged on Santa Monica for our Broadband Editorial Summit, and we also celebrated Heather's soon-to-be-born little guy. How did we celebrate? With karaoke, of course. You really haven't lived until you've seen a very pregnant friend or co-worker sing Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." It was perfect. LJ sang a song by Donna Summer. Jim sang No Doubt's "Keep on Dancin.'" Dave O sang "(What's so Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding?' Greg sang Weezer's "Sweater Song." Dave C. sang a Creedance Clearwater Revival song. I did my usual Snoop Dogg. (Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Eric's hardcore version of Pat Benatar, because the camera was out in the car at the beginning...) Check out the pictures.

And please do tell me, what is the song YOU would choose to karaoke?

That's Right, I'm Very Knowledgeable About Purses and Janet Jackson's Breasts...

2006-10-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

People have been asking for a link to see the ABC News Yahoo! Top 5 video segment that Heather, LJ, and I appear on each week.
OK, you can have a peak, but only if you promise not to make fun of me for blushing when I talk about Chanel handbags and Janet Jackson getting all naked on magazine covers. Check out the video.

Is this what you all expected when I majored in American Culture at Vassar? That I'd build a career of kowing where to find knock-off Gucci bags online and what the story is behind Janet Jackson's "invisible daughter..." Yeah, I thought so, too.

'There's an Elephant in the Living Room'

2006-09-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Graffiti artist and prankster, Banksy, (you know, the guy who famously and fantastically spoofed Paris Hilton's CD opened his first Los Angeles show on Friday, Sept 15 in a warehouse downtown Los Angeles. Chris and Chris and I popped over to take a peak. The elephant's presence was controversial. Check out this article. The elephant was painted for the show's opening night, but most/all of the paint was washed off or worn off by Sunday when we stopped by the show. Someone outside had done some graffiti of their own outside in the alley that said "How much for the elephant?" poking fun at both the elephant's inclusion at the show and the fact that Banksy was selling prints of his graffiti for $90 and one canvass -- ironically this one "Sale Ends Today" -- for over $2000.

My favorite pieces were the stencil of the girl on the phone (ostensibly to Banksy himself) and she's saying "That's so cute the way you just drwa on stuff and think about yourself all the time." It really shows that he's not afraid to poke fun at himself and is willing to point his fierce criticisms at himself too. This "How's my bombing? Call 1-800-648-0403" sticker he had on the back of the truck was great too. Chris called the number, and it's a Navy recruiting office.

More Maria Sansone Than You Can Click a Mouse at...

2006-09-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

I do a weekly radio interview about Yahoo! Buzz on KMOX in St. Louis, Missouri with the hosts of the late night Two Johns No Waiting show.

One of the Johns (I believe it's John Carney) admitted to me that he has a mild crush on Maria Sansone who hosts Yahoo!s daily video show The 9.

Today at the office, my colleague Eric IM'd me the URL for a blog called What Is Maria Wearing. It's pretty funny. Almost every day from July 14 to August 31 the blog's writer posted screenshots of Maria's outfits along with snarky commentary.

If that's not enough Maria for you, you can check out her Flickr photos.

We Faced Our Fears at Burning Man

2006-09-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

Chris was a Burning Man virgin this year. (Not me, My virgin burn was 1999 -- you can read my journal about it. I also went out to the desert in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005...) During our drive to Nevada, I asked him what he most feared about Burning Man.

"Seeing naked guys kinda freaks me out," he said.

"Oh, you mean dude-ity?" I said.

"Yeah, I guess."

We arrived on the playa at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday after driving for over 13 hours (it's a much longer drive from Los Angeles, than from SF!) It was the middle of a dust storm, and we were freezing cold and tired and both had to pee.

It was very hard to find a space to camp. In the past, I had almost always camped with a group of friends in a theme camp with a reserved spot. We drove around for at least a half hour, being turned away from every spot, until we arrived at 4:30 and Hope.

We set up camp in the dust storm and it wasn't until much later that we viewed the theme camp directly across the street: called Our Lady of Schlongs: Meat Inspection camp.

Talk about Chris facing his fears!!!

Needless to say over the course of the week, they had a lot of visitors and we saw a lot of schlongs. They gave us the best bloody marys I have ever had. So spicy and delicious.

Check out all my photos from Burning Man 2006.

Tell me: What are you most afraid of? Have you faced any of your fears this summer?

We're Going to Burning Man!

2006-08-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Chris and I bought our Burning Man tickets last night off of Craigslist from a random guy in Venice who sold 'em to us for more than face value, so that he could "pay his rent." We waited a long time before buying 'em because we weren't sure Chris was going to get the time off from work so that we could go.

