My brother rocks!
My talented brother designs movie posters in LA. His latest is getting acclaim. Congratulations little bruv.
Posted at 05:22PM Jan 18, 2007 by sarad in General |
Prejudice
My husband doesn't have a “real” job. (He hates it when I say it that way, so I say it that way a lot). He takes care of our two small children and manages our real estate investments. Part of our decision to move out of California and into Austin, Texas was to take the equity from our home there and invest it in real estate here. We currently have 5 rental properties around town that we rent.
After he finds, buys and fixes up a place, he places the ads, interviews perspective tenants and rents it out. My husband, we'll call him Charlie, is the face of our real estate empire. Our empire looks like an athletic, white, 6'1” bald man with a goatee.
I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blog lately. He has a piece on Pervasive Prejudice. In it, he talks about how car salespeople pre-judge their buyers based on race and gender. That lead us to thinking...
In our quest to live the lifestyle that we have chosen we have given up our love for nice cars. Instead of the Land Rover and Audi that we owned in California, we now have a VW van and 2 old Saabs. And I'm talking old, one of them is an unkept 1968 9-3 wagon. It's a very rare car, but we've never gotten around to fixing it up. Which makes it perfect for lugging around tools and the lawn mower fits conveniently in the back.
When a tenant has a problem, Charlie shows up in his beater old car in “work clothes”. Likely, he is unshaven. To our tenants, that is their landlord. One of our houses in particular has been a problem. Or the tenants that have lived there have been. So, we are wondering, if instead of showing up in a battered old car, unshaven and in grubby clothes, he showed up in a nice car (we'd have to borrow one) and dressed up, would the tenants treat the place differently? Have the tenants that have lived in that house so far treated it so badly because they feel that their landlord doesn't care about such things as a clean house and timely rent? Are they reacting, like the car salesperson, not to him, but to his appearance?
Posted at 02:06PM Jan 12, 2007 by sarad in General | Comments[1]
Women's fitted tshirts are cool, but...
In a recent blog entry, Kathy Sierra talks about the qualities and benefits of the fitted women's tshirt. I whole-heartedly agree. But I think that my vendor, Antics, the one who made the FUD Fighters shirt Kathy is shown wearing, has outdone us all. Knowing that I had little kids, and knowing how much I like the shirts, they produced kid sizes and sent them to me for my kids.
I think that is worth bonus points. Thanks Antics.
Posted at 04:14PM Jan 08, 2007 by sarad in General |
What I did over my holiday break
I recently got back in touch with an old friend after many years. We worked together, both for my father, at a software start-up in the late 80s. The company, Pre-Press Technologies, offered one of (if not THE) first color separation software available on the personal computer – it revolutionized the publishing industry. Publishing was the Web 2.0 of the late 80s. We were the cool kids on the block. Part of the in-crowd that revolved around Apple, Adobe and Quark. And let me tell you, the parties that Kai's Power Tools would throw at MacWorld conferences were "leg-on-dary".
Now, after so many years of not talking, we've picked up exactly where we left off. Through each other we have caught up on the rest of the team that we worked with. We didn't stop talking for any particular reason, our lives just took different paths. He now lives in Connecticut outside of New York city and over Christmas break, he asked me if he sent me a plane ticket, would I fly to NY to catch up over dinner? Hell yeah I will!
A friend joined me, just because it sounded like fun. And by extraordinary coincidence, my father, who still lives in San Diego where we all worked together, also happened to be in NY the same night.
We began our adventure by touring the NY offices of DC Comics – since that is where he is now VP of Business Development. Superman, Batman, and Wonderwoman – oh my! And we went out with a small crowd of toymakers and animators. We visited the largest animation studio in Manhattan. A friend from high school came and joined us for a while before her band went on. I had every influential part of my life represented and sitting around a table – father, high school, career, and present.
We ended our whirlwind tour of all things fun and alcoholic in Manhattan in a private room at a Karaoke bar with me, my friend from Austin, the friend I had rebonded with for life, and my Dad, singing 80s power rock ballads.
I really couldn't have planned it that way or that well. Sometimes you have to just let life hit you in that back of the head and see how you feel afterward. I feel great.
Posted at 05:41PM Jan 02, 2007 by sarad in General |
5 Things you don't know about me
I was tagged by Tom Marble to divulge 5 things you don't know about me. Since I pretty much say whatever comes into my head and wear all of my emotions right out there on my sleeve, this may be difficult, but I'll give it a shot.
1. I was vegan for 12 years. During my first pregnancy I craved meat. Ate a filet mignon. Never looked back. What the hell did I eat?
2. This is my second marriage. My first husband now lives in his native England. If you are going to get divorced, I highly recommend doing it with someone who lives overseas that you are never going to run into at the grocery store.
