Goodbye

thanks for reading!

I don’t blog anymore, but you can find me in the usual places..  xoxo, -s

Texas and some other stuff

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Hey there!  I hope you enjoyed the last Mostly True update, because I have yet another computer nerd conference to tell you about.  That’s right y’all!  Last week I went to “South By Southwest” in Austin, Texas- better known as sxsw.  I think South by Southwest started as a music/film festival, but now they invite nerds too to a segment called “interactive.” You might be wondering why I have a picture of “Michael Dory’” above.  I’ll tell you why- it’s because I barely took any pictures at sxsw-- but Mike took like 5 million, so I’m going to steal all of them and use them on this blog.  Thanks Mike!!  PS - you can check out Mike’s flckr here and his bloggie blog here.

So, I’m gonna make this recap quick cause I gotta get back to my thesis- but basically sxsw is a bunch of parties and panels.  Here’s a panel.

Here’s a party.

Here’s Josh Knowles winning this computer-dj competition thing (sorry Josh, I don’t remember what it’s called...but- congrats!) Josh hosted 10 ITP’ers at his family’s house in Austin.  Josh’s parents are pretty much awesome.  They put up with us strolling in anywhere from 3AM-7AM each night.  His mom also made us extravagant breakfasts including but not limited to: breakfast burritos, bagels, fresh fruit, and french toast.  You name it, she made it.

She even made us cookies one night!  Mrs. Knowles-- we love you.

All in all - sxsw was really fun.  Here’s Mike and Rebbecca livin it up at the Good Magazine Party.

Here’s Kate sneaking a photo with Ze Frank. Kate you’re such a Groupie!!! I would never chase some video blogger around.

Right.  Anyway....

We saw a presentation of this thing called Spore.  Spore is awesome.  I don’t care if you don’t like computer games--- this is rad. You’re going to love it.  I was most impressed by how quickly you can model and animate custom 3D characters.  I took a couple 3D classes at ITP and spent hours and hours in the labs making ugly things that walked funny.  This program magically automates everything-- but still gives you a completely unique character.  You can read more about Spore here.

Here’s a pic from a party Yahoo! hosted.  I scavenged this photo off Flickr from some guy named Mil8. Nice to meet you Mil8, thnx for your pic.  Going to this party just reminded me that Yahoo! owns everything.

Like Bix.

And Delicious (another pic from Mil8).

And Flickr If I ever start a company that buys everyone else’s companies-- I will totally project all the logos of the companies I own on the walls.  (Of my HOUSE!) Yes, that would rad - sort of like a logo-trophy case.

Like any good tech-party, they had LED ice cubes too.

I like this picture, also not mine.  This one is from Incanus. Hopefully I won’t get put in blog jail from all these stolen photos.

Here’s a pic from a venue called “Austin City LImits” where we saw a group called Vox Trot. Good music.  Check em’ out on itunes.

Before that we went to the sxsw web awards.  Ze Frank was an entertaining host, but honestly web awards are one of the most boring awards ceremonies you can ever attend.

I did sort of love these post-awards show loser shirts that this company called ”Innertee“ made.

Towards the end of the week ITP represented with a pretty sweet games panel - here’s Kevin Slavin (center) and Dennis Crowley (right).  So, that’s about it for sxsw.  Panels.

Parties.

And podcasting pickles.

Back in NY- er...a week before sxsw - there was the usual TNO which included a little Pecan Jackson...

mixed with some Jenny LC and Ran Ran.

And then before that it was happy birthday to Kate Hartman.  Pecan busted out with homemade mac n’ cheese for this party.  Honestly, it was the best I’ve ever had.

Fast forward to this week- a bunch of us went to a Thai restaurant called ”Room Service.“ Sitting there I realized I haven’t been out to dinner in forever.  It was nice to sit down and eat something that took longer than 3 minutes to prepare.

After that we were off to Sing! Sing! for some karaoke action.

Next time, can someone puh-leeease remove the sweater from Matt’s waist before I take a photo?

Special thanks to this guy for offering to pay for half the East Village to sing and drink.  Dens, that was so generous of you.  We all love the google for hooking you up with that super cush job.

After karaoke we made our way to another bar.  But not before Ran dipped her paw in some free cotton candy.

Yum.

At Stoned Crow I met up with love-birds Monica and Josh.

They will be married later this year and hopefully that will be the end of these obnoxious displays of public affection.

After Stoned Crow, Matt, Ran and I stopped into the Washington Square Diner for a 3AM breakfast.

Finished off the night with crunch, crunch, crunch in the filthy snow home.  That’s it for now.  Expect spotty updates for the next 2 months-- thesis is taking up most of my time these days.  As soon as I get that project up and running, I’ll be doing some shameless plugs here. Hmm......maybe this blog will be good for something after all?

Everyone Loves The Telephone

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Last week I went to a conference called ”Etel“ in San Francisco.  Etel is short for “Emerging Telephony.” Me and a couple other ITP’ers went to present some projects we did that utilize an open-source PBX called “Asterisk” let us program robots that will talk to you when you call them. We were just a small part of the conference. Some other bloggers covered everything way better than I could- if you’re interested you can check out the press here.

One of my favorite things at the conference was this OpenMoko phone-- that little orange thing above. (Pic stolen from Shawn’s Flickr) If you’re a control-freak this phone is for you.  You know how your Verizon or Cingular, or Shi-t-mobile phone menus kinda suck?  Like, maybe you have to go through about 8 menus before you can get to your missed calls list?  Or maybe your ringtone keeps defaulting to that one Britney Spears song unexpectedly.  Well, if you had a OpenMoko phone you could change all that.  You could make any menu system you wanted.  The whole phone is a touch-screen (no keypad), so, if you wanted to replace all the numbers on the touch-screen keypad with little dancing hamsters, you could.  Then every time you made a call, instead of pushing buttons with numbers on them, you could play with dancing hamsters.  Get it?  The options are infinite!

Unfortunately, the first day of the conference I missed a bunch of talks to work on my thesis and another school project.  This is the view from the lobby.  It was nice to see water and sky for a change.

Wednesday evening we presented our projects. Here’s Anh showing his ”Surprise Dialer“ which lets you surprise someone with a message from a bunch of their friends.

Before the presentations we took a quick trip to Kinkos to make about 500-too many flyers.  (I needed maybe....20?!)

Did I mention we presented our projects during Etel Happy Hour?  Everyone seemed to think our ideas were really good after a few glasses of wine.  Why don’t we serve drinks at the ITP Show??

Here’s Matt presenting his ”Bangla Bollo“ project which will help you practice speaking and listening to Bengali over the phone.

Jury and Chris busted out the ”Megaphone 3000“ which turns your cell phone into a remote controller for a bunch of games played on a giant screen.

Kate H. and Kati lured passers-by into their jungle of hotel plants to show off Botanicalls. Member this one from the ITP show?  Your house plants call you when they need water.  Awesome.  The big excitement for us that evening was when the server that handles all our calls decided to die.  This meant whenever someone tried to call and test our projects, they would either get a busy signal or hung up on.

Luckily we had Asterisk-genius Shawn Van Every with us.  He prayed over the server, and quickly got it back up and running.

That evening I took this blurry pic when we went out to the city for some Mexican food.

My nachos stood still for their glam shot.

After that it was a quick trip to Beauty Bar across the street.  (why did we go here?  don’t we have one of these in NY?)

And even in the bars....more fun with phones.  The next day at about 11AM a few of us got a call from the conference organizer who explained that a speaker had dropped out-- and offered us a spot “on the big stage.” This was such a sweet opportunity because this way the whole conference-- or at least everyone in the main room got to hear our pitches.

Ducan Davidson (Etel photographer??) snapped this photo of me presenting on stage.  Oh- by the way I presented “The Human Race.” Remember?  It’s the project were callers on hold compete to be the first to speak to a human.  You can try it out at thanksforyourpatience.com. Some really nice bloggers wrote about it here and here.  When the conference was over I went into the city to visit my friends Laura B. and Jen Raffanti.  Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures-- so I’m going to bust out with these old ones so they can still represent.

Boychenko and her pride-n-joy the pontiac “spitfire.”

Jen and her pride-n-joy Marley the make-out dog.  Love you both!!!  Did I mention there was an earthquake in San Francisco that day?  I dodgeballed back to NY to let everyone know.  Unfortunately no one seemed concerned for my safety.  Sighhhhh....

Anyway, the flight home included a full row to myself,

and California-only all stars Pete’s coffee and See’s candy,

Back in the 14-degrees-feels-like-1-degree weather of NY now.  (Why don’t they just write “don’t go outside” !!) Until next time Cali...

Cupcakes and Chocolate Fountains

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

So the 3-day birthday extravaganza started out with TNO, but I’m going to skip ahead to the real fun which was at the “Bite Me - No really, I insist” party Kate and her roommates hosted last Friday.  There were so many great things about the party, I can’t possibly blog them all, so I’ll give you a few of my favorite highlights, like the chocolate fountain you see above.

Kate showing off her years of experience doing the wine-glass-and-hair-dryer balancing act.

Candy necklace eating contest.

Whips.

Pain.

Bondage.

And Burton.

really,

really,

drunk. God bless the digicam.  These are the photos I blog for.

Did i mention everyone had to pick a boyfriend for the night?

Everyone stashed them in different places.

And, just like in real life, some were greedy and insisted on taking two (ahem! girl in the red!)

The party included some sweet college undergrad flashbacks.  Like Jello shots.

And lots of red plastic cups.

Towards the end of the night, we sang happy birthday to Kate.

And I was nice enough to keep my promise of whiskey to Alex since he beat me in our snowboarding race.