This is the 8th year I'll be going to Burning Man, and it's the 20th anniversary of the event. This year's ticket is gorgeously-designed, like last year's (photographed while driving through the desert to the event as a passenger in Derek's car).

The first year I went to Burning Man was 1999, and that year the tickets looked like any other normal Ticketmaster concert ticket. It also cost $65, while this year's tickets began at about $185. Here's what I wrote in my online journal on August 16, 1999 before I attended the event. And here's the diary I wrote about my experiences at Burning Man in 1999.

It's interesting to read what I was thinking about seven years ago, and to see photos of my friends and myself looking so much younger. I couldn't have imagined this future that I live in right now. In 1999 when I attended the event, I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I worked at a now non-existent company, Wildweb.com. Going to Burning Man in 1999 changed my life in so many ways. I decided to move to the West Coast a few weeks after returning to Boston and I left for good one month later. I met Owen at Burning Man in 1999, and we both ended up moving to San Francisco. I met Esther and Jason at Burning Man in 2001.

Owen, Esther, Jason, Andy, Jeff and Mindy won't be going to Burning Man this year due to work, school, world travel, and oher reasons. I'll miss them so much, but I'm still glad to be going to the desert. And I'm very glad that Chris has decided he wants to go. (He's never been before.) It'll be an adventure. We're doing an art project, similar to the one my friends, August, and I built last year (the psychiatric help booth). This year, we'd like to do something very similar (because a *lot* of people in Black Rock City seemed to want someone to talk to about their lives and problems and it was good to be able to help out), but we're thinking of calling it "Help with your past, present, and FUTURE" to fit the future theme.

There's an art installation this year called "Future You Post" by Betsy McCall and her description of the project is:

It looks like an everyday mailbox, with paper, envelopes, and pens available. But the intention here is that you write yourself a letter and it is delivered to you five years from now. The intention is for participants to write their hopes and fears, only to be surprised by them in the future. Especially for people whose off-playa lives are very different from their on-playa lives, the experience of receiving this letter from themselves in 2011 could prove extremely powerful.
I'm not sure what I will write to myself, but it will probably begin "Dear Jessica, I'm not sure how or where this letter will find you, but I hope you are still around and healthy in 2011, and I hope you are still enjoying life as much as you were in 2006. (But maybe not working quite as hard.) I hope your loved ones are still around you, and I can not imagine what you will have accomplished five years from now."

What do YOU think about the future? If you could write yourself a letter that you would receive five years from now, what would it say?

I Saw a Grown Woman Cry When Her Water Was Taken Away at LAX...

2006-08-11T06:16:00.000-07:00

I needed to fly up to San Jose from Los Angeles to attend some meetings at Yahoo!s main office up in Sunnyvale, and I had a very tight schedule and was worried about how the airport situation just hours after the announcement of the London terror plot would affect my trip. If I didn't make it through the security lines in time, I would risk missing my flight, and consequently miss all of the fairly important back-to-back meetings I had scheduled.

Also, I don't know about you, but it sort of just makes me a tiny bit nervous to get on a plane when I think about bombs going off inside planes filled with people. I tried not to think about that and instead worried about whether or not I would be able to get my toothpaste and deoderant through the security clearance. I only had one bag with me (an beautiful oversized cream-colored Marc Jacobs purse that I use as my overnight bag and that certainly would not have survived being checked through underneath the plane), and I was going on an overnight business trip. I don't know about you, but deodorant and toothpaste rank pretty high on my list of overnight necessities for overnight trips.

At LAX haggared travelers were not sure about what they could and could not take onto the airplanes. There was a lot of confusion, because not everyone had had a chance to read the news yet and familiarize themselves with the list of things that were banned. At the security chckpoint, I removed my shoes and put my bag on the x-ray belt and held my breathe as I walked through the metal detector. Luckily, the screeners let my toothpaste and deodorant through. (I had a tiny travel-sized Crest toothpaste, and solid Secret deodorant, so these may have been deemed acceptable. It's hard to say. I didn't ask for clarification, because I didn't want to call attention to these contraband products, lest I risk them being taken away!)

Water and drinks were the #1 thing they were taking away from people at LAX. The grown woman in front of me in the security line was brought to tears when her brand new bottle of sparkling Calistoga water was grabbed and pulled out of her bag. "But I just bought this in the airport!" she demanded to the security screener guy. The guy told her that that didn't matter. "You can't take any liquids through to the gates," he said. He told her she had to give it to them. She started to cry, "But can I just have a sip first, please, before you take it away?" People were stressed and it was making everyone thirsty. (It's very dry and warm in Los Angeles, and this adds to the thirsty-factor.)

