The one time I’ve taken that kind of deal from an airline it was one of those perfect offers that I couldn’t say no to. I was flying from Las Vegas home to San Jose, and there were terrible storms in SJ. Thunder, lightning, high winds, the whole bit. Our plane hadn’t even been able to leave San Jose yet, it was stuck on a ground hold.

The flight before mine had just been canceled, mine was delayed at least 2 hours, and the gate agent was telling us all that there was a strong chance the flight would be canceled completely. The initial offer was to be put on a flight later that night, and in return get a free round trip ticket on the airline (this was American) anywhere in the continental US. I offered myself up for that one, hell, it was VEGAS, I wasn’t going to complain about being stuck there (didn’t hurt that I had friends who lived there), and my job was flexible enough that the world wouldn’t end if I showed up late in the am. An hour later, the gate agent tells me that the second flight is probably going to be canceled as well, which meant there wouldn’t be any more flights out that night.

Since I’d offered myself up to be bumped off of my flight earlier, they were going to give me a comp hotel room and food vouchers, plus a first class seat on the first flight out in the morning.

Everyone who’d waited and tried to go on the actual flight was shit out of luck - they had to wait until the morning to fly as well, but the airline doesn’t comp things because of weather. Some of them even tried to offer up their seats to see if that’d work, but you kinda can’t offer up a seat on a flight that was canceled.

I was lucky, no doubt. I’d ended up in their system as someone who had volunteered to give up her seat for a flight that was subsequently canceled, which made everything their fault, not the weather’s. It was a little funny seeing all the same faces on the flight that morning as the people on the original flight from the day before. They were all tired and grumpy. Me, I’d had an extra night in Vegas, in an actual hotel, hung out with my friends for 12 hrs, AND got a free round trip ticket.

I’m not an “expert” traveler, but I have traveled enough that I’m getting pretty close. So my one piece of advice - if airlines are asking people to jump flights, think about a few things:

- Likelihood of the flight you were originally booked on leaving

- Likelihood of the flight you will be placed on leaving (if one flight’s overbooked, chances are very good that the whole airline is all day)

- If being placed in a hotel - what hotel, and does the airline fully pay for it. This can be significant, as some airlines only have discount vouchers for dumpy motels, while others will put you up in a “real” hotel.

- Price to you if you don’t get home until the next day. This includes job responsibilities, baby/pet sitting, parking, etc.

- Can they get your luggage off of the current flight? Sometimes the answer is no.

- Where are you. I was once on a flight from O’Hare to Dulles that was delayed on the runway for 6 hours before returning to the terminal for technical issues. After waiting another couple of hours in the terminal we were offered (all paid) a night in the hotel, dinner/breakfast, and a flight out the next morning. No miles, no money. I asked ‘what if we don’t want it,’ and they told me that the plane had to get to Dulles regardless, so it would eventually be leaving. It just may not be leaving until 3am. Well, I truly didn’t want to spend a night in the O’Hare airport hotel, I really wanted to sleep in my old bed, and at this point, I kinda felt like I’d waited for so long that I deserved to go home. So, I waited! Flight landed in Dulles at about 4:30am. The original flight was supposed to leave O’Hare at 4pm. It was absolutely insane, but at the end it was kind of fun flying on a 747 with 10 people on it (everyone else had decided to spend the night).

Another announcement asking people to volunteer. If they gave more than $200, maybe people would take it?

Also, the more desperate they get, the better the deal. For example, the deal here just changed - now they’re offering a 5pm out of Oakland instead of the 9pm flight here.

Me, I need to get back tonight. I could theoretically get back later, but I’d have to get to oakland, and I’d much rather get home at 6 than at 9. Plus, I checked baggage, and I’m always to paranoid to flip flights when I’ve checked a bag. I don’t think I would take this deal, no matter how great it became, I just want to go home.

That’s another big thing for ppl to remember - Southwest, in particular, is a wonderful airline to change flights on. However, if you have a checked bag, you have a good chance of losing it.

I fly from LAX to SFO a lot, and more often than not, San Francisco is fogged in. If I don’t have bags checked (which is most of the time I fly), I go from counter to counter around LAX looking for another Southwest bay area flight leaving earlier than my delayed flight. And 9 times out of 10, I get on a better flight. Now, depending on where I’m going, San Jose can be more trouble than its worth, but Oakland is just as easy as SFO. So ALWAYS check around at the other flights, and especially with Southwest, just ask someone. All the Southwest gate agents are really nice, and extremely helpful.

