The New York Times Presents A “Modern Love” Article by Katherine Ruppe.

I met my dear friend Katherine Ruppe on the way to a white-water rafting adventure in Idaho. We hit it off immediately over lumpy sleeping bags, swarming bees and some sort of pharmaceutical that guaranteed we’d snooze through the scent of the nearby al fresco latrine.

I knew immediately that Katherine was a laugh-out-loud kind of writer. Apparently, the New York Times agrees.

MODERN LOVE

A Guest Star in His Romantic Drama

By KATHERINE RUPPE
Published: January 16, 2009 in the New York Times

MY science-fiction-loving friend Alyson always told me geeky guys were more interesting. I took her words to heart when I found myself single again a few years ago and resolved to broaden my dating pool.

Until then my pool (more like a mud puddle) had consisted solely of adventurous, charming, yet fatally flawed boy-men, one of whom had left me stranded at dusk with a flat tire while mountain biking down a ravine known to be frequented by mountain lions. An earnest geek with a heart of gold could only be an improvement.

With that in mind, I met The Engineer. He was good looking in a Clark Kent way. Sure, he was a brainiac with multiple degrees and a military-industrial-complex job, but he also indulged in Red Bull and Jägermeister, was an athlete and had a playful side. Maybe I could have my Clark Kent and a daring Superman, too.

Our first date was initially strained because of his quiet nature — he seemed unable to speak without first making intricate internal computations. Luckily after a few cocktails he loosened up, and we talked about spiritualism, near-death experiences and flying (he owned a plane — hot). I melted when he held my hand and spoke of future dates we would go on. His good-night kiss was a little mechanical, but I still got goose bumps. I went to sleep that night feeling unexpectedly tingly.

Two weeks later we had our second date, in Las Vegas, where The Engineer was temporarily working. I had just finished a screenplay, and my craving for adventure won over my need for caution in the romance department, so I flew there to meet him.

The movie version of our time there would be all glitter and high-rolling romance. In reality, we were two people growing more in lust in a bland business motel complete with free happy-hour beer and hot wings. After two days he flew me back to Los Angeles in his single-engine. His sexy pilot’s voice revved me up, while his explanations of wing load put me to sleep. Perhaps that’s what life with Superman was all about.

Back home, visions of boyfriendship danced through my head. The Engineer, however, seemed to be on a different flight plan, not calling for more than a week. But by our next date our connection had returned so strongly that I blithely set aside my dismay and invited him to a Moby concert.

Twenty-four hours later I was lazing on my couch when he phoned. I thought: “How nice, he’s calling two nights in a row. He really does like me.” Instead he sent my stomach into a neat back flip with the words: “There’s something we need to talk about.” I braced myself for his dirty bomb.

Read the rest of Katherine’s saga here.

Guru’s Note: Katherine’s story is also included in a riotous new estro-classic by Liz Dubelman and Barbara Davilman: What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories. (If they’d asked me, I could have made it an even 60. At least.)

Publish e-books on Everything from Kindle to iPhone with Smashwords.

I love writing. Over the years, I’ve churned out everything from ad copy to web content to magazine articles to song lyrics to actual books. (Okay, bodice-rippers!)

I always thought that when I had time, I’d whip up another book, call my agent and go through the usual agonizing drill.

No more. Not only has the traditional publishing world gone poof but I am no longer patient enough to put up with both the potholes of publishing plus the years it takes to get the book out there. Profits are a whole ‘nother story.

Thankfully, a savvy new company –Smashwords.com –understands the ADD in authors and readers alike. Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Mark Coker, has launched an innovative company that’s a free platform for publishing electronic e-books. Smashwords’ breakthrough technology and structure allows anyone to become an e-book author.

While there are already a variety of publishing platforms for e-books (the most commonly used is Adobe’s pdf), what I like about Smashwords is that an author simply uploads a Microsoft Word file into the system –and then it gets converted into about 10 different e-book formats so these books can be read on the iPhone, on the (hot-hot, sold-out till February) Amazon Kindle and on virtually any other e-book reading device.

