Operation 35th Birthday Begins

Everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE my birthday. I'll start casually reminding folks 6 months out, then by the time June 20th hits you all hate me. I've heard repeatedly that my excitement over my birthday will wane as I get older, but it hasn't - and I'm quite sure it won't ever.

Operation 35th Birthday weekend in full effect. Since my 21st affair, I always make a big to-do of the ones that end in 5 or 0. For my 25th, I rented a limo and all my friends did a pub crawl. For my 30th, I had a SpongeBob Squarepants-themed party, complete with Patrick invites, a SpongeBob cake and pinata -- the works.



Given all the dramarama that's happened in 2010 so far, 35 needs to not only top the previous two big ones, but has to include some extra-quality time with the husband. I'm going to surprise him tonight with the itinerary:

Friday night: Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel
Saturday: Disneyland (of course)
Saturday night: Andaz West Hollywood (on the Strip)
Sunday: Mexico City in Los Feliz for brunch

I've still got time to plan the friend/family fun stuff party. But really, I mean, how do you top this:



Any suggestions?

On Edward Tufte and PowerPoint

Get Lost! Ep. 7: Recon

Ohmydog...there was a lot of shirtless Sawyer. *swoons*

My major takeaway for this up? (And yes, I'm at the point where these posts aren't so much "reviews" and "key points.")

I'll call this here and now: Charlotte did not "accidentally" find Sawyer's info.

That anthropologist was all out DIGGING around his drawer, looking for something. My gut tells me she's in cahoots with Widmore, and somehow she's connected in this sideways world while he's in the sub in the current Island time.

Without much fanfare...

So last year I hit another milestone I'd set for myself: become a published author.

That little dream became a reality in 2009 as my short story was published in a book called Heart of a Military Woman. The book is a compilation of "true short stories...celebrating our active and retired service members. Historic, nostalgic and some quite recent, these are written by military members, their families and loved ones, sharing sentiments and pride as only they can."

My piece is a little vignette about my brother Tim, who's in the Army. I respect the hell out of him -- and all those who serve -- because of the vast number of sacrifices they make so you and I can sit here and enjoy our freedom to screw around on the internet.

You can buy it by clicking on the link below, so buy! Today! :)

South by Southwest Pt. 1

What a crazy freaking two days it's been at SXSW in Austin. (Everything really is bigger in Texas.)

Awesome sessions and more importantly really cool people. There's free food, free booze, and free for all everywhere as well. As one person said, it's a party where a conference breaks out.

A few quick pics:

Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable. We chatted 

for a bit and he had a lot of nice things to say about 

TurboTax's social efforts this year. (Go team!)

We Philly fans find each other everywhere we go!
Here's Owen and I at the Tweet House party tonight.

Me in front of The Hollywood Reporter's red carpet.

Tomorrow's SXSW schedule: rinse and repeat.

The $2,529 tweet

This time 6 weeks ago, my husband and I were excitedly counting down to our May trip to Australia and New Zealand. Our plane tickets were bought (Qantas), our hotels were booked (Travelocity).

Within 10 days, I went from giddy anticipation to a screeching halt: a diagnosis of uterine cancer.

The cancer came out of nowhere, but the good news is we caught it early. I'm having a hysterectomy on April 12th, which is perrrrfect timing (sarcasm) -- I'm a writer for TurboTax.

My mom, ever the gem, responded with, "You have April 16th to December 1st to get sick and pull this shit now?!" I heart her.

Instead of being mad at Qantas, I chose to be grateful. As I wrote in my post "Hysterectomy at 34? Be grateful, I say" on my baby (now cancer) blog, I'm grateful to...


