DIY Wireless Router Cover

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the wireless router is the ugliest item in any living room or home office, so why not turn it into a chic piece of decor! I stumbled across a very lovely little blog with a fabulous DIY tutorial on how to turn an old book into a cover for your wireless router. 

You're welcome!

Rooftop Slide Show

A carousel slide projector propped up on two cases of beer; two boomboxes stacked one atop the other; a white sheet taped haphazardly to a wall protruding up from the east corner of the building; an ice chest packed with Liberty surrounded by folding chairs; a video producer nonchalantly weaving through and around a dozen brewery employees. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we gathered near the ledge and cheers'd, twice actually, to be sure our video producer captured it just right.

Last night some coworkers and I gathered on the roof of the brewery to watch Tom, an Anchor old timer, show slides he took at rock shows in the 70's and 80's in Philadelphia. He timed out the slides to match music from each band. The concept was initially brought about for a video production piece that our marketing department is working on, and we certainly did knock that out at sunset, but after our videographer had captured all she needed, we kept the beer flowing and slideshows rolling well into the night!

Spice Cupcakes

Somehow my coworker Lynda made it to her 30's without realizing that women get a full week to celebrate their birthday! After all these birthdays of only allowing herself one day of birthday fun, we've been stretching her birthday out at the office. 

Today I brought her cupcakes with plenty to share. She wanted carrot cake so I made a first ever try of it last night and couldn't get them to turn out. I think the carrot shreds were too big? After running out of carrots I went for a spice cake instead, but still topped them off with cream cheese frosting and sugar sprinkles.

Technology and Change

It is undeniable that I'm heavily dependent on online services, everything from social sites like Facebook and online portfolios like Flickr to file sharing with Dropbox and downloading with iTunes. 

Last week I attended a brunch hosted by the Network of Executive Women and heard speaker Edie Weiner, who emphasized the shift from relationship based business to technology based business. I agree that the value in getting to know one's partners and clients on a personal level has decreased as computers are rapidly becoming our main form of communication and business process. Personnel turnover is far more rapid than it was for previous generations of professionals. However, the turnover in technology is frustratingly rapid as well. 

When I was in college, everyone used MySpace, until there was a shift toward Facebook. Twitter exploded, followed by Instagram, which was recently purchased by Facebook. Kodak Gallery was just sold to Shutterfly; and the list goes on. It is hard to be dependent on web-based services that are ever changing, evolving, selling, and merging. Thankfully, these kinds of transitions have only affected web-based services tied to me on a level of social interaction and convenience, and my professional life has remained relatively unaffected. I wonder, though, what is coming down the pipeline that might completely change workplace staples like Microsoft Outlook and Excel, or the way we utilize conference call services and engage in business travel.

I'm going to take Edie Weiner's advice and begin to regularly look at my business with "alien" eyes, being open to shifting the way I engage in my business. It is crucial to stay at the forefront of my industry rather than allow "the way we've always done things" to prohibit my company from anticipating inevitable changes.

Giants vs Brewers

Sunday was an unusually clear, warm day in San Francisco; a perfect day for baseball! 

A friend met me in the city to watch the Giants play the Brewers. Most of the game was fairly slow and uneventful with the Giants maintaining a one point lead, until the 9th inning when the Brewers tied it up. In the bottom of the 11th, Giants' batter Hector Sanchez finally knocked one out past third, an otherwise unremarkable single, but with bases loaded it was all he needed to secure the win. 

As the Giants poured out of their dugout onto the field in celebration, the little league team sitting behind us went wild, pulling off their jerseys and swinging them over their heads while jumping on their seats screaming.

Tea Bridal Shower

Erin and I have been friends since we were four years old. We met in Sunday School at a little church in our hometown. We've had oh so many adventures over the last 24 years; growing up at the same church and sometimes in the same schools, spending a summer in Nepal together during high school, an internship in Dallas, and in recent years plenty of visits back and forth between her home in Los Angeles and mine in San Francisco. She's a gem, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of her big day - in Jamaica no less!

Last weekend was Erin's bridal shower, a tea party with flea market inspired decor. It was a very "Erin" tea, with every last detail well thought out. I'm not sure how her fiance will react when he realizes Erin registered for and indeed received every type of bowl and desert dish imaginable, but I'd say the event went off without a hitch and she got piles of fabulous gifts.

Parking in San Francisco

It has been said that you're not a real San Franciscan until you've had your car towed in the city. I beg to differ, since I haven't been towed yet (knock on wood!), but that's only because I obsess over curb colors, parking meters and street signage, and have even on occasion tipped a bum to keep an eye out. Although, even at that, I've had my fair share of parking tickets. 

The most infuriating was a $40 fine for not curbing my tires "enough" while parked in the very affluent, residential neighborhood of Pacific Heights on a street that was so nearly flat I debated not curbing my tires at all, but thought I was better off curbing them just to be safe. Clearly I wasn't playing it safe "enough." There was also that time when I found a note on my windshield letting me know it appeared that the registration tags had been stolen off my license plate, which would have been very thoughtful had it not been attached to a ticket for missing registration. 

I suppose there is some solace in knowing I'm not alone in my frustrations and that there are more crafty folks than myself creating tools to help San Franciscans spare our sanity and pocket books the pain of future tows and tickets. Finding the Sweet Spot has a clever flow chart on their website that tells you all of the places where your car could be should you discover it is no longer at the curb where you left it. There is also an app called VoicePark that will guide you to the nearest unoccupied, legal parking space.

If you're willing to spend the cash, there are always garages. This is probably worthwhile for some of you when compared to the wad of tickets in your glove compartment; you just have to know which ones to use. I can't give away my best spot or you'll be sure to flood them and I'll never get a space again, but just to give you some idea - there's a small garage just blocks from Union Square where I regularly get an evening flat rate of $10 or $15, depending on how full they are. Believe me, ten bucks is well worth it when you want to bounce around to restaurants, bars and shopping without worrying about feeding a meter or getting scratches.