here's my byline

PR Strategist?

Holy cow! I can't believe it I just wrote a few suggestions for PR stuff  for my friends' company. First time I've ever done anything like that.

Scott Hirsch and a several amazing  Silicon Valley braniacs founded  mig5.com, Management Innovation Group. Without going into it too much here, the brains behind this company are amazing and I'm thoroughly impressed by their track record so far.

I'm not sure if this is the kind of stuff I want to do, but since I've been on the other side of the press thing for five years, I can surely make some good points in terms of how to act around reporters and editors. The worst thing a company can be is annoying.

JobPredictor.com

Irina Slutsky, your ideal job is Supermodel.

Finally, someone who knows my true value.

it's raining work

but do i want it?

it's been like this for years, i'm not sure why. whenever i'm not working, it seems that the universe conspires to get me off the couch and back in the employed world. what's up with that?

zend and i are talking about a project and then i'm stopping by daily journal  for a job interview based on work i did on the vodka story. (that would be kinda awsome, since they only write about court cases and i'm such a friggin court tv junkie from back in the day before csi and law and order  took over the world[favorite trivia: mariska hagirtay's mother is jayne mansfield! who died in a car accident like my mother]).

not that i'm not grateful, but dude, it's barely been a month of chillin for me.

we'll see, as usual, i go with the feeling in my gut. though sometimes i make mistakes when i'm hungry.

(tangentially [which is how i speak, think, live, breathe] one of the guys who owns papalote is miguel, a hip hop head, dj and all around nice guy. his email is whatisadjifhecantscratch. if you go in the place, there's always a slew of flyers for local shows, like yesterday the had boot camp clik and dead prez stuff.[on another side note, duckdown, bcc's website, was the first and only hip hop chatroom i've been to, back in 1997 when i "worked" at Electronic Industries Alliance in Alrington, VA, as an editor for electronics standards in French and English [a shoot-me-now kind of job] and spent hours online or eating lunch with my boss, who'd only patronize reastaurants where they served liquor. the chatroom was awsome, jury-rigged and super fun. i even tried to rhyme in there and got props.])

Some pix from New York City

Go here

NYC party

Off to Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism five-year reunion -- that's a mouthful! I always hate writing it out, but that's really what it's called.

Five years isn't a lot of time, but enough to know that life isn't as good as and much better than we'd all imagined it would be.

BTW, just when someone thinks I'm some kind of reunion-attending square, I can say that I didn't even register with Columbia, but I did plan the class of 2000 party!

I think I'll wear my special black shirt.

I really wanted to show off my cool job, but, um, I don't have one!

He's so old school, he's yeshiva

(ok, i stole that from Jon Stewart)

Most people know this, but I'll reiterate it one more time:

John Paczkowski is so cool and he's been that way for a long, long time. His coolness has been recorded in his Good Morning Silicon Valley column since 1996.

He is one of my writing idols--not in a crazy way, but I admire his authoritative, easy and funny writing style that doesn't let the humor or irreverence (of the big wigs) undermine the newsworthiness of his posts.

I hope one day I can write like that.

My own attempts at being breezy and irreverent (dictionary: critical of what is generally accepted or respected; characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality) have had somewhat dubious results.

In the meantime, enjoy this from his latest missive:

rapping furries

RIAA_411.mp3

the odds

Gold teeth

I stopped by Technorati today to do some stuff and I met Doc Searls.

I immediately asked him about his mouthfull of gold teeth! (he so graciously documented them on flickr) They were all not in the front, but you can still see them.

He got the crowns in the 1970s in a CA North Carolina dental school. They look amazing and remind me of all my ralatives in Moscow, especially Aunt Lida.

Then, I ran into a friend of Bill's visiting from Germany. Kristine too had numerous gold crowns, as did Flava Flav.

More Vodka

So I've spent the last two nights calling an agency of the Russian government for my friends vodka story.

Hours.

On the phone with Russian people who sound as pleased to talk to you as they are to stand in line for bread.

I must say, much props to "beeznissmen" for their patience with my Columbo style reporting (Oh, thank you, sir, now, just one more thing.....that military raid on your office, what can you tell me about that?)

In Russia, when people answer the phone they say, "Yes. I am listening to you."

Da. Ya slushayu vas.

I was speaking to Vladimir, a very sweet man who put up with my questions for over an hour this morning. As in, 1 am SF time.

Vladimir: Russian vodka is national treasure.

Me: How can you tell the difference between Russian vodka and other vodka?

Vladimir: It is made in Russia with Russian people, the local water with particular mineral content, the local climate, the birchwood coals, all this.

Me: Have you performed a taste test?

Vladimir: Only an expert can tell the subtle notes in vodka. Experts train special for this.

too ridiculous to blog

but i did it, so perhaps you should too.

Sellers remorse?

Not exactly like I had a choice in leaving The Star-Ledger (it was a one-year position) but still--my former employer won a newspaper wide Pulitzer prize for the coverage of NJ's governor coming out of the closet.

The Voice of New Jersey, aka Star-Ledger, did an amazing job. So, I'm happy for the paper and my former colleagues, and I'm sad I wasn't there for the hoopla of the story.

I had just moved to San Francisco when I got a call from a Star-Ledger reporter, asking me if I'd seen the news about McGreevey. I was so jealous of the story--there is nothing like the excitement and the hunt of such a juicy piece of news. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the Mountain View office of Red Herring, trying to nail down a press rep for MSNMusic.

All these recent thoughts remind me how much I love working for a newspaper, driving to crime scenes, talking to people who don't necessarily want to talk to me.

So, where to go from here?

For the time being, I'm helping to report a freaky story about Stolichnaya Vodka trademarks and Russia's clumsy (and deadly) foray into capitalism. Finally, I get to use my Russian for reporting! Imagine that.

Calling Moscow means I have to work at night, seeing as how it's 12 hours ahead of SF.