3. My daughter's name is Story. Where does that name come from? She is the Story of us - me and my current husband.
4. I backpacked alone around the world for 18 months. An experience I recommend to anyone who will ask for my advice.
5. When I was 17 years old, I was in a car accident that resulted in 2 broken arms. I was in casts up to my shoulders with bent elbows on both. Yes, my mother had to do things for me for the 12 weeks I was incapacitated that no 17 year old girl wants her mother involved in.
I officially tag - Simon Phipps, Geir Magnusson, Danese Cooper, Glynn Foster, whurley.
Posted at 11:10AM Dec 22, 2006 by sarad in General | Comments[1]
Chronicles of Nickerson - Christmas Scaffolding
We've got an entirely new kind of scaffolding on the house this time. I think we've seen them all now. This kind is more like the building toys our 4-year-old plays with. Everything snaps into place and all of the pieces are modular.
The first floor of the house has a huge all-glass door with very large windows on each floor directly above it. One side of the door is set onto the poured-in-place concrete wall. Whenever it rains, water runs down the concrete where it hits the door - on the inside of the house. The source has been elusive. This is the third time, that I can recall, that scaffolding has been set up to try to find it's source. Finally we found the culprit this week, a crack in the framing of the window above the door. Three's a charm I guess. Now what to do with that 8 foot by 8 foot window that intersects multiple stucco sections is the question. I'm sure whatever the agreed upon resolution, we'll get more scaffolding.
While it's here, at least we can get the bird prints off the outside of the windows.
Posted at 09:08AM Dec 15, 2006 by sarad in General |
Invited to Crash
If you are invited to crash, are you invited, or are you crashing?
Posted at 04:58PM Dec 11, 2006 by sarad in General |
Bacon
I don't eat bacon very often, well because it's bacon. And I very rarely ever cook it at home, well because it's bacon and it makes a mess you can smell all day. But it's been cold out.
This morning my husband and I are frying up the yummy bacon and our 4 year son comes running up the stairs franticly yelling, "what is that smell?"
"It's bacon," we reply.
"Bacon," he says dreamily, "that's my favorite."
Posted at 10:56AM Dec 09, 2006 by sarad in General | Comments[2]
Searching for Happiness
Two friends of ours are documentary film makers. Their latest film, Before the music Dies, is a indepth look at the evolution of the music industry. Their new movie is an investigation into happiness and they are looking for subjects. They say it best, so read below and let me know if you have anything you'd like to pass on.
_______________________
I'm writing to ask you to help me with a very, very special project.
Our first film, www.beforethemusicdies.com, is complete. It's a good film, and I'm proud of our work. If you haven't seen it I hope you will when it screens near you. You can find locations and dates at www.beforethemusicdies.com. I'm satisfied with the first film, but now I'm ready to really make a difference with the second.
We're about to begin work on "The Greener Side" in earnest. This is where my request comes in. My goal with "The Greener Side" is nothing less than changing the world by changing the perspective of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people. With this film we're investigating what really makes human beings happy. We've interviewed some of the most intelligent people in the world, including esteemed professors from Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, and Yale, and some of the most well known authors and thinkers on the subject of happiness.
What we need now are the real life stories - those individuals who seem to have found the secret to personal happiness. They may lead seemingly unremarkable lives or they may have survived the most unspeakable circumstances. The common thread is that they seem to have discovered some understanding that has transformed their lives. They are typically described as "the happiest person you'll ever meet". They're in every part of the world, and I want to speak with them. Their story, their secret, could help transform the lives of millions of others, and make the world a better place to live.
If you know or have heard of someone like this, and you think they might like to be interviewed, please respond on this blog.
We'll have the website live after the first of the year, and if you're interested you can track the progress of the film at www.thegreenersidemovie.com.
As 2006 draws to a close, I hope this note finds you well. It's been a remarkable year for me and my family, and we're very excited about working on this project in 2007.
PS - If you're curious about the real secret to happiness, there is actually an answer. Though it may seem odd, science and religion have come to the same conclusion. You'll just have to stay tuned to find out what it is!
Posted at 01:46PM Dec 07, 2006 by sarad in General | Comments[1]
Chronicles of Nickerson - Raised this way
My 4 and 5 year olds were playing on my daughter's bed. One of them, they each blame the other of course, put a big dent in the wall with their heel. I ran in there because it was quite a loud noise. After ascertaining that everyone was OK, and that "no one" had made the dent in the wall, my daughter said, "It's OK Mommy, one of the workers will fix it." And they went on playing.
Posted at 09:41AM Dec 05, 2006 by sarad in General |
40 is the new 30?
I was born on Thanksgiving Day. My family has those "hilarious" stories about how my mom was cooking dinner, turkey was in the oven, guests were on their way. Since it was the mid-60s, she probably had a cigarette in one hand and a strong drink in the other, not because she was a bad mother, but because it wasn't bad for you or the baby back then. Suddenly, the contractions began. My dad drove my mother through the snow to the hospital, where he DROPPED HER OFF, then returned home to enjoy a lovely meal with friends and family. After mom labouring alone, and after dad was well-fed and had gotten a good night's sleep, he returned to the hospital to pick me and my mother up. She carried me in her lap on the way home in the front seat of the car without a seatbelt on, because seatbelts weren't cool back then. When we got home, the dishes were still in the sink.