When we landed in San Jose (a much smaller airport in Northern California at the bottom of Silicon Valley), I noticed bins filled with banned items taken away from passengers. I snapped a photo of this one with my cameraphone. At San Jose airport, they were taking away deodorant and toothpaste, in addition to water and beverages. Also, I thought it was interesting that they were taking away chapstick too! I felt so thankful that they didn't take away my lipstick and moisturizer. It's very very dry in California, and it's not recommended to give a presentation with dry skin and chapped lips.

Does the foiled London terror plot make you more afraid to fly? Or does it make you more confident about flying? Also, how do you feel about the increase security checks and increased list of banned items to take on planes? Have you had anything weird taken away from you before boarding a plane?

Pam Anderson is Actually Very Pretty

2006-07-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

At the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in Monterey last weekend, Chris and I ended up standing 5 feet away from Pamela Anderson as she walked out of the pitts area and climbed into a car. Always quick on the draw, Chris captured 2 excellent photos of the soon-to-be Mrs. Kid Rock.

Two things that surprised me about Pam Anderson:
1. She was truly wicked freakin hot. I was expecting her to look overly made up and tacky, kind of like Anna Nicole Smith. But here's the deal -- she's a really cute gal. She was wearing very little make up and a cute, simple black tank top. Even her chest didn't look ridiculously huge.

2. She was with a guy I didn't recognize, and the mystery guy was definitely not Kid Rock. It's not that big of a deal -- because I'm sure she has tons of male friends -- but I'm just wondering if anyone recognizes the guy. Take a look at the photo, and let me know who you think he is.

Shortly after seeing Pam, we saw Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni, known to most of the world as just... Fabio. Just as you might imagine, he's very tan and his long-hair was flowing in the breeze. This photo I took of Fabio and some "umbrella girls" is just like the cover of a romance novel. Or, errr, something...

But, what man can resist hanging out with umbrella girls? Check out our blog from the event and my post about the umbrella girls and motorcycle guys.

I Feel the Need, the Need for Speeeeeeed!

2006-07-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

When I'm not blogging here on poprocks.com -- you can rest assured that I'm busy blogging somewhere else, probably for work reasons. This blogging machine never stops.

Other places to find me, when you need your fix:

Along with the ever-lovely Ms. Heather Moylan, I'm writing the AT&T Yahoo! Broadband Editors' Blog, asking the users what they think about such topics as skinny celebs, male infidelity, and the Middle East conflict. We also ask the users to shoot and submit their own cell phone videos of themselves speaking on these topics. Then on Fridays we read the web comments and show the video clips on-air on Seen and Heard, a new interactive video show show on ABC News NOW (ABC's 24/7 online news channel). We're collaborating with the ABC folks on the show, and we get to talk about what Yahoo! users are saying and what they're searching for each week. It's a really interesting interactive media experiment, and I encourage you to check it out. We also use the AT&T Yahoo blog to highlight the users' best Flickr photos. It's been a cool project. It's exciting to me that the technology finally allows us to pull off interactive user content like this much more easily. The fact that all the users are on a fast broadband connection doesn't hurt either!

Something else I'm blogging about that goes very fast: motorcycles! Those who have read my site for a long time know that I'm always curious about new things... In that vein, along with the fabulous Chris Strimbu, I'm writing the MotoGP blog from Laguna Seca in Monterey. MotoGP is motorcycle Grand Prix and it's something that's been really huge in Europe for years, but is only in its second year in the U.S. -- so most Americans aren't hugely familiar with it. The motorcylists ride on a curvy track at speeds of more than 200 miles-per-hour. It's pretty incredible. And loud! Right now, we're in the media tent working on the blog. Later today, we'll upload some awesome photos and interview the riders.

Since I'm on the topic of fast stuff, I ask you, dear readers, to tell me about the fastest you've ever gone?

You Can Lead a Whore to Vassar...

2006-06-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

"You can lead a whore to Vassar, but you can't make her think."
-Frederick B. Artz, noted medieval historian

For some inexplicable reason, we went back to Poughkeepsie, New York to celebrate the Vassar Class of 1996 10-year reunion. Thankfully, there was a lot of drinking. You can look at the pictures.

