randomly snarky

My parents had a hell of a time teaching me to tie my shoes, which of course is a requirement to enter public school. Actually, it wasn't that I couldn't tie them; it's that my artistry wouldn't stay tied. My aunt Rose was the one who eventually taught me shoelace staying techniques before kindergarten.

I was a long and lanky child... my limbs and appendages grew before their time. I was looking over the top of kids' heads through the fourth grade, where they started to catch up. Truth be known, the early spurt made me appear perpetually spastic as I was full of energy but fairly uncoordinated. Hence the lace issues.

Anyway, while I don't want to buy a pair of zippered Converse clones today, they sure would have done wonders for me back in the day.

Posted by suzie at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

You have been a constant in my life for 11 years. Oh sure, we only fooled around the first two years in the greenhouse, but we’ve been mutually exclusive for the past 9 years.

We’ve shared a lot of good times – a handful of great times – and our relationship survived more than its share of mishaps and mayhem. But you helped me see the world, supported my personal and professional growth, provided comfort and shelter, and introduced me to a lot of wonderful people.

You were often there when I needed you, and I was there for you, too. Even when some of my family and friends didn't care too much for you, I stood by you and guided others to feel good about you too.

So, it’s hard to tell you this, but in the past few months I have been seriously thinking about ending our relationship. I did consider trying to take our relationship in a new direction, finding different things to do together, but I feel the only way to preserve what we once had is to end this for good. And I have a hunch you have grown tired of me too.

The truth is I’ve moved on. Next week I'm going on a trip out west, and while I’ve always kept in touch while I traveled, you won’t be hearing from me this time. Let’s face it – letting you tag along would just be awkward now.

While it is a little sad for me knowing I won't be able to rely on you anymore, some of my friends still do. Be good to them.

Best Regards,
Suzie

Posted by suzie at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Between travel and the pisser of my blog crash, I fell two weeks behind on checking fave blogs. I'm sorta caught up now. Anyway, there's a cool meme happening on my blogroll; Maria captured the instructions and creating this was easy. And it's pretty.
1. My first name.
2. My favorite style of food.
3. My high school.
4. My favorite color.
5. My celebrity crush.
6. Favorite drink.
7. Dream vacation.
8. Favorite dessert.
9. What I want to be when I grow up.
10. What I love most in life.
11. One word to describe me.
12. My Grandmother’s first name.

Note on #5 - I searched Christian Bale and this rendering pulled up as Jason Bateman (his character is Patrick Bateman in American Psycho). But this works for me.

Erin (the trendsetter) and Francis made one. How about you?

Posted by suzie at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

When I get into conversation about this blog, I generally say it’s not a work-related or industry blog, or one where I dive too deeply into my personal life. The description is pretty accurate, if not very telling.

Working in the industry has taught me many lessons but two particularly relevant here: What you post publically or privately on the Internet is, or can easily become, public. I enjoy the illusion of privacy as much as you do, but if you don’t want something to be read by X person or XYZ people, from your past, present or future, control yourself.

Secondly, there is an unbelievable mass of information in and around the online space, from technology to regulatory concerns, including entire industries built to support or utilize the Internet. I leave the challenge of distilling that noise to the professional bloggers, who I deeply appreciate and rely on for the latest buzz, reviews, and trend spotting.

Presumably the name and the content of my blog provide any needed context. I enjoy the outlet and the dialogue sparked with other bloggers and readers, a nice mix of friends and people I only know online. Which is okay by me.

Let's call it recreational blogging. And now, two years in, I've posted the requisite "about this blog" post. Thank you, and good night.

Posted by suzie at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

This month marks the two-year anniversary of this blog. Yay, Randomly Snarky!

Or, um, yay, me!

Posted by suzie at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Jason says the consequences of not completing this meme include scurvy. I prefer to avoid random bleeding. Besides, this fashions a re-entry post after the long weekend.

Four Jobs I’ve Had
- Weekend waitress at my mom's catering company while in high school
- Office manager at a hearing aid center. Hey, it was Florida.
- Records coordinator. Yay microfiche.
- A startup called Vices & Virtues in the mid-90s. Booyah!

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
- Ever After;  A Knights Tale; The Matrix; Clueless

Four Places I’ve Lived
- Morris Plains, NJ
- Ocala, FL
- Silver Springs, FL
- Reston, VA

Four TV Shows I Like
- Supernatural; Psych; Reno: 911; LOST

Four Favorite Foods
- Spinach calzone (hold the sauce)
- Mashed potatoes
- Plain old Hershey's chocolate
- Red onion and cucumber salad

Four Places I’d Rather Be
- Bar Harbor, ME
- Dublin, Ireland
- Flying a plane
- Ormond Beach, FL

Four People I’m Tagging
- Nancie; Devesh; Sally;  James

Posted by suzie at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (2)

Twice in the past couple of months I've been tasked with sharing 20-30 "fun facts" about myself in a matter of minutes as a team building exercise.