He loved it.

At the end of the night I had whip cream sprinkled all over my dress and pieces of feather boa stuck to my shoes. (look at the left heel!).

Ok- rewind to Thursday for birthday TNO which was at The Professor’s Loft- a new favorite of mine.  Close to home, cheap drinks, and a pretty nice space. Here’s Jeff, Preston, and Ran.

Gabe and I were hungry so we promptly ordered one of everything fried.

Stefan was kind of upset we didn’t want to share.

So Kate and I made him feel better with a group hug.

I spent most of the night just trying to quench my thirst. Er...this isn’t my darkly painted fingernail, but whatever, I like the shot.

Mid-TNO Gabe took over the DJ booth and turned the bar into a crazy crazy dance party.

I tried to spend some quality time with Josh. But, as usual, he only had obscene words and gestures for me.

I left Josh and his evil laugh and decided to pick up Tikva instead, which is always tons of fun.

Ok, on to Saturday.  We decided to have our birthday at Back Room.  Some other blogger predicted Back Room would be too crowded and suggested we move the party to another bar. We ignored him.

Turns out Back Room was too crowded, so we had to move the party to another bar.

We ended up at Revolver.  Also pretty crowded, but better than Back Room.

Thanks to all the rockstars that came.  Like Ran.

And Gabe. (PS- Ripped these pics off from Ran’s Flickr!)

And Songul.

And Elvis.

Extra special thanks to Dave G. for coming- cause he brought these almost-too-pretty-to-eat cupcakes. I snagged that pb and chocolate one on the bottom left.

So good.

Anyway, a couple more pics....

and a couple more drinks...

..and we were on our way to yet another bar.

I snagged the last cupcake.

And took it on a march through the LES. We ended the night at The Annex.

I think I got home around 3 something.  I guess that’s kinda early, but I was pretty tired after our third birthday celebration.  I guess I’m getting old.  Thanks x2000 to everyone who helped us celebrate.  Happy Birthday Kate.

Thanks again for cleaning out the chocolate fountain.

Birthday x2

Friday, February 16th, 2007

I’m 27.  Kate is 26.  Come to Back Room and bring us twenty-something cupcakes.

Here’s the original version of the invite that Kate drew.  I asked her to re-draw it and give us bigger boobs. Don’t you think it looks better now?

Happy V-day

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Happy Valentines day!  Now, my plans aren’t completely solid for tonight, but pretty sure I’ll be spending some part of it with this article + the bottle of gin Gabe left at my house Saturday night.  Now I’ll give you the list of “reasons” I don’t have to celebrate this hallmark holiday:

#1 This is by far the truest of all.  You like me?  Really?  So not interested.  You don’t like me?  Really?  I LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUV You.  Forever.  And ever. And ever and ever.  Unless you start to like me, then I probably won’t like you anymore.

Once Kate got her paws on this magazine, she jumped straight to the most obviously explanation for both of us....

No, no, not the “Because You Party Too Much” one...the other one....the one on the right!!  Sadly, though I wanted to believe this reason, towards the end of the article, I found out the truth.

Sigghhhh.  Someone get me a drink, and a couple cats I guess.

Oh and by they way - Kate is hosting a Bite Me party on Friday.  Couples are welcome- with a hot single friend of course.

First is the worst, second is the best.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

48 hours earlier....

..I was chatting on IM.  Making plans to put a certain snowboarder in his place.

Just look at him!!  So certain he’s going to win. So what happened you ask?!

Well, I’ll tell you what happened.  See that poor chap on the left?  That’s Alex, who collapsed on the snow, exhausted from trying to chase me down the hill.  Better luck next time Bisceglie! OK, fine, just kidding.  I lost.  But I have SO many good excuses, like the fact that I was on rental equipment, and that Alex is really good a big cheater.  The list goes on and on.

Honestly after 2 of these delicious Russian hot chocolate drinks (vodka, coffee liqueur, and hot chocolate), I didn’t care. Rest assured there will be a re-match though....as soon as I buy some super-fast race skis.

So, all the excitement was at Mt. Snow last Sunday. Here’s Kate, me, and Victoria, sporting our obnoxious matching jackets.

Here we are the weekend before (er...was it two weeks before?) at Windham Mountain.  Quick recap of Windham:

Victoria got nakers in the parking lot...

...preparing to make her contribution to The Bra Tree.

Kate was busy knocking over little kids....

...so she could be the first to get to the front of this hideous line.

We finished the day off with a trip to “The Gilded Otter.”

Where we dined on Wasabi Salmon Burgers and Apres-ski drinks. Yum.

The next day, back in NYC I helped out with a Wee Beastie promo shoot.  Monica you still owe me flaming marshmallow pics.  SLACKER!

Fast forward to Wednesday for a Lost party at “The Professor’s Loft.”

Kate and Eliot were deep in conversation about which Lost character they most want to makeout with their thesis projects.

This bar has a Lost party every Wednesday.  They give out “mind eraser” shots every time someone on the show says “the others” and free drinks every time someone dies.  Two people died that night, and everyone erupted into applause and crowded the bar.

Unfortunately, the drinks were so disgusting that even the bartender couldn’t stand them.

Gabe and Ran, who clearly have no taste, reached for seconds.  Anyway, it was a good time.

Thursday was TNO @ Barcade.  When I got to the NRW station I noticed these icicles.  When there’s icicles underground - it’s too damn cold.

Look at that! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, I warmed up with a couple martinis.  Glad to see the martini trend is FINALLY catching on with other ITP’ers.

Even Charles was sporting the triangle glass.

Saturday was a wine + cheese + Entourage marathon at my house.  Well, it was supposed to be Entourage, but slacker Gabe showed up late, so we had to pop in Sex and the City instead.

When he finally did show up, Gabe (Barcia-Colombo) made us turn on the Spanish subtitles.

I forgave him since he arrived with the “box set” of gin that came with this awesome martini glass.

Too bad neither him.....

...or Delgaudio could figure out how to open the bottle.

Cali friend, Rachel aka “the town tramp” called during the party.  Kate took this picture of me on the phone which reminds me of when I was in “Bye Bye Birdie” in high school. I think I played Ursala, the main character Kim’s best friend.  Now THAT would be an embarrassing awesome video to dig up. Mostly True star Monica is also in that video. Hmmm....I still keep in touch with my old high school drama teacher.  Smith!  Are you reading this??  Send me that video!

The day after the party my landlord put this note under my door.  It’s about damn time!  Where were you TWO RATS ago?  Okay, lets finish up this blog.  Back to Mount Snow...

Exhausted from applauding me after I beat Alex down the hill, Jane took a nap in the snow.

Part way down the mountain I spotted this NYU Prof doing crazy jumps and 360s in the park.

The sky looked pretty sweet as we made our last run of the day.

We had a few drinks at Cuzzins before we took off. Check out the decor in this place-- why is it so....festive?

Close up on two snow-boarding-bauers.  Well, I guess that’s it for now.  Couple events you should be sure not to miss this weekend: Kate’s filthy Valentines party (Friday) + the Kate and Summer Birthday extravaganza (Saturday).  I’ll try and post invites tomorrow. Have a happy valentines day.  Send me some chocolate or a hot guy or something.

I can see you!!

Any day, any time.

Ha ha.  No I can’t.  Maybe I should get some better site analytics software?!  So, I just had a meeting about my thesis and I was talking about.....making stalking more normal.  Wait....no....that’s not what I mean...I mean....ok, you know how people post photos to Flickr or blog or whatever, and they post all this stuff PUBLICLY, right.  The whole point of putting it online is to let other people see it.  For example, I blog...FOR YOU.  I mean, not JUST you but...you know what I mean. 

Anyway, despite the fact that many of us post stuff publicly, I’ve noticed there is still this strange social stigma around it all.  Like people are embarrassed to say “I looked at your Flickr” or “I looked at your blog.” Why is that?  Sometimes I feel the same way.  But, what is it I expect the Flickr’er (is that a word? Flickr-er?) or author or blogger to say?  “You looked at my “_insert thing they posted publicly here_” Yer so lame!!  Stalker!! Don’t you have better things to do??!!” Why, if some mean blogger said that to ME, I would just say something snappy right back like “um....no...I...um...uh...was just bored or something...so I looked at it...after I googled you...on accident....yeah.”

Anyway, next time YOU don’t want to admit to looking at something dear
stalker reader, just remember I can see you anyway, so you mise well admit it. (just kidding i can’t. for real, I can’t.) And if you STILL feel weird about it, go pick up a “People” magazine and dive into the lives of stars.  That’s totally normal.

I guess I should go out now.  Besides, I know you don’t care about my thesis, you’d rather see pictures at the bars.

I wish I were still on vacation

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

So, last week I decided to take up ice skating.  This is quite possibly one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had.  Why?

THIS is why.

ok fine, that’s not my knee- it’s some rugby player I found on google- but honestly that’s what BOTH my knees felt like after I dunno-- like 20 minutes on the ice.  I had this vision that if I got my own skates-- instead of using those crappy rental ones, that suddenly I would be like Sasha Cohen able to stand on the ice without falling.  But INSTEAD when I tried to skate-- this evil, evil device you see above called a “toe pick” would...without warning, reach its nasty claw out, put its death grip onto the ice, and send me plummeting to the floor.  I hate you toe pick.  Anyway, as if getting beat up on the ice weren’t enough, when I got home from the rink I saw this in the mail:

Who would send such a thing?? None other than November/December “enemy of the month” Jenny Shitter.  Shitter’s enemy status = extended.

Not last Saturday, but the one before, Kate, Victoria and I hit up this comedy club uptown and then took this really red pic at Schiller’s.