More author-friendly features: Smashwords lets the author keep the copyright, own all the rights to the work and sets their own price for the book and the sampling privileges. The author receives 85% of the sales — leaving Smashwords with 15%.

Smashwords is different from self-publishing print-producing services like Lulu, Blurb,Wordclay or Createspace because it focuses entirely on the fastest growing section of the publishing industry: e-books.

Stay tuned for two upcoming e-books from the uber-impatient Guru. How cool to read quirky Guru-isms on your iPhone!

Seen at CES: Sony’s Stylish Super Light VAIO Notebook.

Sony VAIO's late, great, uber-juicy Picturebooks (the 505, CPG, etc) are now all glitzed up and graduated into the lusciously lightweight P Series Lifestyle notebook.

I drooled over the glossy colors at CES. Since then, I've gotten questions, comments and ahhhhs from my fellow girl-geeks, all of whom are sick of lugging full-size laptops through airport security.

Here’s what Sony’s site has to say:

The world’s lightest1 8″ notebook, the 1.4-pound2 VAIO® P Series Lifestyle PC does more than you could imagine–with impeccable style. Email at the airport, IM from the park, or just show it off when you want some attention. Traveling to a new city? Turn-by-turn GPS navigation will get you there faster. Best of all, it fits right in your purse or jacket pocket.

At around $900, these machines are pricier than comparable notebooks — HP and Dell both have models out — so if you’re simply looking for scaled down size and functionality, the HP/Dells may fit your needs. Plus, my guess is that these VAIOs may suffer from the same defects my other six VAIOs — that is, oddly fragile keys and pieces-parts. Still, these glitches never stopped me. I guess I like a little fashionista along with my functionality.

Local Boy Clint Eastwood Scores Big at the Box Office with Gran Torino.

When you live in Carmel, you expect ex-Mayor and exemplary Carmelite Clint Eastwood to perpetually raise the bar with every new project. He, along with dazzling yet down-to-earth wife Dina. does it in our podunk paradise of a community with his generous financial and emotional support for worthy causes. He does it creatively in a myriad of intriguing ways, from his business acumen to jazz musicianship. And now, this weekend’s boffo box office set a new personal best at the North American box office on Sunday as ” Gran Torino “ raced to No. 1.

Hint: Oscar nomination ballots are due shortly.

The quirky drama, in which the 78-year-old actor/director plays a grumpy old man who takes on some neighborhood thugs Dirty Harry-style, earned $29 million during the three days beginning Friday, Warner Bros . Pictures said, beating out the Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway bridezilla chick-flick Bride Wars.

A Whopper of A Facebook Promo.

If you log into Facebook and discover a gaggle of Friends gone missing, don’t reach for the milk carton.
I know where you can find them: At Burger King. You’ve been traded in for a free Whopper.

Burger King’s new Facebook app lets you to sacrifice 10 of your Facebook friends and get a voucher for a free Whopper in return. It’s about time someone had a little fun with this Friend Request Frenzy. As many of you know from my previous rants on the social media douchebag subject, I’d gladly trade a couple shameless promoters and neo-MLM ‘friends’ for a greasy burger selling for around $2.

“We thought there could be some fun there, removing some of these people who are friends, but not necessarily best friends,” said Jeff Benjamin, executive interactive creative director at Crispin Porter +Bogusky, the relentlessly hip ad agency on the account, said in a recent Adweek. “It’s asking the question of which love is bigger, your love for your friends or your love for the Whopper.”

Steve Jobs Lives — Even If He’s Not Live at MacWorld.

New from Zazzle: The Steve Jobs Lives T-shirt, created in the Apple’s CEO trademark black. (But not a turtleneck!)

Other news from MacWorld 2009: Apple has announced three significant changes to its iTunes Store at Macworld Expo, but the first is undoubtedly the biggest news: The music and video download service, which features more than 10 million songs, is finally going Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free.

Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller told the assembled throngs at Macworld Expo this morning that the service has sold six billion songs since going online in 2003. More than 75 million accounts with credit cards have been created thus far. Read the rest of the story here, including the news on the new pricing structure coming in April.