It goes like this: Each person is given a sheet to move around the room sharing and capturing quick facts about  everyone. Every fact shared must be unique, so the scope of the info is relative to the size of the group.

A mixed blessing at best; hearing what people share IS fun. (Well, except for those who "share" favorite songs and movies.) But remembering interesting bits about yourself is a pain in the ass.

Here's some I've used:

* Stephen King scared me away from red meat as a teen and it pretty much stuck
* A bowling ball fell on my head when I was 17 (ouch)
* I appeared with my ex on "Unsolved Mysteries" (in a local murder reenactment)
* My given name is Lucy -- I go by the nickname of my middle name
* I was once busted for drag racing my 1971 Pontiac LeMans
* My first car was that 1971 Pontiac LeMans bought at an auction for $300
* I'm a first generation American
* I can sing "Jingle Bells" in Gaelic
* I'm ambidextrous
* I can touch my nose with my tongue
* I lettered in Volleyball, Soccer and Bowling (really) in high school
* My name is Lucy and my dad's name was Desi (see Nick at Nite)
* I had my ears triple-pierced while visiting England in the late 80s
* I can't get a pedicure because I'm too ticklish
* I was born with a broken foot - and had a cast by the time I was 3 days old
* My family nicknames are "Bootie" and "Boots" (thanks to the cast)
* I went to a 2-day Bruce Springsteen event (long story)
* I play the piano (although way out of practice, and own one too)

Hearing what others say sparks ideas -- but you're guaranteed to think of several cool things long after the event is over.

Posted by suzie at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (2)

Well, I'm still the number one suzie austin in search but I received a funny note from another suzie austin who nabbed the ultimate MySpace URL.

Related news: Suzie Austin is played by Jack Hourigan in Christmas at Maxwell's.

Posted by suzie at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Checking out Clusty again and tested Suzie. A top result new to me on this particular little ego search was Suzie Hot Sauce.

They do specialize in hot sauce but neither owner is a Suzie. I also didn't find a Suzie brand of hot sauce. 

One Suzie connection: Their crazy little logo is exactly how I feel before my morning coffee.

Posted by suzie at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Came across a blog today where a guy called himself the "# 1 Mike in the world" based on his search ranking... which of course made me search on my own name. 

I'm not the number one Suzie. I'm okay with that.

I am the number one Suzie Austin on the Internet: Yahoo, Google and AOL Search all agree. Who can blame them? Not me.

Posted by suzie at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

The theme of the week continues. Today I activated Catster and checked out iLike.

iLike works with iTunes and as a stand-alone to capture musical interests and match users based on the data. The site also creates publishable widgets and (my favorite) recommends free 'similar' mp3 downloads to sample.

Catster is a fun niche. Establishing presence for Conan was a warm and pleasant experience. Setup was less than 15 minutes and Conan received friend invites and "treats" throughout his first day. 

iLike profile: http://alpha1.ilike.com/user/suzie_a
(I finally found a use for the eye photo!) 

Conan's Catster page:  http://www.catster.com/pet_page.php?i=410685

Posted by suzie at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Talking with Nancie today about social spaces and realized I forgot to mention my Facebook presence (minimal) yesterday: http://www.facebook.com/p/Suzie_Austin/500594067

Posted by suzie at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a current list of social sites where I have presence to varying degrees. There are a few not listed because I have yet to activate the registrations, including: Dogster/Catster, Dandelife and WetPaint. That's my AIM WeeMee to the right.

AIM Pages: http://www.aimpages.com/suzieaim/

MySpace: http://myspace.com/suzieaim

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/suzieaustin 

Netscape: http://www.netscape.com/member/suzie/ 

del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/suzieaim 

StumbledUpon: http://suzieaim.stumbleupon.com/about/ 

Posted by suzie at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

Bullets for a bio:

• Age: Just north of 35
• Location: VA 'burbs of D.C. 
• Status: Divorced
• Origins: Parents hail from Dublin, Ireland
• Profession: Social media -- online community
• Interests: Digital photography, ocean/sailing, geeking on history
• Best band: U2 (best view - Phoenix Park, Dublin)
• Best concert: Springsteen, August '84
  
• Fave city: New York
• Fave vacation spot: Bar Harbor, Maine

• email: suzieaim@aim.com
• AIM: suzieaim
  
• AIM profile: aimpages.com/suzieaim
  

Posted by suzie at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)