iVillage Commerical

I thought this was really funny...


Also, there's a really funny video segment on the iVillage website -- it's called Daily Blabber -- she's pretty tough ... a little like Perez! Take a look at the one about Jennifer Aniston's nose job ...

News from Israel

I lived in Israel for 6 years before I moved to California -- so this blog will include news from Israel from time to time.

From BBC News:
Three dead in Israel suicide bomb
A suicide bomber has killed three people at a bakery in the southern Israeli town of Eilat, police say.

Premium Wireless Service BEST IDEA EVER!

Okay you have to look at this website. Its a company called VOCE and they offer premium wireless service meaning you basically have a concierge service 24/7 for ANYTHING you might need!

It's a bit pricey -- $200 flat fee and a $500 one time membership fee but you get unlimited domestic calling and messaging, unlimited 411, a new phone every 12 mos. at no charge, etc.

They have a VOCE Boutique and the rest is at Neiman Marcus. I just think it's a genius idea ... read some of the testimonials!

Myspace Hackers

So I have a myspace profile -- together w/ the other Billion people out there! Anyways, for the past few weeks I kept getting locked out of my account "due to excessive failed logins". So it made me think -- why would people want to hack into your myspace account? I mean there isn't any real important information on there about me. It doesn't have my address, my phone number, no credit card info, etc.

The way I found out I had people hack my account was seeing a bulletin about how people had hackers in their friends list. So I went into my friends list and loandbehold I had about 12 hacker profiles. The way I knew it was hackers was b/c their profiles said "this profile no longer exists" which means myspace cancelled their account (I think).

So I guess I wanted to post the question of WHY do people want to hack into other people's profiles? Sometimes they will even corrupt/change your profile for you. Some will attach some virus thing so that your account becomes contaminated if you look at a hacked profile. Any thoughts/insights?

Moving Away from Hardware?

An interesting article from Forbes.com on open source information storage -- a move away from hardware toward a more mobile information storage/access.

Investing through Social Networks

I heard about this on a Podcast (I can't remember the name) and this site is basically an Investing version of a Social Network Site. People basically share their investment recommendations with other members of the site. The goal of this company is to help people invest better by having access to relevant information without having to spend hours searching for it. I though this was an interesting approach to online communities. Check it out!

http://socialpicks.com/

City to Trump: You're fined!

Donald Trump has officially taken the saying "No such thing as bad publicity" to whole new level. A lawsuit over a Flagpole?!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/19/trump.flag.ap/index.html

A few things from the drive home

So as I said I commute from Venice to Downtown ... here are a few really great things about commuting from Downtown LA at 6:00PM on a Thursday:

1. Seeing as there are exactly 3 on-ramps that can get you out of Downtown onto the 10W its a special treat when they close one of those on-ramps (for 4 months in case you're curious) in which case about 5 million people try to squeeze through 2 on-ramps. Luckily for me 80% of those people are only getting on the 10 to get to the 405 (aka LA's largest parking lot) so only about 10 miles of my drive consists of traffic.
2. People who drive on the highway at night w/o their headlights on are morons. Doesn't it seem like its a bit strange that the back of the car that's in front of you is completely dark?!
3. You feel cheated when standing in traffic b/c of an accident if you don't get to see the wreck.
4. If people thanked the person who let them in front of them the world would be a better place.
5. And last but not least I don't know why radio stations that have a special two hours dedicated to "Traffic Jam" feel the need to play a commercial every other song.

As a side note: I felt like I was in Bezerkeley for a moment when I saw a Honda Insight with a bumper sticker that says "Another veteran against the war in Iraq"

Who said being stuck in traffic for 15 miles (in LA we don't count the length of the drive in minutes/hours but in Miles) is so horrible??

You have to start somewhere ...

I figured I've waited long enough to make my first post. This is my first blog ever. I'm not really a blogger. I've always been a bit weary of bloggers and sometimes even thought of them as people who simply have too much time on their hands. But that was then and this is now.

Perhaps it's because having my own blog has become a part of a class assignment or maybe it was after I started reading CNNMoney.com-related blogs. Either way, I suppose blogs are the way to go nowadays so I figured I'd join the party.

I haven't quite finalized what I am going to post on this blog, but I think it'll be a little bit of everything.

I am finishing my senior year at USC as a Communication Major and Business Minor (to those of you who are familiar with Comm students at USC this shouldn't come as a surprise). I don't live near campus and I enjoy a wonderful 15 mile drive down the 10E every morning (an experience that I will be sure to share with you in great detail). I am also one of the lucky few who thinks she figured out what she wants to do when she grows up. For now it's IT Consulting ... might sound geeky and boring...but I think it might be pretty exciting. Okay so I'm a bit of a geek ... deal with it!

So this blog will consist of my daily experiences, my thoughts on different topics and maybe a little sharing of interesting information I find while aimlessly surfing the internet instead of working :)

And I hope you'll comment ... it's a little boring talking to yourself ...

Welcome

Hi everyone!

I will begin posting soon ... :)

Elena