On my way up to the comedy club, this guy on the subway was drawing people near him, then handing them the drawings (which say “tip if you like it” on the edge).  I thought it was kind of a cool idea.  I mean, I liked it better than the usual Mariachi bands or “my house burned down and my dog ran away too” schemes for cash.  So, anyway, this is how he drew me.  Do I look kinda mean?  Should I try and look less bitchy on the subway? Oh well.

What else...hmm....there was TNO last week at East River Bar where Andy sported his best “Where’s Waldo” style shirt”....

....and some guy came around serving homemade empanadas (pretty good!).  F- to whoever picked East River Bar for TNO.  I smelled like a big ash tray when I got back from that place.  Yelch.

Saturday night we had a special viewing of “Ski Patrol” at Michael DelGaudio and Tricia’s place, which was pretty awesome.  Here’s Tikva, Jenny, and Jeff.

The party included a smorgasbord of deliciousness. Tricia busted out with these homemade hors d’oeuvres....

... and cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook.

Not to be out-shined, Ran swooped in with these fancy-pants deserts...

...and finally Tikva tried her hand at our favorite Austrian drink Gluhwein.

We threw in “Ski Patrol”....

...which mesmerized most of the crowd.

All but Stefan who, as you can see from this photo, was appalled by the sub-par American ski technique in the film.  Pretty sure I overheard him say “Warum verließ ich überhaupt Österreich?”

Later in the week I paid my first visit to long-time friend Monica’s company - Wee Beastie. Wee Beastie produces promos for TV.  If you have any major TV shows going into syndication anytime soon, let her know, she’ll hook you up with a sweet promo.  I guess that’s it for now.  Next up in the blog que-- 100% chance of TNO on Thursday, 98.7% chance of snowboarding on Saturday.  96.4% I drop (another) class.  150% I procrastinate working on my thesis. Have a good weekend kids.

ich mag die Blumen und Rollen blank im Schnee.

Samstag, Januar 13, 2007

Halloooo!!  Back from a 10 day trip to Austria.  Still waking up in the wee hours of the morning, looking out my apt. window expecting to see the Alps and wanting to go skiing.  To my disappointment, I only see honking cabs and sometimes public urination.  Oh well.  So the trip was mostly awesome.  Tikva and I stayed with Stefan who is originally from Austria.  He was the best host ever. I can’t recap everything but I’ll give you a couple highlights.  Lets start with New Years.

New Years eve Tikva and I arrived in Munich and then Stefan picked us up and took us to his hometown, Imst.  That night we headed out to Innsbrook and took a gondola to the top of a mountain for a New Years eve party.  You know those little houses that receive the gondola when you get to the top of a mountain?  That’s where the party was… so rad.

See!  Party tables all set up by the ski map. Sweet.

Okay, so basically you get to the top of the mountain and have this killer view of the city below.

And these awesome fire pits to keep you warm.

Oh and an outdoor bar fully stocked with all sorts of Austrian beer.

If you know me, you know I hate beer.  So, I was really happy they had this delicious drink called gluehwein.  It’s basically hot red wine with all sorts of spices in it.  Delicious.

We hung out at the top of the mountain with our new Austrian friends.  That’s Mo to the left, Martin, me and Tikva.

At midnight they had this crazy fireworks show.  I took a video for you.  The part I couldn’t catch was the hundreds of mini-fireworks shows in the town below, which was maybe the coolest part.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen.  Sie Österreicher sind mit Ihren Raketen verrückt.

After the fireworks we went inside to dance.  I decorated Stefan so he would look more festive.

He loved it. And then there was Tikva who I warned 6,000 times “don’t wear a strapless dress, we’re in the snow.”

Sighhhh.

More pics from outside:  Stefan and his Austrian-lady fan club.

Sparklers in the snow.

We slept over at Stefan’s friends house in Innsbrook.  On New Years day all of Austria watches this classical music concert that is broadcast live from Vienna.  We blasted it on TV, then had some breakfast.

Here’s the view outside the kitchen.

After breakfast we spent the rest of the day walking around Innsbrook.  We came across this light thing that reminded me of a giant version of Andy Maskin’s ”Massive Multiplayer Persistent Connect Four“ Hey Andy- maybe try making the title of that game a little longer- ya know add the word “interactive” or “ubiquitous” to it.

Anyway, turns out it’s not a giant Austrian version of Andy’s project, but instead it tells you what percentage of the day/night is left.  Get it?  35% Tag (day!) and 65% Nacht (night!).

Here’s a shot of Innsbrook at night. Okay, moving on, let’s talk about skiing!

There are about 9 trillion ski resorts in Austria.  The first one we started off at was “The Glacier.”

A little bit flatter terrain but overall some good runs.

The next day the heavens opened up and dumped down buckets of snow.  This is the “before” pic from Stefan’s place in Imst.

And the after shot.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Excited like little kids at Christmas, Tikva and I ran upstairs to make sure Stefan knew the good news.

He threw us in the car and we headed out to the next Ski resort, Imst.

Check this out.  Austria, I love you.

Here’s another shot from later in the day.  Now, I’m not sure if I mentioned this yet, but before coming to Austria, Tikva had never skied before.  She e-mailed me before we left and asked if I would teach her.  I replied “no, take a lesson.” Stefan was much, much nicer and gave her some tips the first day.  But still, by the second day she wasn’t quite ready for the double-black diamond.

Being the good friend that I am, I left her at the kinder club.

And headed up the mountain.

On the way up the lift I kept seeing this metal track.

I couldn’t figure out what it was.  All I knew was the sooner I got on it, the better.

At the top of the lift I saw this glorious sign.  I’m not sure what “Die längste Alpenachterbahn der Welt!” translates to, but I’m pretty sure it’s something like “this thing is really, really fun.”

So here’s how it works, you get in one of these little carts, and go screaming down the track.  At full speed it still takes almost 10 minutes to get down.  So fun.

I decided this fantasticness must be documented.  So, just for you, I turned my goggles around backwards and used the strap to attach my digicam to my head.  Enjoy.

After a full day of skiing we headed home for some dinner, and then back out to the mountain at night.  Stefan does this thing with his friends were they hike for 2 hours to a pub that sits way back in the middle of the mountain.  You can’t get to it by car-- you have to walk/ski.  Not up for a two-hour walk (uggs = bad hiking boots) Tikva and I took the ski lift up and opted for a 1/2 hour walk.  It was a pretty surreal experience to be nestled way back there in the mountain.

Here’s a pic of all of us inside.  After several beers (ps- I found an Austrian beer I like called “Radler” which is mixed with sprite. Ja! Ja!) Our next question to Stefan was “How will we get down?” Tikva and I didn’t rent skiis overnight, and the lifts were closed.  Stefan and his friends had brought their skiis up and were skiing down.  Hmmmm......what to do....

Jump on this chariot of course, and slide down in the dark.

hahahahahah.  See that light mounted on Tikva’s head?  That’s so we don’t ram into any polar bears or deer on our way down.  Oh man that was so fun.  Okay, moving on.

So, the rest of the time we mostly skied St. Anton.  To be honest, it’s the best skiing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve been to some pretty nice resorts.  But this beat out both Banff and Whistler.

See?  I look pretty happy.

For me, the highlight of the trip was staying at this freaking amazing mountain “hut.” Well, they call it a hut, I’d call it a palace.  This place was incredible.  It’s one of two huts on the entire mountain.  See that green thing on the right between the flag pole and the tree-- that’s a jacuzzi.  Sitting in it, feels like you’re hanging off the edge of a cliff in a nice warm bath.  Totally unreal.

Can’t complain about the view from inside either.

Another window.

And another.

For real, even the dog was impressed by the view.

Oh mountain hut, I miss you!

Here’s a pic of the spa (covered) from inside the hut.

To the left of the hut, this is the view of St. Anton, the town below. Okay, enough about the hut, I’m getting depressed that I’m not there.  Let’s talk about skis.

So, I own skis, but they are Rossignols from the early 90’s and I didn’t feel like schelping them from Cali to Europe, so I decided to rent the new, improved parabolic skis.  They are pretty sweet.  First couple days I went with the all-terrain atomics.

After that, these Solomon freestyle skis with the little doggie on them.  WOOF!  I usually snowboard, but I’m a much better skier, and since I would be skiing mainly with two Austrian Ski instructors (Martin and Stefan both!) I opted for the skis, so they wouldn’t be waiting for me.  Turns out, they still had to wait for me (not too long, eh?!) Honestly Martin and Stefan and the best people I’ve ever skied with.  Stefan looks like one of those guys on the ski videos jumping off crazy cliffs and ledges.  It seems in Austria, as soon as you can walk (or maybe before?) they strap skis on your feet and shove you down a mountain.

See?  Here’s Stefan’s little brother Peer, who can already do the double-black diamond runs.  Nothing scares this little guy.

Back in Imst, I tried to scare him with this mask...

...but he just held up this sign which I think translates to… “you don’t scare me” or something.

Back at St. Anton, we took a gondola to the top of the mountain to check out this amazing view.

Pretty much 360 degrees of Alps.  One of these pics looks out to Vienna I think, but I can’t remember which one.

Here’s a video.

Here’s Martin, me, Stefan and Doris at the top. (Tikva was in Skischule!!)

During the day we stopped at this little town in the middle of the resort to have this delicious dessert. It’s warm, sugary bread with plum sauce and whip cream.  So good.

At night we hit up “The Funky Chicken.”

Part way through the trip fellow ITP’er Michael DelGaudio showed up with his fiance Tricia.  DelGaudio is a crazy-good boarder.  Supposedly he had one of the first Burton boards ever when he was five or something.

