schlock.net > About the Author > A Brief History of Schlock

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*Whither schlock.net? My last name really is Schlocker. But not in a bad way.

The name actually comes from the Latvian town of Schlock (now Sloka), but the word comes from a Middle High German word that means "to strike" and refers to damaged merchandise. Perhaps Sloka is where everyone in Latvia went to buy schlock.

*My interests include baking, being an outlier, blathering, cats, cooking, general catlike laziness, gratuitously quoting things from TV shows, knowing random facts about hopelessly obscure things, nattering, navel-gazing, procrastinating, riposting, slacking, wasting time, and watching an ungodly amount of TV.

The cooking and baking are the ones I use most effectively to impress people.

*I have worked in the User Research group at TiVo since November of 2000, doing surveys and usability testing. I have to say I am quite comfortable with my particular racket. TiVo is the neatest toy that's come along and changed my life since, well, the Internet, and I'm not just saying that 'cause it pays the bills.

Sometimes I am amused by this turn my life has taken, by which I mean, I work for a company where I get to think about how to watch TV better, and I have a TV on my desk, and everyone at work revels in watching crap on TV and discussing it openly, and no one ever says I only watch PBS. I have this quote in my senior yearbook where I said I hadn't yet decided on a career, but perhaps some eccentric billionaire would pay me to watch Star Trek. Working for TiVo is so glaringly up my alley it's just sick.

*I have the cutest kitty in the whole wide world. Aww!

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Five Things I Once Did, Or Was At Least Tangentially Involved In

*The band Cake played my high school on Earth Day in '94 and '95 (John McCrea's sisters were in Earth Club with us). We paid them a hundred bucks and gave them free veggie burgers. I made horrible flyers using my then-newly-developed Microsoft Word skills (WingDings galore -- I'm so ashamed).

I'm glad the band is now famous, so I can now say with the full force of truth that they wouldn't know who the hell I was even if I told them all of the above.

*I was once interviewed on TV because of the 47s (on the PBS show Internet Cafe, now defunct). My site was also mentioned in a couple of print magazines (also defunct) and at least one published book (ditto).

I do hope that a list of numbers found in a TV show is NOT destined to be my lasting legacy to the universe.

*I placed 21st nationwide in the AmbrosiaSW Bubble Trouble high score contest back in '97. Ow! My wrists!

*My college roommate (a Japanese major) introduced me to Iron Chef back before it was trendy. We used to watch it subtitled on KTSF at 9:30 or so on Saturday nights. To this date, the Food Network has not run the episodes I remember watching back in those days. Damn you, Food Network! Stop denying the existence of Chef Nakamura Koumei!

*Last year I got Alton Brown (from TV's Good Eats) to autograph me a stainless steel board scraper. This item is now shadowboxed in my kitchen. I am unreasonably proud. And a big nerd.

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