Do men miss those days?
For 40 years my family has celebrated my birthday on Thanksgiving Day. Which would be oh so cool if Thanksgiving were the same day every year.... So this year, for my biggest birthday yet - as they seem to be every year - my husband threw me a birthday party ON my birthday. I didn't have a pumpkin pie with candles in it. And we didn't eat turkey.
Posted at 09:35AM Nov 29, 2006 by sarad in General | Comments[6]
The Chronicles of Nickerson - Seeds of Death
Spring time is a time of new life. Everywhere there are buds on the plants and eggs in the nests. And as the temperatures rise and the flowers bloom, the first of the spring birds bashes it's brains out on the windows of Nickerson with a resounding BOOM throughout the house. Spring has arrived with a bang and keeps knocking throughout the summer.
Last week my husband and I were sitting on the back deck as the sun went down. He on the steps under the windows with his laptop (appropriately) on his lap and me at the table facing him. We were chatting about who-the-hell-knows-what when suddenly he heard something, ducked and put his arms over his head. Just then a dove spent it's last happy moments of life flying at full dove speed into the window directly over Charlie's head. Bird seed rained out of sky covering Charlie from his bald head to his period key. We have no idea which end of the bird the seed came out of, but there was sure a lot of it. Like the bird was a pinata hit by the blindfolded child that is our house.
Posted at 11:33AM Jul 14, 2006 by sarad in General |
Fairy Tales and Fancy Dresses
My 5-year old daughter, much to my dismay, is mesmorized by Disney princesses. Cinderella being the most favorite. The premise is so simple, and in my opinion damaging. As soon as the girl does her hair, puts on her makeup, and wears a fancy dress, she is both unrecognizable by those she is closest to, and fantastically beautiful. And it is because of this beauty that the handsome prince falls madly in love. I'm a bit obsessed with the obsession.
We have friends with a son about 6 months older than our daughter. She loves him. He is her prince. They are going to get married. And yes, she kisses him. I had to ask her why she loves him so much. I was trying to get out of her that he was fun to play with, made her laugh, broadened her perspectives. But no.
Me - Why do you love him Story?
Story - We just luvachother.
Me - But why honey? What about him makes him so special?
Story - Moooommmm. We just luvachother.
For so many years I've felt that Disney was just creating and perpetuating bad role models. And based on the number of Hollywood films that have come out that are "modernizations of the classic Cinderella story", others have agreed. But what I learned this week is that Disney's Cinderella is just targetted at 5 year olds with their very simple concepts of love. Emotions just happen to a kid. It's us older girls that need to believe that love isn't that easy. That it isn't just the pretty girls that get the princes. That beauty is more than hair, makeup and clothing, that it radiates from the inside.... blah blah blah.
What I learned from my 5 year old this week was that love could and should, and in her case, really is that easy. And that putting on a pretty dress can make you feel pretty. And that at some point, we really just start to overthink and over-analyze most things. 5-year olds are so smart. I may owe Disney an apology.
Posted at 10:41AM Jul 07, 2006 by sarad in General |
Hallway Conversations
As someone who works from home, I'm alone most of the time. Occasionally a kid will noisily run by or the dog will want to go out, but for the most part, I'm by myself. The lists and IM are the hallways of my virtual office.
My office-bound colleagues have interactions with other adults with similar professional interests and may not understand the need for the chatter that sometimes occurs on the mailing lists. They are actually attending meetings in person or talking to each other in the halls or joining each other for lunch. I crave those quick, fun, friendly conversations. Not enough to actually go to the office, but enough to be on chat and the lists all day long, ready and pathetically willing to have a conversation about just about anything. Just wandering the halls.
Posted at 11:25AM Jun 20, 2006 by sarad in General | Comments[1]
Happy Anniversary OpenSolaris
There are a lot of people that are going to be talking about the code today on our first anniversary, but that hasn't really been my main interest this past year and half on this project. It's been community marketing.
Open source is by the coder, for the coder, about the coder. Marketing is done by word of mouth, not direct mail. Participation is out of respect for the code and the other community members, not advertising or PR. A marketing geek has no place in this environment.
And believe me, it's been a learning experience. In traditional marketing, it's as if we get paid by the adjective. Hyphenated adjectives are triple word scored.
So after some rehab, a 12-step program and the support of caring community members, I have given up my addiction to unnecessary words, fluff, and carefully chosen, unemotional word strings (like this one).
I'd like to thank everyone who aided in my recovery, got involved this year, offered suggestions, input, disagreements and passion - and taught me how to do open source marketing. Happy Anniversary.
Posted at 11:43AM Jun 14, 2006 by sarad in General |