Cinematic Internet!

“The wall between televisions and computers is crumbling and Yahoo! is swinging the virtual hammer.” -AFP

How’s THAT for taking the boob out of the tube?!

It’s a whole new world, people.

And it’s yours.

It’s all you.

Yahoo!

:-)

Five Mins with the Boss’ Boss’ Boss

Get five minutes with my boss’ boss’ boss without ever leaving the comfort of the chair that’s very comfortably supporting your backside at this very minute. :-)

It’s a neat, quick check-in worth a quick read.

I’m a Yahoo. (!!!!)

It’s been more than three months and I still walk around campus with a HUGE smile.

I’m so honored and humbled and just plain thrilled to get the opportunity to invest my energy and passion here.

Today, in the parking garage I went to a level I don’t usually frequent and saw this:

Fun, fun, fun!!

:-)

“I fell in love with a man over the holiday break.”

I just spent two hours in a conference room with one of the most talented people I’ve met here at Yahoo!

She is also one of the first people I met here.

There’s a project she’s been helping me with. She’s so good. I’m always so thankful to be the beneficiary of her talents.

Anyway, as we were finishing up and getting ready to leave the room, I ask: “So, how was your holiday break? Do anything fun?”

She tells me: “I fell in love with a man.”

Needless to say my heart leaped. You know how I love, love l-o-v-e love stories. I leaned in to find out who/what/where/when/how.

Q: “What happened???? When?? How did all that happen??? Tell me, tell me! What’s the story???”

A: “His name is Ludwig van Beethoven. I listened to every single one of his symphonies over break. I am in love. I’m wholly and completely in love.”

It made me laugh.

It made me laugh that great big belly laugh that I can’t really manage to keep quiet and polite and demure no matter how hard I try.

I just love working here, you guys.

I just love the people who work here. I love, love l-o-v-e them.

:-)

Mary

Ring in the Blue!

Just read on Yahoo! News that this New Year’s Eve we’ll have a Blue Moon.

Define: Blue Moon?

n. Second full moon in a month. alt. My children clean up their rooms without being asked.

:-)

Once in a Blue Moon happens December 31.

Out with the old, in with the blue.

:-)

Flickr2Twitter

Check it out!

You can enable geo-tagging with Flickr2Twitter and have the locations of your photos show up in your tweets.

Say  Tweese!

The part I didn’t tell my kids about

I was really proud of my kids. They worked their tails off on this coat drive.

It was such a great experience for  them — for all of us — on so many different levels.

It started with You In? and an idea a colleague came up with for a project to create a ripple of goodwill in your neighborhood.

But it wasn’t all feel-good. There’s part of the story that I didn’t tell my kids about.

When we dropped off the coats we collected on behalf of One Warm Coat to benefit the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network, they were short-handed. They needed help bringing the coats upstairs to their sorting facility.

I drove to the facility in my minivan. It was full: 51 coats and six kids — my own three and some of the children whose families had donated coats.

(I offered to take any kid that wanted to go along to experience the “act of giving.”)

Children are not allowed to go into the facility. So when it was clear they needed help carrying the coats upstairs, I put my eldest in charge for a few mins and had them stay in the car and wait for me.

Upstairs at the facility, there were people in need, receiving support. And as I walked in with the coats on my arms, people immediately took  them off the piles and began trying them on.

One man asked me if I had brought any shoes.

I should have taken off my snow boots and given them to him right then and there. I’ve got more warm shoes than I’ll ever wear through.

But I didn’t think of it.  I wish I had. I wish I had thought of it at that moment. It’s all I’ve thought about since.

He was cold. He was just cold and he was trying to get warm.

I can’t remember the last time I felt that way. Where I was so cold that I just wanted to get warm — to have a warm coat and warm shoes. I can’t remember when it was — the last time I felt that way.

There are people who live in the shadows of my life. And more often than not, I don’t even see them. I simply fail to see them. Or perhaps I choose not to look. I can’t honestly tell you which it is. I suppose it’s some combination of both.

And even though I was so proud and happy and full of joy about what these three little angles that are the love of my life pulled off (with some help, obviously) with this coat drive.

The enduring impression it had on me is this: there is still so much left to do.

So I guess you could say I’m in.

For the long haul.

Because there but for the grace of God go I.

Coat Drive a Success!

Our goal was to collect 50 coats for the coat drive.

We got 51.

:-)

The kids made a video.

THANK YOU to all our friends and family who participated!

Mary

p.s. It’s never too late. You In?

The most viewed movie trailers of 2009

Yahoo! Movies has unveiled the most viewed movie trailers of 2009.

Was your favorite UP there?

hint, hint.

(mine was.)

:-)

Make a snowman!

When’s the last time you made a snowman?

Don’t you think it’s about time.

Go on!

It’s all the fun and none of the wet gloves and cold toes.

And the snowmen you  make here… they never melt.

:-)

What’s Your Holiday Social Mojo??