It struck me that ten years is somehow both a very long and a very short amount of time. And I'm not the only person who had profound thoughts. In one of the bathroom stalls in Josselyn dorm, one of my classmates scrawled in black Sharpie marker: "I love Vassar, but my girlfriend won't." Ah, the coed college bathrooms of my youth. Being back at Vassar, I realized it was probably the only place where Chris, Mindy, Erik, and I could all pee standing/sitting alongside each other. Ah, co-education is a beautiful thing, despite what one of the women from the (female only) class of 1946 exclaimed loudly at my classmates. Little did she know that by far the most popular party during my time at Vassar was the annual Homo Hop.

The other Vassar 10th reunion take-away I will share is that those tiny twin-sized dorm beds with plastic matresses are completely uncomfortable and I have no idea how we ever slept in them. Nevermind, with more than one person in a bed. Which reminds me...

"If all the girls at Vassar were laid end to end...
I wouldn't be at all surprised."
- Dorothy Parker

As I said, you can look at the pictures. Nothing too risque this time. The five-year reunion was a bit more lively. Does this mean we're *gasp* getting old?

Have you been ever been to your high school or college reunion? If so what did you think?

Relax. Look into the Camera and Smile.

2006-06-01T23:15:00.001-07:00

ABC News NOW Yahoo! Buzz commentary
Originally uploaded by popvulture.

I think I've mentioned the weekly radio interviews I've been doing for the Yahoo! Buzz team to discuss what's popular based on the searches people are conducting on Yahoo!. The interviews are usually pretty fun. Some of my favorite radio shows of the past 2 weeks are The John Carney Show on KMOX-AM in St. Louis and The Morning Buzz on WHEB-FM in Manchester. We talk about everything from Florence Henderson to 3-armed babies. It's a blast, except sometimes waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. is a bit rough.

And now we've added video to the repertoire. Heather and I worked with the awesome folks at ABC News NOW to pitch a weekly online video interview about the top Yahoo! searches. It's happening every Friday, and it's cool stuff. You should check it out.

As if that wasn't enough, last Monday I ended up on MSNBC's "The Most" being interviewed by Alison Stewart about the summer's hottest concert tours as decided by the searches being condcted on Yahoo!.

They had a professional at the station to put on my make-up.

"How do you like to have your make-up done?" she asked me.

"I don't know. What do people usually ask for?" I said, perplexed. My idea of applying make-up is a tube of bright red lipstick, and I realize that might be a bit too dramatic and high contrast for an on-camera interview about internet searches.

"They usally say anything from 'natural' to 'glamorous.'"

"Hmmm. Can I stay more to the natural side..." I said. "but maybe slightly glamorous?" I figured I might as well see what magic she could work. I was trying to watch what she was doing so I could learn some make-up tricks.

"You look like an actress, but I can't think of her name."

"Who?" No one's ever told me I look like anyone.

"I'll think of it..... Marcia Cross from 'Desperate Housewives.' She has such great skin."

"Hmmm." I said, wondering if this meant I also had great skin, but thinking it was probably just the red hair.

Fifteen minutes later she was finished. The faux eyelashes were very glam, but I kept worrying they'd fall off when I blinked.

Being interviewed for TV from a remote studio is pretty weird. You have an ear piece in your ear, and a microphone clipped to your shirt, and you usually don't see the host/journalist who is interviewing you. Instead of seeing their face, you hear their voice in your ear and you look into a big TV camera as if you are talking to another person. You smile, but it's hard to know if the other person is smiling back. The camera lens is dark and blank. I sometimes wonder if I'm keeping my shoulders back and my hair out of my eyes or if I have something caught in my teeth.

Talking to the radio DJs I can wear my pajamas and sprawl out with my laptop on the couch or the floor. It's nice not to hafta worry about the faux eyelashes or if I look weird when I'm laughing.

Haunted House

2006-04-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

This is no lie. Chris and I are staying in a haunted house, and we can't sleep.

We're in Calistoga at a Bed & Breakfast called The Elms. We drove up from Monterey (where we attended Chris Barton's wedding yesterday) and we didn't arrive until 6:45 p.m.

We pulled up and parked in front of the large white Victorian, walked through the iron gate and approached the front door. There was a white envelope taped to the door that said "Strimbu party." We plucked it off. It contained 2 keys, and a note that said our room was on the 3rd floor. It also had a phone number to call "in case of emergency." Check in time for the Inn is between 4-6p.m. and there's complimentary wine and cheese. We had missed that, and apparently the owners weren't around.

