A Walk Down Memory Lane at AOL
August 14th, 2007
Last Wednesday (08 Aug) I went to Lunch 2.0 at AOL. What a difference a year makes =). Lunch 2.0 was first held at AOL in March of 2006. Mark Jen had asked me to host at AOL back when we were sneaking in cafeterias. I mentioned to Mark that we might have to pay for our own lunch and go to the cafeteria where we jaywalk across the street. Mark was gracious enough to say that was completely fine — little did I know that was their M.O. so it really was no big deal. The folks that came all fit in one picture frame:
Photo Credit: Terry Chay
It was nice and intimate and we were able to take them around and show them the office. I was most excited to show them the UX Cafe where we post designs and everyone can look and comment on them. I told some of my designer friends to take down anything “confidential”. When we got to the area, everything was taken down and all the boards were flipped hahaha I guess everything was confidential.
Disclaimer: I used to be an employee at AOL Silicon Valley
Technorati Tags: lunch 2.0aolr
Going to lunch with Jenny reminded me of this USA Property I saw while I was visiting. I could never forget that house… it was so incredibly gorgeous.
Calling *Frequent* Twitter Users
June 3rd, 2007
I got this message across my inbox:
“If you’re a frequent Twitter user, a journalist writing a wire service (AFP) article on Twitter would like to talk to you. If you’re interested, contact Kara Andrade at kara[dot]andrade[at]yahoo[dot]com”
After more research, she is interested in the following:
The two main questions I’m interested in asking frequent Twitter users is:
(1) Why do you Twitter?
(2) What are some common misconceptions about people that Twitter and who is interested in what Twits (?) have to say?
I’m definitely interested in following one person’s story throughout the day as they Twitter. And I was given that chance a few days later. To hide this person’s identity, let’s just call them Q. As the day progressed it became apparent even to me that this was not a typical twitter day for Q. Or perhaps my assumptions were just fundamentally wrong because I have become so used to hearing / reading about Trump’s tweets ad nauseum. For Q the day started out with a tweet about alcoholism and the stigma attached to people who drink too much. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD: a “chronic relapsing brain disease”. Then Q went into education mode about meds to prevent drinking urge – baclofen & disulfiram. I didn’t know about baclofen, but had heard about Disulfiram, also known by the brand name Antabuse. Someone tweeted that baclofen has not yet received approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as a safe and effective treatment for alcohol or drug use disorders. And then Q tweeted back that preliminary open-label studies from Italy demonstrated effectiveness of baclofen in reducing alcohol use among the alcoholics. In addition, results from a clinical study conducted by Brown University show alcohol-addicted participants receiving baclofen were able to abstain from drinking for longer periods of time than those who didn’t receive the drug. Someone responded defending baclofen saying that doctors in Europe have been prescribing baclofen as the primary treatment for people who drink excessively. The tweets blew up when Q revealed that Baclofen has a 65% success rate for treatment-resistant alcoholics , allowing them to return to low- or medium-risk drinking. That’s right, this treatment doesn’t require abstinence. Well you can imagine how people responded to that bit of info. Q spent the whole day tweeting about excessive drinking and the pros and cons of 12 step abstinence programs versus other approaches such as the use of baclofen. And by the way, Q said this was a typical day for him/her!
Contact Kara if you feel like you fit the bill: Kara Andrade at kara[dot]andrade[at]yahoo[dot]com
Technorati Tags: twitter
Do The Wave – It’s Quick & Easy
May 2nd, 2012
Okay I’m not really trying to make this into a no.cal vs. so. cal thing, but I must admit I just came back from LA and while many people think LA drivers are RUDE, they do one thing that can really calm other people on the road. It’s called the wave.
There is much more to still to follow. Please keep an eye out for updates from time to time as I am sure you will find them very interesting. Thank you very much for your time.