In an effort to streamline my currently diversified blogging/flickring efforts, I am no longer going to post blog entries here. It's been swell, but daunting to maintain this along with flickr and my personal website. I've channeled all of my digital communication efforts into my new travel blog with Bryan, which should appear to you like the image above. (We've gotten some isolated reports of bizarre formatting glitches, which comes as no surprise to me since I've severely altered the blogger template from its original form.)

I also created a RSS feed for the travel blog that will be pulled into this 360 page, so hopefully all my blogging bases are covered.

Happy happy New Year everyone! 

Please stay in touch.

Allyson

We were laughing at how nerdy we are, all taking photos in URLs. I like this one of Erik outside Building C.

I can't believe that two years of work fits into one tiny Budweiser box. Well, to be truthful, one tiny Budweiser box plus a backpack plus a bunch of CDs. I guess I'm 93% digital.

Then, it got totally sunny. On the way home I did something I've been meaning to do for a while: stopped at the "vista points" on 280 to take photos. I also took a few while driving, which I will please ask you kids not to try at home, unless you're a trained professional. The photos from points vista are okay. The heavy clouds mixed with sun made for some dramatic moods. I only stayed for a few minutes as there were weird creepy people up there and who would know if one decided to chop me up into a million little pieces?

I'll miss you, Yahoo!. It was a great last day.

1. Bottles and bottles of nail polish, and tubes and tubes of lipstick.
2. An old TV we've only kept because it reminds me of college.
3. Microsoft Ship-It awards.
4. A beleagured (but favorite) coffee pot.
5. A computer that no longer feels well.

And some things we'll never part with:

1. The aforementioned F***ers.
2. Beloved "frog clock," the first thing Bryan and I ever bought together.
3. Ken O'Brien, in plastic action figure form, a gift from my brother in 1987.
4. Shoes, belts, and prom dresses, boiled down to one medium-sized box.
5. Important Halloween paraphenalia.

Things here are moving along nicely. We've got the rest of the week to finalize everything and be out of the house on New Year's Eve. We''ll stay with Sue and Mike for two days (yes, Savannah too!) before hitting the road. Then we'll drive cross-country, spend January on the east coast, and fly out to Fiji (via LAX) on February 4. It's all very exciting.

More photos to follow... Including the best karaoke ever: in Toronto!

But what I truly never imagined at that point was that, just one week later, I'd be on a plane, flying to New York City, set to blog about Howard's last week in an official capacity for Yahoo!. I assumed the identity of "Fan Girl," charged with doing whatever necessary to come up with creative, compelling content for fellow Stern fans (without any official access to the man himself.) It was truly the most exciting week of my life -- and the hardest I've ever worked on a project. I also helped with the Y! 360 profiles, the Y! Group, wrote polls, took photos, added local favorites, and assisted with a slew of other ad-hoc stuff once I got to New York. I didn't sleep very much. I loved working with the whole team and feel we pulled off a pretty great product in a very short time.

It's hard to really sum up the experience. Not only did I achieve my end-goal (a photo of me and Howard) on Friday, but I also got, for a short time, to be a part of this cultural institution that I love so much. I met crazy fans who flew out on the red-eye to be there; I weaseled my way along on a video shoot with Artie and Robin; Gary Dell'Abate now knows me by name. Weird stuff happened like my brother running into Sal the Stockbroker on the streets of New York, completely randomly, the night before the event -- and like people recognizing me as "Fan Girl" outside the K-ROCK studio.

It was pretty much amazing. I feel so incredibly grateful.

And now, we reconvene the packing-our-lives-into-a-11x17-storage-space portion of the program.

Yay!

Miraculously, we've had the pure, serendipitous luck to happen upon what I think might just qualify. It's been exhilariting. Last November, the team met in London, where we did wonderful things like go to the London Eye, take midnight walking tours of the city, and dine in style. We also chose, as our one night of London theater, to attend "Jerry Spinger the Opera." Now mind you, this performance had a lot of buzz and of course appealed to us pop-culture-loving broadband editor types. However, I am thrilled to report that it was likely the single most terrible theater experience I've ever had. Some of us watched agog, some of us complained, and almost all of us slept at some point. The music was horrible, the jokes untenable, and the production unbearably long.  But don't despair! We got so much mileage out of it, honestly -- we're still singing operatic expletives whenever afforded the opportunity.

Flash-forward precisely one year. This month, we hosted the broadband editors here in San Francisco, where we've all really run dry in terms of creative sightseeing opportunities. Thus, when presented with the idea of a San Francisco Ghost Hunt, we were overjoyed! Something different, interesting, and possibly truly abomidable! Of course, we had no idea that the tour would be so long and so boring -- but by the grace of god, it surely was. The guide did fabulous things like forget where he was in his (not at all scary) story and then tell it twice, or thrice; make weird "spooky" finger motions while saying the word "paaaaaaarty," and attempt to craft bad jokes with business cards. Jim and I could barely stop giggling.

It's tough to say which wins for best worst tourist attraction -- Jerry, or the Ghost Hunter. While Jerry did have a character dressed as gay Jesus in a diaper, the Ghost Hunt made us stand on our feet for 3 hours.  Tough call. What I do know for sure is that we'll continue to cherish these team memories for years to come.

I'm also sad to miss next year's extravaganza, to be held perhaps in Toronto or New York. I may have to cut my world tour short to attend, dependent on the activity of choice. Hurrah!

And I'm leaving my work pals, which is kind of heart-wrenching. I mean, you guys are my people! I have coworkers who listen to four hours of Howard Stern five times a week; know all the lyrics to Kevin Federline's new rap song; embrace karaoke; blog obsessively; have become completely addicted to flickr; and make me laugh over IM every single goddamn day. Counting weekends. I will miss everyone oh-so-very-much.

(If I haven't had a chance to tell you personally: I'm leaving the company at the end of the year, to take time off of work and regular life in general, to travel with my husband for the next 9-12 months. We'll be starting in Fiji and plan to volunteer in various places along the way. Our current itinerary looks something like this: Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Bali, SE Asia, Africa. We'll decide after Africa if we want to spend some time in Europe, or if we're ready to come home.)

Everyone tells me that I'll be a different person after this experience. Well, I kind of like me, so I hope that's not completely true -- but I do hope to come back a little wiser and with a broader perspective. I don't necessarily need to subscribe to US Weekly and In Touch Weekly, is what I'm saying. I think.

Anyway, let me know if you have any a) things I must do in San Francisco before I leave, and/or b) things I must do in any of the aforementioned locales. And: Know I'll miss you all terribly. Especially on Halloween, and when Britney and Kevin file for divorce.

I kind of love it more for being so crappy.

Before you ask: It was a mix of serendipitous timing, reliable sources, and camera-ready and shame-risking coworkers that allowed this all to happen.

And: He was completely gracious, patient, and not particularly tall. I like how he's keeling over to the side a bit. Also I have no idea what I said, so please don't ask that.

Laura, watch for the FedEx man tomorrow for your special Bono surprise!