Helzerman's Odd Bits : Weblog

Sunday Dec 31, 2006

In which room would this fit best?

Recently downtown Campbell, CA (where I live) has been over run with expensive home decorator shops selling items that I can not imagine anyone buying. Here's an item that I saw whilst walking down the street the other day. Who would buy this and where would you put it?

Posted at 12:19PM Dec 31, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[2] Tag it:

Saturday Dec 30, 2006

Flight booking typo takes fellow 8,000 miles off course

Found on techdirt today. You've just gotta feel sorry for this guy...

"A twenty-one year old German tourist planned to take a trip to Sydney, Australia, but wound up 8,077 miles off-course
-- headed instead for the small oil town of Sydney, Montana, after
mistyping his destination into a flight booking Web site. The man
didn't notice anything was wrong until he was about to board a flight
from Portland to chilly Montana, dressed in summer vacation clothes."

I wonder how many people have confused other cities such as San Jose, CA and San Jose, Costa Rica (both of which are large cities) when booking travel.

Posted at 02:27PM Dec 30, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[0] Tag it:

Tuesday Dec 26, 2006

hamburger with peanut butter (for real!)

My husband and his siblings went to grad school at Purdue and acquired, along with their degrees, a taste for hamburgers with peanut butter! You'd think I'm making this up, but it's for real. You can get these "burgers" (and I use the term loosely) at Triple XXX Family Restaurant (lovely name).

This got me thinking, do all institutions of higher learning have a favorite gross food staple? Are MIT grads eating pickle flavored ice cream?

What did you eat when you were in school? Can you top this:

The Duane Purvis All-American - A very special taste treat!
1/4 lb. of 100% ground sirloin served on a toasted sesame bun with melted cheese on top with lettuce, tomato, pickle, Spanish onion and French fries. Add thick creamy peanut butter on the lower deck and you’re in for the touchdown!

Posted at 10:43PM Dec 26, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[2] Tag it:

air head

I logged into Second Life today and my avatar looked like this! All hair - no body/head/etc.

Posted at 04:34PM Dec 26, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Second Life | Comments[1] Tag it:

Saturday Dec 23, 2006

See my friend and ex-coworker on Conan O'Brien

One of my IBM buds has filmed another spot for Conan O'Brien. You can see his TV clips on his site here. Funny stuff.

Posted at 04:59PM Dec 23, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[0] Tag it:

Thursday Dec 21, 2006

Second Life discussion series starts in January

James Governor, founder of analyst firm RedMonk will join me in my Second Life home in January to discuss social networks, new business models for analyst firms, Second Life and a variety of other topics. Specific date in January TBD, but will be toward the end of the month. Please plan on joining us, and in the meantime, please comment here or via email with any topics you'd like to see discussed. Feburary's guest is already lined up and will be very entertaining (but you'll have to wait a bit to learn who it will be )

Link to my Second Life house

Posted at 02:18PM Dec 21, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Analysts | Comments[0] Tag it:

What the....?

Came across this via Google alerts. When you visit this site it says Helzerman's Odd Bits! Is this some sort of new spam that shows the name of your blog in a Google alert so you'll click on the link? (worked... I clicked on it)

Naughty words blurred out in order to keep this blog work-safe (also, I don't want coal in my stocking!).

Posted at 01:56PM Dec 21, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[0] Tag it:

Wednesday Dec 20, 2006

Merry Christmas

Saw this on the way into the office today. Spray-painted Merry Christmas "sign" in front of a shabby rent-by-the-week "hotel."

Picture of the hotel taken last summer.

Posted at 08:05PM Dec 20, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Personal | Comments[0] Tag it:

Tuesday Dec 19, 2006

Seen and heard in San Francisco

First of all, I'm very dissapointed that I didn't get a picture of Drunkin' Santa, especially since he was so keen on me taking one. Silly me left my phone in the hotel room to charge for once (drat). Maybe tomorrow.

As for over heard (all in outdoor locations),

"Can I be your hero? Can...I... BE... YOUR....HERO....TODAY?" This kind offer was extended to anyone in remote proximinity to Howard and First Street yesterday. If you need a hero, I suggest you stop by.

"Yes, please come to San Francisco.... yes, I'll buy you anything...anything you want. Sure, dinner. Yes, we'll go shopping, anything you want." A man I'll just call Mr. Poor Sap.

"So, I said, I don't care about your personal life, GET BACK TO WORK!" Someone whose employees could probably use a hero.

Posted at 09:19PM Dec 19, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Personal | Comments[0] Tag it:

....take them bowling

What's a Sun meeting without a little bowling? Here's me at our all hands corporate marketing meeting. The morning was spent coming up with some cool ideas for 2007 (you'll just have to wait and see heh heh heh). The afternoon was spent bowling.

See those two lines on either side of the lanes? That's where my bowling balls all ended up. No bowling pins were injured during this bout of play.

"This is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules." The Big Lebowski

Posted at 09:09PM Dec 19, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Personal | Comments[0] Tag it:

Monday Dec 18, 2006

What if NYT published every letter to the editor?

Interesting post in the BusinessWeek blog, blogspotting, today;

"The New York Times receives about 1,000 letters a day, according to its letters editor, and has room for about 15. This is an immense unpublished resource of information, ideas and passion. Why not publish all of it online?"

Read the whole post here.

Tags: blogs, blog, BusinessWeek

Posted at 07:46AM Dec 18, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Media | Comments[0] Tag it:

Saturday Dec 16, 2006

Duke Jeans Jacket (more clothes for Second Life)

My latest piece of clothing for Second Life. Like the t-shirts, this jacket fits either men or women and is available for free at my Second Life house. Just click on the box and it's yours. Click on this link to teleport to my SL House. (must have Second Life on your computer for the link to work)

This jacket was created using a template available on the official Second Life website and an open source Duke logo.

Tags: Second Life Sun Duke SecondLife

Posted at 09:37PM Dec 16, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Second Life | Comments[2] Tag it:

Friday Dec 15, 2006

Nice Web 2.x rant.....

Found this on Out of the Woodwork today.... excellent rant on the term "Web 2.0" Below is an excerpt. Please visit the blog to read the whole entry (it's worth it).

Just say three-dot-NO

Ever love something but hate its name? You know, kind of the way you feel about your Aunt Mertalina. (Just kidding, Auntie--you know I love you!) That's how many people feel about Web 2.0: great ideas and fun to use, but stuck with one horribly hype-driven name.

I'm actually not in that camp (at least not any more). I'm willing to accept the idea that Web 2.0 has emerged as an example of useful jargon. It's been thrown around enough that most people who care know what it means. So we're stuck with it and there is no going back. I've accepted this and must recommend that you do the same.

Still, there is an undeniable dark side to the name... ( more )

Posted at 01:25PM Dec 15, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Sun | Comments[2] Tag it:

No more free Skype

"Holiday present" (like coal in your stocking) from Skype made it into my inbox this morning:

"After December 31st SkypeOut calls to US and Canada will be charged at the standard SkypeOut rate of ¢2.1 USD (or ¢2.4 CAD) per minute."

Posted at 12:24PM Dec 15, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in OddBits | Comments[0] Tag it:

Easy way to add social bookmarking boxes to your blog

Rich Burridge has kindly posted his website template in order to show folks how they can add those little boxes for Digg, Technorati and other social bookmarking sites to their websites. Thanks Rich!

Posted at 07:47AM Dec 15, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in DIY | Comments[0] Tag it: