Ekaweeka | Thomas's EkaBlog : Project Manager, Services, Los Angeles, USA : Ekaweeka - The Small Business Community - Artists, Crafters, Painters, Designers, Small Businesses, Show, Tell, Shop, Sell Unique Handmade, Independantly Crafted.

things I shouldn't say on ekablog :-D

November 30, 2007 10:20am

Rain in LA	Views: 370
In Seattle warm sunny days are heralded as a gift, everyone beams, moods are lifted. I have seen this in New York and Boston too. In Los Angeles a rainy day is the same thing. Especially these days when rain is so uncommon. We had less then 9 rainy days last year, there have not been many more this year either. we are in permanent drought. With all the fires, rain also comes with additional threat of mud slides. But any morning I wake up to that oh so unfamiliar pitter padder it feels like first snow like a gift to be appreciated. We don't smile for this but it gives the same relief, the feeling of completeness.
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November 05, 2007 10:55am

Getting Back to Business	Views: 323
Why do I feel like the more fun I have the harder it is to get back to work? We went up to Ynez valley north of Santa Barbara on Saturday - that was quite a treat. We stopped by Demetria Winery a small family owned vinyard on Foxen Canyon road. They produce 8,000 cases a year. The owner of the vineyard hosted our tasting and we had an amazing time. Look them up, but call in advance they only do tastings by appointment. Now I get back to work, and boy do I have a lot of work to do.
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September 04, 2007 8:11am

Going To New York	Views: 324
We set off for New York this morning. The second trip in the past two weeks. Last week was Seattle - we visited family and I showed bri my old stomping grounds (ish) in the University District area. This week she is helping out with a W mag party, the rest of the time we'll be visiting friends, and stopping by our favorite coffee shops - a la "our old stomping grounds" :) I hope to check out the new exhibits at the Met, see Ellery, go by the Vangaurd offices, stop by Battery to see how the developments are coming and maybe I'll ride the Staten Island ferry too. I love New York so much, it's like a very special old friend, I don't think of this as travel even though the experience with exhaust me and I'll miss Commie every second we're gone. This is a visit and revision on old times passed.
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August 29, 2007 2:20pm

I'm a Victim of Auto Insurance - Identity Theft!	Views: 356
In what is probably the truest testimate yet to why I can't stand major corporations and being a car owner combined into one, I discovered yesterday that I am a victim of indentity theft in an incident with my car insurance. Over 15 months ago, a call was made to my insurance company about a car accident that I was supposedly in, driving a car that was not my own involving another car that also wasn't my own. The caller provided personal information about my insurance policy, gave the claim rep a different phone number and email address then my own and I guess that's all that was needed to make it official. since then I have renewed my policy, with no word about the incident, my rate didn't go up, I never had to make any payments, I was never even alerted about the change of phone number and email on my account, why would I? They still had all my phone numbers, they were still sending me emails to my email address. And yet yesterday when Briana was adding me to her car insurance, the insurance rep she was speaking with checked my driving record with DL# and SSN and found this incident which reportedly had left 2 points on my driving record. I've never had any accidents, no moving violations and all of a sudden I have two points on my record. So how did it happen? I don't know but it's definitely identity theft, and even though no money has been lost, I had to call all the credit bureaus, I had to file a report with the federal trade commision, and I need to send formal statements to my insurance company to get their formal statements so I can file a police report and make get the whole incident on paper. AY YAY YAY!!!
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June 19, 2007 9:05am

Bay Area vs. Southern California	Views: 375
We recently discovered that we might have a once in a lifetime opportunity to move back into the house I grew up in, in Palo Alto sometime next year. Ever since moving out for college I've wondered if I would get to move back in, then when my parents moved out it became a very unlikely option. Now that we have found a great home in Los Feliz it is hard to image going anywhere. Moving up north would be fantastic for Ekaweeka and a lot could happen between now and next year which could sway my own feelings on the issue. Briana is very excited about this - she loves that house as do I. When I was younger I was always intrigued with the concept that people and their families would move accross the country sometimes accross the world for work. For the first time I am having to make similar decisions, what trip life is.
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June 06, 2007 12:34pm