"Qantas Airlines, who are refusing to grant a refund for our Australia trip in May. (I won't be cleared to fly by then.) They said the only way they "give a refund is in the case of death of the passenger, and even then (they) require a death certificate." I'm grateful because this means I get to polish up my letter-to-the-CEO writing skills. If you know me, you know the results I get from such letters. Cause, you know, instead of focusing on my health what I want to be doing right now is begging an airline to talk to me like a human being instead of reading from a script, and realize that sometimes life deals folks shitty cards. Trust me, Qantas, I'd much rather be jaunting around Australia and New Zealand in May instead of recovering from having my uterus ripped out. Poorly played Qantas, poorly played." 

I put my blog post on Twitter, and within minutes my coworker, social media maven Christine Morrison (@TTaxChristine) tweeted the following:

@QantasUSA refuses to give a refund to a 34 year old
woman who needs an emergency hysterectomy.
http://twurl.nl/zd2pl3 #Qantas-sucks

I had no idea she'd done it until a few hours later when I got a message saying, "Hey, Qantas is trying to reach you."

Huh?

I checked my @californiakara replies, and sure enough, @QantasUSA wrote, "Can you DM us your email so we can follow up and see how we can help?"

No way.

Turns out there's a real live -- and compassionate -- human being at Qantas, who knows more than how to simply read a script. Over the next 12 days, I corresponded with Qantas' Director of Online Sales and Marketing, Dina Louie.

A couple of snippets from our conversation:

Me: I sincerely appreciate you reaching out to me. This is hard enough to deal with all these health questions, and I'm glad to know there's a human being at Qantas who's willing to go to bat to do the right thing.

Dina: I'm trying to make a difference at least one person at a time... :)

She updated me every step of the way, and her kindness and caring attitude came through in every email.

Cut to 16 days later: I have $2,529 back in my AmEx account, thanks to Christine, Dina, and one little tweet.

Social media FTW!

And the Oscar Goes To... (2010 Snarky Edition)

Rather than a whole post on my thoughts on tonight's Academy Awards, I thought I'd just share my Twitter feed. Note, some of it's a little (okay a LOT) snarky, but that's because I used to work on the show. Enjoy!

• 5:15 p.m. Dear world: We West Coasters get the Oscars live every year. Quit saying, "Spoilers ahead!" You sound like a tool. #kthx
  
• 5:21 p.m. Dear ABC: Glad you leveraged your relationship w/ Disney to get an animatronic Oscar pre-show host.
  
• 5:27 p.m. @david973 then again that's an insult to Disney creatives whose animatronics're WAY more human-like than Kathy Ireland.
• 5:40 p.m. Dear Oscars: Fire the Lighting Director. Audience is in the dark (in more ways than one). #kthx
• 5:41 p.m. But prettier, and more eloquent. And less drunk. RT @DamianTVGuideMg Meryl Streep has become the new Nicholson!
• 5:42 p.m. He was host when I worked on the Oscars. RT @david973 Steve Martin has been an all-time favorite of mine since I was about 5. Love that guy.
  
• 5:45 p.m. Seriously? Are they going to call out all the working actors, and then clap? *zzz*
• 5:46 p.m. True dat. RT @ebertchicago I guess the best opening in Oscarcast history is still ahead for us.
  
• 5:56 p.m. I'll call it early based on the waytoolong nom & win packages so far: #oscars will run 41 minutes long.
  
• 6:36 p.m. John Hughes tribute: Best. #Oscars. Package. Ever.
  
• 6:55 p.m. Best Animated Short: stupid waste of time package #andyouwonderwhyyourunlong
  
• 7:22 p.m. Seriously? You win a 3rd Oscar and your first words are "I already have two of these." #oscars #skank
  
• 7:25 p.m. Nothing says yummy #Oscars snack like @SombreroMexican shrimp burrito and horchata!
  
• 7:39 p.m. Really? Twilight's a horror movie?
  
• 7:43 p.m. Dear #Oscars: Are you really sure you're the best ones to explain what editing is? #irony #overlylongshow
  
• 7:46 p.m. .@DamianTVGuideMg with all that money Avatar has made U'd think Cameron would buy his latest wife a damn burger. #oscars #eatsomethingbitch!
  