So, the last day we hit up this little ski resort across from St. Anton. Martin got me this awesome “Tirol” cap that matched his so we did a photo shoot on the gondola on the way up.

This is Tikva showing off her bruises to the rental guys-- “can you give me some soft boots?”

I decided to rent snowblades that day.  Stefan was jealous, so he dropped his pro skis and got some snowblades too.  Snowblades also called “big feet” are little baby skis, they are so much fun.  You can ski backwards, do spins, jumps, I love them.

Here’s the view from the top of this resort.  That’s Stefan to the right on his snowblades.

The big excitement that day was that Tikva fell down and hurt her leg. Sniffle, sniffle.  I took a video of the moments that followed.  I like to call this film… “Skiing, Tikva-stlye.” KISSES Tik-tock!!

Well, that’s about all the blog I can do.  Here’s a sunset from St. Anton.

And the view from my goggles.  100 million thanks to Stefan and his family, who were absolutely amazing hosts.  Danke, danke, danke. Wann kann ich zurückkommen?

A Very Cali Christmas

Friday, December 29th, 2006

Okay, before I dive into the very cali Christmas, a short recap of “Mom Visits NY.” Mom came in for the ITP show, and stayed a couple days before we both took off back to California.  Mom’s a big finance nerd, so I took her inside NYSE as a Christmas surprise.  After 9/11 they stopped allowing the public to tour NYSE.  I did an internship there this Summer, so I talked to my boss and arranged a special tour.  Mom was super excited.

Wednesday my old roommate from Newport, Christina came in to the city with boyfriend Matt.  I promised to take them to the *nicest* bars in town.  Mom didn’t want to miss out on the fun, so we took her along too.

I started everyone off at McSorely’s.

Next on to “Welcome to the Johnsons.” Only the best for you mom.

I love how they decorated for the holidays.

I raised the bar a little bit with a short trip to Pravda in Soho.

I think this was a little more her style.

Flew back into Cali on Thursday.  Here’s a view of Long Beach from the plane.

Friday I went to lunch with Brian.  I wrapped up a rat from New York and gave it to him as a Christmas gift.  As you can see, he loved it.

Next up, martinis with Kristin at Chimayo.  We took this lovely couples shot by the Huntington Pier.  (Kristin your boobs look huge is this pic!)

After that went to visit Matt and the Barnes family.  I brought another NY rat to Matt’s dad, Gerald, my long time nemeses.

Gerald was so grateful for his rat gift, he took me to his garage and let me pick out my very own Ferrari for Christmas.  Mostlytrue fact:  G is the proud owner of FMSOCAL.) Anyway, thanks but no thanks G- I just don’t have anywhere to park that thing in NY.

Next up back to Matt’s house where I beat him at Wii Tennis.

He wasn’t too happy about that.

Saturday Jenny Shitter and Melissa came over. We started off the night watching Jenny’s wedding video (recap of Shitter’s wedding here.) Jenny was most excited to replay over and over the scene where I spill wine all down the front of my dress.  Props to the wedding videographer for capturing that *special* moment.

Anyway, Shitter and Mel-dog, I miss you!  Come visit suckers!!

Christmas eve day I spent cleaning out my closet.  I found things like this old skool Palm Pilot.  I thought I was soooo cool and high-tech when I had this in college.  Hahahaha.

Also found this hot dress and necklace.

Here’s my first computer science test. (programming language = Fortran).

Remember blue books and writing for like 5 hours straight for college exams?

A C?!!!  Looks like Poli Sci wasn’t my best subject.

That’s okay because according this paper, somebody loved me.  (The professor perhaps?  How inappropriate!) Anyway, it was fun to look back at all that old stuff.

And remember the many things I learned in college.

Christmas eve dinner was at brother Matt’s house.  Here’s a pic of his wife and three kids (left to right, Britan, Scott, and Nina.)

After dinner it was a quick stop at 7-11 for their delicious coffee.

Then off to the late service at church.

Christmas morning we wait for the kids to come over.  Grandma Santa sets up the presents real nice.

Mom was busy in the kitchen preparing one of my favorite hors d’oeuvres- parmesan discs.  Yum.

Here’s the final spread. Now time for presents.

Scotty was another lucky recipient of an NY rat.

My brothers both got remote control cars.

And these “Sonic Blaster” rockets.  Did I mention brother Matt is 35 yrs. old and brother Mike 37?!

“
It’s all fun and games until everyone decides to shoot the camera lady.  Ugh.

Exhausted from playing with rockets, Dad passed out.

Brother Mike passed out too.

Kitty hung out by the fireplace as usual.

Dad woke up in time to carve the meat for dinner.

Here’s er.... most of the fam.  Christmas is one of the only times we all sit down together any more.

The kids table was all decked out for Christmas. Lucky Scott got the “Cars” theme this year.

Mom whipped up this amazing flourless chocolate cake for desert.  So delicious.

After desert I went to Uncle D, & Aunt Sue’s house.  This is a picture of their favorite child, Duke.

Here’s me and cousin Carly.

Carly got me this awesome gift.  Carly, how do you always know just what I need?

We met some friends at a pub called Stubrik’s in downtown Fullerton.  That’s cousin Christy in the back on the right in the green sweater.  The next couple days were filled with lunches/dinners with old friends.  I stopped by the shop to go to lunch with my dad.  Took a few pictures for you, so you can see all the magic that happens at Bedard Automotive.

My dad hard at work.

Brother Matt hard at work.

Some engine that doesn’t work.

Cousin Chase, checking himself out in the rear view mirror of a customer’s car.

At lunch I tried to teach my dad the magic of text messaging.

He decided the best way to text message was to dictate to me, while I typed in the message for him. Sigghhhh.  Some things never change.

Last night in Cali went to Islands which has the best cheese fries in the universe.

Yum.

Back in NY now.  Tomorrow off to Austria for New Years with some ITP kids.  I still can’t get over how cheap the flight to Germany was (less than the one to CA!) Anyway, this is a picture of St. Anton, one of the Ski resorts we’ll be at.  Hopefully I’ll have some nice German friends to add to the Mostly True F&E page when I get back.  Happy New Year everybody!

Fo Sho’

Thursday, December 21st, 2006

Yawwwwwwwn.  Just got into Cali.  Haven’t written in forever, but that’s just because I’ve been out trying to collect some good blog stories for you (oh and finishing finals and getting ready for the ITP show).  The last few weeks are a little fuzzy to me now-- but I’ll try and remember the best I can-- here goes....

Lets start with Thursday.... err.... like two Thursdays ago-- I met up with Monica and Dale at this bar called Arlene’s Grocery. Dale = special guest from Cali.  Forgot my camera but managed to take this phone-cam photo of the two of them with the Virgin Mary (It’s Christmasy no?).  Anyway, the big news that night was that Monica is engaged!

Here’s a photo of the happy couple.

After hearing Monica’s engagement story, Dale started telling his engagement story, and we reminisced about his wedding and all (shown above!).  All this talk got me thinking about what sort of engagement story I would want-- you know, the “just the two of us” thing or the “announced over the loud speaker at Madison Square Garden” thing.  I decided I want a wedding sack.  You know, where the guy throws the potato sack over the girls head and drags her away.  (SEE BORAT!) Mr. Wonderful if you’re out there somewhere I hope you read this one day, cause *that* would be so awesome.

Saturday was Monica and Elissa’s Birthday Spectacular at Fontana’s.

The night was tons of fun.  After I dodgeballed lies a message about 1AM mud wrestling, everyone started to show up. First Dale and his wife Liz.

Then Songul and Dave.

Kate, Victoria and Michelle.

As the night progressed eventually Monica passed out on Dave G.,

Josh and Michelle enjoyed PBRs while waiting for Dale...

...to get out of the bathroom.

And then there was Elissa who just

kept

drinking.

Sunday was the ITP Show. Cruel, cruel Gabe left poor Pecan Jackson and some other ITP’ers stuck in jars for the whole show.  Just look at the little guys trying to get out. So sad. PS- Gabe makes some crazy awesome videos- you can check em’ out here.

This 3D LED display called “The Orb” was done by Nick Sears It was sort of beautiful.

Chris Paretti’s “Speed Dial” lets you yell into a phone to control cars on a race track.  It was a huge hit with the kids.

Andrew Schneider’s “Solar Bikini” cools your beer and charges your iPod at the same time. A list of all ITP show projects here.  Flickr action here, here and here.

My project was called ”The Human Race.” I made callers on hold compete to be the first to speak to a human.

A bunch of ITP Projects were featured on Rocketboom which was pretty sweet.  I kind of sound like a dork, but I was excited to have mine included.  You can watch the video here.  After Rocketboom I started getting calls from all these weird area codes.  At first I figured they were just wrong numbers, but then I realized people were testing out The Human Race (My project connects the caller to my cell phone at the end of all the menus).  I thought it would die down, but then somebody posted the link on Meta Filter.  People were leaving pretty funny comments, you can read them here.  Since the Meta Filter thing I’ve been getting calls from all over at all hours.  I decided to start answering all of them so I’ve been talking to a bunch of randoms which is kinda fun.

Monday was the second day of the show which ended at 9PM.  After that we had to put the floor back together.

Pretty sure I contracted a few diseases from breaking down Andrew’s cup sculpture made entirely of used coffee cups.  A good pic of the whole after show clan here.  Don’t ask me why everyone is holding cups of grass.  It just seemed like a good idea.

Washed my hands, then went to a midnight feast in Chinatown.

Then on the the ITP show after party at Fat Baby.

Bisceglie was giving me the “don’t take my picture” look.

While Jenny was lovin’ on Mo...