Riding My Bike	Views: 392
I've started riding my bike to work, as with most positive choices I've made in the past it wasn't directly because of the benefits. More because my clutch suddenly started skipping when we picked Alaine up from her cruise ship in Long Beach last Sunday. I've been wanting to switch to an electric car for a while now, and I'm not quite ready to make that kind of a purchase so I decided to see just how far of a bike ride it was to the Ekaweeka headquarters. Turns out it took me less time to ride there! So now I'm wondering if I should even fix my car....
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April 25, 2007 8:45am

Watering Plants	Views: 939
I had to get up early today to water our plants. Everytime I do this, I remember my childhood. My neighbor was a botanist and whenever she and her husband went out of town she would pay me to come by and soak all of her plants - and there were a lot of them. I would go over to her house and feel like I had vanished out of Palo Alto and emerged in a jungle in a far off land. When they are watered enough, plants seem to produce an air.. it might be oxygen or just the smell of the droplets coming up into the air. Whatever it is it smells great and I loving going to this place.
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April 09, 2007 1:58pm

The Pages System	Views: 567
One of the biggest ideas we had when we were making Ekaweeka pre-launch was the pages. Ekaweeka was supposed to be a website creation tool and custom pages came hand in hand with that. Right off the bat we noticed people weren't using it, there was too much freedom or something. But some had suggested that they wanted to be able to make a "press page" that looked just like the rest of their pages, which made sense, instead of making them figure it out, we could have every custom page start out looking like the other pages but with a space where they could fill in the content and make a page relevant to their business; such as a "press page". But time has passed and aside from a few people we're still not seeing very much use of the page system. My next hunch is that we need to make pre-made pages that can be added optionally - like "add a press page". If that sounds interesting to anyone - let us know we'd love your feedback.
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April 08, 2007 11:54am

Waiting For Brunch	Views: 452
I'm waiting for Julie, Joey, and Annie. We're going to have brunch at 'The Dive' on Highland @ Melrose. Formally called Highland Grounds. They are late, but it was good cause I got a chance to put up some new featured photos and all the business. It's overcast, has been for almost a week now. In LA this usually happens in June and so it got the name "June Gloom" but for some reason it's happening in April ... a tad bit early. Nothing is dying out, my plants are all still wet from being watered days ago, not really the "L.A." that comes to mind when people think of this year round sunny 70+ degree beach-side city. But I also have a feeling I'm getting more work done as a result.
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April 02, 2007 9:43am

Finally Moved In	Views: 524
We brought over the last load of stuff yesterday, I met with the newest sublet candidate; got his cash and gave him the key + garage door opener. Afterwards I had to run a couple errands and then got home to Tiffany's Birthday party. The party went well at least it seemed so - we'll have to wait and see if there were any complaints. Considering that everyone was inside after 8:30 I think the noise was contained for the most part. Now I have to jump in with everything right where it was left off. Ekaweeka, closing out our apartment without loosing the security deposit, my side work with LA Street Dreams and Soul Salon... my help with Reputation and Super Kid Photography. The list goes on and on.
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March 22, 2007 2:52pm

