huh?

The other day I visited a Starbucks in Palo Alto. I paid for my order with my official Starbucks Paul McCartney card. The young Starbucks employee behind the register asked, "Who is this guy? He's somebody famous right? Did he write something or other?"

After composing myself (I had to resist the urge to scream at the kid) I carefully said, "Paul McCartney is from The Beatles. You've heard of them right?"

Starbucks kid: Oh yeah. I think so.

Me: (Again, trying not to scream) He's one of the most prolific singer/songwriters ever.

Starbucks kid: Shrugs. Oh okay.

Me:  At this point I decided to just walk away. I thought about launching into a diatribe about the fact that Starbucks was the first place to promote and sell Paul McCartney's latest CD (Memory Almost Full) and ask Starbucks Kid if he'd ever looked around the store -- because there just happened to be McCartney CDs for sale in the rotating CD rack... 

There were a million other things I could've said. But I decided that my time would be better spent by giving Natalya a refresher course on The Beatles and their influence on music etc. 

(Later) Me talking to Natalya:  Hey Natalya -- you know Paul McCartney and The Beatles right?

Natalya:  Yes Mom. The Beatles did Yellow Submarine and that's a drawing of Paul McCartney hanging upstairs in the hallway... the one you did when you were in ninth grade.

Me:  I love you Natalya. You make me so proud!

it wasn't in the Cards... Stanford 48, Tennessee 64

We lost and that sucks. What more can I say? Hmm.

How about: I'm really going to miss you Candice and I'm sorry that you didn't have a better game on Tuesday. Thanks for four years of (mostly) great memories...good luck in the WNBA!

candice is taking us to the championship!

Our girls played an AWESOME game on Sunday. They didn't let up on UConn even when the going got a little tougher. Candice was such a cool-headed leader... One more game versus the Tennessee Lady Vols on Tuesday. This just might be the year for Stanford Women's BB to go all the way!!!

our girls are going to the Final Four!!!

We did it!!! The Stanford Women's basketball team has made it to the Final Four for the first time since 1997. Yes, we did it. Andrea and I follow the Stanford teams closely year after year... we watch the players develop from Freshman to Senior level players... we get attached... and therefore what happens to our team happens to us. (Didn't someone use that line in an advertising campaign?)

Now we're preparing for our big game against UConn on Sunday, April 6th. We will be ready!!! Go Stanford!!!

springtime in chicago

we're here for our niece's bat mitzvah. needless to say, it doesn't feel much like spring! the snow is really picturesque though. i took this in front of the Hancock building.

here's a pic of Natalya getting down at the bat mitzvah party. she had an awesome time!

a fashion statement from natalya

i kept natalya home from school today because she was running a fever. i knew that i was going to be inside all day playing nurse so when i got dressed in the morning i put on some old jeans and a t-shirt. natalya took one look at me and told me she wanted me to change my clothes. she said,"i want you to dress like you're going to work mom." i asked why and natalya said, "because you just look kinda, um, lazy or something." nice one natalya.

playing in the ocean with natalya in our matching UV shirts.

while she did not approve what i wore today she did approve this 'outfit'

my Yahoo! ride comes to an end...

view of the yahoo! great america campus

on tuesday, february 12th i was one of the many Yahoo! employees who got the boot as part of a "reduction in force". needless to say, my year and a half at Yahoo! was quite a bumpy ride. i moved 3 times to 3 different campuses (including a stint at the Great America campus where i had an excellent view of the roller coasters); once i moved to a new cube for all of one week before i had to move again; i lost most of my staff and was unable to re-build my team due to a hiring freeze; and for the majority of the time i was there, my Yahoo! property was under the threat of being purchased by an outside company (not microsoft).

don't get me wrong -- like a roller coaster ride, there were some definite "highs" and good times too. mostly because of the fabulous people i worked with on the Personals team. for example, i worked with some of the best product managers i've ever encountered.

and now it's all come to and end... at least the ride is over. i was starting to feel sick to my stomach...

microhoo?

would microsoft ever do something like this?

thanks to all of you who've checked in with me regarding the big Microsoft and Yahoo! news. lots and lots of speculation over the past few days to be sure. suffice it to say that i'm tired of working at a place where there's so much uncertainty. it's exhausting! one of my biggest concerns about a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo! is the possible affects on Yahoo's culture. I was at Adobe when they acquired Macromedia a few years ago and there was a major ugly culture clash :(

fun times at yahoo! (thankfully it's not my cube)

searching for the prize inside

when i was a kid you had to dig to the bottom of a box of cereal to get to the prize inside. and -- the prize was actually in the cereal. i remember negotiating with my brother about which one of us would carefully stick our hand inside the newly opened box to dig down to the prize.

times have changed. imagine my horror upon opening a box of honey nut cheerios for natalya only to see the prize sitting on top of the sealed bag of cereal. and not only that -- the prize was sealed in plastic as well. thanks a lot general mills -- you've taken the fun out of cereal with prizes :(

natalya's words of wisdom

the other night while i was driving natalya home from school she shared this gem with me:

"Mom — i think the purpose of growing up is getting older."