It's a huge house with about 7 bedrooms, but the hotel manager told us that only one other room was to be occupied. It was incredibly quiet inside the hotel, and doors to all the unoccupied rooms were open so we peaked into a few of them.

Up on the top floor in our room, the weathered books on the book shelf included a box set of The Chronic(wah)les of Narnia, Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, and California Hauntspitality: A Ghostly Guide to Haunted Inns, Restaurants, and Taverns. Of course, I picked this one up, and immediately thumbed to the page for Calistoga. And of course, there was the name of our hotel, the only haunted place listed for Calistoga, California.

"Oh my god!" I said, handing the book to Chris before reading the entry, in an attempt to avoid freaking myself out.

"Don't tell me this place is in that book," he said, and immediately started reading the page I had open. "Wow."

"Should I read it?" I asked.

"I don't know if you want to see it," he said.

Of course, I had to read it. And now I can't sleep.

Here's what it said:

History:The house was built in 1871 by A.C. Pallmer, who was the first circuit judge in the area. He and his bride went to Europe on their honeymoon. While in France, they picked up the seedlings to the French Elm trees, then came home and built the French style Victorian. The Elm trees are now the tallest and oldest elms in the Napa Valley. There were originally eight "great" Victorian houses built in Calistoga; The Elms is the last one standing today.

Spirits: The owners assume that a couple of their spirits are A.C. Palmer and his wife... There is a room on the third floor called "Blithe Spirit," and since the owner has been there, she has always felt like someone or something is in the room. One day, one of the maids was vacuuming that room, and the vacuum turned off. The maid walked over to chack the plug, and the vacuum turned back on. This happened three times. La Chambre, which was the original master bedroom, has had two incidents occur since 2001. One night there were guests sleeping in there and the overhead light came on by itself. One of the owners was sleeping in there in November 2001, and the same thing happened to her. Again in mid-November 2001, one of the owners of the house was alone on the third floor. As she came down the stairs, she could hear running water, She proceeded to walk into La Chambre, and the faucet in the sink was turned on. No one had stayed in that room for two days."

After reading that passage, we just had to look around inside "Blithe Spirit," the empty room that was our nextdoor neighbor on the top floor. It was similar to ours with a different color scheme (blue walls, red bed) and a larger bathroom. On our way downstairs to leave for dinner around 8:30 p.m. we had to look around inside La Chambre, which had its light on. It is a beautiful room with hardwood floors and a giant wooden mirror. The bathroom is gorgeous and spacious, with a claw foot tub. We climbed down the long windy staircase and there was old fashioned music playing downstairs in the empty parlor on the first floor. "Was that on when we arrived?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so," he said.

"I wonder if it stays on all night."

Who Crashed This Ferrari Enzo on the PCH at 162 mph?

2006-03-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Since I've moved to Los Angeles (Venice, actually) 5 months ago, I've seen a lot of crazy things, but this might take the cake.

On February 21, someone crashed this rare (only 400 made, valued at $1 million) Ferrari Enzo on the PCH up in Malibu driving at 162 miles per hour(!) And the guy who owned the car walked away from the crash with just a bloody lip.

It's a huge mystery that the LA Times has been investigating and people have been searching for photos and info for over the past few days on Yahoo!

Items I am Bringing into Canada...

2005-12-20T06:50:00.000-08:00

I needed to fly to Toronto this week for work to visit our Canadian Yahoos! and concoct our plans for global domination. Then on Wednesday, it's on to Boston to visit my mom for Christmas.

Since I have one of those skinny velvety sugar glider-type pocket dogs (a.k.a. Bocce the fruit bat), she goes home with me for Christmas (and everywhere else). She was in the Virgin Islands with me earlier this year, as well as New York City, Florida, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Why should Canada be deprived of her bony translucent alien presence and her winning personality?

"You better make sure she'll be allowed into Canada," my mom said in a phone message.

I was already all over the internets researchin' this exact topic. According to the U.S. Department of State's Tips for Travelers to Canada, "millions of U.S. citizens visit Canada each year" and some of these citizens are dogs. Currently there is no quarantine on the import of pet dogs to Canada, but "if you have several dogs you may be asked to provide certification that they are your personal pets and not for resale." I also needed to be sure to bring her rabies vaccination certificate.

I was curious to note the other items that I was allowed to bring into Canada:

Cheese: Except if packed in wey, 20 kg/person to a maximum of $20

Baby formula: Commercially packaged

Seeds: Small seeds: 500 g/person, large seed (such as beans): 5 kg

Cut flowers: Except coniferous foliage/green cones. Must not be for propagation.

