Gavin Hall dot org

A few years ago while I was in a CodeJam in NY I realized I never had an oyster before. Sitting at a Legal Seafood with people who raved about oysters seemed as good of time as any to go ahead and give them a try.

Curious on how to eat them I asked Brian what the right way to do it was. He instructed me to just dump it into my mouth and just as it passes my lips he goes into a whole speech about how there is really no other way to describe it then chewing on someone else's snot. Texture, smell even the taste really. I just kept chewing and tried to swallow while he just kept going on and on.

It was the first and last time I ever had an oyster.

So it was with great pleasure I was able to send the 2girls1cup video out to the Blogsmith team as a Thanksgiving treat to be thankful for the Internet. I emailed Brian because I know something like this was just up his alley.

His response?

I just had the biggest all you can eat breakfast at The Kitchen. With a very full stomach I finally clicked your link from my laptop.

We are now even for that whole oyster thing!

Brian Alvey

And just like that, I am thankful for the Internet all over again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever since Brian posted the link about the press button, get bacon I am unable to go to a public bathroom without laughing. I won't lie to you it's a tad awkward sometimes. Damn you Brian!

When CodeJam LA came in March of last year they flew us out to Santa Monica and we stayed in a hotel called the Viceroy. I think I have talked about that before so I won't go into detail on it.

However a few weeks ago I was at AOL as they were going through the expense report for Brian and someone noted that he can't get reimbursed for personal items that he bought.

Then it hit me...oh crap that was me and Alex.

You see when we got into the hotel it was very strange. Mirrors on all the walls (except none in the bathroom) and when we went up to the hotel room there was free stuff in the bathroom! Alex dug into the bath salt by pouring it in the sink while I lathered myself up with some of their fancy pants shaving cream. We threw on two robes and walked over to where everyone was meeting when someone said..."you guys know that costs money right?".

...We do now...

So Thanks Brian! Sorry about that ;)

So I read an article about how your last name might effect how successful you will be in your career.

Alvey. Good
Bankoff. Good.
Calcanis. Good

So far so true. Let's see how I do.

Hall. Good.

What about my business partner?

Rudloff. Aww crap.

June 1st will be a day I knew was coming but have dreaded for quite a while. Brian has decided to leave AOL/Blogsmith to go full time with his new startup called ComicMix.

To give a little history here is how I started working with Brian. (History O' Blogmsith from Brian)

When I graduated from UCF my plan was to do nothing for three months. I figured most other people took the time to "find themselves" so I could totally pull off a summer of learning how to play video games (since the last one I played was on the original Nintendo). My plan failed when after preparing my resume and talking to Alex about the trouble he was also seeing in the space we decided to launch Emurse.com.

Dear Suckers,

Attached to this letter is a picture of the view from the balcony of our hotel room. This trip has been called CodeJam Puma after the large cat like creature with the same name.

Of course it got that name from the Orlando International Airport deciding to make it easy for folks to remember where they parked by associating an animal with the floor level. We were on Level 3, aka Puma Country.

In case anyone from OIA/MCO ever trips across this blog...you're freaking retarded. A puma? Really? Why not just pick random types of snails or Chinese symbols?

Any way this trip went much better then the last one where I lost my sunglasses and all the phone numbers in my cell phone. We also got a ton of stuff done (except sleep of course) and met some very interesting people.

There are a few things that are awesome about staying at the Grand Floridian.

First is that you can wear robes all day long and people accept you. And from when we woke up to our late 4am snack runs to the 24 hour food court Mike and I were donning our robes.

Second is that everyone is so friendly. Everyone sells hello and asks what you are from.

This must have rubbed off on me because I started to chat with only other person who was around our age group when coming down in the elevator for my 4pm cookie snack break. This girl seemed nice enough and she said she was at Disney for business. I too being at Disney for business asked her what type of business she was in.

A parade, she said.

Huh.

I won't lie I was pretty focused on that cookie that was only a few steps away and said it was nice to meet you Lisa and continued on my way.

As I get back to the hotel room with chocolate all over my face and hands I explain the story of how I actually saw someone that was our age and that she was here for a parade. That's where this story would have stopped without a super smart house keeper and the Internet.

Yea...let me explain...

On codejams we really don't leave the room. A quick snack for lunch and then a quick dinner. Other 18 hours a day? Work.

It's like worse version of prison.

Either way we always get to know our house keepers as they have to do their thing while we are in the room. Normally we sit there and chat them up because if you were stuck in a room with geeks all day you would talk to everyone as well ;)

So on our way out we say goodbye to good old Fran and told her the room is all hers. She said that she was assigned to VIP guests and didn't have our room anymore.

VIP I say? More VIP then us? How can this be?

She said they were DoodleBops and here for a parade.

Hmm, a parade you say? A Doodle What?

So with that information in hand I pulled an Alex and was off to Google to see what the hell is a DoodleBop.

Turns out it's some sort of kid show.

I head over to the Who are the DoodleBops and sure enough there is DeeDee the DoodleBop named Lisa Lennox. Although in the elevator she looked less pink. Must have been the lighting.

So what would have just been some random story about meeting a girl in an elevator that was in a parade has turned into a quasi stalkerish type affair.

Is there anything the Internet can't do?!

Well I am off. I hope your week went as well as mine did. Be sure to keep in touch!

Love,

Gavin