...and Pecan Jackson who claims he’s “no longer smiling” for photos.

Gabe was dancing up a storm.

Paretti was throwing back beers.

And Paris was getting kisses.

All in all it was a good time, didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning. Next up in the blog que- Mommit visits NY.  I don’t have the energy to tell the story now, but I’ll give you a preview:

Awesome.

The Twilight Zone

Saturday, December 9th, 2006

I should be working on my final project for the ITP show right now, but I’m not quite sure how to program it, so I decided to blog instead. At ITP strange things always seem to happen when we near the show.  This week is no exception.  I spent last night working, and around midnight I noticed Pecan Jackson and several other ITP’ers shrunk and stuck in these little jars.  Turns out Gabe has made a project of collecting small people.  Gabe, please let Pecan go, we have to present the internets television on Monday.

As if that weren’t strange enough, Thursday Britta whipped out this Megaphone o’ coffee cups and summoned everyone to “ITP Cheer” tryouts.  What?

When I saw these pom poms (also made of cups) I couldn’t resist joining in on the fun.

I got in a time machine went back to high school so I could remember all those awesome moves I used to do at the Friday night football games.

Then I taught them to ITP. (all cheer photos credit Gilad Lotan) G- you are some sort of photo-wizard.

They caught on with crazy-lightening fast speed.  Now, please note, I’ve been made fun of SEVERAL times (ahem- JOSH KLEIN) for admitting to my years spent cheering.  I always thought I was alone in my post-cheerleaderness.

But now it’s clear....

....there were others…

...who simply didn’t admit...

...that they also...

...use to show their spirit fingers.  That’s right!  Josh Klein! (aka “closet cheerleader") presided over tryouts as an experienced expert-judge.  Oh Josh.  No need to be ashamed or hide behind that fake “ex-goth” persona and frighteningly-evil laugh.  We all knew you were peppy deep down.  Doesn’t it feel good to have everything out in the open?

Well, I must get back to work, but not before I do a quick shout out to last Friday’s “Happy Birthday Paninat” Karaoke which was unexpectedly awesome.

Before the singing began I picked up my new macbook pro at fedex.  Prettiest Pretty!  Mommy loves you!!!

Then our our way to get cupcakes for the birthday girl, the heavens opened up to dump 6 million gallons of water on Kate and I. (good thing I got a wet suit for my mac!) Kate took this pic of me sopped at the market.

Anyway, the fun began with dueling karaoke books.

And dueling jumbo remotes!  I have no time for these pauses in the karaoke que, so I busted out with my new staple- Celine Dion.  WHY have I not thought of this before??  She is “THE GREATEST SINGER IN THE WOOOOORRRRRLLLLLLLD” right?

Turns out not everyone thinks so.  In fact, before I could even belt out the first line of “My Heart Will Go On” someone turned off the music (what?!!) So that’s why you’ll notice we’re singing acappella.  Anyway, ENJOY! (ps- I’m available for birthdays & weddings)

Anyway, Kate was amazing.

College Dan and Alva were also pretty good.

But they were simply no match for Nicole and my “Hungry Eyes.”

Anyway, a big Happy Birthday to Paninat!

And thanks to whoever brought the champagne.

Glamour Shots

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

So I was at the mall the other day shopping for Christmas gifts with some friends and decided to stop into one of those Glamour Shots places.  After working magic with our hair and makeup, they took the beautiful portraits you’ll see below. I ordered tons of wallets, so let me know your favorites and I’ll send em’ right out.

Option 1: The Cyborg Monster

Option 2:  The Bauer Twins

Option 3:  Me and Jay Leno’s Love Child.

Option 4:  Sexy Back.

Option 5:  Pre-orthodontics

Option 6:  Goatees gone wild.

Option 7:  Custom Grillz

Option 8:  The Lazy Eye.

Naughty or Nice?

Friday, December 1st, 2006

Happy December 1st. Get ready to spend all your hard-earned cash on Christmas crap at big box mart and then check out the new friend + enemy of the month.  I was too lazy to update in November, so Tikva and Rachel enjoyed a two-month reign.  They have officially been de-throned.

Syndicate or walk the plank.

Arghhh-SS Day, 2006.

Happy Arghhhh-ss day.  I finally got a feed for Mostly True (PS-- it’s actually an ATOM feed, but I can’t make the lame pirate joke w/ “atom").  Anyway, here’s the feed.  It’s set to only pull in new content that is posted since you last subscribed to the feed-- meaning if you plug it in now, you’ll see nothing, but next time I post, something should show up. For my non-computer-dork friends reading this, RSS is magic web-voodoo that lets you know every time new content is posted to a web site.  So, lets say you read like 25 web sites-- it’s kind of irritating to constantly check them for new content right?  Instead you could subscribe to the RSS feed for each, and find out what’s updated in one place (ps you need a RSS reader too).  Think of it like getting a magazine delivered instead of calling the publication all day long to ask “Did you write something new yet? How bout’ now?” btw-- This is a photo of my old boss + coworker from Cali.  Scott, you with eyeliner on is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. 

Zapraszamy!

Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

So, I haven’t written in awhile, but I have so many good excuses.  #1. I lost my camera (but I found it! yeah!) #2. Zapraszamy.

My poor little Sony Vaio has been crashing more than Lindsey Lohan so I decided it was time to re-install Windows XP. Unfortunately the CD I installed with was in Polish.  And no, you can’t “just change the language” when you log in.  Stupid Komputer!  I thought about learning Polish for like 5 seconds, but figured it would be faster to re-install in English instead.  Anyway, poor little baby is still crashing, but that’s okay cause I got a new mac book pro on the way (woo-hoo!).  Moving on....here’s a two-week-ago update.....

Thursday was Happy Birthday to Cat at TNO.

Next Kate and I moved on to Schillers where we blogged in the bathroom.

Too cheap to pay for Schiller’s martinis, I quenched my thirst in the sink. Finally got home around 5AM.

This made my 8AM “Future of Television” conference at Stern a little difficult to wake up for.  While I paid $100 for the conference, sneaky Andy crashed the talks, ate all the catered food for free, and harassed me for checking my e-mail during the keynote speakers. “Why did you pay $100 to check your e-mail?” SHUT UP Andy!

Friday, went to see “The Tempest” at BAM! in Brooklyn.  Alex said it was “the best nap he had in a long time.” hahahaha.

Saturday was “Happy Birthday Victoria” which landed at Lolita in the LES (pic Stolen from Kate B.) Have you ever wondered why there are so many birthdays in November? I’ll tell you why, November - 9 months = Valentines day.

At Lolita I met some guy carrying around this book. Clearly, the author forgot to advise his readers “don’t bring this book to a bar.” 5 million dollars says this guy went home ALONE. Anyway, next we crashed a joint Bon Jovi / Def Lepard concert at Sing Sing.

Who knew they were touring together?!

I liked the show, but Ran was clearly not impressed. Once again, the night ended at 5AM.  Never one to go home early, Ran suggested a a post-concert party at my place.  Attempting to be a good host, I offered her and Alex stoli + diet drinks in my best martini glasses, which they promptly rejected (come on, it’s not THAT bad?!).  See if I invite you two over again. Fast Forward to Thursday also-known-as “A very Bauer Thanksgiving.”

Wednesday night I busted out with some mini-pecan pies for the event.

Thursday I looked out my window to see an unusually deserted Houston.

Turns out the whole city was at Grand Central Station.

I finally made it to Kate’s house.  Her family was nice enough to invite me over for thanksgiving.  Here’s Kate and Grandma.

Mom and the Cuisinart.

One of 85 family pets. (What’s this one’s name again? Muffin? Muffled?) Time for me to introduce you to the guest of honor....

Why hello Tom!  So nice of you to make it to dinner.

Kate’s dad was glad to see Tom too.

Dinner was indescribably delicious. Those Bauers can cook.

They also kept me entertained at dinner by telling embarrassing stories about Kate’s little brother.

He retaliated with violence. After dinner, it was time for dishes.

Kitty helped out.

Next we watched the traditional “Christmas Vacation” and then stuffed ourselves with a smorgasbord of desserts. 3 million thanks to Kate + her awesome family for having me over.  Back on the train to Manhattan I called everyone in Cali to say “Happy Thanksgiving.” Brother Matt was in northern California on the beach, and promptly called back within 10 minutes.  Brother Mike was nowhere to be found and still has not returned my call (!!).  Mom and Dad were complaining about having to eat “food for the toothless” while visiting Grandma in the old folks home, and Aunt Sue and Uncle D were busy cooking the world’s biggest bird for the 25 people they had over to their place at “The Lake.” Anyway, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

See you next year Tom.

Sad, sad day.

Sunday, November 19th, 2006

I lost my camera last night.  This is bad news for mostly true, which will be mostly nothing without photos.  Oh little Sony Cybershot-- I had you in my clutches at 4AM-- I remember taking blurry pics as your battery started to die. Little did I know these would be our last moments together. When did you leave me? Did some thief steal you when I turned away? We had such good times together at the bars, and on trips, and weddings and....at the bars.  Ugh.  I just hate good-byes.  So, any suggestions for a new one?  I like em’ slim with a nice big screen. 

Announcements

November 14th, 2006

Two things you should know this week-- #1 - Charles is growing a beard.  He claims a razor will not touch his face until 3 days before his thesis presentation (May 2007!).  So far, three people have put $50 down that he won’t last.  That means he’s sporting the sasquatch look for a mere $150. Let’s make this a little more exciting-- call his hairy bluff and to join in on the bet.

