
personal

The Perils of Networking When Everyone Is Your Friend
I know a lot of fascinating people. I know writers and editors, chefs and restaurateurs, celebrity personal assistants and a few well-connected people in the television industry, pilots and programmers, museum curators and fashion designers. Many of the fascinating people I know I knew Before Social Media (BSM)*, while many others I “know” I have…

Departing Is Such Sweet Sorrow
“What would you ask an astronaut?” My friend Pam, who was preparing to interview everyone’s current favorite space explorer Commander Chris Hadfield, posed that question on Facebook the other day. “What would you ask an astronaut?” I chimed in because who wouldn’t want to ask an astronaut a question? Fewer than 600 people have ever…

The End of Letters
I’ve long enjoyed the website/Twitter feed Letters of Note, which resurrects correspondence between famous people or personal notes recalling significant historical events. In cleaning up my office today, I stumbled upon my own letter of note from a since-departed university professor who taught a class on “The End of History.” Professor Albert Mott was an…
Just one more week…
…until I get out of this office and get on with my summer adventures. I think they’re trying to make my last days miserable though. It doesn’t help that I’m in a half-cube sans file cabinet or real desk space. Now they’ve set aside a space beside me for a new contractor who is extremely…
It’s ‘Wiedersehen,’ Dummkopf
You know, if you’re going to use a foreign language phrase in your headline, by all means check the spelling: Auf Wiedersen Germany Sorry, but what do you expect from a copy editor who minored in German?
Will This Ever End?
Kind of like Melvin in Office Space, I’ve been moved several times to different desks in my company. Today, I moved to my 5th desk within one year. No wonder I’ve had it with my day job…
Death to Spammers
Over the weekend, some annoying spammer/spamming script infiltrated my blog, leaving some less-than-savory comments. Sorry if anyone saw these and were offended. I’m so annoyed. I feel so violated. If there’s going to be any g-d cursing on my blog then I’m the one who’s going to f**kin’ do it. Sadly, I’m afraid my choice…
A New Strategy to Win the Swing States
Maybe Kerry or Bush could learn a few things from the Gandhis. Humility and pacifism, sure. (And wouldn’t you pay money to see either of them in full lotus position?) But I’m just curious about how Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia, is going about campaigning for his mother’s Congress party in India. Today, according to…