If you tweet, you’ve got holiday social mojo.

(whether you know it or not)

:-)

What’s your holiday social mojo???

Find out!

I’m a re-tweeter.

I mean a re-gifter.

What are you?

Mary

p.s. ”What’s your social mojo?” is to 2009 what “What’s your sign?” was to 1979. Just sayin’.

You In?

I challenge you to create a ripple of goodwill triggered by your single act of kindness. Update your status to share what you’re doing to spread holiday joy.

Then inspire others to join you by asking “You In?”

Yahoo will use its network to try to help create ripple effects for your work.

So whether your act of kindness is buying someone’s groceries or getting warm clothing to people in need, your actions will encourage others around the world to join in.

It’s your world. And it is what you make it.

How big will your ripple of goodwill be?

You In?

Extra coat in your closet? Donate it! You In?

Calling out to all my friends and family in the DC area…

Got an extra coat in your closet? Donate it!

Our family is doing a coat drive.

We’ll get the coats cleaned and delivered to people in need. Just bring extra coats over to my house by December 12, please.

This is a family-sponsored drive organized.

The coats we collect will benefit the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network. We’re holding this drive on behalf of One Warm Coat.

Tax receipts will be provided.

Come on, you guys!

Our goal is to collect 50 coats. We need your help to get there.

You In?

:-)

Mary

UK’s Got Talent!

Calling all those ultra talented UK app developers out there!

Thursday is the big day. That’s when the de-brief happens on how you can get a shot at Techno Celeb Fame by having your app in a guaranteed slot in the Yahoo UK homepage.

!!!!!

Here are the details:

Technical Workshop for the Yahoo! Application Platform
The Yahoo! Application Platform allows developers to reach Yahoo!’s millions of users and improve the Yahoo! user experience by building and deploying sophisticated new applications for Yahoo! pages.
We’d like to invite you to a technical workshop about YAP led by Yahoo! developer evangelist Christian Heilmann.
It will give an overview of the technology, including some examples of applications that have already been developed, followed by a deep dive into the YAP platform. Please bring your laptop (and a 3g dongle if you have one just in case the venue wifi lets us down).
After some refreshments, there will also be an opportunity to get hands-on with YAP, as Chris steps you through creating a sample application.
The event will be held at Century (61-63 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6LQ) on 26th November with registration starting at 6:30pm.
We’ll also be announcing a competition for the best apps, with the opportunity for a placement on the Yahoo! homepage (as well as a prize you can take home!) – more details on the night! We’re looking to you to help us build the next big thing on Yahoo!

If you want to be part of this and your company is located in the UK, send an email to yap-london@yahoo-inc.com.

Space is limited so hurry.

Mary

p.s. Chris Heilmann would be a good person to subscribe to and follow. Just sayin’.

Wi-Fi in Times Square!

Who ever told you there’s no such thing as F-R-E-E in NYC’s Time Square??

Let Your Yodel Be Heard.

I Did.

It’s my Yahoo! Yodel.

I think it’s actually reasonably good. Aside from the fact that I can’t sing. And that I’m completely off key. And that it sounds more like a howl than a yodel…

Aside from all of that, I kind of like it.

:-)

Mary

p.s. was that the most entertaining thirty seconds of your life or what?

Exclusive Michael Jackson Clips on Yahoo! Movies

The world awaits the premiere of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” documentary tomorrow.

Yahoo! Movies has exclusive clips today.

Check it out!

Mary

And speaking of Techno Celebs….

As you (regular) readers know, I am a huge fan of Hot-Shot-Techno-Celeb watching.

Indeed, there have been a number of hot-shot techno celebs who have been inducted to that exclusive and tightly knot community of hot shot techno celebs who are my close personal friends.

(Not to brag.)

And truth be told, you’ll find mention of me in the forwards of books like Java Puzzlers and Java 2 for Dummies.

(Seriously. I know. It’s totally unbelievable but it’s true.)

There are world-class hot-shot-techno celebs here at Yahoo!

And I’m starting to make new friends here.

:-)

I’d like to introduce you to Chris Heilmann, a developer evangelist here at Yahoo!

Chris Heilmann, Yahoo! Developer Evangelist

He’s also one of my newest friends here at Yahoo!

Except that he doesn’t yet know it yet. And we haven’t yet met, technically.

Chris recently gave at talk at Web Expo in Prauge.

And I just know we’re going to hit it off because I listened to his Web Expo talk on “being cleverly lazy” which is all about not wanting to do certain stuff ever again — so how do you do it right this time so that you never have to.  It’s an informative and engaging talk. And it’s also entertaining. The throws a few zingers in there about librarians and about the girls loving the fact that he knows had to code some javascript. Made me laugh out loud. :-)

(I found out about the talk — and Chris — from my friend Jirka, who lives in Prague. It’s such a small world. I love that.)

:-)

Mary

Bling Your Ring!

