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!
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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