...out of the mouths of babes.

natalya enjoys the snow in michigan

smile - it's a new year!

happy new year everyone! andrea, nataly and i just returned from a great trip to michigan. going 'home' for the holidays had many benefits: i saw my family; i played in the snow with natalya for the first time in our lives and i went through some old stuff of mine that my mom recently unearthed. one of the coolest finds was this toy camera. it was the first camera i ever owned. it doesn't really take pictures but i remember feeling cool and grown-up when i used it as a kid. thanks mom!

say "cheese"

stanford 73, tennessee 69

stanford's candice wiggins celebrates the victory

we did it!!! yes "we" did. we beat the Lady Volunteers from Tennessee for the first time in 11 years! the game was at Maples last night and andrea, natalya and i were there to witness the historical moment. it feel SO GOOD to post a win against Tennessee after so many losses.

jane apel and candice wiggins played well but it was rosalyn gold-onwude who really delivered after the game went into overtime. she scored 9 of her game total 10 points during the extra 5 minutes.

thanks for the early christmas present santa! :)

jane apel and kayla pederson block a shot by Player of the Year candace parker

sunrise and cheesecake

the other morning i glanced out my bedroom window while i was getting ready for work and this is what i saw: what a gorgeous sky!


later that day i asked natalya what we should get Grandma Elaine for Christmas. her answer was "a cheesecake". here's how the conversation unfolded:

me: will we buy one or make one?

natalya: i'll make one

me: how will you make it?

natalya: i'll get some cheese and put it in those round pans and then put frosting on top.

me: yum! grandma will love that :)

Oh Hanukkah!

We're enjoying Hanukkah with natalya this year. She's enjoying it mostly because of the presents (she is a kid afterall).


Our temple, Etz Chayim, had a Hanukkah celebration. Everyone brought their menorahs. We put them on tables in the courtyard and lit them. It was a beautiful sight!

is it december already?

wow! i can't believe that tomorrow is the first day of december. where did november go? and where did i go in november?

i went to southern california twice: once for thanksgiving to visit andrea's family and once for work. the work gig was in santa monica and venice. here are some pics from that trip.

i shot this early one morning... later on there were people swinging from ring to ring like monkeys. no kids. only adults waiting in line to swing on the rings. it was great!

on the beach at santa monica


"stop all wars"
venice beach

shoreline season 21 comes to an end

It's difficult to believe BUT I just finished my 21st season working at Shoreline Amphitheatre. (I was 12 years old when I started there!) It was a "light" season as we say in the biz -- about 25 shows scheduled. The reason I'm able to manage a part-time job with a full-time job and motherhood is my dear friend Laura Parks. Laura and I job-share the smaller scale shows and work the big festival shows as a team.

lovely laura parks and me: partners in crime

We ended this season with the Bridge School Benefit http://www.bridgeschool.org/. It was a great gig to end the season with. Part of what made it great was that I got to spend time with Laura and my best buddies from the world of concert photography. They all came out for the Bridge shows. I turned the table and took some pics of them over the Bridge weekend. Here are some shots of my photographer pals:

los angeles-based photographer john shearer is ready to go

misha vladimirskiy and john shearer shooting away


the gang waiting for the next act to begin
from left: anthony pidgeon (kneeling), jerome brunet, stephen miner, tim mosenfelder (kneeling), john marr

The Bridge Benefit this year featured Regina Spektor, Tom Waits with the Kronos Quartet, John Mayer, Tegan and Sarah, Jerry Lee Lewis, Metallica and Neil Young. Something happened that has never happened at a Bridge show before: an opening act (first artist in the line-up) received a standing ovation. That person was Regina Spektor. Her set on Sunday was phenomenal and apparently the audience agreed. She seemed pretty shocked by the ovation and very appreciative as well.

Regina was good but Tom Waits and Kronos stole the show on both days. I haven't seen Tom Waits live before and he blew me away! I downloaded a bunch of his songs from iTunes right after his set on Saturday night. I'm a believer!

tom waits takes flight at the bridge benefit
photo by jerome brunet

Thanks to all of my Shoreline friends for another great season -- see you next year!

things we say to natalya

Pirates don't play tennis.
-- Andrea's response to Natalya when she asked if she could wear her pirate costume outside to play.

Hands are not replaceable.
-- We said this to Natalya when she kept sticking her hand out the car window while we were driving somewhere.

Next time use more water and less soap -- a lot less soap...
-- Kaari's reaction to Natalya's "help" washing dishes.

the scene of the crime

annie lennox is a goddess!

we saw Annie Lennox in San Francisco last week. she played the Nob Hill Masonic. a tiny little place and we managed to be in the fifth row -- close enough for her to spit on us! she sounded great too. played some stuff off the new CD and also did some Eurythmics tunes. all in all it was a pretty good night EXCEPT for the fact that there was a freaky couple sitting in front of us.

the funny part about this is that freaky people always sit in front of us. we're magnates. for example, when we saw melissa etheridge in portland the couple in front of us were the only people in the entire place who stood up for the duration of the show (3 hours). and when we went to see the true colors tour (which was a very gay crowd) a straight couple was in front of us and they were making out all night. how dare they flaunt their lifestyle in public! :)

talya the toothless wonder...

natalya has lost a total of seven teeth now. two of her grown up teeth have come in and another five are on their way. she looks pretty silly. it's hard to take her seriously sometimes when she's talking and her tongue is flopping out through the space in front of her mouth :)

apparently it's difficult to open your toothless mouth and your eyes at the same time

and the winner is...

every year there's an opening band at Shoreline that permeates my jaded "i've seen hundreds of concerts and hundreds of bands" exterior. last year the award went to "TV on the Radio". this year the award for "best opening act at Shoreline Amphitheatre" goes to (drum roll please): LCD Soundsystem!

LCD Soundsystem live

LCD Soundsystem opened for Arcade Fire and they were really good and really fun. the lead singer, James Murphy, is one of those frontmen you could pass on the street and never think for a second that he's the lead singer of a band. he looks more like - um - a software engineer. LCD got the crowd out of their seats and dancing with their infectious grooves. After their set I headed right back to my office to download some of LCD Soundsystem's music from iTunes. I suggest that you do the same as soon as possible!

james murphy: singer or software engineer?