New Home In Los Feliz	Views: 499
Last week Bri and I went out to drinks for an ABC social event at Power House which is probably the most bar like bar in the Hollywood Blvd. tourist area (the chinese theatre, star walk etc.). We went around 8:30 and left Commie in the apartment. When we got back around 11:30pm there were two very angry anonymous computer typed notices about Commie barking. We've already had tons of problems with noise issues at the apartment. Basically we are never unaware of how much noise we're making because our floors are hardwood and the guy below us can hear everything! The letters spoke of calling the police, fines, and while they were anonymous they were addressed to Apt #33. This was too much, and though we had casually thought of finding a new home in the past we were quite content with our own dwelling. Bri started pulling possibilities off Craigslist that night. Saturday morning our friends Jeff and Tiffany called me to see if I wanted to look at a duplex that was for sale in Los Feliz. We went and it turned out to be for rent or for sale which ever came first. So I put down an application on one of the units to rent. It was on a noisy street (fountain ave) and wasn't adjoined with any other properties so I was excited about the thought of living in a situation where commie barking wouldn't be a problem. After we left Tiffany mentioned a 3 bed 3 bath house in the hills with a great view, it was listed at a rate we could all afford together so we decided to go look at for shits and giggles. Little did we know the place looked amazing! We made an appointment to see it with the realtor the next day. Sunday came Bri, Jeff, Tiffany, and I all got into my car and drove over to the hilltop house. We called the realtor to confirm our appointment and he said it would be better if we came back a an hour later... we didn't like this cause it meant he was probably showing it to other people before us! So we drove over there and decided to casually "pop in". The realtor was there showing the unit to an older couple. He was obviously not into us and told us he already had an approved applicant who just needed to drop off the deposit on Monday. He also said they weren't interested in renting to two couples. He asked us if we were going to make it a "party house" and suggested that we would put too much wear and tear on the house. In privacy Jeff asked him if he would rent to us at all, and he told Jeff he wouldn't. The experience really messed us up. We loved the place and couldn't believe that we wouldn't get it because the realtor got the wrong first impression. We furiously started looking for other houses. On Monday I called the realtor and asked him if he got the deposit from his applicant and he said they had backed out. There was still a chance!!! He confirmed that the property owner wouldn't rent to us but this wasn't enough. Even though we had all given up unknowingly Tiffany and I both emailed the realtor to see if there was anyway at all that they would change their minds. Tiffany's email must have been convincing because the next day the property manager emailed back and said the owner changed his mind and would rent it to us. It had already been an emotional roller-coaster and now we were sensitive to the thought of constantly having the property manager watching our behavior under a microscope but we knew we wanted the place. We put down the applications, got the acceptance call, I got a certified check for the deposit, and I drove it over to the realtor's home office. It is done. Here is photo of the view, it looks out over Los Feliz (Hillhurst, Vermont, Western @ Franklin), and hollywood, and you can actually see Beverly Hills beyond Hollywood. The second photo is from the livingroom looking out. The view is really what sold us, each room has it and each room has a patio. All we could think about when we saw it was how we would be able to garden so much more with all the sunlight. I know it looks like we're big high rollers, but this was completely about the fact that we were willing to share it with friends thus being able to split the cost down the middle. So that's the story of our new home, hope you like it as much as we do.
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March 16, 2007 4:34pm

Multi-Tasking	Views: 531
I've been working my butt off!!!!!! With the global warming stuff, upcoming birthdays, ekaweeka site development and the ongoing hope to find some more side jobs to pay the bills I am poooped! To top it all off Bria and I went out last night for drinks at Power House a bunch of our friends from ABC were meeting there for their monthly trashy bar get together. We left commie at home around 8pm and got home around 11:30pm with computer printed angry notes about commie barking. The notes were simply addressed "Apt 33!!!". I've never been a fan of such letters and to be addressed as apt 33. No dear neighbors down the hall. The notice wasn't apologetic, or sympathetic, not did it suggest the fact that this hasn't been a problem in the last 18 months that we've lived here. It was the straw the broke the camels back. So this morning I went and looked at a house (YES I SAID HOUSE). The lady there was nice and obviously liked me more then other candidates she had met. I say that cause she said so.. and why would I think she was just blowing smoke up my ass? She has no reason to do so. She had a terrible case of tendenitius and I told her about my own experiences with carpol tunnel and how to fix it asap. Anyways, the house is great, we have gardening space, it has tons of light. It's in a funny neighborhood... not the Hollywood Hills we're accustomed to, but I think after last night we can live without that. And besides we really want to gardening and lighting. Oy! How was that for a vent?
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January 26, 2007 1:14pm

My Memoirs	Views: 525
Many of you don't know that I work in a Talent Management Company for about 4-5 hours day Monday thru Friday. I don't actually work for the company, I used to before I quit. I quit to start Ekaweeka but I wanted my desk and to pretend that I was still a cool talent manager working in an office with a view of the hollywood sign. Well I still do have that view and I still do feel cool even though I spend alot of my day coding! Anyways, the owner of the company is quite a character. He used to be part owner of The Gersh Agency and has similar connections to Innovative. Now he runs his boutique artist management company and has less to tout but none the less is quite interesting and has many "somewhat old hollywood esk" stories which I love to hear, he still barks on the phone at producers, casting directors, and agents. He has quite a temper and in every other way fits the agent profile. So today I was sitting at my desk reading dear Simon's new blog Very Hot Jews and Brett (president of Ashy Agency) yells accross the building to David "do you know (fill in the famous producer in new york ladies name here)?" and "yes" David replies. "How do you know her!?" Brett responded. "Because I used to be a big shot in New York" David shot back, "would you like her home phone number?". That was it. And maybe you had to be there to get it, but this was the funniest shit I have heard all week. I had to laugh out loud and told David that when I write my memoirs I will mention him and some of the things I've heard come out of his mouth.
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