marianne masculino » Personal

April 3, 2008 is “Good People Day”

Marianne — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:40:34 +0000

Just a few days ago Gary Vaynerchuk reached out and sent the community a mission. A mission of GOOD! This day is sort of a “pay it forward” idea, where we all embrace the goodness that surrounds us and the people perpetrating that awesomeness. Following the twitters that were being sent out throughout the day gave me(as well as others, I’m sure) that warm & fuzzy feeling. It was nice to hear all the great things the community was saying about each other and the love being felt through the intertubes. I didn’t twitter anything or anyone in particular, except to graciously give virtual hugs and love to my friends who mentioned me as part of their #GPD08 tweets.

I wanted to take the time to gather my thoughts to talk about the truly good people who have impacted my life and basically helped me(whether they know it or not) get to where I am today.

My family – duh. They’ve taught me love, understanding, and discipline in all aspects of life. They done real good with their little girl

The Mighty Centaurs crew – My group of friends who I have known the longest. We have each other’s backs and lean on one another for everything and anything. Words cannot describe how much I love them. We are the greatest middle school gym class evar!

Ayo Babalola aka AirNigeria – Ayo’s geeked out with me, cried with me and been basically stupid with me for some years now. I pretty much talk to him everyday and wouldn’t know what it would be like if I didn’t. He just gets me.

My girls – One half of the Mighty Centaurs crew. These are the women you want on your side and they will be forever. I love you, biznatches!!

Kelsey Ruger aka TheMoleskin – Kelsey is one of the greatest mentors and friends you could ever meet. He was a huge part of why I am here in San Francisco. He’s the kind of leader who sees your strengths and lets you run with it. He always pushed me to be better, do more and just kick-ass. Seriously, one of the baddest mofos you’ll ever run into.

Erica O’Grady – Erica is this ball of energy and love — you can’t help but be happy when you’re around her. She is utterly gifted and knows all her bizness. She’s one of my biggest cheerleaders and in large part to her, I’m an Automattician (Thank, Matt!!) Love you, Erica!

photo credit: Kelsey Ruger

Cindy Li – My dear Cindy… she was one of the first people that called me when I moved to San Fran. I was intro’d to her via email by Kelsey. I can say she is my closest and dearest friend here. She’s known to go above and beyond for others. She definitely has for me. The goodness that emanates from her is contagious and if you ever see us around, we’re almost always giggling while probably eating ice cream or cupcakes!

photo credit: Cindy Li

There is obviously a plethora of people I want to write more about who are good and have been good to me. If you read this and I know you, you’re definitely on that list of good people. I love you all and appreciate having you in my life. I am looking forward to spending more time with you in the future.

Thanks, @garyvee for this awesome idea. You’ve done a ton of good today

And with that, I’ll leave you with this:

The Requisite 2007 Review

Marianne — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:57:53 +0000

Well, here we are…the last hours of 2007. It’s been a wicked, crazy year and I loved every minute of it(mostly). Despite the personal ups-and-downs, 2007 treated me pretty well. The biggest item was my move to San Francisco. I’m loving my new home and discovering new places, events, and people of course. I truly miss my Houston folk, because without them in my life it would’ve taken me much longer to get to where I am now(if ever). I’m looking forward to taking on 2008 and hopefully achieving a few (realistic) goals through the new year.

Without further ado…

Kelsey has told me time and time again, I need to blog more. Yes, I will try. What to write about? Who knows?
Learn and develop something in some sort of programming language. I will most likely tackle Django first.
Travel more. I love airports, flying and packing. I should do it more often.
To go along with #3, I plan to participate in more Startup Weekends. They are addictive.
Take more photos and learn more about photography
Bust out my wacom and improve my drawring skills

Here are a few highlights of my 2007

Ayo, Rene and I talking on our shoes.

Sushi that we made on our Sushi Night

My lucky slot machine at the Luxor. I won 3x as much as I brought that weekend.

At the KA Theater

photo courtesy of Paul Stamatiou’s Flickrstream

Cheering on the Houston Rockets

Stormtrooper <3 at Fisherman’s Wharf

Erica O’Grady and I shutting down Barcamp Houston

The one and only Kelsey Ruger Barcamp Houston

My last day at Pop Labs

Katelyn and I at my Farewell Dinner

One of my fave shots from Startup Weekend SF: Tyler Willis and Andrew Hyde cleaning up

Sunset at Startup Weekend Los Angeles. birdie!

Back home with the family for the holidays
Have yet to upload the rest of 2007, but you may view more in my Flickrstream

See you in ‘08!!

A new beginning…

Marianne — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:37:58 +0000

I’m moving to San Francisco finally and starting a new chapter in my life in the next few weeks. I have been wanting this for a very long time. When I returned home from my SF vacation this summer, I just motivated myself to go back for good. I worked extra hours in the office, at home, & on weekends to learn new stuff, make myself to a smidge of awesome and did some job-hunting. I started in mid-July and by the beginning of August, I started getting a few responses and interviews. I found an awesome job with a global travel marketing start-up firm and I’m in the midst of apartment/house hunting. Leaving my family, friends and job is bittersweet, but it’s very exciting.

I’ll be documenting the next few weeks/months with tweets on Twitter and save the longer blog entries for when I’m settled into the new life.