"Look Ma, I'm a Free Agent", A Short Story by Sarah Lane

As of today, I no longer work for Revision3. Something about the "economic downturn"? Have you heard anything about this? I've been looking it up all morning but Google searches are coming up empty. Hardy har.

Anyway, a few things:

1. I won't be co-hosting The Digg Reel this week after all. Too bad, because I was looking forward to it. My apologies to everyone who was set to tune in after I promoted it on TWiT yesterday.

2. popSiren has been canceled. I'm going to try not to get too sappy about it, although those who've watched me on TV over the years know that I have a history of crying. :) I do want to quickly thank some of the folks who made it one of the best experiences of my career: Heather Frank, Moujan Z: Twitter Hater, Mauricio Balvanera, Josh Villegas, Brett Putman and the studio crew, Jessica Corbin, Dr. Kiki Sanford, Neha Tiwari, Eden Soto, our fabulous interns (with extra special thanks to Kelly Sutton and Jeff Zimmerlin), the Revision3 production, web, tech, and sales teams, and anybody else that I ungraciously and inadvertently left out. I owe you all a drink - except Moujan, whose self-destructive latte habit I will no longer support. Also thanks to Martin Sargent and Jay Speiden for making the Cul De Sac a delightfully inappropriate place to occupy a cube.

3. Revision3 has been a wonderful experience. As always, life goes on. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, but if you have any ideas, let me know (unless it involves anything topless or circus-related... been there done that).

Here's my LinkedIn profile, my Twitter feed, and I promise to be extra-active on my variety of other social networks (under FriendFeed Links down the right-hand column of this page).

And she lived happily ever after.

The End.

Sarah's Question #2: To Invisalign or Not to Invisalign?

Little dark this time! Welcome to my gloomy kitchen. Also I realize that I yapped for over three minutes again. SUE ME. Actually, don't. I won't have the money to pay you and that crackerjack lawyer of yours if I lose.

Also, I know that in the video I said that I'd add links to who else was talking about my previous Facebook question, but I did a crappy job of bookmarking them and sort of lost interest after my tenth glass of wine. Kidding! Sort of. Want to help?

Crystal Gayle: A Poor, 20th Century Imitation of Miss Grace Sutherland

 

Just one photo inside one of the greatest Flickr photo albums I've ever come across. Thanks for the (haunted) memories, Eastman family!

PS- Ten bucks says she never married.

PPS- Ok wow... upon further research, I have discovered that not only did she not marry, but had a few wacky siblings, too. THINK OF THE BATHTUB DRAIN.

A Lifelong Curse of Mistaken Identity

Ever since I signed myself up for a Gmail account in 2004, I've gotten bizarre, out-of-context emails intended for some other person named Sarah Lane. I realize that both 'Sarah' and 'Lane' are common names, but still. Seems like a lot. And I'm not talking spam or anything. You can tell that these are actual people who just somehow got that other Sarah Lane's addy wrong. For example, I received the following email earlier today (names have been omitted to protect the innocent):

(innocent):

THank you all for your interest in Spanish!

Our Monday class has filled up in the blink of an eye and I have
organized a second class to happen on Thursday at the same time 3 till
4pm.

Would that be OK for your little ones? If not, we probaby ask for some of the Monday students to switch.

I have your names confirmed for a start on Thursday NOv 6th and if there is any problem , let me know.

Also if you have not send the form to me yet, please at least let me
know which class they are in and if there are going to be picked up or
stay at afterschool.

THank you!

(my response):

Hi, you have the wrong email address for Sarah Lane. Please check her address. Thx.

(innocent's response):

Apologies, I used what was on the form. Can you confirm Thursday is OK for Christopher?

Thanks.

This confused correspondence went on a little longer, but you get the gist. And since I'm out of ideas, I'll just go ahead and say YES, Thursday is ok for Christopher. Thursday is ALWAYS ok for Christopher. But I really do prefer that you check with his mother, Sarah Lane. The one who signed up for Gmail too late to get the cooler Sarah Lane-based email address. ZING! (yep, never going to grow up)

The world is full of good people.

I receive a lot of emails from strangers, the contents of which are sometimes awesome, sometimes mean, sometimes funny, and occasionally batshit crazy.

But every so often a stranger actually makes my day just by reaching out to me in the simplest of ways. It happened today. And now I'm forwarding the kind words of a stranger along to you. Have a good one.

    From:     [kind stranger]
    Subject:     Best cat I ever had -
    Date:     October 22, 2008 11:15:30 AM PDT
    To:     sarah@sarahlane.com

Hi Sarah,

Just thought I'd try to put a smile on your face with a picture of Shadow.  He was a domestic longhair with possibly some Maine Coon in him.  He was 16 years old when he passed away (kidney failure).  Don't be sad because he had a great life with me in Pennsylvania and later in Virginia.  He would come when I called him, played fetch with a rolled up paper ball, and would jump up on the sofa or bed on command.  When I got him he was only 6 or 7 weeks old and weighed only a little over half a pound.  Had to feed him out of a bottle for the first two weeks.  He was so cute.

Anyway, I know you can't respond to all of the e-mails you get but I was a fan of yours when The Screen Savers was on (not "I am your number one fan" like weird people).  You were always very professional, knew your material, and presented yourself very well on a live show (not easy to do).  Just thought it would be nice to hear.

Rob

P.S. Happy (Belated) Birthday