Fresh fruit – tropical: 250 kg/person

Fruit and vegetables - frozen, canned or dried: 20 kg/person

Some fresh vegetables: Root crops are regulated. Contact CBSA

Herbs, spices, tea, coffee, condiments: Allowed

Baked goods, candy, etc.: Except those containing meat

Fish and seafood: All species except puffer fish and Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir)

Leather goods and skins: Fully tanned hides and skins

Wood, carvings: Must be free of bark, insects

So, I packed up my suitcase full of cashmere sweaters and long underwear (did I mention that it's 18 degrees in Toronto?) and some fully tanned hides and skins (nutria, of course!) some tea bags and wood carvings. I left all my baked goods and candy containing meat at home, though.

The great news is, Bocce made it through customs (though flagged in red letters as a "Dog"), and she's now reclining on the bed at the Four Seasons. Neither of us is certain we can brave the 18 degree (!) temperatures to venture outside.

Have you ever had any interesting experiences with Canadian customs or crossing the border between U.S. and Canada? Have you ever been to Canada? Are you Canadian? Declare yourself!

Sweet Memories of Skinny Dipping in San Francisco

2005-11-29T00:56:00.000-08:00

"I said goodbye to someone that I love
It's not just me, I tell you it's the both of us
And it was hard,
Like coming off the pill that you take to stay happy."
--belle & sebastian, "If She Wants Me"

I was up in San Francisco for a few days at the beginning of last week for a work trip, and it ended up being a crazy few days. First, I decided to drive up (rather than fly), even though it takes six hours of cruising up the 5 freeway at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour. In my mind it was 100% necessary. I needed to recover the the three of four cases of wine I had left behind. You see, when I moved down to Los Angeles last month I was driving a car-full of sharp spiky cactuses and velvety thin-skinned dogs (well, several exceptionally prickly cactuses perched on the precarious pile of stuff between me and one dog with very little fur and very little body fat and enough anxiety for twenty dogs) -- and I had to practically abandon all of my excellent Napa and Sonoma wine because it just wouldn't fit into the tightly packed car. Ric, my former San Francisco housemate, assured me he hadn't raided my make-shift wine cellar (i.e. the back shelf in our garage.)

And so I found myself on a mission to recover the wine from our dilapidated Mission District Victorian apartment and transport it to my new Venice beach pad, in the hope that I could drink it while watching the sunset over the ocean. Now, doesn't that sound like a California dream, (or more aptly, a cheesy California wine commercial)?

Though I was almost certainly visibly shaking less, I was nearly as nervous as the dog. (I looked at her and said, "What?! We're not driving with even a single cactus this time!") I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and bit my nails on the other hand and worried about all the work stuff I had to do up in Sunnyvale/SF (we were running the second annual Broadband Editorial Summit; I was about to begin managing a team of six) and all the people -- friends and co-workers -- I had overlapping plans to hangout with. And I was exhausted from the previous nights spent partying until the wee hours at such places as the Viceroy and Arianna Huffington's house.

And I'd be leaving important stuff out if I didn't tell you that the biggest thing I was worried about was that August and I had been fighting on the phone, and I sensed that the end was near.

Think about it. If you were a first-year law student working your ass off up in San Francisco, you probably wouldn't feel at all very excited to hear your girlfriend gush about endless parties. And if you were a fun-obsessed girl recently relocated to Los Angeles, you probably wouldn't feel at all very excited to learn that your habit of running amok drinking cocktails 'till dawn every night and writing about it in your blog made someone you care about feel very sad. As happy that I was that August had gotten into law school and was completely throwing himself into his studies, and as happy as I was that I had moved myself back to Los Angeles and was completely throwing myself into a new social schedule -- it was apparent that we were in two completely separate places, and they (we) were further apart than a 1-hour plane trip or a 6-hour drive. To get back to where we were happy and close, it was already apparent -- it would require a time machine.

So I drove up to San Francisco mainlining caffeine -- can you say "quad venti latte"? -- and stressing about everything, but mostly about the situation with August, because I'm never very good at things like this. And I feel like maybe I should be, because I've had a fair amount of practice at this point.

August came out with Allyson, Bryan, Mali, Dave, Greg and me on Friday night (we were planning to see Juliette and the Licks) a few hours after I arrived in town, and it was immediately obvious to everyone and us especially that he and I were past the point where we could be social and hangout with other people. While everyone else headed over to my formerly favorite Mission-area bar Zeitgeist (it was one of those rare, unseasonably warm nights in San Francisco, where jackets weren't even required), August and I took a cab back to my hotel and had "the talk." It wasn't easy or 100% pretty, but it certainly will go down as my most "mature" break-up ever. No one cheated. No one threw anything at each other or at walls. No one called anyone else names. No one slammed the door and walked out. No one cried. Everyone agreed to stay friends.

