Third Time Is A Charm - San Francisco, The Hot Bartender, and My Girls
Nov 22 '03
The Bottom Line Kristina, your traveling Epinions, Meet-n-Greet Correspondent. Cue Entertainment Tonight Intro.
It's true.
I really don't have a job. Oh yes, I do get paid. My company does make me fly here and there all of the time but otherwise, it's not a job. The 16 hours I put in while on the road is pretty imaginary. So imaginary that at times, I fantasize that I'm at an Epinions Meet-n-Greet where I meet new and exciting people.
This last fantasy was amazing. Not only did I attend another Meet-n-Greet but also, I visited the Epinions office.
Warning: This is frickin' long and I probably left out a dozen people. My memory is fading with age.
On Friday, Garrett asked me if I could escape from the office to go to lunch. Where was I staying? Burlingame. Turns out, it was just 12 miles north of where he was. Did I want him to swing by and get me or did I want to come into the office and get a tour?
Hmmmm....Step A was to figure out how to ditch the meeting I was supposed to go to. Step B was to squirm my way out of my afternoon obligation. I did, but only with promises of creating elaborate Powerpoint Presentations.
Twelve miles later, I found myself at the doorstep of the Shopping.com headquarters. Well, I think that's what it is. There was a banner, with the cutest blue and orange shopping guy hanging on a table (special note to GG and Alexis: please send me one of those cute guys!!!). I was greeted by someone, letting him know I was there to see Garrett. I could see the back of Garrett's head - why I knew he would be in a specific corner of the room, I have no clue.
While I waited for him to come up, I looked around. Wow! I was impressed by the size but mostly, by the openness of the arrangement. Cubicles? Not here. Little work areas connected in cubicle fashion but you could see everyone and everything. Hmmmm....be careful not to break up with your boyfriend at work...everyone would know about it...
Garrett gave me the nickle tour. He explained generically, who everyone was, what they did and then how, when he first started at the company (bout four years ago), they took up THIS much space. Then, as we all know, there was a round of layoff's (which Garrett was a part of) and the office space shrunk to this much (very small). When Epinions merged when Dealtime, they started to re-take over the whole floor again. Yay for them!
Garrett took me around, introducing me to people. I don't remember all of them. Just the important ones of course ;). Seriously though, there were a couple of people in HR and Marketing that I didn't get to chat with so please, forgive me for forgetting your names.
Before I get into the specific people, lemme finish up the office tour.
My favorite part of the tour was the area where employees can sit back and eat. Heck - I was impressed with all of the free pop and junk food - oodles of it. I was tempted to ask Garrett if I could plug in my computer and work here for the rest of the day but I thought I might be pushing my luck.
Listen up, I'm about to tell you about some VIP's that I ran across in the offices.
Valerie - Valerie sits caddy-corner from Garrett and works on content. I could go on and on about how nice she is (cause, she is) however, the most important thing to tell you is that she was busy working on the Pets Category! That's gotta make some of you happy :). We discussed (what else) music and Garrett was making the rounds with the Britney cd, trying to see if there was anyone in the office who liked ANY of the songs because obviously, he thought I was off my rocker for giving it five stars. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Valerie which was sad because she's definitely one of those chicks that you'd like to just sit and talk with. Besides, I'm sure she has some MAJOR scoopage on people...
Andy D. - Have you ever been introduced to someone and they look at you like either they're about to pass gas or how about this look...It's the look you give when you think you know someone, but you're not sure if it's something as horrible as a one night stand (gasp! Did I exchange bodily fluids with them?!?!?) or because you struck up a conversation with them at a bar. scanning brain, do I know this person? Yeh, that just about describes Andy D's, uncomfortableness with me when Garrett introduced us. When I walked away I thought, Gee, I must have really p*ssed off that guy over the years. Later though, I discovered that he was uncomfortable because when Garrett introduced me as "kristinafh", and "that member with over 1,000 reviews", he was struggling to figure out if he knew who I was (and probably kicking himself - dang, I should know who this girl is). Turns out (and he finally told me this the next day), that he always looked at my name on the site as kristin afh instead of kristinafh. Hah! Once he figured that out, it was like he was my long, lost brother. Anyway, you old timers probably remember Andy from when he ruled the entire universe at least publicly. He was the Category Manager for everything I cared about - Books, Music, maybe even Movies too. He passed Music on to Lee and stuck it out with books until he decided that the public life was not for him anymore. Now, he's just a geek, wreaking havoc behind the scenes in the web world.
Baron: The infamous bug man wasn't there because he was out sick with the flu. There's one thing however, that I'll never forget. Baron has the coolest inanimate object on his desk. A Mr. T. doll. How cool is that? I met Baron at Saturday's events. I'd say more about that, but I don't want to give anything "secret" away.
Paul: Hot Paul (more on that from my New York Meet-n-Greet review which I'll post tomorrow - I promise) had recently been transferred out to San Francisco from New York. Now Garrett and Alexis's boss, he looked dazed and confused. Maybe it was the time zone differences. Maybe it was because there were no cabbies to run his a*ss down. Maybe it was because he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of his new apartment until everything else arrived. Who knows :). This, of course, doesn't change the fact that he was still Hot Paul in my book.
