Kokochi

Newbie session

Still, much to do to make blogging accessible. I forget how lucky I am to have Dav by my side to help me with the technicalities. When it's truly intuitive, blogging will really be cool.

Sharing on Flickr

This is actually the first time I uploaded pics to Flickr. Since all my pics go on Kokochi, I didn't really feel the need. But today, I upload and can see my pics combined with others' as we all sit here. Now that's cool :)

Blogger Con

	Click to see video.

At Blogger Con today at Stanford. Dav is here too, but two buildings down at the Accelerating Change Conference. He'll run between the two. Just bumped into Rebecca MacKinnon (next to Dan Gillmor) who interviewed me for CNN when I was in Tokyo. Back then I was only getting started and so much has happened since! I just can't believe how much blogging has grown ... For the opening session, we all voted on a "national anthem" to kick-off the conference. Getting all these bloggers singing This Land Is Your Land on video certainly started my day well! (btw, my digital pen isn't working..Typing on the phone sucks)

Rebecca MacKinnon

The Election Day

Dog waiting outside while owner votes. A long line for voting unlike any other voting day. My housemate is in line too. I am proud to have voted.

Halloween 2004

Halloween itself was bit tame. We weren't into the crowds and basically hung out at a bar where a friend spinned and walked about just a bit. Dav and I wore badger/raccoon outfits that I had bought in Tokyo on my recent trip. Ele was a sexy cop. We kinda had fun pretending she was arresting me as a badger-on-escape.

This year's Halloween was magnificently fun!

Now go vote tomorrow, OK?

Sunday afternoon

After going to Thai Brunch in Berkeley, we stopped by Ian's. I haven't mentioned one of the special qualities of Ian's neighborhood, have I? Let's just say they're all into decorating in a big way. We heard that people drive from far away to see the street for Christmas. The house Ian bought actually came with a load of Christmas lights!

Well, they're pretty into Halloween too. And since Ian and the family just moved in, what better way to use all those boxes? When Dav, Ele, and I drove up, Ian and his neighbors were constructing a giant robot! Ian had wanted to put something in the yard and his super kind neighbors joined in to figure out what to do with their resources and the boxes. The result is the coolest most original Halloween decoration. It's giant as in 2 stories high, but kinda cute. Light bulbs are the robot's eyes. I'm sure he will be warmly welcomed by all the kids. I love it!

Later we drove to Orinda specifically to get a Hi-Tech Burrito. We sat up on the ridge eating our burittos on this beautiful day.

Halloween Eve

Another fun party night but it was too dark to really use my cell phone so I'm including some of Dav's cool pictures. I really loved everyone's costumes - what a variety! (Click on the group pic to enlarge.) Monkey, Kerry Fairy, Checkered Secret Agent, Panda...we are such a crazy bunch. I must say, Ele's Kerry outfit got a lot of attention and I'm so glad she wore that. It's hard to tell, but I was a Super Hero Fish...I basically wanted to wear my boots that had the goldfish in the heel so I concocted an outfit peppered with plastic fish and a tiara with goldfish attached. I had fun in it :)

And ha! I bumped into Doug at one of the parties we went to. I, ah, had just interviewed him at work (he's the super tall swanky guy in black)! Dressed as I was, I kinda had to let go of being embarrassed!

Pre-Halloween Party!

This weekend is fantastic. Parties on Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday (two prep-parties for the real party). It's like a festival. I get to wear 3 costumes! Yay!

Dinner at Baraka

Absolutely lovely, as always. Next is a party.

Technorati Party

Last night a few of us from work, along with Dav and Ele, went to Technorati's new office-warming party. (I'm posting this late because I forgot to eat dinner and had wine; not a good combination for me. I mean, I had fun, but ...). Ian and I got there early and were pleasantly surprised to find the place full of kids. It seemed more like a kindergarden than an office. I had no idea Technorati was run by kids! I was promptly asked by a friendly little one if I wanted to get a water tatoo of one of the Incredibles which I did and still have today. I also discovered that David Sifry lived in Japan for 3 years and speaks Japanese! So does his daughter Melody. I have a feeling that I won't miss speaking Japanese as long as I work in the blogging industry :)