Used Parts | The Original Development Equipment

There’s one guy in every office — particularly in those offices that specialize in all things digital. You know the guy, he’s the one hiding in his room full of screens and servers, secretly figuring out ways to program the world so that it takes itself over for him. You might also know him by his distinctive ability to fix any electronics snafu simply by standing within a few feet of the affected gadget.

He’s the developer du jour. The engineer extraordinaire. You’re not even sure if you want to know the full extent of his powers, but you do know that you can trust him to find a way to fix pretty much anything, rig whatever needs rigging and still have the mental capacity left over to make your logo dance when the user mouses over its special spot.

Anyway, our office certainly has one of those guys. And he knows who he is. And he knows how he likes to work. When the guy was bedridden with a broken leg, he sent us a picture of his makeshift home office. A quarter of an inch of his face, and an entire room full of glowing monitors. So, if there’s anyone who knows how to get you set up to start scrolling in style, it’s this guy.

And, fortunately for the world, he’s sharing his secrets on How To Build A Kickass Workstation for Under $5200.

Well, he’s sharing one secret at least. I’m still not sure how he does that whole fixing-things-by-standing-next-to-them trick. Then again, I’m not sure I want to know anyway. After all, with great power comes great responsibility — not to mention a great many requests for IT help.

You can see the full post in its original home at: http://speedladating.blogspot.com/2009/09/beat-beaten-path.html

Okay, so LA isn’t exactly always Melrose Place or 90210. But, some stereotypes about the city of angels do have their roots in truth — preferably well dyed roots. For example, odds are good that pretty much every waiter you’ll ever have in LA is also an actor/model/writer/insert dream Hollywood job here. The paparazzi really are everywhere. And, there’s nary a restaurant in sight that doesn’t have a low carb option on the menu.

The stereotypes come out in even more full force when going out in Hollywood. Every bar is packed to the brim with blondes, bunnies and businessmen, and everyone’s running as much professional game as personal. Of course, there are places you can go to get away from the whole stereotypical scene. But, once The Dime became a haunt on The Hills, I personally started losing my faith in the future of those out of the way watering holes. Which is why as much as I love the bars, there’s also something to be said for some of LA’s more unexpected singles scenes — especially if you’re looking to close a date with a real guy, not a deal with a reality producer.

If you’re into the witty writer types, Book Soup is the place to pick them up. With writers from Al Gore to Sarah Vowell gracing their tiny store stage for readings, the shop attracts an eclectic event crowd. Browse the stacks and the shelves, work your way through the classics and the contemporary and maybe find your way to flirting over some fiction. Nothing makes a better pickup line than “hey, have you read this?” Plus, you can always test your potential pick up by asking him what he thinks of “Twilight.”

Another bookstore with big boy finding potential is the newly opened branch of Santa Monica staple Hennessey & Ingalls. This sleek shop specializes in books about fashion, photography, art, architecture and design, and they just opened up a branch in the brand new Space 15 Twenty complex in Hollywood. The books are incredibly beautiful, inspiring and compelling, and the hunky hipsters and debonair designers that frequent the place aren’t bad either. Strike up a conversation over that book about Schnabel or that coffee table Taschen tome, and then casually make your way over to Snackbar for a beer.

If grappa and grape talk are more your thing, head over to Silverlake Wines, where weekly tastings provide the perfect pairing for picking up foodies and fine diners alike. Tastings range from $12 to $20 a person, and come with a flight of wines accompanied by farmhouse cheeses, fresh breads and olives, as well as plenty of valuable vino knowledge, providing you with plenty of things to talk about and enough liquor to lubricate that whole awkward first conversation. So, bust out your sexy librarian look, brush up on your blancs and your burgundies and check out one of LA’s lesser-known single scenes. Or, if you really want to get adventurous, you could try to cram all three pickup possibilities into one crazy book and booze filled singledom spree. Just make sure you pick up a moleskin at Book Soup so you can keep track of all your conquests.

See This Post on Girlsintech.net

We all know someone who shares too much–that girl who tells the whole office about her bad breakup or the guy who insists on going into gory detail about his latest extreme exploits. But most of us know when to draw the line when it comes to lunchtime discussions at the office, chats around the water cooler or meetings with management. It’s a lesson most people learned way back in the days of bologna and bag lunches: different people merit different kinds of discussions. You wouldn’€™t tell the playground bully the same deep dark secrets you’d spill to your best friend, and you definitely wouldn’t let the teacher in on the stuff you were passing notes about during class. From our first experiences with socialization, we’€™ve been conditioned to understand the unspoken societal rules that dictate what’€™s appropriate to share, when it’€™s appropriate to share it and who it’€™s appropriate to share it with.

But, social media is a whole different ballgame, especially now. At first, it was easy to know when to share what on the web. Your facebook friends often mirrored your real world friends, and it was easy to insure that the things you shared with those friends didn’€™t also get broadcast to your boss, your parents and your future potential employers. Now, with cracks beginning to show in the walls around Facebook’€™s garden, and the burgeoning open web movement connecting your tweets with your status updates, your blips with your blog, it’s become a lot harder to ensure that what you say on the web stays between friends.

So, how do you protect your professional brand while still staying true to your personal identity? How do you maintain a presence on the social web that complements your career goals instead of impeding them? How do you balance a personal web brand with a professional one? These are just a few of the questions we’re just beginning to grapple with as girls in tech–and as the tech industry as a whole. Lately, it seems like every blogger and big name pundit is issuing their own treatise on the topic, and a google search for ‘tech etiquette’ returns over 6 million results, with articles from big names like CNN and Forbes just to name a few.

Clearly, this is one discussion where everyone has an opinion. So, how do you synthesize all of those opinions into a strategy–not just for your company but for yourself? How do you balance the demands of constant connectivity and personal and professional courtesy? And how do you figure out what the right answer is for you? Those are tricky questions, but they are quickly proving to be key components in determining the best social media strategy for yourself and for your brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to grapple with these issues alone. Since this is a topic on everyone’s minds at the moment, Girls in Tech LA is hosting a discussion about all of these issues and more on September 28th. The event, called “Tech Etiquette-How Much Can you Say Online and Not Tarnish Your Brand” will feature a discussion by the following guest speakers:

*Marsha Collier: Author, Ebay for Dummies
*Lynn Langit: West Coast Evangelist, Microsoft
*Brette Borow: Founder, GirlsGuideTo.com

Event Details

When: September 28th 7 – 9:30PM

Where: Fox Audience Network

2500 Broadway, 2nd Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Learn More and RSVP

Hope to see everyone there!