And that part did make me feel better.

On Saturday I had scheduled a massage with Jenny at PSOAS. I had been getting massages with Jenny for several months, and they were amazing. Her trigger point massage technique really has been helped mend much of the computer-related pain in my back and neck, and it's also helped my posture and general wellness. About halfway through the treatment -- in the midst of enjoying the massage -- I burst unexpectedly into tears. And though I wasn't sure if Jenny noticed, but it felt as embarrassing and inappropriate as if I had had an orgasm right there on the massage table.

Crying didn't feel sad; it felt good. I thought about how August and I were 5 days shy of our two-year anniversary of dating each other. And it was on some of the rare warm late fall San Francisco nights that we first met each other. Andy had introduced us at a party in Bernal Hill in October 2003. "August Bournique is a fine fellow," Andy said, as he pulled me over to a boy wearing glasses and a curious outfit of Dickies pants, a short-sleeved button down shirt, and a tie painted with what appeared to be a Honey Baked ham. "I think you'll like him." August and Andy chatted, asking each other casual catching-up-questions, and I was largely ignored. Even though I was wearing my cream-colored vintage leather coat, August didn't ask me one single question. Eventually Andy and I moved on to the kitchen area to refill our drinks.

"What did you think of August?" Andy asked me as we sipped cocktails out of plastic cups.

"He seems interesting," I said. "But he definitely isn't into me. Are you sure he likes girls?" My occasional outbursts of unabashed conceitedness shock me now when writing about it, but Andy was unruffled.

"Yes, August definitely likes girls," Andy said. "He was dating my friend Mici for something like 5 years, and they were even engaged. But then they broke up."

Recently un-engaged myself, my curiosity was piqued. "Why did they break up?"

"I'm not sure. I think it was just that they were too young to get married," Andy answered.

After I finished my drink I told Andy I needed to go home and I left the party. I didn't think about August Bournique again until the next Friday night. It was the midst of San Francisco's elusive late fall heatwave, and I was out with Benjamin drinking beers at Sadie's when Andy rang my on my cell. "Where are you? You hafta come down here!" he said. "We're at Thee Parkside seeing this band called The Husbands, and it's so much fun. You've gotta come down here!"

"Have I missed the whole show?" I asked.

"It's still going, and besides we'll all hangout afterward," he said.

"Who are you with?"

"August, Jonathan, a whole bunch of people," he said.

When I arrived the Husbands were just finishing their set. I bought PBRs for Andy, August, and Jonathan and they introduced me to Jonathan's friend Rebecca, and gushed to me about the band, and we all plotted about what to do next. Somehow we had the idea to go swimming in Andy's pool.

In case you're not familiar with the city, no one ever goes swimming in San Francisco. First of all, even though it's California and there are palm trees growing everywhere -- hardly anyone has a swimming pool in San Francisco. The weather in the city is almost always just a touch too chilly, windy, and/or foggy for swimming (especially in summertime which always confuses vistors accustomed to warm summer nights elsewhere in the country). The days (and especially nights) in San Francisco where any sane people would want their bodies to be submerged in water are extremely rare.

But Andy's Mission District apartment complex has an LA-style courtyard layout with a sweet pool. And even though it was almost 2 a.m. that evening the night-time air temperature was still in the 80s. This type of warm evening weather typically happens in San Francisco only one or two nights per year.

I still wasn't 100% sure we were going to be able to get away with it. I worried that Andy's neighbors would hear us and get him in trouble for breaking the pool rules against nightswimming. Were we going to be wearing bathing suits? Underwear? Anything? Did Andy have towels for us? These were the questions I wondered as I drove to Andy's place, after stopping at home to feed Bocce. (Jonathan had opted to drive with me, and so he met Bocce for the first time.) When Jonathan and I arrived at Andy's, Rebecca, Andy, and August were in the pool and there were towels spread on the lounge chairs nearby.

"Are you all naked?" I asked, giggling -- shocked more by the idea that they were actually swimming at 3a.m. in late October in San Francisco than by the possibility that they might not have any clothes on.

Jonathan took off his clothes and jumped in before I did. I took my time, because I wanted to find out exactly how cold the water would be.