Meet Social Media Coach Janet Fouts.

Social Media Coach Janet Fouts created her business to help people understand social media and how to work with it instead of against it. Her site is chockful of useful tools, ideas and inspirations to motivate everyone from newbies to pros. Here’s one of my favorite posts about the fastest growing social media site out there — the infamous Twitter.

You know how you find that incredible Twitter app, use it a couple of times and then can’t remember where it was? Me too.

So I pulled this quick list together as much as a bookmark list for my own use as to share some apps you might not have seen yet.

It is not at all comprehensive and I left out all of the desktop, iPhone apps and mash-ups for another post coming soon.

Am I missing an essential Twitter app? Add yours in the comments!

MyTweet16When you want to step back into Twistory. View the first 16 tweets of any Twitter user.

TweetScan Search messages and profiles on Twitter and set up email alerts so you don’t miss a thing. Download an archive of your Tweets as a CSV for posterity.

Twellow A directory of people on Twitter sorted by business categories.

TweetagMonitor Twitter from your iGoogle or Netvibes page in a tagcloud of your favorite keywords.

TwitangleRate and tag your friends so you can filter by rating or tags to find those essential Twits.

Twalala Lets you filter streams related to particular keywords permanently or just until the shouting stops.

Twitterless Takes Qwitter one step further and tells you when people stop following you and graphs your follower history.

Read the rest on Janet’s site.

Meet Interactive Designer Erin Malone.

Meet my friend and colleague, Erin Malone: Principal with Tangible UX, Erin has over 20 years of experience leading experience design teams and designing websites, web and software applications, social experiences and system-wide components and best practices. Even cooler, she has a book ‘Designing Social Interfaces’ coming out this fall. Don’t I have awesome friends? I love this post from her design + interaction blog.

from the blog TheHappinessProject a post about new year’s resolutions and writing up your personal commandments. The author has her 12 for the year but at the end of the post she listed these items out that others had shared. The bolded items are ones I think I will pay special attention to this coming year. I think they are all good ideas to consider as touchpoints for 2009 for being a happier, more satisfied person. Don’t you?

Forget the past.
Do stuff.
Talk to strangers.
Stay in touch.
Make haste to be kind.
Don’t wait.
Action, not reaction.
Always with love.
Baby steps.
Reverence.
Recognize my patterns.
Be present.
Don’t rehearse unhappiness.
Live your values.
The more the merrier.
Love is all around.
Notice the color purple.
Friends are more important than sex. [HAH!]
Choose not to take things personally.
Be loving and love will find you.
Encourage others.
Enjoy simplicity.
Rejoice in beauty.
Deeds not words.
Slow down.
Please yourself.
Nothing lasts.
Music helps.
Only a bore is bored.
Do something different.
Consider the source.
Be the fun.
Cut your losses.

Meet Photographer Monica Michelle.

Monica Michelle is one of the Bay Area’s primo photographers. Whether you need business profile pictures, wedding, baby or puppy pictures, Monica always manages to bring out the best from each personality. One of these days, when I get enough guts for either Lipo or a gaggle of injectables, I will call on Ms. Monica m’self.

In her own words:
This was one of my least planned shoots. My own Ariel decided to be absolutely darling while I happened to be holding my camera (modern day miracle). She tiled her head directly into perfect lighting and gave me “the look”. This look is famous in our house since it is perfect survival mechanism. It is the look that says “Yes, I have eaten your shoes but hey I give you an unending supply of adoration, aren’t we even?” My response (begrudging at times) has to be yes.
Monica Michelle
www.ilovewhiterabbit.com
www.fifilovesfido.com
650.787.2799

The Show Must Go On: International CES 2009

If it’s January, it must be Vegas.

Yes, once again I am trudging off to the land of booth babes, leopard everything and non-existent smoking laws. It’s time for the annual pilgrimage to all things new, from the droolworthy to the dreadful to the out and out drek. Me and (typically) 150,000 other Seekers of the Shiny. I’m not sure what this year’s CES will bring but at least there will be no Steve Jobs magnetizing everyone to MacWorld.

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