Mona's Apple: March 2010

Day 83 of the T-90 Project:

I signed up for a Mediabistro class a few weeks ago and though my excitement for the class faded, I knew it was something I couldn't miss. I ran my 10-miler in the park, showered quickly and hopped on the F train down to 2nd Avenue. Sree Sreenivasan, a professor at Columbia Journalism School, was teaching the class, and though he'd recently visited us at ABC, I knew I'd get a lot more out of the three-hour course than the hour-long lunch break we had at the office.

In addition to hearing a few things from the first go around:

"Be an early tester and a late adopter."

"Don't put 'social media thought leader' in your Twitter bio. Trust me, I've seen it."

"Listen first, market second."

"Begging for fans is not attractive."

"Twitter is e-mail without the guilt."

Sree brought a guest speaker who seemed really on top of her game. Soraya Darabi used to be the social media "guru" at The New York Times. I say "guru" because social media is so young and she looked about as old as your roommate did her second year in college. Hard to be a guru then, right? When I think of guru I imagine someone more along the lines of Nicodemus from "The Secret of Nimh."

What grabbed me tonight was that the pair highly recommended Facebook fan pages for anyone trying to market themselves or a brand. Clearly I'd love it if Mona's Apple had as many fans as Ashton Kutcher does Twitter followers (these days @aplusk's up to about five million), so maybe I need to take the freezing, scary plunge. It's something I've been skeptical of for some time. I don't want to beg people to "fan" Mona's Apple. Sreenivasan actually admitted to "hating" the word fan page, but it's something I think I may end up exploring.

What are your thoughts? Good night from day 7 of the T-90 Project. A demain!

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I was walking home from work last night in the rain, I bypassed the new Bomboloni, Magnolia, Riposo 72 and a couple of my other neighborhood haunts before thinking, if not now, when?

I signed the papers on Thursday. I accepted the terms of the ABC buyout package* (click here if you don't follow the news) and I am now officially a short-timer in New York City. My last day of work is June 18. I feel like a second-semester senior. I'm still a devoted member of the ABC family -- I always will be -- but with a certain quitting date in my not-so-distant future, I feel slightly more relaxed behind my monitors.

Once I was a few blocks past Bomboloni, I thought to myself, why didn't I just go in and grab a snack? It's new, I could have written about it and Tweeted about it (something I did anyway but with just the nifty storefront photo). And an idea hit me. I have a little less than 90 days left in Manhattan and now's not the time to say no to a new experience. Ninety days left on a coast that's been my home for nearly 20 years. Ninety days left eating and drinking the remainder of my way through the Big (Mona's) Apple with friends. Ninety days left being a short hour-long train ride away from mom and dad. Ninety days left in what's been home to me for five years. Ninety days left until I start a new chapter of my life in Los Angeles. Ninety days left until I have to come up with a new name for this here blog. Ninety days left and I'm going out with a bang, or the T-90 Project.

I haven't written here in a very, very, very long time, and I apologize to my followers and friends, and particularly Malibu, who kindly posted to my Facebook yesterday, "New blog entry please!!!!!"

The T-90 Project is my countdown till Los Angeles. Mom and I will be driving cross country on or around June 22 and until then, I'm going to tackle a new-to-me New York City adventure every day, whether it's trying a new restaurant or walking on a new street. It'll be my own sort of bucket list, or as Winette called it, the "U-Haul list." The real challenge will be documenting it every day here, which I will try. Spirit told me on Friday night, it's not how good you write, it's how consistent you are. And I need more writing consistency in my life. So here goes nothing. Spread the word. I hope to be able to do this without going broke. If you have any ideas for me, tell me in the comments section.

Backtracking a few days of the T-90 Project:

Day 90: Though not a first, I enjoyed drinks in the Tap Room at NYAC with FunnyGirl and Fashionista before going up to the club expo party on the ninth floor. It's probably one of my last few big nights at NYAC. We waltzed around the different tables, joked with the badminton boys and signed up for the scuba diving club. I'm hoping to sneak in lessons and a certification before I move west. MaineMan's a big scuba diver and I'd like to be able to join him on some dives (though I'll be skipping the lobstering dives he goes on at night, in the pitch dark). Nothing scares me more than a big dark ocean, particularly one that's not crystal clear like the one in the Caribbean.

Day 89: Sat in on a social media talk with Sree Sreenivasan (@sreenet). The guy opened my eyes to so many ideas I'm overwhelmed on how to incorporate them into my work @ABC. Ever heard of Muckrack or Twunfollow? I didn't think so.

Day 88: Grabbed dinner at Keste with a few girlfriends. It was the best pizza I've ever had in New York City. Not to mention the men running the place are adorable, tall Italians with beautiful, sexy accents. Our server Alessandro had us drooling over the burrata cheese and his "pregos." After dinner we went to Highlands, one of my new favorite bars. I tried a ginger cocktail, CalGal and Spirit joined us and we ventured over to Bleecker Heights Tavern (the bar above Five Guys) before ending the night at Back Fence, of sing-along honky-tonk fame. It was a true night of firsts for me. If you want a Friday night itinerary, cut and paste and invite your friends.

Day 87: I am training for the Big Sur Marathon. I am now within three weeks of one of the most grueling events I've ever participated in. I ran it in 2004 and six years later it'll be a miracle if I can do it again. Part of training includes some pretty long runs and Saturday I went on a great 20-mile jaunt around Manhattan's Greenway. I turned it into a sort of running tour and I snapped photos, like the one below, of my trip. It was a good way to not take the run too seriously and to actually enjoy the scenery rather than race painfully through it.

Day 86: Had a baby shower at a friend's apartment. After the oohs and aahs and cutesy baby talk, a few of us hit up Dublin 6 for some snacks and basketball. I was pleasantly surprised at the bar food, which included some of the best French fries I've ever eaten in New York. We're talking Pomme Frites quality on a smaller, bite-size scale.

Day 85: The idea for this project was born on the soggy, cold, 40-block walk home under my good friends umbrella and Barbour.

Day 84: Thanks to Facebook, I knew it was Lion's birthday. When I asked him what his plans were he mentioned he didn't really have any. Typical dude. A few minutes later he responded and let me know that TheTustler had mentioned Barrow Street at seven. I am not a big school night partier, but when I thought about my new mantra of firsts and lasts, I made a point to make it there. Fashionista joined me and being the good girls that we were, we headed home at around 9:45. I felt great this morning and am ready for the rest of my week.

Today's Day 83, and so far I've been at work most of the day, but I'm about to go for a walk for lunch. We'll see what new things I discover.

*Before you go grabbing your tissues and say "I'm so sorry, Mona!" this could not have happened at a better time. I've been thinking about moving on professionally and geographically for the past year or so and with a lease ending in July, the timing could not have been more perfect, uncanny even.