The MiniMullet

I'm pretty sure this counts.

I Am A YouTube Nerd

I watch a lot of crap on youtube.

I also watch a lot of not crap on youtube.

We've all been aware of youtube and everyone's seen some retarded cat video or a baby doing something funny or a dude getting hit in the balls or a snippet of some Japanese game show.

But about 2 years ago (and I was late to the party), I stumbled across this video.

Which took me to one of this kid's videos.

Then I saw these guys doing their local commercials.

And then I found one of this fella's videos.

Then this kid popped up.

Which lead me to this girl and this girl (in a round about way).

Which took me to this guy.

And that's only a handful of my favorites.

I haven't even mentioned these guys or these folks or this guy or this guy or this girl.

And for my cousins - there's always this guy.

In a nutshell, it didn't take me long to discover a massive entertainment community all webbed together..... some really really talented people doing some really cool things with just a camera and editing software.

And right around the time I started paying attention, they were starting to make $ by doing this. By becoming youtube partners and getting paid by advertisers.

Now, a handful of these folks are making their living this way.

If you shop at Hot Topic, you're probably aware that they have a whole section dedicated to internet celebrities. Most are from youtube.

I watch more youtube than I do regular TV these days.

SO, now that I've outted myself and my love for these youtubers.....I also have to admit that I'm going to this on Saturday.

Do you see that friggin' line up!?!?

That's almost everyone I just mentioned as my favorites.

I'll be the oldest girl there wearing my wheezywaiter shirt and getting video of everything and buying more tshirts and saying hi to folks I've only watched on youtube for the past 2 or 3 yrs.

And I can't freakin' wait!!

Social Experiment

Upon logging into facebook today, I noticed a certain someone had posted something about how they'd had enough of facebook.

This person mentioned cleaning out friends (something he does on almost a quarterly basis) and just using it to keep in touch with a few close family members and said that if friends need to get in touch, they can just call or text or email or comment on his weekly blog, or, or, or.....

The never ending stream of facebook friend info was getting overwhelming to this someone.

Which I found interesting....

Because this person posts something just about every 15mins....all day long.

Maybe not that often, but definitely a lot.

Now, I'm not knockin' this person.

He's a pretty interesting fella.

And what he posts is sometimes pretty interesting.

I'm just not sure I understand how you can be overwhelmed by the constant stream while you yourself are contributing to it so heavily.

Or why you'd announce that you're tired of facebook ON facebook.

If you're tired of facebook, don't log in to facebook.

Don't post anything for a couple days.

People really don't care if you have no status update for one day or two or three.

If you close your facebook account for a month, everyone will still be there when/if you come back.

Depending on how this experiment goes, you may or may not find out who this person is.

Shortly after reading aforementioned status update about the facebook fed-up-edness and upcoming purge, he posted 2 or 3 more articles, which made me chuckle.

Meanwhile...back at the ranch....

I thought I'd do him a favor and unfriend him.

GASP!!!

How dare I!

You know why I'm doing this experiment?

1. Because its completely stupid that the notion of being "unfriended" on facebook has become such a social faux pas.
2. And because he's right - if you're a real friend, you call, or you see each other from time to time, or you swap a couple emails.
3. If he's tired of it and I'm his friend, I'm gonna help a brother out and do my part.
4. And because I wanted to see if he'd even notice he was missing a friend during his next Facebook Friend House Cleaning.
5. And because I wanted to see how long it would take if this were to be posted and at some point he read it and figured out it was about him.

(those last 2 things are simply due to my childish curiosity of the interwebs)

Facebook is not the end all be all for relationships.

It shouldn't be treated as such.

Its not the glue that holds people together.

We could say that its the tube (that's what the internet is anyway, right? a series of tubes) that the glue comes in that makes sticking together easier. Convenient handling.

Instead of constantly consuming or constantly contributing to the endless data stream......

Take a step back.

Unplug.

Instead of always updating your status with where you are...

Just be there.

*****************

ps. as part of this experiment (the control, if you will), it should be said that this post is not to be linked to or shared on facebook.

thank you,

mgmt.

To The St. Patrick's Day Haters

Who the feck cares??

For as long as I remember, its always been about wearing green so you don't get pinched, leprechauns & pots of gold, shamrocks, and when I got older, BEER.

I don't care where it came from or why we celebrate it or that from 1903 to 1970 all the pubs in Ireland were closed on March 17th, or that it's based on the catholics wiping out the druids (most holidays as we know them today are based on that anyway).

I really don't even care that it's a "holiday".

If we don't have off from work, it ain't a real holiday.

You know what I did last Thursday?

I probably wore something green to work and watched a dumb movie and went out to drink somewhere.

You know what I'm doing tonight?

I'm wearing green and going to see a dumb movie and going out to drink somewhere.

NOT that big o'deal.

And you can't try to call me out for hating on Columbus Day but not St. Patrick's Day.

People don't wear a color for Columbus Day. They don't have big parades or dye bodies of water that run through cities a certain color (though, if they did, it would most certainly have to be red). There's no drinking songs. There's no drinking. There's no fun.

On St. Patrick's Day, I'm not pretending I'm Irish.

I'm wearing a green shirt and going out for a few pints.

On St. Patrick's Day, I'm not dishonoring ancient religions.

I'm listening to bagpipes and continuing my recent obsession with Liam Neeson's facial profile.

So, if I ask you to go out on March 17th, I don't want to hear how it's a dumb celebration or how it's amateur night or that you don't want to because you're not Irish.

I want to hear, "FECK YES" because you want to hang out with feckin' good company and have a feckin' good time.

Just like how it should be any other day of the week......month.....year.

***********************

ps. it has taken me an extra 15-20mins to post this just because I keep staring at Liam's face up there....