Nirav: Good Ole Nirav, the smiling, perky, guy that he is, peaked out of his office window and waved to me enthusiastically.
Alexis: At the office, she's ALL business. I did a quick wave to her as we passed by on the tour. She was sitting at someone elses desk, giving them instruction on something (maybe IS...).
Garrett and I went to lunch at Chilli's, but most importantly, we stopped by Target to pick up Polaroid cameras for the MnG and a couple of (what else?) new cd's. I, of course, love Target and could spend a bazillion years in there.
After parting, I went back to the hotel to work on that Powerpoint Presentation that I promised sigh.
Saturday.
The weather was nice (60 degrees) and I was looking forward to meeting some cool people. On the top of my list was Lynus. I love Eric (don't tell his wife) and to have the opportunity to meet him was definitely going to be a highlight of my trip. I walked in to the Thirsty Bear and went straight for the name tags. Found mine and looked to see who else would be there. Garrett walked over and did his usual, I've planned this party, does my outfit look okay speech. Now truly, he never asks you to comment on what he's wearing. Still, he's like a nervous bridegroom who's had to plan his reception. He second guesses and sometimes, you just gotta tell him to relax.
Me: Lynus isn't here yet?
Garrett: No. He's not coming.
Me: *gasp!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Garrett: He wrote and told me that he's got the flu.
Me:: *gasp!!!!!!!!!!!* NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
What's a girl to do but head to the bathroom and check her MAC Lipglass. Afterwards, I hit the bar and proceeded to stay with the safe Diet Coke choice. While chit-chatting with Nirav about music. Nirav pretends to forget that I'm a NSYNC chick. He always brings up the Backstreet Boys and then after I give him the look, he falls back into line :). Anyway, while we were chatting about music (specifically, Duncan Sheik, Britney Spears, and Evanescence), the hot bartender guy, James, jumped into our conversation. Apparently our blue-eyed, sandy-blonde hair, 6'3", Johnny Rzeznik chin-carrying, tattoo-sportin' bartender, is a huge music fan. This, of course, made me a fan of him. More on his biceps, tattoos, and having my arms around him later.
There was food there but being the Midwestern girl that I am, the only real thing that I recognized was the bread. Other stuff I pointed to and asked, what is this? At one point, I sent Nirav off to find me some butter for my bread. Someone actually had the nerve to ask why I would want butter for my bread. Obviously, a non-Midwesterner.
I went and socialized, like a good epinionator does and had the opportunity to meet several cool people. The first two - Tennis_Player and Adriennefoster - I knew virtually nothing about.
Tennis_player - James is a Top Reviewer in Sports, a category that I don't think I've ever posted in before (side note - must do this before my four year anniversary occurs). He's been around since September of 1999 and I was shocked that I had not met him before. James was SO nice and so soft spoken.
Adriennefoster - I recognized Adrienne's epinions id but could not recall what categories she wrote in. Then it hit me. She placed second in the epi-kids contest. Hah! Instant name recognition! :)
Crowded around the bar was three of my very favorite men - Stephen_Murray, Macresarf1, and Horswispr.
Stephen_Murray - I've "known" Stephen for years. As a Top Reviewer in Movies and Books, he's been around for 3 1/2 years. He's just as warm and funny in person as you might suspect.
Macresarf1 - Take a look at Alex's profile picture. Doesn't he have that intelligent, dignified look about him? In person, he's that and then some. Let me tell you, he is SO much more handsome in person (I've harrassed him to change his picture) and he's hilarious to boot.
Horswispr - Colin cracks me up. This is the part where I tell you that like many others - I've known him since the beginning of time. I initially ran across him when he was a music editor/top reviewer/advisor. His profile sports a picture of Pikachu - something that's been there since day one. Every once in awhile, he switches it out with a different Pikachu picture (at least he's consistent). Now, I want to tell you why Colin cracks me up. On the site, he seems so mild-mannered and mature. Not that he isn't that in person, it's just that in person, he's animated and full of hilarious stories. I want to constantly tease him about his non-taste in music (cause he does the same to me). I look at him and wonder - so were you like a hippie in the late 60's early 70's? What kind of trouble did you cause dude? You've got that air about you - you're all nice and polite but underneath it all, you're a rebel with a cause...
Sittin' at a table was the legend, the myth - Mr. Mike_Bracken.
Mike_Bracken - Mike has always held a special place in my heart. On his eighth day on the site, I came across one of his movie reviews. Now understand, I think horror films are icky however, my husband is a huge fan. It didn't take long for me to figure out that Mike shared a lot of the same tastes in book, movies, games, and music that my husband did. Since that very first day, he was one of the first reviewers that I earmarked with my gift-giving for the husband in mind. His first words to me at the meet-n-greet were probably something like, hi or hello. What I remember distinctly though, is the following... You're prolific. That was Mike's way of saying - you write too damn much and I can't keep up with you... I could have stayed all day just to talk to him. We got caught up on all of our site gossip and we chit-chatted about his own site - CultureDose.
