Laura Oppenheimer

I’m traveling for work over the next few days. I’m staying at The Ace Hotel in NY, where...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:59:41 -0800

I’m traveling for work over the next few days. I’m staying at The Ace Hotel in NY, where I’ve stayed before when I’ve come here for work. It’s ridiculously hip, as is The Ace in Palm Springs where I’ve also stayed. I can only imagine that it’s the same case in Seattle and Portland.

Some people love hotels. They love the amenities, the newness and freshness, and luxury of it all. I, without a doubt, am not one of those people. My bed is all about intimacy and home. It smells a certain way, feels a certain way, has familiarity to it that’s consistent night after night. It’s home.

Hotel beds are all newness and different pillows, figuring out how many blankets to use or not use, angling the alarm to the light hits not your face while your sleeping, and a variety of other intricacies that challenge my ability to sleep. Last night I got into bed around midnight and found myself awake at 3:30 am, and then restless for the next four hours. It may be the time difference (that almost certainly contributed to it), but there’s something uncomfortable about a hotel bed, even if it feels so comfortable when you slide into it.

I hope I sleep better tonight.

"If Pinterest continues to age in reverse at its current rate, the site will be back to an idea on a..."

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:11:47 -0800

“If Pinterest continues to age in reverse at its current rate, the site will be back to an idea on a napkin in less than three months, so we recommend you try and join as soon as possible before the service is swallowed up in a wormhole of hype that disrupts the space-time continuum.”

- The incredible anti-aging startup! Started in 2008, Pinterest is now just six months old | VentureBeat

Today's workout

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:09:39 -0800

Included the “100” challenge.

100 push-ups

100 burpees

100 situps

100 squats

In any order. I tried to get the burpees out of the way first, mixing them with the sit-ups. I ended up completing all in 20:19. I think for next time I’d do 10-10-10-10 10X.

Headed to the Woods (or Woulds?)

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:04:44 -0800

This was just a moment in the woods…

Our moment.

Shimmering and lovely and sad.

Leave the moment, just be glad

For the moment that we had.

Every moment is of moment

When you’re in the woods.

- from “Any Moment,” Into the Woods

This afternoon I’m headed to Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hill for a night away with 30 people I used to work with in various capacities at Hidden Villa summer camp, 10+ years ago.

In many ways Hidden Villa was an incredibly unique place to spend the summer. It’s an organic CSA farm, a working farm, a nature preserve, a youth hostel, an advocate for social justice, and education center.

In other ways, Hidden Villa was exactly like I’ve heard every other camp is… full of first loves, broken hearts, experiments, elicit meetings of counselors after the kids have gone to bed, rapid fire trips into town (Wet Hot American Summer style) and long-lasting friendships.

I worked there for three summers after attending the camp for five. The summers I spent there were transformative. They were the first place I ever felt at all cool, at all valued for being anything other than smart, the first place someone ever told me they had a crush on me (shout-out to Javi, wherever you are), first kiss (not with Javi, sadly), first time I ever tried smoking, and first place I ever really believed in myself.

After I graduated from high school, I went to college and never looked back. Hidden Villa was for then, and now I was in college — someone who had internships and planned ahead, not someone who looked back to what they’d done in high school. Friendships I’d made became more distant, emails and phone calls become less frequent until Hidden Villa was less a part of me and more something I “did” in the past.

I’m excited to head back there this afternoon and remember why this place was so important to me. The people, the smells, the songs straight out of the 1960s… even if that memory fades as I drive back to San Francisco on Sunday morning.

Weddings, Money & Promptness

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:19:05 -0800

Dan reached out to a well-known caterer in San Francisco to inquire about catering our wedding. The initial email was around Thanksgiving, and they let us know they were busy and it would take a little time to put together a proposal. Their guess was that it would be three weeks.

Six weeks came and went without a word.

Last night we emailed them to ask them if there was an update. Today, two months later, we got our initial proposal back. The proposal is $7K more than the one we’re considering.

I understand that weddings are expensive, that food is expensive, that eating local and sustainable is expensive, and that the place we’re looking at is something of a San Francisco name brand.

But if you’re going to charge luxury prices… you should probably back that up with luxury service. That means being prompt with email. That means following up with me, so I don’t need to follow up with you. And it means making me feel like I’m valued as a client, not just some random person you need to deal with when it’s convenient for you.

In general we’ve been lucky to deal with great vendors who are not only prompt with email, but awesome independent small businesses or non-profits. And if choosing someone else means supporting someone else, a small business, who maybe doesn’t have locally grown endive on the menu, that’s ok with me.

Inspired by Mormon style bloggers, I DIYed some new years...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:24:55 -0800

Inspired by Mormon style bloggers, I DIYed some new years glitter candles (Taken with instagram)

Words You Should Know

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:16:45 -0800

1. Kummerspeck (German): Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

(via Mental Floss)

"The following night would bring the Hanukkah party for 550 guests, politicians and Supreme Court..."

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:32:10 -0800

“The following night would bring the Hanukkah party for 550 guests, politicians and Supreme Court justices among them. Rigorous koshering (sometimes called kashering) would ensure that the kitchen would be in compliance with Jewish dietary laws. Guests could eat without qualms, knowing their religious commitment had been respected. “We do the basic cleaning,” says the White House’s executive sous-chef, Tommy Kurpradit, as he directs five workers (he learned about koshering from Bush White House Hanukkah celebrations). “Then the rabbis do the super-cleaning.””

