Carly White for California

Hometown Glory

I am willing to guess that most people do not end up living in the house NEXT to the house they grew up in. How that all happened is another story for another day. A quick search on Facebook confirms that of the 528 people “I am friends with” (70 I grew up with) not a single ONE currently resides in this hometown of ours. I suppose nationwide numbers might present some small percentage, but I imagine the amish skew those numbers with their many children who never stray from the buggy. Oh, and communities in Oregon.

This is not to say that I am upset or feeling downtrodden for moving back to my hometown. My life is far from a low-budget Lifetime movie where the lead female character leaves the fancy city life due to a lame relationship plot twist and ops for a ‘simpler life’ rooted back in her roots. But it is strange to be back in a place where so many things occurred that I paid so much money to sit on a couch and ‘unpack’ in sessions of 50 minutes. I almost want to call up my therapist and yell “REMEMBER WHEN YOU TOLD ME TO GO BACK TO THAT PLACE?! I’M F’ING LIVING IN THAT PLACE”. click. ( I kid, I kid, a little therapy humor…)

The dilemma I currently face is determining how to embrace a new environment that seems somewhat familiar. When experiencing the rituals of settling you explore and become familiar by getting totally lost and driving in circles. That hasn’t happened for me. I’ve so far located the most promising late-night martini bar (Nick’s) and the coffee joint within beach cruiser-cruising distance. The barista’s are starting to remember my drink and the woman at the dry cleaners is on to me, the new arrival in a sleepy beach town that for some unknown reason has a black lace dress.

But the good news is that I am a little more rested, living in flip-flops, wearing a little less make up, reading a little more, spending time with my family and there isn’t the local tranny-hooker on my door step. I suppose that’s how I know I am home. 

Bird Watching

I’ve been observing my Grandpa for the last 15 days. He is 92 and has stage 6 Alzheimers. He whistles tunes that don’t make sense, uses the wrong words, and can’t recall tasks he’s done each day for the last 36 years. Despite the Lieutenant Colonel’s inability to give or follow orders, he’s happy in his world of one.

Each day we eat lunch and after we’ve taken our seats with our sandwiches, the same topic comes up a few bites in. “Oh my! The bird is back!” Grandpa points towards the window with delight. “From here I can see it, flapping it’s wings, struggling to stay on the branch”. He is enamored with the daily return of the bird. There isn’t anything each day that he gets more excited about.

Today I discovered there is no bird. It’s the leaves and the branch and the way it all turns when a breeze catches it. But, you can’t kill a bird that was never alive – so I play along. Of the three of us I don’t know who is more cookoo.

Why the Great ILS Debate?

Exhibit A: A graph from www.Quantcast.com showing a comparison of “the top” multifamily Internet Listing Sites.

Fact: A steady decline in traffic for the ILS’s since August 09. About a 50% reduction.

CW’s Opinion: It’s not just print that has been dying over the last few months.

Exhibit B: Another graph that compares three ILS’s monthly traffic with Craigslist.

Fact: Craigslist is KILLING IT. The traffic nearly doubles each year.

CW’s Opinion: The ILS’s loss in traffic is because people are hanging with Craig.

SF Found! @TonyHawk #THTH

Last week Tony Hawk (Twitter bio: professional skateboarder, dad, videogame character, husband, ceo, kid chauffeur) hosted a week long scavenger hunt on Twitter. The official #THTH (Tony Hawk Twitter Hunt) packages were hidden across the country and even in the UK. If you are one of his 1.7 million followers - you couldn’t have missed the frenzy. I actually wasn’t a follower until I saw my boyfriend @sacca tweet the following:

So I started following @TonyHawk. As a marketer and lover of the world wide webs, I was curious to understand the rules and clues that he was using to manage this Twitter first. I was also amused by how easily he authentically engaged and harnessed the positive energy. For example, everyone cheered and re-tweeted when a scavenger spoofed a find in NYC:

I hadn’t considered being a #THTH scavenger until I saw this tweet:

I immediately knew the location - I go there almost everyday. Fort Point is at the southern base of the Golden Gate Bridge and primarily frequented by runners, strollers, tourists and dogs. There was even one occasion when someone I know rode their Capri Blue Vespa past the ‘Area Closed’ sign to check the surf late at night. They were greeted by Troopers and advised not to pass that sign in the future…

Five minutes later after seeing the tweet I was out the door. On my way there, I went over the rules to scavenger hunting:

1. The clues are never literal. Flip, interpret, expand, question.
2. It helps to know what you are actually looking for. An elephant? An envelope? A person dressed like a clown?
3. Cover ground methodically, rather than like a wild animal.

I disregarded all of these tenants and covered 2.51 miles within a space of 300 feet. My Nike+ ipod sport kit confirmed this:

I got lucky with the Friday 9am clue drop. No one else was hunting. They were either in class, suited up downtown, across town, or in traffic. (@dpchmd1 traveled from Oakland and was the only other scavenger that showed up). I had no excuses for not finding the item. I broke apart the clues, wiped the fog from my eyes and pulled myself together. I first had a #THTH meltdown:

And then moments later behind a rock I found:

And then snapped this:

And then I had to figure out how to do this:

I’m keeping the board despite the pleas from my young nephew. As a marketer and a millennial, I can’t think of a better reminder (read: trophy) to symbolize infusing the value of play to create a diverse community to support a cause. I might even try to take it off some sweet jumps. Tony revealed the cause appropriately Friday afternoon and made contributing easy. Simply text RIDE to 90999 to donate to the building of a skate park in Watts. If you don’t do it for the Watts kids or for Tony, do it for me. I don’t mean to sound emo here, but for those of you who know me, the last few months have been ‘character building’. My personal ‘hunt’ has been challenging and my intuition has been kicked daily. But if I can unexpectedly find Tony Hawk’s skateboard, I might be able to find a few things that I know are out there for me.