Products People Love

I've been trying to figure out what exactly it is I want to do with my life. And although I'm not claiming at all to have any clue whatsoever, I might have stumbled upon a piece of it.

I'm a romantic at heart. Not in the sense that I like long walks on the beach or watching the sunrise from the top of Machupichu (ok, I would actually probably really like that), but in the sense that my life is all together too dominated by the pursuit of love. As far back as I can remember, I never thought boys were gross, ever. And now, through hookups and breakups, I'm still chasing after some great love. It's the one thing that throughout my life, I have always known that I wanted - simply someone that loved me. Sniff. Sniffle.

So if being loved is what I'm looking for, let me turn that energy to what I want to do in my life. A few days ago as I was checking out a big list of web 2.0 companies, I glazed over so many of them, bored. I realized that I wanted to work on products that elicit emotional responses from their users. Preferably, positive emotional responses. And I wanted something where I could see that emotional response. Where I could actually maybe meet that user. I wanted to touch people, to move them, emotionally. I realized that what I wanted was for a user to love the product that I had a hand in building because in the end, I wanted to be loved.

This all sounds soooo pathetic. But it's what makes me happy. It makes me feel whole. And that I have done good. I remember going into interviews out of college, and telling people that I simply wanted to build products that helped people. That made them smile or improved their lives. Really, it was so much more selfish than that. I wanted people to love me. The unending pursuit of the fundamentally social creature.

Love is such a complicated thing. And maybe I'm just now beginning to understand the difference between loving and liking. Love is a raw, uncontrollable emotional desire. Liking is everything else minus hate.

2004 ZD Chardonnay

As part of my new resolution to begin remembering the names of wines that I've tried, I thought I'd make a concerted effort to blog as many of them as I can. So yes, this is more for me than for you. But especially since so many of them are drunk in the comfort of a suburban abode that now features our own wireless connection, it's easy to remember what I've drunk! And yes, we drink on weeknights. But don't worry - not alone. WE drink together on weeknights. I love our house.

So tonight was a yuuummmy Chardonnay from ZD. Courtesy of our in-house wine connoisseur, sammyw. On a side note, I love ZD. I think the label's pretty. And I had a great tasting there the first time I went. The second time I went back wasn't as much fun, but I'd still give them another chance.

OK, so please bear with my gushy descriptions of wines. It just helps me remember.

I thought the ZD was sweet and rich and velvety. The taste and smell literally blooms in your mouth. I have no idea what the heck it smells like or what the heck the undertones are. But it makes me think apples and roses. Definitely apples. I had rose-apples in Hawaii once. The best part about it though is that it's luxuriously smooth. I think that's because it's "minerally." I like minerally. :)

Some interesting tidbits from the Oxford Wine Companion:
- No interesting tidbits.
- The entry under Chardonnay was all history. Hrmph
- It's a cool book, kinda dry tho.

I LOOOOVVEE DANCING

This is absolutely awesome. Watch it - you'll smile, I promise.

Haute tech

Check out my roomie's phone. We decorated our razrs with crystals. So teenybopper it's awesome. I'll post a picture of mine some time too. But isn't my roomie's phone so cute! It's like candy - you just want to lick it. I really can't wait to do arts and crafts with my bebe when I have one ... WHEN I have one. Not happening any time soon, thank goodness.

Blood brothers ... er sisters

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Remember when you were little kids and you had best friends? And you read something like Tom Sawyer or some book like that and there was the idea of blood brothers? I never really believed that you would really be closer if you rubbed your blood together. Besides, in today's modern day, bodily fluids are just so taboo.

Despite that, my roommate's and I decided to catch up on some of the childhood that we missed compared to normal kids. In fact, that's a general pattern I've noticed is that I do things kinda late. Mostly bad things, but I really won't go into that here.

So we all pierced our left ears together. Not the lobe, but a little higher. Everyone's is a little different. I like mine. I like theirs too.

You can watch an extremely boring video of it here if you're curious as to what the whole process is like. No screaming. Not even any blood. Like I said. Boring video.

Though I must say that's one snazzy player. Shout outs to DD at Videoegg!!!!!

Thanks Hoop!

For giving me space on your server.

I am very very happy to have my rounded corner back.

I bet you guys didn't even notice it was missing, huh? ;)

4 billllllion dollars!

Read this on wired:
The Genius of Apple's Stores

"Consider this: Apple says its stores are now making more than $1 billion in sales per quarter. Just two years ago, the stores were making $1 billion a year -- and at that time they were the fastest-growing retail operation in history, beating the previous record holder The Gap to $1 billion annual sales in just three years, according to Ron Johnson, the executive in charge of Apple's retail operations. The company's 136 stores now account for about 17 percent of its total revenue."

That's 4 billion dollars a year in revenue! I mean, those stores look cool but, I didn't think they looked 4 billion dollars cool.

Steve Jobs might seem a little nutso, but if this means that people like my mom (who still doesn't know how to use email) are going to walk in, buy a $200 mp3 player and ask the Genius Bar how they get music onto it (not that she even owns any music), then he's doing something right. I mean, technology is supposed to make people smile. And there's a whole population of people out there that aren't yet smiling from technology because they simply don't know how to use it. I think it's great that Apple has created such a slick brand and that their stores are now human bridges between people like my mom and technology that might make her smile.

Cute Apple Ad

Running from Target

Yes, Target. "Tarjay," the "Bulls Eye Boutique." And yes, I ran home from it.

Why you might ask? Because my roommate told me running was cathartic.

How you might ask? Well, it was one of those extremely eventful Monday nights in the suburbs where our house took a house trip to Target. Dropped off eight rolls of paper towels, de-stressing body wash, and a green tea and verdana scented candle in my roommate's car as she left for the 24-hour, and I started my warm up jog out of the Target parking lot.

Now, I could have taken the for-sure, known way back home. And gone straight down San Antonio, resulting in a 2.12 mile run as mapped below on MapMyRun.com



Instead, I decided to brave the suburban outback. Thinking, well, if I keep going north from San Antonio, I'll eventually hit Charleston. But no. Let's just say I started East of El Camino, got dumped out of some suburban side road back onto El Camino while we live east of Middlefield. And the final route ... measuring a full 3.1 miles is ...



Courtesy of MapMyRun.com

So, I got to know middle of nowhere Palo Alto really really well. And I ran out some frustration. And hopefully my bum will just look that much better. No pain, no gain.