- Making the White House Kitchen Kosher for a Party - NYTimes.com

How To Get A Job At A Startup If You Have No Skills

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:39:37 -0800

How To Get A Job At A Startup If You Have No Skills:

Great advice here. People frequently ask me about breaking into the start-up scene with non-technical skills. The two pieces of advice I always offer are:

1. Get to know someone

2. Start at the bottom

For my friends, start at the bottom usually means support/office manager/community work, but it can mean entry level sales or being the admin for a higher up as well.

Hubris is the enemy here.

The Melt

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:55:34 -0800

I met a friend at The Melt today for lunch. Started by the guy who invented the Flip camera, The Melt is a high-concept grilled cheese fast food restaurant. Here’s how it works.

1. You go online and pick out what you’d like to eat.

2. You customize your order (bacon and tomato are free!) and pay for it online.

3. Your emailed receipt has a QR code on it, which you scan once you arrive at the restaurant.

4. At this point, they make your food, and it’s ready in about 5 minutes.

5. If you are smug like me, you then look at folks waiting in line and wonder why they didn’t pre-order online.

The process worked really well, despite it seeming somewhat strange to order food online but then have to scan a QR code to get them to actually start making it. I got a cheddar on whole wheat grilled cheese (with tomato!), with a cup of black bean soup. The soup was thin and watering, and the grilled cheese was fine — it reminded me of college and cooking on my Forman Grill.

The whole experience felt curious to me. The process, the price ($10 for the soup and sandwich) and the feeling that I was part of something that was entirely manufactured to be one-day spread across the country… it felt odd.

If you didn’t Facebook or tweet from Occupy SF, would...

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:45:43 -0700

If you didn’t Facebook or tweet from Occupy SF, would anyone know you were really there?

One step closer to being totally done with wedding planning.

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:16:39 -0700

One step closer to being totally done with wedding planning.

I would like this for my own, please. (via Eastward Dress Coat -...

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 08:50:50 -0700

I would like this for my own, please.

(via Eastward Dress Coat - Anthropologie.com)

Love The One You're (Born) With

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 08:09:00 -0700

Love The One You're (Born) With:

“BUT really, I’ve avoided rhinoplasty because though it might make me prettier (and I do believe my nose is what stands in the way of my being conventionally pretty), I’m not sure what it will say about me.”

I think in my general group of friends, saying “I hate this body part” or that you’ve ever considered plastic surgery is probably the most gauche type thing you can do. But this article resinated with me. I’ve thought about it, as I have *quite* the pronounced nose. It will never happen, for a number of reasons, primarily that I hate the idea that I’m just that vain.

Video

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:24:33 -0700

On Rosh Hashanah and saying "L'Shana Tova"

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:59:31 -0700

I went to services at Emanu-El yesterday for Rosh Hashanah. The customary greeting is “L’shana Tova” - have a good year.

The rabbi’s sermon focused on this greeting and why we say it. His essential thesis: The world is in shambles, the economy sucks, the ice caps are melting, Israel is on the brink of being destroyed by its neighbors, too many people live under the poverty line, there’s no work-life balance anymore, public schools in SF are failing… essentially on both a macro and micro level, things are a mess.

So where do we, as Jews, get the optimism to say “L’Shana Tova” - have a good year? Is it optimism? Naiveté?

The rabbi says it’s chutzpah, something we’ve always had and is intrinsic to our people. It’s the chutzpah to believe this year CAN be a good year and it will be, in spite of the tumults around us. But in order to do that, we need to be a blessing. Not do blessings over things, but actually be a blessing in the world. Make a difference. Do something. Because if we do nothing, then we can’t truly say, and believe, that this year will be a good year.

Be a blessing. Make a difference. Have a good year.

Troubles with Tyler

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:31:25 -0700

So he’s sort of disgusting. His breath smells horrendous, and he hasn’t had a bath in a month to boot. I bought some spray for his water that’s supposed to help, as well as a bully stick. Allegedly bully stick = good for plaque removal, which leads to better breath.

On the bathing side, he’s terrified of being bathed. I think he was given a bath right after he was neutered, so he has a super negative association. I tried to wipe him down with a puppy wipe and he just freaked out - full on yelp and teeth baring.

It makes me feel like a bad puppy parent.

lauraglu: (via Giraffe Close-up - The Animal Print Shop by...

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:37:35 -0700

lauraglu:

(via Giraffe Close-up - The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose)

like.

What has surprised you the most lately? Good or bad suprise?

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:06:59 -0700

(reposted from my Formspring)

Good surprise: Getting a dog wasn’t nearly as much work as I thought it would be. I was prepared for it to drastically change my lifestyle, to cause me to stay home every night, spend hours cleaning the carpets in my apartment, etc. Instead, Tyler is great! He never pees inside, is fine on his own for period of time (not TOO long), and in general is a great addition to my family without being stressful.

Bad surprise: Dan’s job has gotten incredibly stressful with incredibly long hours. He’s hard at work making a new game, and I’m totally supportive of that, but his hours are pretty nuts. Last night he came home at 2 am. Last week it was midnight each night. He’s working so hard, something I knew was inevitable at Zynga, but I think even this is more than either of us anticipated. Hopefully when the game comes out it will all be worth it :/

On the positive, I can hang out with the dog when he’s at work….

He has a tough life.

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:18:51 -0700

He has a tough life.