Next up, in case you weren’t aware, next week is Thanksgiving. Some veggie-lover put this “save tom turkey” campaign in the ITP hallway.  Next to it they drew a (very good) picture of a turkey. This weekend I erased the neck on the turkey, and replaced it with a butcher knife and blood.  When I got to school on Monday the butcher knife had been replaced with bandages around the turkey’s neck.  I don’t have time for these games, so today I took care of business and put that turkey where he belongs.

In the oven.  As you can see-- I’m not a very good artist, so I had to write the word “oven” on my oven. This year I’m not flying home for Thanksgiving....still deciding where to go. Feel free to invite me to dine with your family-- but not if you’re eating tofu or something- I’ll only come if you’re planning on cooking up our friend Tom. And PS-- I make a mean apple pie.

Oral Fixation

November 14th, 2006

Tuesday was for cupcakes.  Michael Horan turned 25 (again).

Like most 25-year olds, he was super excited. (pics stolen from Ran).

Thursday was for apple martinis.....

...and *hot* guys at Ace Bar. (Thanks for posing Jaki!)

Clearly it was a good night for Ran, who I saw biting darts....

...and licking skateboards.

After Ace Bar Ilterish attempted to drag us to the “Kebab Garden” for a late night Turkish snack.

We overruled him and headed to Gray’s Papaya instead.  Andy- get your STUPID paw out of my photo!

In my opinion this slop doesn’t look much better than the last place.  I mean, who would eat such a thing?

Ahhh yes, that’s right.  Now I remember. 

Pre-hot dog, Tikva got herself all gussied up.

While Mike posed for a poorly framed photo where I cut his head off.  btw-- don’t his pants kinda look like my outfit from last thursday night??  Pretty much laid low the rest of the weekend-- Friday went to see Borat, and Saturday went to The Room, and Bar Marche with Songul.

Monday, Gilad introduced me to the best dim sum ever in Chinatown (thanks G-lad!). It was nuts- tons of carts rolling everywhere with delicious little dumplings.  They come by about every 30 seconds-- try vegetable! Try shrimp!!  Gilad-- promise me we’ll do “Hooo-mooose” next time.  Anyway, needless to say, after this week I’m pretty full.  Hmmm.... maybe my next entry should be all about hanging out in the gym?

Halloween Residue

Tuesday, November 7th

You know it’s going to be a good weekend when you start off wearing men’s whitie-tighties with an (un)happy face on the crotch.  Not sure why I put these on at this week’s TNO, but I do hope they were new...or at least clean.

Each week someone creates an “invitation” to TNO.  This week, Tristan and Elliot put together what might be the best TNO invite ever. They wrote an 8 minute ballad called “the TNO song.” There aren’t words to describe its awesomeness, you will simply have to listen to it. Now, before Tristan and Elliot, in my opinion Andy held the record for best TNO invite ever. Sorry Andy, you’ve officially been de-throned.  If you’re into second place, check out Andy’s invite here.

Before I move on to Friday, a quick shout out to Mia, who took me to this fancy-pants Bon Appetit wine tasting event Thursday night.  Mia is the director of advertising for Estee Lauder-- which means a) she’s really busy and b) she gets invited to all sorts of fun parties.  The wine tasting was in the Conde Nast building in Times Square.  They brought out something like 4 different wines and the “appropriate” hors d’ouvres to go with each-- which were all delicious.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera- so I took these pics with my phone.

I made a point to sneak a pic of the cafeteria-- which I think is in a couple movies.  Hey- if there’s one cafeteria you want to eat in at work- it’s the Bon Appetit one, right?  Anyway, it was really fun- thanks again Mia!

Moving on the Friday-- here’s where the “halloween residue” comes in.  As if dressing up like a bunny and a slutty innocent school girl weren’t enough-- Kate and I decided to go with the western theme, put on some boots....

....and hit up the Rodeo bar Friday night.  Yee-haw!

This place was choc full a’ Chevy hats...

...and American flags.

It was pretty fun.  We did a little line-dancing to the live band.

And then I played this game to see how many peanuts I could get down Victoria’s shirt.

I think I’m holding up a “four” in this pic.  That’s pretty good, right?

Here’s a picture of all of us. Note to self-- avoid “side” angle pics when everyone has a huge rack but you. Oh well.

Saturday I went to Cory F.’s housewarming party in Brooklyn.  Of course I forgot my camera, again (this blogging thing is so much work!). I did snap this pic with my phone while talking to his very friendly commode.  So I guess that’s it-- started off with the bvds and ended with the commode, no wonder only like 2 people read my blog.

Trick, Treat, Detention.

November 1st, 2006

One Halloween, when I was about twelve my mom said to me “if I just buy you a bunch of candy, will you please not trick-or-treat?” Despite her bribe and all those “alternative Halloween” events put on by church and private school-- nothing has been able to kill my Halloween spirit.  Here’s a recap of this year.

We’ll start with TNO (TNO = “Thursday Night Out” for ITP) which I only mention because I would like to publicly announce that I finally bought Alex a beer for some bet I supposedly “lost.” Instead of thank you, upon handing him his beer Alex replied “took your time lady-bird.” Pshhhh.  On to Saturday…

Fred from my Game Design class was nice enough to host a Halloween party at his phat pad in Soho.  That’s him in the hazmat. (Photo credit- Fred Benson).  Apparently Fred is some sort of Halloween celebrity.  He was written up in Gothamist as ”Graduate Student and Halloween Enthusiast“ What??

Anyway, the party was lots of fun.

Kate spent most of her time turning heads in this masquerade ball gown.

While I stood in the corner talking to the ugly guy. Ugh. Why is it always this way? We eventually left to hang out with some other ghouls.

Like Dr. Evil who was crashing some Google party.

Tikva dressed as a Lite Brite, was a big hit with the Googlers. “Ooohhh electronics strapped on your body! Weee loooove it!”

I went as a bunny.  No, not a “slutty bunny.” Just a bunny.  I saved slutty for Saturday.

Saturday was Catholic School Girls’ night out.

The night began with drinks and prayers at my house.

Then on to homeroom at Swift.

After homeroom it was time for recess, where we played lots and lots of dodgeball.  Kate and I can beat almost anybody at dodgeball.  Anybody except this one guy Pecan Jackson-- he can throw like eight balls at once.

After recess, we went back to class, where Kate started dancing on her desk.

Of course I didn’t want to miss out on the fun, so I hopped on too.

We ended up drinking and sneaking boys on campus.

As you can guess- these activities landed us both in detention.  Sighhh… Kate you are such a bad influence. When class was dismissed, we took the long way home through the LES and stopped by a few places to see some of our classmates. I guess that’s about it.

I ended up with a lunch box full of detention slips, but it was worth it for all that fun. 

2 Birthdays & A Wedding

Wednesday, October 25

Time to kill three events with one blog- Happy Birthday Mommit, Happy Birthday Beckles and Happy Wedding Season (yes, I have a friend named Season). First up- Happy Birthday Mommit!  I can’t believe you’re 58! Mom, for your birthday I googled made this cake for you.  Doesn’t it look delicious? Now for a little history on my mom.... 

Here’s a pixelated photo- sorry the pickin’s are slim for my family photos in NY. Anyway, my mom, let’s start with names she also goes by: Pam, Pamela, Pamnit, Mommit, and my personal favorite: “Pretty Pamda.” Pam/Pamela = real name, Mommit/Pamnit = sort of a curse word/name combined, as for “Pretty Pamda"- I started calling her that after I saw this South Park episode.  I tried for like 18 hours to edit that stupid flv file, and couldn’t—so just wait 45 seconds for the tea party scene and you’ll see where I go pretty pamda.  Oh, and uh, copyright comedy central.

My mom is mostly awesome. If there’s one thing I can say about her- it’s that she is the most supportive mom ever.  I have the *perfect* story to illustrate this point. Flashback to 1988, my brother Matt is 16 and apparently trying to develop his green thumb (read- growing a few plants in his room).  My mom, being the supportive person she is, would kindly water these plants for my brother on a weekly basis.  “Lade-dah, oh- this one’s getting dry, water...water..water.” You get it. This went on and on...until one day Aunt Sue comes over to visit and yells, “Pam! Do you know what your son is growing in his room?!” That’s right, my mom was watering my brother’s POT plants.  Awesome.  See- I told you, so supportive.  Happy Birthday Mom!  Sorry I can’t be there to help you celebrate and sorry I told the story about you watering pot plants on my blog. Love you!

Time to meet Becky (aka “beckles").  Here she is dressed as a pineapple hanging out with superwoman and the lunch lady (hot!).  I met Becky at UCSB where we became great pals and survived things like running 26.2 miles in a row (San Diego Rock’n’Roll Marathon!), skydiving (for Becky’s bday in 2002), and living with 9 alcoholics senior year (seriously, those girls were crazy and that was maybe the worst year of my life). Anyway, Becky is super cool.  She has done more community service than anyone I know.  In college she did the “Big Brothers and Sisters” program, some baseball thing (Forresters? What the heck was that?), and now she works for the San Diego Padres planning community service events for the team.  Random fact- she beat out something like 500 ppl for that job.  Wait to go!

She also used to do the “Ambassadors of Goodwill” program at this local hospital. This program has volunteers dress up like Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and comfort sick patients (The pic above isn’t Becky- I googled it so you’d get the idea) .  Beckles- I know this was supposed to be some sort of “familiar childhood figure” thing...but honestly, clowns are just scary. And you dressed as a giant doll (ps- Beckles is 6 feet tall!)-- oh man...I still have nightmares. (just kidding)

In closing, you should know that not only is Becky awesome-- but her whole family is too.  I mean it, I love em’ all- your mom, dad, and bro and sis.  (Did I mention she comes from a long line of ninjas?).  So- a great big Happy 26th Birthday Beckles. I love you!!  Get out of San Diego and come visit me!

