Monday, October 30, 2006

Hannah Gross



I've already broken the rule on birthdays, but even if I hadn't -- I mean, who can resist this!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Proof of Life

Jon obliges a peepsNet reporter with irrefutable evidence of his real-time existence

I didn't notice him at first.

It wasn't that the give-or-take year since I last saw him had been unkind, but even so, he seemed like the gray man as I scrutinized the field to find the guy I was meeting for coffee.

Neither of us should be allowed to dress ourselves but I wasn't expecting quite the witness protection look -- as he would say, we kid because we love. Still, I should have zeroed in far quicker on the man who would choose to sit outside Starbucks on a cool, windy day.

The man with his head buried in a baseball cap and face buried in a newspaper is a definite prospect. And then I spy the nearly empty pack of Merits teetering on the edge of the small cafe table. Only the need to stay friends with a cigarette would coax someone away from plush seating and warmth into the arms of a flimsy, uncomfortable steel chair, and to subject oneself to an autumn sun so low and intense in the sky that even in the early afternoon an eye-level gaze is borderline painful and removing your sunglasses is out of the question.

So, the first thing we know about Jon is that he hasn't given up cigarettes. In context, that's a good sign.

"It's good to see you," I say.

"It's good to be seen," Jon replies. Yeah -- no mistaking that mixture of shtick and schlamozel.

Jon and I have had a similar year, looking for the next great thing, and we have tried from time to time to meet for coffee since we live in neighboring towns. But it has taken this long.

We compare notes and intel about places we've been and are trying to crack. We discuss strategy and tactics and how blogging has almost become a way for job-seeking journalists to extend and revise how the world sees them beyond the narrow confines of the cover letter and resume. We divulge disappointments and near misses and times we felt just plain used. We rag on Reuters for a respectfully brief but obligatory few minutes.

We talk shop: the solitude inherent in multimedia production; the craving for a creative environment; not whether, but how soon the embrace of citizen journalism by MSM will create a crisis in journalism, long after nobody noticed that the lines had irretrievably blurred.

We joke about working together again, with another former cohort or two, and it is a longing, instantly wistful remark that hangs there in the air for both of us to ponder while we try to conceal from each other -- as best as men can -- how nice we each think that would be.

We begin to figuratively rustle our papers after a little while, not long after the dregs of my grande coffee, black, have cooled -- we are, after all, outside. Time to move on since there are letters to write, bushes to beat, trails to follow.

I hope we'll have another meeting with much less time elapsed. And this time I think I'll recognize him right away.

Monday, October 16, 2006

This just in ...

Careful readers of peepsNet have no doubt noticed that we do not cover birthdays. We're happy to concede that kind of fluff to Entertainment Tonight. And hey, if you reach 100, you have a date with Willard Scott.

But we don't like to make girls cry and we also crumble like fresh feta under accusations of favoritism, so either peepsNet writes less about Samer or ...

Today's birthdays include:

  • Noah Webster / wordsmith (1758)
  • Oscar Wilde / author (1854)
  • David Ben-Gurion / statesman (1886)
  • Eugene O'Neill / playwright (1888)
  • Michael Collins / revolutionary leader (1890)
  • Paul Strand / photographer (1890)
  • William O. Douglas / jurist (1898)
  • Angela Lansbury / actor (1925)
  • Suzanne Somers / actor (1946)
  • Tim Robbins / actor (1958)
  • John Mayer / songer, songwriter (1977)
  • Nicole Spiridakis / writer (1978)

Let's see ...
  1. Jessica Simpson's new fella
  2. A guy I went to high school with
  3. Oh! The hottest young writer in San Francisco!

peepsNet knows there has been some cocktails already -- at lunch, so naughty! -- but the main event is tonight. We doubt our friend will feast on Surf & Turf -- though that would give us a decent lead, love -- can you throw us a bone? (Are vegetarians even allowed to throw bones?).

peepsNet has been promised pictures, but peepsNet has been made many, many promises (sigh).

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Heeeeeeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaaaack!


Samer's precious iBook is back in his loving hands as of yesterday (get a room, you two, why don't you) and the happy couple promises "there's a ton of pics coming up" on Flickr.

At this writing a ton = eight (8).

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

On a Mac ... (or: Technology Fails Samer)

A satisfied customer awaits the opening of the Apple Store in Santa Monica

Samer refuses to blog anymore (me thinks he doth protest too much) but since he has found a new love his fan(s) is getting used to experiencing the world through Samer's eyes not from petty rants but pretty much through his actual eyes.

So why is Samer's last Flickr photo from Sept. 19?

An exclusive peepsNet investigation has uncovered the unspeakable truth: Samer's iBook -- a Mac! -- just stopped working.

Did a PC.
Had a Windows Moment.
Took a ride on the Gates-ville Local.

To make matters worse, Samer had a heck of a time getting the thing serviced since only people with Pro accounts can reserve Genius Bar time other than today, and today always seems to be booked, even mere seconds after reservations for today are accepted. Stupid Pro Account yuppies strutting their stuff, no doubt.

Samer managed to get some pity care when he showed up at the Apple store at the open and even then there was not a slot to be had. A sympathetic clerk let him cut the virtual line. This may be a tribute to Apple's commitment to customer care or it might just be this: what would you do if a guy that looked like Samer showed up with a "laptop" that couldn't be turned on and he started to get a little irate? Check the TSA handbook if you have any doubts.

Samer reports that "with any luck, I'll have it back in the middle of the week" and that he has a backlog of more than 250 pictures, of which very few will likely meet his exacting standards and be uploaded to Flickr.

But he already has some favorites. "The ones of a hawk in a cemetery are very cool," he assures.

Cemetery pictures. Lets see -- what does the TSA manual say about that ...

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Mike Lives!

A raging fire

There was a pretty serious fire in Mike's neck of the woods, which a folksy way of describing where something is when you don't really know where it is, especially when writing about something that takes place in the South. In this case it also gives peepsNet sufficient journalistic cover to write about something even though there is no story here whatsoever.

The news is Mike is fine. But the backstory is that Mike was never in any danger, even though upwards of 17,000 (again: folksy) people were urged to evacuate their homes in the Raleigh suburb of Apex when a hazardous materials plant caught fire and spewed funky smoke into the air.

Mike, contacted late on Saturday via IM , said he was fine and was far enough away from the mess so that it didn't affect him at all. He said he was as far away from the blaze as Silver Spring, MD is to Alexandria, VA.

peepsNet wouldn't want it said it was coaching you to stretch the truth for a few easy bucks, but you might want to reconsider your story, or reconsider your story, or reconsider your story, my friend.