The Decade

Last week, I hit my 10 year anniversary of being a humble employee with Large Software Corp.

Ten years.

1 Decade.

1/3 of my life.

10 years ago I was a 22yr old who had no idea which way she wanted to go and had no real business getting into the industry I've now spent 12yrs in.

10 years ago I hated my job and who I worked for, so I went looking for another gig in the area and since I was already in hardware....sure, software seemed to fit.

Plus, it was more money....which, at 22 & itching to have my own roommateless apartment, was really key in accepting the offer letter that came the day after my interview.

I've held 5 positions, moved my desk back & forth between 3 buildings, met my now husband, watched the company change ownership, have worked for 9 managers, 3 CEOs, have gotten countless kudos awards, have gone through 2 desktops & 2 laptops, traveled to about 5 major cities, and I've seen at least 5 rounds of layoffs (one of those I was actually included in).

10 years ago, I had no idea I'd remain with the company for so long.

And honestly, I had no intentions to remain with the company for so long.

But here I am....and here we are.

Happy Anniversary to us.

Strawberry Season: Now Open

Pannacakes Goes To Washington

"hahaha...this guy's dead."

"hahaha...this dinosaur is dead."

"hahaha...the lady that wore this is dead....but she had a pretty belt."

"hahaha...the lady that wore this is also dead and had to wear WAY more clothes."

"hahaha...isn't this the rover that got flipped over after hitting a rock and died??"

"hahaha....that astronaut has no head. that means he's dead."

"hahaha...nobody tells me what to do or else they die!"

"hahaha...is that your anus?"

"hahaha...that IS your anus. RUN, KAREN, RUN...that guy is gonna bite your arm and you'll die!!"

"hahaha...HOOKAH OR DIE!!!"

Dinner in Boston with Redd Foxx

"Where is that li'l girl with mah damn food??"

"Why is this damn beer cup so tiny??"

"What?!? A sweet potato french fry?"

"Damn, that shit is pretty tasty...."

"And so are these...."

"Let me know when you're finished. I'ma watch this dumbass video cuz I don't really want to talk to you."

*******************************

Feel free to post your own captions on what Redd is saying in the comments section!!

As Typed on iPad at Dulles on 2/21

I totally forgot this was on here.
Easier than trying to fit my writing into the lines on penultimate.

Sitting at the Dulles airport, at Max & Erma's. Just finished my chicken & 1st beer...listening to other people on their phones & conversations with each other.
There's a girl sitting at the corner of the bar who (just left) reminded me of Melissa. Same voice & laugh....similar in the face but had big brunette hair.
Still about 45 mins til my flight starts boarding.
This woman next to me is talking to family about her dinner & pie crust recipes.
The English blokes just left.
Apparently one of them had a bum knee & a lovely chat with a chap at some loud party. He also said something about the BBC...like maybe he worked there.
There was a couple earlier that was sitting where the pie crust lady is sitting now. She had face piercings & was in a very animated conversation about child support with her travel companion guy who just kept nodding & saying, "yeah" and "I know". As they left, I silently wished him luck.
At the same time and sitting at the table between us, another couple of older Ft Lauderdale women kept talking about cutting hair (the profession of) & took cell phone pics of each other.
Now the bartender is giving folks the wrong drinks & talking about how he's going senile.

It's weird being in an airport without Matt.
Been so long since I had to travel for work, forgot what this was like.
Now about 30 mins til boarding.

We had a great trip here in DC.
Met some folks & a great bartender at a joint called Rumors the first night we got in. Danced our asses off. The next day we would wonder if we actually took over the dance floor because we were so badass or if we just scared everyone off. Except that old black dude we were dancin' next to, mimicking his moves.
Afterwards got McDonalds crap & drunkenly stumbled back to the room to happily eat our crappy food only to pass out a little while later & sleep in til 10 the next morning.
Upon waking, showering, & getting ready for the day....we ventured off to find some monuments & grub. We walked down Pennsylvania Ave to the White House & grabbed a pretzel & coke from some Chinese roach coach folks after stopping to gawk at the crowd protesting Qaddafi in front of Barry O's hizzy. We walked toward the Washington monument. There were kite flyers out....it was a blustery clear blue sky day. Perfect for kite flying.
Walked through the WWII monument to the Vietnam wall & onto the Lincoln memorial.
Grabbed a cab after who dropped us off at Harry's, said to be a local spot (if only for the fact that it was open late & had beer & crappy food). Their high top chairs were really uncomfortable so we didn't stay very long after eating giant sammiches & enjoying a pitcher.
Grabbed another cab shortly after leaving.
This cabbie told us how lucky we were & said Matt looked like a Muslim & regaled us with tales of religion & his family. Was the chattiest cabbie we had, but totally cool.
Got back to the hotel & took an epic nap.
When we woke up, I tried to get us to Georgetown to stop by Commander Salammander (cuz Thomas told us to). We ended up walking an hour in the wrong direction before grabbing yet another cab who took us to where we wanted to go only to find the damn store out of business. We walked a little ways through the Mall of Millenia type of shops & found a spot to have dinner. It was loud & crowded & I don't remember the name of it. The NBA allstar contest was on so we watched that & ate & people watched. Then this DJ set up this badass table full of tech toys & flashing lights....
And started his set with a stupid ass country song.
WTF??
Not exactly what we were expecting.
Followed by High Stepper with a horrible transition to Safety Dance which bled into Sunday Bloody Sunday & the St. Elmo's Fire song.
He had NO idea what songs went together or how to transition.
He was the worst DJ ever.
He stood back there lookin' miserable with a grumpy face.
And apparently, I'm a DJ snob.
_________________________________________________________
I stopped here and got on my flight.