And now for the wedding.  My friend Season got married about two weeks ago in Georgia.  Season is a friend from high school.  When I first introduced myself to her “Hi, I’m Summer”, and she came back with “Hi, I’m Season”, I thought she was making fun of me and obviously a total jerk.  Turns out Season was her real name, and she was actually really nice.  Anyway, although I didn’t make it to the wedding, I was lucky enough to be at the engagement party where I met her very nice (very cute) husband Blake. 

So sorry I couldn’t be there Season-- looks like it was a beautiful wedding- and by the way- you looked hot.  Congrats to you both!

Fall Fashions

October 14, 2006

Now, I’ll admit I know mostly nothing when it comes to fashion.  But, this Fall, there is one trend that simply can’t be ignored- that’s tinfoil. This versatile, reflective fabric is flattering on almost anyone.  It’s clearly the new craze for Fall.  Take a look....

Here we have the hipster “buck-hunter meets pippie longstocking” cap.

To the left, the classic pointed gnome-hat, and on the right the superhero cuffs.

The headband is always a crowd pleaser.

If this man-jewelry isn’t fashion-forward, I don’t know what is.

With the right accessories, you can even give it a western twist.

Why, even the pets are catching on.

As with any fashion trend, try not to overdo it… This “check out my big-bling earrings” + hat is just too much.  Don’t forget Coco Chanel’s advice-- she said before stepping out for the day, women should have a glance in the mirror and remove one thing from their look.

I know Halloween is just around the corner, but try not to be scary with your foil either.

And btw-- the “Silence of the Lambs” look is soooooo 1991.

If you’re still not convinced that foil is “it” for fall, you should know I spotted this on Project Runway just last week.

And this in some hipster’s closet in the West Village! Well, I guess that’s it for this week’s fashion update.  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for Spring…

Woo hoo- The Hamptons!

Thursday, October 12th (wknd recap!)

A couple weeks ago one of my favorite friends from Cali, Melissa calls and says “hey Summer, Ryan and I are coming to NY for a wedding, I think it’s in the hamptons.” So I say, “Ooohh, the hamptons?  Fun, I’ve never been there, lets get together for sure.” Fast forward to last Friday, I pack some clothes (hmmm...what do they wear in the hamptons?) and jump on the subway to meet my friend Monica and her boyfriend Josh in Brooklyn so we can all drive out together.  As visions of beaches and ocean dance in my head I ask Josh “So, how long will it take to get to the hamptons?” He replies “Um...we’re not going to the hamptons, we’re going to THE HAMPTON INN in Islip.” Me: “I’m sorry, what? Is-what?  The Hampton INN???”

After about an hour and half we see the Hampton Inn, conveniently located right off the freeway and go to room 101 as Melissa instructed.  We knock-knock-knock on the door and a 350lb dude in his jamies answers the door. “Uh...um...sorry sir.” Blasted!!  Turns out there’s a Hampton Inn about every 1/2 mile along the freeway- and we were at the wrong one.

We finally got there, and Melissa and Ryan kindly greeted us with a hotel-fridge full of Budweiser Select and Diet Coke + Stoli.

Monica hopped on her new MAC and tried to find us somewhere to eat that wasn’t Applebee’s or TGI Fridays.  We would have been smart to just order a pizza but instead, six of us piled in the car.

They made me lay on top, and after 20 minutes of driving around we made it to this fantastic diner.

Our waitress was at least 100 years old and I felt kinda bad asking her to bring us drinks and heavy plates of food.

Monica and Josh relaxed over two enormous burgers...while Mel-dog and Ryan fought/made-out.

Anyway, all in all it was a good time.  Hamptons...Hampton Inn- whatever!  It’s true what they say - it’s not where you are but who you’re with that matters.

Saturday night was ‘Happy Birthday to Ran’ at the Annex.

She turned a ripe old 25.

I have to say, those MIT kids party like rockstars.

While the NYU kids usually end up holding their drinks in the corner. Oh well.

Clearly enjoying one (or five) too many drinks left me walking the wrong way down Orchard street and I left my sweatshirt at the Annex.  Hmm....one of these days I’ll learn.

TNO Scandal

September 28th, 2006

Have I introduced you to Tikva and Gabe?

We’re Single, let’s celebrate.

Saturday, September 9th

That’s right!  It’s the Katie + Oscar “Single Again” party!  Now, last time I was on a rooftop with Kate, the photo you see above was taken.  Guess I should have known that another rooftop party with Katie would only lead to more trouble...

First things first, Kate greated everyone at the door with her best “come dance on my rooftop” face.

Everyone obeyed her. Things just got crazier when they started projecting giant bugs on the wall.

Oscar- is this your work??

I was trying to have a nice conversation with Tikva in the corner...

...and out of nowhere she just attacks me with her beer!

Soaking wet, I beat her up.  Don’t think she’ll try that again.

Meantime the bug people were still dancin.

And the boys were getting rowdy too.

Kate was getting her love-fest on on one of the lawn chairs.

Josh didn’t want any part of it-- and stayed busy laughing his evil laugh downstairs.  Muwahahahahahahaa.

We ended the night with a group nap.  Sorry I layed on your bed soaked in beer Kate.  Thanks for the party.  Next time, please don’t invite Tikva.

Another Trip to “The Lake”

August 14, 2006

My vacation home to Cali would not be complete without a trip to Havasu aka “the lake.” I successfully convinced everyone that working on Fridays is so overrated, and we took off Thursday night.  Cousin Carly was nice enough to drive.

I fed her worms to keep her happy.

Thursday night I stayed with my cousins on “the other side of the lake” aka “the injun reserve” (the land is on an indian reservation!!). Anyway, when I woke up I saw Crazy Aunt Sue already had her “party glasses” on. 

At this very early hour one of Aunt Sue’s daughters --(whose identity has been disguised to protect her career in ministry!) was busy preparing “Ice Picks.” Who busts out vodka first thing in the morning?  Clearly the apple doesn’t fall far Aunt Sue-- we all know where she learned that. Now, there’s a couple things you should know about the injun reserve...

First, no one really drives cars, everyone rides around in golf carts (but there’s no golf course!).  The parking spots are even specially sized for the carts, and on the fourth of July-- they have a golf cart parade up and down all the streets. 

Two, there’s all kinds of interesting and ambigous signage. 

Speaking of signage, for some reason my family enjoys putting their name on pretty much...any surface they can find.  I found this truck in the garage (it’s a mini by the way!).  This is just one of too many examples.  I’ve seen it on Jet Skis, attempted on a license plate (thank you God that didn’t work out!!)-- then there’s Bedard Machine, Bedard Automotive, and Bedard Construction (are there more?).

Anyway, after we made the ice picks and parked the golf cart, we got in the boat and headed straight for the bridge.

Cousin Brett (the Pilot!) came out in the boat for a bit, but then took off in his pimp ride (an airplane!) and did a “fly-by” over the bridge as he headed back to cali.  He tipped his wing for us- we felt special. 

We pretty much stayed in the boat all day, drinking ice picks…

...and making pirate faces. 

That night, as usual, Uncle D busted out with an enormous amount of meat.

And then we watched a pretty incredible lightening storm. 

Next day we headed out to the sand bar, which was filled with slutty girls in pasties and beer-bonging frat boys (sorry, I don’t have pics).  I swear these kids never used to be here-- but one year MTV did spring break in Havasu---and all of a sudden they were everywhere.  We eventually left the sand bar and decided to go tubing. 

But we had to delay that since the jet ski broke. Most of the time, jet skis break because crap gets stuck up in the blower.  We just took the only kid with us and made him shove his little hands way up in there-- and pull out all the junk.  Thanks little buddy! 

Then we were back on our way.

Before we even started to tube- Carly passed out.  (Too many ice picks?) It’s really too bad she feel asleep, because she missed Uncle D’s crazy crazy rendition of “ridin dirty.”

Uncle D- please don’t ride dirty when we’re trying to tube.

It’s scary enough already. 

Thanks for holding the flag Kristin!  Kristin is my pal from UCSB-- she’s a havasu regular. 

That night we headed out to Kokomos.  I took this pic from my phone.  This place sucks.  I think I’ve been maybe 2 or three times-- and this time when I say “never again” I mean it.  Yes, those are drunk people playing volleyball in a filthy pool.  Anyway, since we were on the other side of the lake for Kokomos, Kristin and I stayed over at my parent’s place that night.

Over the years I’ve discovered that vacation homes are good for two things.  1) Vacations.  2) Things that you don’t really want to keep-- but can’t seem throw away.  Please see exhibit a:

Dance trophies, board games, and 80s jeans.  But my personal favorite-- would be exhibit b:

This awesome, awesome picture of my parents taken on a cruise in the early 90s where my dad is standing on a HUGE box so he looks abnormally short-waisted and a full head taller than my mom (they are actually about the same height.) What was this photographer thinking?? 

We ended the weekend with a breakfast of pop-tarts from 2002 (or is it Jan 02, 2006??) and lounging on some rafts on the beach.  Good times.  Guess I’ll see ya some time next year Havasu.

Jenny Shitter Ties The Knot!

July 31st, 2006

I just can’t believe it-- Jenny Ritter (aka Jenny Shitter!) married? It seems like just yesterday we were both running around LuHi causing trouble and now look at you!  All married and grown up n’stuff.  AND- to a really nice guy might I add.  What was it I said at your rehearsal dinner?  “How’d YOU snag HIM?” Just kidding.  Pete’s a lucky guy.  Anyway, it seems all my good friends from high school are either married or engaged these days, which means I’ve got a closet full of bridesmaid dresses and a huge bill from Crate and Barrel. Seriously, can you guys space these things out a bit?  Anyway, on with Jenny’s wedding story-- it was a pretty nice event.