Now the offer is $200 travel voucher, refund on ticket, and flight out of oakland at 6. Only one person volunteered so far, they need 5. It’s gonna be ugly once they start bumping people.

Aah well, enough blabbering for me, time to close this down and get on the plane!

Well..this is why.

Last week, on my birthday (won’t ever forget that bday!), I gave (what ultimately turned out to be) three weeks notice. My last day at MySpace will be 11/21, this upcoming Friday.

Since I gave notice, I’ve begun the transition thing. I’ve been reaching out to developers who work on the MySpace Platform to let them know who they will be working with moving forward. If I haven’t talked to you yet, don’t worry, I will - every single developer I’ve worked with, large and small, will have a new contact name at MySpace before I leave. If I haven’t contacted you yet and you’re antsy to move forward, just shoot me an email to sbergman -at- myspace and I’ll get you hooked up.

I love MySpace, and have had a wonderful time working here. It’s hard not to get inspired when I spend so much of my job working with people in startups. I’ve spoken here about the one I used to work for, and there’s a feeling in the air at a teeny new company doing something original that is very exciting. I was burned when my first startup went bankrupt, and didn’t want anything to do with that world for a while. If nothing else, I wanted job security! But…the project is right, and I’m mentally ready to do this again.

I believe everything happens for a reason, and this all came together too perfectly not to be right. A friend introduced me to a friend, who introduced me to the guy starting the company, and it all went from there. Very natural, and just felt like the right thing to do. The company I’m going to does not have a name yet (closed beta of it will come out soon), so for the sake of this blog I’m going call it Operation Turtle. The Turtle is something completely new, something that nobody’s ever really seen before, so I can’t answer it with a quick two word description. It’s enabling a new form of “social interaction,” but that doesn’t really mean anything. I’ll get more specific when I can.

It’s fun, it’s new, it’ll help you connect with new and old friends in a whole new way, it is NOT a social network…although I could make a pretty good argument that a site can’t be JUST a “social network” anymore. All sites have to have content, first and foremost, then social networking features integrating that content - like MySpace has Applications, music, games, celebrities, etc. The social improves the base product, but the base has to be there. “Create a profile” doesn’t quite cut it anymore. A profile is only one feature to what had better be a larger product. I’d love to give examples, but let me leave my current position yet. Suffice to say that there are some some stellar examples of companies with a business that has integrated social networking features and/or user generated content. Operation Turtle is social, but has a very unique twist with the content.

This is a tiny industry where everyone moves in the same circles, and always end up working together again. I’m always amazed when people I worked with 15+ yrs ago show up again asking if we can work together. I love it, and without a doubt, pre-existing personal relationships always result in a better, stronger product. So don’t forget me!! I know I’m going to want all of your feedback on Operation Turtle once you get to play, all of your opinions are very important to me.

I can also promise that I would never leave a job I love at MySpace to work for a teeny company with no live product unless I totally believed in what they were doing. And I really do. This stuff is the bomb, and I can’t wait to show it off.

I have always jokingly said to people that I’ve followed the ‘largest community online from company to company, from Yahoo to AOL to MySpace,’ and I fully believe Operation Turtle belongs on that list. I don’t think small, and wouldn’t want to work on something that doesn’t have the potential to change the world.  Mr Turtle will show everyone an entirely new way to communicate. And I think people are going to love it.

So, here I am in in SF this weekend looking for an apartment, and I am quite happy to report that I found one. What can I say, I’ve moved 6 times in 4 years, three of those moves cross-country, so a “simple” move from Los Angeles to San Francisco is hardly a major problem. At least, not a problem at this phase, I’m sure I’ll be bitching enough as soon as I have to start packing. This was the easy part.

The apartment is in a fantablous location, right over Whole Foods in SOMA, by the entrance to 101 (which is perfect for escapes to south bay, to family in Novato, or to my old vet in San Ramon - so psyched to go back to them!!). It’s also close to bus and bart; although a lot of stuff looks like it’ll be within walking distance…my new office included.

My lease starts December 5th, so now I have to do the ‘paperwork’ side of moving. Turn utilities off here, on there, move car/home insurance, and so on.

I need to find movers, which I haven’t done on my own in a long time (all the cross-country moves have been company relocations), so if anyone has recommendations on a short haul moving company, would love to hear them!

Lots of stuff going on, but all good, and I’m very excited for what lies ahead. I will miss you Tom, but how could I resist the call of the Turtle?