At another table, I came across Mrisch and Sweeper.
Mrisch - Now I know Michael but only in the Category Lead way. He's my dude for finance. I recognized him when he walked in but there was something distinctively different about him. After conducting the "secret handshake" with him, he let me know that he had shaved some of his face. Normally, I like facial hair however, this change in Michael is quite delicious. Perhaps he will grace us with a new picture of himself.
Sweeper - I'm convinced that Sweeper hates me. When I introduced myself to him, he had that look (ohmygawdhowcanIgetawayfromthisperkychicklook). Both of these guys - Michael and Sweeper were way too low key. Maybe I should have suggested strip poker, I dunno though if that would have worked....
MY GIRLS
The sad thing about hanging out with these chicks is that I wish that they lived closer to me. They were all so incredibly cool and already, I miss them like candy.
Tiffy0380 - Squeal! I have been a huge fan of Tiffany's for a long time. I couldn't tell you specifically, the first review of hers that I stumbled across but what I can tell you is that this woman - in the virtual world - left a lasting impression on me. Aside from dramastef, she is my authority on chick-lit books. I wasn't prepared for how gorgeous she would be in person. She lights up a room I tell ya! We chatted like we had known each other all of our lives. If we lived in the same city, I just know we'd be hittin' the book stores together, dance clubs, malls...
megugrrrl - The Grrrl came in later than others and I didn't get to catch up with her until towards the end. She is way cool and I wanted to throw her in my suitcase and bring her back with me. I even took the opportunity to talk with her about her category - Restaurants - and I promised to submit a request to add something to the database. You'd write in our category?? Of course! Up until now though, I haven't been excited about writing reviews for McDonalds, Wendy's, and Hardees. See in Indianapolis, we have some really neat places to eat. They even have butter for your bread ;). Chickie, I'll submit the request today to ya...
zzjulia - I know Julia for two things. First, she used to work at epinions and second, she's a beauty fiend. Just like Tiffany, I felt like I had known her my whole life. We chit-chatted a lot about music and lip gloss (and how Chrisceb is SO anti lipstick!). Julia is gorgeous too. I'm thinking that she should replace Cameron Diaz in all future Charlie's Angels sequels...
Christal - You may know Christal as the abuse-fightin'-machine. She started at Epinions a looong time ago, left, and then was brought back on part-time. I'm thinking that we should picket the Epinions offices to bring her back full time... Christal is one hot babe. Yowsa! I want to adopt her as my little sister then, fix her up with anyone but the Hot Bartender!
Dustygold - I prayed and hope that my music sister, Claudia would really show up to the meet-n-greet. I've "known" her for years and in fact, we joined the site the exact same day (December 17, 1999). Dusty is like a part of my anatomical soul. She understands me. She doesn't judge me. She's real with me. If you ever meet Dusty, she's not an animated, over the top chick like other people ahem. She's pretty low key and most of what goes on, definitely stays in her head. Towards the end of MnG, we were desperate to use up the polaroids. I suggested - *innocently* - that we pose the epikids. It took Dusty all of two seconds to put them into a series of positions that had us all rolling on the floor. If I can ever get to a scanner, I'll have to get them posted. I think my favorite one is the threesome.
And speaking of polaroids, I mentioned earlier that I would get back to the Hot Bartender - James. I think it was Dusty that suggested a picture of us. I went behind the bar, he put his arm around me swoon, and the picture was snapped. It looks good. I was a happy camper. Of course, I had to take it around to show the girls so that they could agree with me on how hot the bartender was. Oh - and the tattoos, unprovoked, the man showed us where *some* of his were located. I wanted to ask about what we weren't seeing but I was afraid that he actually might drop trou and show us. That would have been good for me, but naturally, I feel like I have to protect Tiffany and Christal's youthful innocense...
Alexis - I can't believe that when I saw Alexis on Friday, that I didn't notice the BIG change in her. She got a haircut! And it wasn't just a trim, but a major makeover. To say it's sexy is quite an understatement and I'm sure as we speak, she's fightin' off the guys with a bat. If you saw the pictures from New York, her hair was really long and basically, one length. Now, it's shoulder length, multi-layered, and highlighted. It's very 70ish and VERY sexy. I *love* it.
So, you wanna know about future meet n greets? Here's the scoop. Garrett is pretty overwhelmed with planning parties and he calculated that if he continued at his current pace, he'd have to put on SIX of these a year. He's thinking that 3-4 is the better number. Alexis thinks that the next one should be in January...eak! Regardless, there wasn't anything specific about where the next location will be. I've given them my travel schedule for 2004 so I'm hopin' that they hit Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, New York (again), and of course, the midwest.
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Epinions.com ID:
kristinafh
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 - Top 50 |
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Member: Kristina Frazier-Henry
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 1344
Trusted by: 1169 members
About Me:
Cannot breathe. Missing Barbara.
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