It only took a few minutes before they had convinced me that it was warm enough to join them in the pool. We chatted for a while, treading water in the deep end. Once in the water, it was scary to think about getting out and toweling off in the nighttime air. Eventually we all got out, wrapped ourselves in towels and pulled some of our clothes back on, and went upstairs to Andy's apartment where we watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force until it started getting light outside. Rebecca offered to drive August home, and Jonathan asked me for a ride back to Bernal Hill.

It was several weeks before I ran into August again, at a party of Sean Kelly's that Andy had invited me to on a drunken cell phone conversation. I didn't really know anyone there except Rebecca and August, and so the three of us ended up talking and flirting for most of the night. At some point, I got bold and/or we ran out of chairs and I sat on August's lap. Later that night, he kissed me, and for almost 2 years we were practically inseparable, but not in an annoying way.

We spent weekend afternoons sipping beers on his back-porch looking down at the lemon tree in the backyard. He would read me Roland Barthes "Mythologies" and talk passionately about Russian prison tattoos and Communist propaganda posters. We'd listen to the Velvet Underground and watch the rays of winter sun sink lower and lower. He'd sketch me as I reclined on the mattress on his floor. In short, we were very happy. And I will remember those times fondly. And I hope to remain great friends with the artist boy who once told me that I smelled like wood and fresh paint.

Gawking at 'Yahoo! Jocks'

2005-11-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Last night after our day-long editorial conference at The Viceroy (I presented on the topic of "What Works and What Doesn't for Yahoo! Broadband Portals"), a bunch of us Yahoo!'s and our entourage went to a cocktail party at Arianna Huffington's house thrown by Yahoo!'s Lloyd Braun and Scott Moore in honor of Gawker's Nick Denton and Mark Lisanti and celebrating the Yahoo!/Gawker syndication deal. (That's right, you can now check out a random assortment of Gawker posts co-branded on Yahoo! News. Hip-hip-hooray. I think. Or maybe that's just the party line...)

Arianna was an amazing hostess. She greeted us all personally as we arrived. (just as sweetly as she greeted Bill Maher and David Mamet.) And her bartenders certainly poured some stiff freaking drinks. Chris took tons of photos, as always of our posse at the party. I'm not so sure I can run for President anymore. Sarah also took a bunch of pics. Sadly, no Arianna. Our reflexes were obviously dulled by the drinks again. While sipping vodka and sodas, I met Gawker's Lockhart Steele, who it turns out is also class of 1996 and also a former college newspaper geek. Lockhart, alas, did not try to pick me up, though our very own superstar editor John Briggs did and succeeded (and I didn't even spill my drink!)

Here's gridskipper's little post about the party. They called us "Yahoo jocks." Dunno what they're talking about. I thought that whole cool vs. uncool, nerds versus jocks thing went outta style in 1987. This means war! You know how I'm so sensitive about these things...

I pinged the URLs to Esther today, and she IM'd back:

esther: funny that gridskipper calls it a 'melee'/gang war and chris calls it a 'love fest'

Chris described the scene more accurately. I witnessed a lot more lips-to-ass contact between the Gawker and Yahoo! crews than any actual threats of personal violence. It was all about the laaaaaaahv. Sweet, sweet laaahv. And I, personally, loved it. You can read more about the party on Defamer, and look at their pics.

After Arianna's, I drove Oren, Rick, and Mali (followed in another car by Heather and Allyson) to the In-n-Out burger in Westwood for some late night cheeseburgers (with onions!). We drove with the top down and blasted Spandeau Ballet's "True" (screaming along at the top of our lungs) as we headed back to Santa Monica to the Viceroy.

Sake Bombs Over Beverly Hills

2005-11-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

Andy is in town visiting from SF, and he met me and the Santa Monica Yahoo! crew at Ariake in Beverly Hills for sushi dinner and many, many bottles of sake, including sake bombs with gold flakes in them (to keep hangovers away!)

You really need to look at Chris' flickr photoset to understand just how the Yahoo! Santa Monica posse rolls. We can't even eat sushi without going completely cray-cray. I put my bright red lipstick on Peter and Yun, everyone wore my cream leather coat, and Andy declared that it was all very different than the Yahoo! get-togethers up in Sunnyvale.

Afterward, around midnight when we all got back to my house in Venice. Kim and Mary Jo brought 30 people over dressed in wigs and flamboyant clothes for a Dance Dance Revolution / Karoke Revolution party. They were their friends, and my Venice-area neighbors who had been drinking all night at The Whaler. This went on until 6a.m. when the beer (and everyone's energy) ran out. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), Chris' camera's battery died around when the party started, though there is this one random pic.