I’m leaving SF tomorrow, but will be back soon enough. This last week at MySpace is bound to be sad, I really am going to miss everyone, but I’m excited by what waits for me here in San Francisco. So, shortly after turkey day, I will become a resident of San Francisco.

And I’m starting to really like the sound of that.

I gotta admit, I love the phone. I hadn’t expected to, but it truly is a little mini laptop, and is nicely serving as a netbook type thing for me. I’m also obsessed with apps (I knew that was gonna happen), and having fun seeing just how far I can push this thing. I even finally put leopard on my mbp,I had to for the google contacts support.

I also went back to food - orange juice to start. And dear lord am I happy to have it. I have never, ever been that weak or hungry in my life. Of course, I still would like to do this again for longer, but wow, nuts. I kinda get the feeling it’ll be a few days before I’m back to normal, right now, despite being full, I’m staaarving.

Would I recommend someone do this? Wellll, I would never, ever suggest it. It is crazy and drastic and very much starvation. But, if someone was already thinking about it, could physically do it (as in, doctor said ok) and wanted my opinion? Go for it. It is an experience like nothing else.

Gotta admit, it isn’t bad having computer problems to distract me, it keeps my mind off being hungry. Which I am. Very.

This will be it, and I’m pretty farm excited to have made it. It’s been nuts, but I am glad I did this. Well, more like I’ll be glad I did this once I have a full tummy.

Almost there!!

My headache’s dropped to a dull throb (still there, but totally bearable), and I’m pretty much used to this slightly airy-lightheaded thing. My tongue has turned a funny shade of orange/yellow, which is weird, but apparently to be expected…there’s actually an entire article on what happens to your tongue during this on associated content. Useless article, but apparently this subject is searched on enough to justify an article as link bait.

With all that said, I have a surprising amount of energy. In spite of the headache and feeling physically weak, mentally I am completely clear and wide awake. I understand now why most religions include some sort of fast, I can only imagine what I’d feel right now if I was a bit more of a spiritual person. Neat.
 
Unfortunately (I truly am sad about this fact), I will be going off of this a day earlier than planned. I completely brain farted about the fact that I’m going to SF this weekend and can’t really do a liquid diet while flying. I would need to bring a lot more liquid than I’m allowed, ya know.

So tomorrow will be my last day on this…this time around, anyway. I suspect I’ll be doing this again, it’s fun in a strange, masochistic, “I’m turning myself into a science experiment” kind of way. But not for a while.

Much to my surprise, I’m really not hungry. I had been very hungry around 7pm yesterday, but I truly did stuff myself silly with the lemonade mixture, and hit a point where I couldn’t drink it anymore. I was pretty surprised that I couldn’t finish it, I didn’t expect to be that full.

Physically, my stomach hasn’t been in great shape, I was popping a lot of tums yesterday, and am pretty nauseous at the moment. I used less of the cayenne when making my batch this morning, and that’s made it a bit more tolerable. I think the pepper has a lot to do with preventing me from feeling hungry, so I do need to keep it in there.

I am down two pounds, but it’s important to remember that this is not a diet to lose weight (although it is fairly commonly used as a crash diet). They say that people may keep half of the weight lost off. It may also all come back. This diet is to clean out your system, and theoretically, heal stomach problems. We shall see if it works on that, I will be amazed and very excited if it does.

The weirdest part so far has been my reaction last night. I was very, very out of it, which is why I didn’t post a blog entry – I couldn’t type very well. I was extremely lightheaded and dizzy, and got a horrible headache that hasn’t gone away (which is why I haven’t stopped the caffeine). I was pretty much worthless to the world from 6pm on. I’m not so lightheaded/dizzy now, although I am a little, hrm, how to describe. Slightly airheaded? I trust myself behind the wheel of a car (I wouldn’t have driven last night), but wouldn’t try advanced calculus right now.

So on that note, I’m going to post this now, just in case I hit a wall again tonight (which is exactly what I felt like last night). More on this wacky diet thing later!

Why? Well, for weight loss, sure, but also because it claims to heal stomach problems. I don’t have ulcers now (although I did about 10 years ago), but my tummy has never fully recovered. I pop pepcid like candy on top of taking nexium AND tums, and that just can’t be healthy. I’ve tried other diets that claim to fix tummy problems with absolutely no success, why not try this one.