• 7:47 p.m. Aaaand..cue the Dead Sea Scrolls.
  
• 7:56 p.m. Best Hashtag of the Night goes to @DamianTVGuideMg for #eatsomethingbitch! (Re: Cameron's wife)
  
• 7:58 p.m. Of the closet? RT @TTaxChristine: When will George Clooney finally come out? Anyone? Anyone?
  
• 8:00 p.m. Dear #Oscars: I thought we moved past the awkward interpretive dance years ago. #debbieallenmustneedmoney
  
• 8:50 p.m. Ha! RT @MoRocca Oprah's going to give EVERYONE an Oscar!!
  
• 8:53 p.m. Technically, the man didn't lie. RT @ActuallyNPH I told you I wasn't doing a duet...
  
• 8:54 p.m. Babs, you rude insufferable creature. #illneverforget
  
• 8:56 p.m. Is that Nathan Lane or Barbra Streisand?
  
• 8:58 p.m. Katherine Bigelow wins twice tonight for Hurt Locker (Best Director-1st female) and Avatar (biggest alimony)
  
• 8:58 p.m. Word RT @TTaxChristine We saw Hurt Locker last night. That is one intense film.
  
• 9:29 p.m. Round of applause to the #Oscars production staff. I was one of you 7 years ago, so I know how effing tired you are.

Those are my thoughts...what did you think of the show?

Glee Quietly Adds 3rd LA Show

Under the cover of night, and nonexistent Internet fanfare, another show was quietly added to the Glee tour. This morning, while looking for tickets for the May 21 show, I noticed a third Los Angeles show had been added for Saturday, May 22.

The 7-city tour, which starts May 18 in Phoenix and ends May 29 in New York City, caused a frenzy at 10 a.m. yesterday when the American Express pre-sale went on sale.

According to the Ticketmaster rep I spoke with, "New York City tickets were gone in 30 seconds, and the Chicago date sold out in 3 minutes."

After I tweeted this information, Ticketmaster responded from their official Twitter account, saying, "@californiakara Remember those are just limited presale tix. The remainder that (sic) will go on public sale. #Glee"

It's no small secret I'm a huge Glee fan. I fell in love with the show after its first airing last summer, and have been hooked ever since. I tried to get 5 tickets to the May 21 Los Angeles show yesterday right at 10 a.m., to no avail. Unfortunately, the May 22 show doesn't work for us.

For the rest of you Gleeks, however, there's hope: as of this posting, there are plenty of tickets for the May 22 date still available.

You can get tickets for the third show here:
http://bit.ly/9mv5gv

I'm with the band, dude!

Woo hoo! Just signed up for TechKaraoke at SXSW - you're actually backed by a live band. So absurdly awesome. It'll be my first time singing with a live band.

My set (and by "set" I mean one song) is March 15 at 11:10 pm, Six Lounge in Austin if you're around. Being the good Jersey girl I am, I'm doing Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi). (Plus, my coworker's on 20 minutes before me (Drift Away Dobie Gray). Can't wait!

(ps - Oh, yeah, forgot to mention: I'M GOING TO South by Southwest in Austin, TX! We leave Thursday the 11th and come back Tuesday the 16th. Yay!)

Get Lost! Ep. 5: Sundown

There's not a whole lot of "quick quotes" this week, because there was one throwaway line that rocked my socks off:

"Be careful, (Smokey) takes the form of someone you care for."

Which sends reverberations back to the first season, the first time Jack saw his dad.

It also casts doubt upon who/what Hurley sees when HE sees dead people. Was Charlie really Charlie? How about the other visions of dead folks Hurley saw? What does this say about his interactions with dead Jacob? Was it really Jacob? Or Smokey/Locke?

To me, that one little throwaway line rocked the very core of the show for me.

Hell, the fight scenes even got all Buffy-good, and yes, the funnies were very guffawish in nature.

And I agree with the lovely Tea with Lemon: the ending was all jaw-droppy.