The morning of the wedding we all got ready at Jenny’s house.  Momma Shitter had bagels for us and I made some obnoxiously strong coffee. It was fun to be back in the Ritter’s house-- a place where I spent many, many hours in high school.  I guess I should give a little background… Jenny Ritter (aka “shitter") was my best friend in high school.  We were pretty much inseparable.  Early on in our friendship I invited her to the river with me and my fam.  She later confessed she was terrified of my father who-- let’s be honest is a bit scary sometimes.  Anyway- she eventually survived his comments like “You have a boyfriend? He must be blind AND deaf” and after awhile just became one of the family. It was Niagara falls for my mom when she walked down the aisle. Something else you should know about Jenny is that she’s always been obsessed with monkeys.  Instead of those lame-ass bow-bouquets most people carry for the wedding rehearsal-- she carried her favorite friend- Curious George. One time in college I surprised her with a giant Monkey for her birthday.

This monkey is *almost* as tall as her husband Pete-- who is like 7’5” or something. Check out these pics:

See!  I told you.  These groomsmen aren’t midgets-- I swear.  Jenny asked Pete how he got so tall-- he said it’s cause his mom fed him pancakes every morning.  So, now you’ve met Jenny and Pete, on to the ceremony…

It included all those things you would expect at a wedding.  Really controlling wedding planner (shown above!).

Pretty flowers.

Piano playing “dum, dum,da-dum...”

Slutty bridesmaids. (just kidding ladies!) Seriously though, let me get to the good stuff.

The pre-wedding jitters.  Please see exhibit “a” above, note the fanning of the hands and Kleenex under armpits.  But my personal favorite is exhibit “b” below-- which by the way boys-- happens at EVERY wedding.  You should know that when you’re standing up there waiting for your girl to walk down the aisle-- she’s probably doing something like this:

Note the garter on the right, an excellent detail.  I actually framed this photo and gave it to Jenny as a wedding gift.  I know, I know, she’s lucky to have such a good friend. So, anyway, they sealed the deal, it was a super nice ceremony.

I made sure to grab a pic with Mr. Shitter- Father of the Bride, who gave probably the BEST wedding toast I ever heard at the reception. Who knew Mr. Shitter was so funny?

Here’s Jenny, her husband Pete, and me in the middle- sweaty, a little drunk, and with a lop-sided dress about to expose my right boob.

The wedding was like a high-school re-union with only our closest friends and a open bar.  Awesome.

Here’s Season, Ann, and Michelle.  Season’s getting married in October 2006 in Georgia!

Here’s Jenny’s dead-sexy brother Ryan Ritter.  Seriously-- could he be cuter? Sorry ladies, he’s taken (a couple times over!).

I dunno who this guy is- but someone please get him a towel. Disgusting.

Oh wait-- is that Melissa’s fiance Ryan?  Mel-dog, take care of your man! Melissa and Ryan are tying the knot July 2007. (see- I told you, EVERYONE is getting married-- crazy!) Anyway, like I said, it was a really great wedding. 

I made sure to thank Mrs. Shitter profusely at the event.

Oh- and props to Jenny who was the best bride ever.  So low-key, not stressed-out bridezilla at all.  Her dress got mud on it, and she slammed her veil in the car door-- and she didn’t even bat an eyelash. And hopefully she won’t care that I’m posting pictures of her on the pot in her wedding dress on-line. Well, Congrats to you both!!  Ms. Jenny Shitter and Mr. Peter Lark-- who I’ve now affectionately re-named “Lark-shit.”

Good-bye Cali, Hello NY

August 23, 2005

A few days before I left for NY, Johnson Gray was nice enough to throw me a little after-work going away party at The Gulf Stream in Newport Beach. It was tons of fun.

We all took turns making fun of Scott’s lame car which has been in my Dad’s shop more times than I can count.

Seriously Scotts, sell this POS already. Or don’t-- thanks to Scott Bedard Automotive had a record year in 2005!! After consuming a dangerous mixture of white wine and martinis, I went home and announced to my roommates it was time to go out again. 

I also decided if we were going out, I needed to show my love for the OC by wearing the shirt you see above. Unfortunately I had already packed pretty much my entire wardrobe.  That didn’t stop me from finding it though.

Lesson #1 - NEVER EVER unpack after you’ve been drinking. Actually, don’t unpack at all- at least not until you get to the place you packed for. Ugh. Turns out that shirt was at the bottom of the 5th box of stuff I looked in.  Oh well, at least I found it.

Anyway, a couple days later my parents threw this awesome going-away party at our house.  Thanks so much to everybody that flew down from norcal for that.  Seriously I love you guys!! In her typical Martha-Stewart style, my mom made sure everything looked really nice. 

The beginning of the night was pretty mellow, and then all of a sudden this freak in a trench coat with a thick New York accent shows up.

Who is this guy??  He kept calling me “summa” and demanded we shut off the music so he could turn on his boom box.  My mom was freaking out.  She didn’t really envision this as the type of event that would include a stripper.  To make matters worse, she kept blaming it all on my boss Reagan-- asking her “who is this guy?  is this YOUR doing??” Poor Reagan had nothing to do with it.  Thanks for offending my boss by asking if she ordered a stripper mom.

He played “New York, New York” and did his little dance (on my lap!).  To be fair, he wasn’t too scandalous-- no speedos, he had shorts on at least. After it was all over still no one would own up to it.  I kept pointing at different people trying to finding the guilty party-- who the heck ordered this guy???  And then as he was leaving he handed me a little white box.  Inside was a gummy worm.  A two-year old, melted gummy worm wrapped in tape.  Suddenly it all made sense.

I ran straight over to Brian and got ready to punch him and push him into the pond.  Here’s why:  About two years earlier, I decided it would be fun to throw gummy worms at Brian during work.  Later that day I found one of those worms tied to my car door.  The next day he found the same worm in his lunch. You get the idea.  The stakes kept rising though-- one time he fedexed the worm to me in an enormous box while I was on vacation in Hawaii, and another time I dropped it in his office before he arrived for his first day on a new job. Clearly after this stripper incident I need to get revenge- e-mail me if you have ideas. Supposedly Brian has been exchanging fruit cake with some other poor soul for 10 years.  Freak.

Anyway, all the out-of-towners stayed over that night.  It was so fun to see everybody. 

Two days later, it was just me and my little rolly suitcase in this empty studio.  My brother Mike was crazy nice and as a joint bday/christmas gift paid to fedex all my stuff through his company. I pretty much just shipped clothes, shoes, and books and bought everything else here.

Like this great big map of the subway that I can study in the shower. Anyway, a year later I feel pretty settled. For all you suckers from Cali who still haven’t come to visit-- here’s what it looks like now:

Come visit!  If you’re nice I’ll let you sleep next to me and not on the floor with the rats.

Flashback!

September 24th, 1986

My brother Matt was 14 the day this was taken, which makes me 6. That’s my grandpa to the left. Anyway, this is the only pic I have here of childhood. I’ll give you a quick recap of what happened next: My brother eventually grew into his enormous teeth and married his high-school sweetheart, Elizabeth. They now have three kids. I made it through high school, college, and working for an ad agency.  Then, I moved 3,000 miles away to go to grad school, live up the spinster life in New York and talk about it on a blog. The end.

Almost.....let me finish childhood/pre-college. Pretty much every weekend for my family was spent in Lake Havasu (Arizona). My parents bought a condo there when I was about 7. I tried to convince them not to buy it, mainly because it meant we wouldn’t be staying at the "Nautical Inn" anymore which featured a fantastic beach for my sand castles. I was very upset. As I got older I realized, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. The sunset you see above is probably my dad’s favorite thing in the whole world.

Hours not spent in Lake Havasu (or school!) were spent either at, or talking about Bedard Automotive. This is my Dad’s automotive repair business. It’s been open since 1976, and since I can remember we’ve been talking about transmissions, engines,etc. at all our family meals. I’ve washed cars, worked the front office, and even crushed oil filters in the back. Countless family members and even some of my high school friends have worked there. My brother still works there, and will eventually take over. By the way...here’s a pic of the whole family from uh....1998:

Starting from the left, that's my oldest brother Mike, Elizabeth (Matt's wife), brother Matt, Me, my Mom, Pam and my Dad, Chuck (who my friends often refer to as "chuckit" and "pamnit"). So anyway- Lake Havasu and Bedard Automotive-- if I'm going to really nutshell the collective family experience, that would be it. Moving on....

And then there was college. College was a time for new experiences, like skydiving....

...drinking in hot tubs in the mountains (this is my 21st bday in Lake Tahoe, CA)...

...And living with 11 girls in a house on the beach. This is the view off our lower balcony senior year in college. For anyone who knows UCSB or Isla Vista - this is a typical view from a ocean-side house on "DP." Pretty rad right??? I knew I should have been a fith year senior. (BTW- are those sharks or surfers in the bottom right???) Oh yeah- there was studying too...

And eventually I got my degree.

And ended up working at Johnson Gray Advertising. That’s my boss Reagan Gray yelling at our copywriter Tim (no doubt he deserved it).

Here’s my other boss Will Johnson, with me and another employee Lara Kugel.

Whenever I would go on vacation, they would do things like this to my office. One time, Tim moved my office entirely, and I didn’t know where to go when I got back. Anyway, as you can see, Johnson Gray was pretty much awesome. I still go back and visit whenever I go home. Well, that’s it for this flashback.  See “Good-bye Cali, Hello NY” for a recap of the move.