And why now? I am going to Canyon Ranch (spa) in two weeks thanks to my mom giving me the trip as an awesome bday present, and just generally feel physically icky. I’d like to feel nice and healthy by the time I’m in that kind of “work out, be healthy” environment, and dealing with my tummy would go a long way towards that.

It, of course, doesn’t hurt that this is November, and I need to write a blog post a day (yah, I missed yesterday. Oops.). This will easily keep me going for a few days.

For those who don’t know, master cleanse is a liquid diet where you drink 2 liters of a lemon juice/cayenne pepper/maple syrup mixture a day (14 tbl lemon, 14 tbl maple syrup, 1/2 tsp pepper, water). The mixture tastes okay, the description of “lemon gatorade with a kick” isn’t far off (mind you, I haven’t had gatorade in longer than I can remember, but from what I do remember, this is what it tasted like). It most certainly tastes a lot better than some other things I’ve had to eat on diets.

Today’s day one. I’m going to try to do five days - Monday through Friday. I’ve done crash diets before, so I’m thinking this may not be tooooooo bad, but I suspect I’m in for a few rough days.

I have to admit up front, I’m not doing this by the book. I am going to keep drinking diet coke, coffee and tea, although I will switch to decaf as much as possible. I know it sounds really weird, and very contrary to what doctors say, but the only drink I can tolerate in large amounts is diet coke. It has to be that exact brand, too, Diet Coke, not Coke Zero, not Diet Pepsi. I can tolerate coffee, tea (nothing sweetened or the fruity types), and water, but I will inevitably feel sick. I quite literally cannot drink anything else, and believe me, I’ve tried.

I’m using lemon juice, not lemons, since despite the ramblings on the internet, sugar is not added to lemon juice, or at least, not the lemon juice I bought, and I’m not about to juice 20+ lemons a day. Sorry, but no. Going through a bottle of lemon juice a day is crazy enough.

I also accidently bought the wrong maple syrup, I have organic grade A dark amber, whereas I’m supposed to use grade B. According to wikipedia, the difference is in taste and color, not content, so I’m not so worried about that, although if I still may pick up the right grade tomorrow.

I was conservative with the pepper, I put in a little under the recommended 1/2 tsp per 2 liter. I do hear that the longer the mixture sits, the stronger the pepper gets, which I can understand…the pepper doesn’t dissolve when this stuff is initially mixed. It baffles me how something that swears to cure stomach problems contains two ingredients that we’re taught to run from like the plague, pepper and lemons. I don’t taste the pepper toooo much, but it does leave my mouth/tongue feeling spicy, which I hate, and can’t seem to get rid of (have tried caffeine-free diet coke and water). I may just leave the pepper out tomorrow, or at least, drastically reduce the amount.

So far on day one I’m not hungry, not tired, just…fine. Okay. I’ll check in later tonight, when I suspect I may not be feeling so okay. Will see, though, this could be very interesting.

I am using the wordpress iPhone app, which has been very simple to use so far. I am definately making tons of typos as I type, but autocorrect seems to be catching most of what I’m trying to say. I also find that I don’t need a tactile response from the keyboards as much as I thought did. My piano teacher would be horrified.

Gotta admit, I love this phone. Cuz it’s not just a phone it is truly a little mini computer, and the power of that is incredible.

It also helps to alleviate the extreme boredom that is waiting for hair color to set. I’m surevim downloading lots of useless apps, but it is wasting time.

So first iPhone impression - amazing, and I am much more in love with this thing than I expected to be. Go fig - and thanks, Steve!

At least it’s the weekend. And strangely enough - I have a new Michael Crichton book to read!! After I published the entry about Michael Crichton on Wednesday, I received an email telling me about a ‘favorite book of his called Binary.’ I’d never heard of a Michael Crichton book called Ninary…

Now, I have read a book published by Michael Crichton under another name called “A Case of Need.” I loved the book, but it was very clearly not “typical” Michael Crichton.  Turns out Binary is written under yet another pseudonym, one I’d never heard of. I dug around online (the book is long out of print), found a used copy for sale, ordered, and have it now.

So much to my surprise, I get to spend the weekend curled up with a new Michael Crichton book (considered new under the “it’s new to me” rule). Not a bad weekend at all.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, you all probably need one after this week!

The baby in the ad below is a cross between the VR baby I played with that day, and the technology many companies have been utilizing for years to create realistic avatars (this one’s from Oddcast). It’s silly, and weird, but to me at least, it’s very, very cool.

I had Brad Pitt and Britney Spears “make this baby.” Make one of your own!