Bring the yodel to your mobile!

The  Yodel Studio has free ringtones!

Yodel Ringtone = The Must-Have Fasion Accessory of the Season.

:-)

“A Major Geek Moment”

Every so often, life gives you these opportunities to get to work with the most AMAZING people.

I’ve had more than my fair share of those.

One of my favorite people on the face of the earth to work with is Dean Nelson, who’s now at responsible for datacenter strategy, architecture and operations at eBay.

He’s also a co-founder of Datacenter Pulse , a organization defined by the who’s who of hotshot techno-celebs running those glass-enclosed nerve centers we all rely on but never really think much about. (they’re no longer glass enclosed, btw… but that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

Dean recently blogged about “A Major Geek Moment” where I played a supporting role.

Check it out.

Flickr Peeps

This week Flickr launched a new feature which lets you put a handle on your mug.

(Get it? A handle on your mug. :-) I just crack myself up.)

Check it out.

Yahoo! Yodel Studio in NYC by Night

It’s nightfall in New York’s Time Square…

And the Yahoo! Yodel Studio ROCKS ON!

Tomorrow, as dawn breaks over the Big Apple, the Yahoo! Yodel Studio will be live in Mubai’s High Street Phoenix Mall!

Here’s a quick look back at some of my favorite pics from today courtesy of Yodel Anecdotal.

Remember to check out my very own Yahoo! Yodel (if you’re so inclined).

:-)

Wanna hear me yodel?

I got into the spirit of things!

It’s my Yahoo! Yodel.

I think it’s actually reasonably good.

Aside from the fact that I can’t sing.

And that I’m completely off key.

And that it sounds more like a howl than a yodel…

Aside from all of that, I kind of like it.

:-)

Mary

p.s. was that the most entertaining thirty seconds of your life or what?

Friendly Reminder: Free Stuff

We interrupt this yodel-fest for a special reminder:

We’ve still got free stuff on the table, people!!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming…

:-)

Mary

Live from New York!

The Yodel Studio takes on the Big Apple:

Or maybe the other way around!

The Big Apple takes on the Yahoo! Yodel Studio:

But wait! There’s more!

You can get in on this game without even having to leave the comfort of the chair you’re sitting in right now.

:-)

Mary

Yodel Studio!

Check out the action at the Yodel Studio set up today in London’s Convent Gardens!

And in a private recording booth near you!

Y-A-H-O-O!

(man, I wish I were there….)

Mary

Word on the tweet…

Tomorrow there will be star-studded special events in London’s Convent Garden….

and in  New York City’s Time Square….

… if celebrity tweets are to be twusted.

I mean trusted.

;-)

Mary

Friday Free Stuff Challenge!

People around the world watched NASA’s LCROSS mission make impact with the moon on NASA TV this week.

NASA TV has a “brought to you by” partner.

This week’s Friday Free Stuff challenge is to name that partner!

Post your entries as comments to this blog entry. Get creative! Extra consideration goes to entries which include leverage multimedia. Humor is good. But let’s keep it clean, people. This is a family rated program.

BIG HINT: this might help.

The prize package?

As you (regular and long-time) readers know, I happen to have a personal connection to this whole thing.

On more than one level, it turns out.

I was in Florida to watch the launch of the LCROSS/LRO from the Kennedy Space Center in June.

While there I purchased this 100% cotton, pre-shrunk, totally awesome long-sleeve t-shirt.

That’s part 1 of this week’s fabulous prize package.

And here’s part 2….

a notebook that I got a few weeks ago — at Yahoo! at employee orientation.

I figure these two would go together given this week’s challenge.

(hint, hint)

:-)

Get yourself in the running for the shot at this week’s fabulous prize package by naming NASA TV’s brought-to-you-by partner by posting a comment to this blog entry! Don’t forget the BIG HINT. It’s going to seriously improve your shot.

We’ll announce the winner Friday, October 16.

fun, fun, fun!

Mary

p.s I choose the winner. My decisions are final. I pay for shipping the Friday Free Stuff to the winner with stamps that I buy at the post office. Previous Friday Free Stuff winners can be found on every continent including Antarctica.

p.p.s. And to think, this is where we started… things change, I guess… . :-)

We have a winner!

Please join me in congratulating “mberkert”who wins:

Last week’s fabulous Friday Free Stuff prize package!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

All those who played (along) watched and ranked the two hottest videos on the web:

The judge selected “mberkert” because she added a little postscript to her entry:

P.S. Thanks to Yahoo! for the great iPhone Fantasy Football app and not charging for real-time status updates…totally consumes my Sundays!

Thanks SOOO much to all the folks who played (along), especially to my old friends.

We’ve got another shot at a new prize package kicking off later today.

Stay tuned…

Mary

Friendly Reminder

It’s Friday!

Around here that (now) means Free Stuff (once more).

It’s not too late to play (along).

Check out FRIDAY FREE STUFF!

:-)

Mary