Archived posts from the 'friends' Category

Eytan Is Leaving Microsoft Live Search; We Mock His Bowling Skills On Video

Posted on 7 February, 2008

Many of you in the search community have seen and talked to Eytan Seidman as he’s been around writing on the Live Search blog and speaking at conferences (not to mention that he’s been spending most of his time working on search).

He’s been at Microsoft a long time, and the time has come for him to start his own company. Sadly for those of us in Seattle, for him that also means moving to New York.

If you are involved in search in any way, you should definitely check out the interview I just posted to Search Engine Land that talks about Eytan’s career at Microsoft and the evolution of Live Search. At the end, I’ve embedded a YouTube video with lots of Eytan’s search friends. You would think we might wish him well and give him advice. But mostly we talk about Buffy and his bad bowling skills. You don’t want to miss it.

Eytan, Live Search, Buffy, Bears, Bunnies, The Tin Man, and Root Shrews. Also Squirrels.

1 comment Vanessa | friends, seo

and now for a completely different kind of post about friends

Posted on 26 July, 2007

Last night I thought I’d try out that old-fashioned method of social networking and rather than send my friends Facebook gifts, I invited them over to my house. Crazy I know. I might get a rotary dial telephone next. SES Travel is in Seattle this week, which means people are in town so I actually can make them physical cocktails rather than send them virtual ones. The other day I was saying how much I love the internet because it brings people together. I also love planes for that reason.

So, what should you never do when you have a bunch of computer savvy SEO and search types over? Right. Leave your laptop open. Particularly when you’re logged in to your blogging software. As I was hanging out on the balcony, I happened to glance in and see my dear sweet friends huddled around the flickering light of my computer. Mystery Guest had a look of maniacal glee. Fear gripped my heart. Well, not really fear. She had brought over the best cookies in the world as she is the most fantastic baker who has ever lived so I was lulled into a satisfied state of chocolatey goodness.

When everyone had left, I peered into the laptop with great trepidation. Here’s what I found. Don’t you all think Mystery Guest should start her own blog?

MWAH HA HA … We’ve taken over Vanessa’s computer, and while we could be unearthing all sorts of important information, including her pin number, the Google algorithm, and compromising photos of Matt Cutts, we instead wanted to take a moment and mention how awesome Vanessa is.

  1. She doesn’t know how to use her own grill (”Make your own food, bitches.”)
  2. She smells like cookies. Cookies and vodka.
  3. Her ice machine is broken, but if you ever need ice, she’ll totally make Paul (a.k.a. the Belltown Crapper) go buy them.
  4. Her home is so immaculate and well-decorated, you’ll forget all about the time you saw her cat puke all over the place.
  5. She can pause any Buffy episode, fill you in on the backstory, and resume the program in 15 seconds.
  6. You can cut glass with her abs.
  7. She invented Chex Mix.
  8. Once, I saw her kill a bear.
  9. She can speak fluent Klingon.
  10. She once cut off part of Ann Coulter’s ear for cutting in her line at the ladies’ room.

Postscript from me again: My ice machine isn’t actually broken, I just can’t figure out how to turn it on. And I didn’t make Paul buy ice — just walk to his house and bring me back all the ice he owned. So, yes, he’s now iceless, but we had vodka. Clearly we needed ice, right? And the bear had it coming.

11 comments Vanessa | friends