Best of IZ Reloaded in 2005 Part 2

Fired Bloggers Update (Originally posted on April 7 2005)

Kate Lorenz of CareerBuilding.com wrote a story for CNN titled Avoid getting fired for blogging. In it, she gave six advice for employees who blog: know where your company stands about blogging, blog on your own time not on company time, do not write negative or confidential info about the company, don't hide your blog from your boss, use good judgement when you blog about your company and lastly be aware of the repercussions as others who read your blog may not always agree with you.

There have been several bloggers mentioned in the press over the past year because they were fired for blogging. I went looking for a few of them to find out what they have been doing since they got fired.

Ellen Simonetti: Ellen was working as a flight stewardess when she was fired by . She recently made an appeal to Delta but the airlines has yet to respond to her. Ellen posted a tape of her being fired. You can download it here at her video blog. Currently she's an Assistant Director with the Committee to Protect Bloggers.

Mark Jen: Mark was working as an Associate Product Manager on Google's Adsense when he was fired by Google. He recently got a new job with Plaxo to define policies regarding employees that want to participate in public communication. He recently dumped his Blogger blog (bye bye Google) and switched to Wordpress.

Joyce Park aka Troutgirl: Joyce was working with the engineering team at Friendster when she was fired. Joyce is now working for zLab as one of its technical staff. She is also serving on the program committee of the first Zend PHP Conference.

Peter Whitney: Peter was working as an Administrative Assistant for Wells Fargo's Ragen MacKenzie unit when he was fired. He now spend his time watching ten discs of Pee Wee's Playhouse on DVD and rereading Sin City books in time for the movie.

Rob aka Souzalizard: Rob got fired from Blockbuster. In addition to losing his job, Rob even has to deal with a restraining order because his ex-colleague felt threatened by him.


Happy Friday the 13th (originally posted on May 13 2005)

Are you a paraskavedekatriaphobic? Para what you might ask. Paraskavedekatriaphobic is a word to describe a person who is afraid of the number 13 and Friday the 13th. It is said that over 20 million Americans suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. God knows how many more people worldwide. That's a lot of people who might be staying home today and trying to be extra careful because to them, Friday the 13th happens to the the year's unluckiest day.

I don't think I am a superstitious person. I'm not afraid of the number 13 or Friday the 13th itself. I don't fear breaking a mirror or walking under a ladder or encountering a black cat today. Oh well, maybe I do have one superstition. I will bend down to touch the grass before a soccer game. Ok, that's nothing to do with Friday the 13th but well that's the only one superstition that I have. The thing about superstition is that most are passed down through generations. The origins like most myths are unclear. So how does this fear of Friday the 13th originate?

One theory is during the Biblical Last Supper, there were 13 guests and Jesus Christ's crucifixion happened on a Friday. Another say that Eve is rumored to have given Adam the apple on a Friday. But most people agree that this fear of Friday the 13th comes from several traditions, Christian theology and Viking tradition, which combine separate fears of Friday and the number 13. For example, 13 is a sinister number in Norse mythology. Loki, one of the most evil of the Norse gods, went uninvited to a party for 12 at Valhalla, a banquet hall of the gods and caused a rampage. The Knights Templar during the Middle Ages condemned Friday the 13th as an evil day because on that particular Friday night on October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of the Templar Knights and their subsequent execution.

So the above could have explain how Friday the 13th may have come about but what happens on a typical Friday the 13th? Lots of bad things a paraskavedekatriaphobic would say. So here I am thinking of a few bad things some of my readers might encounter on this very unlucky day.

1) While reading IZ Reloaded, you spill your drink on your keyboard and get electrocuted.

2) While reading IZ Reloaded, your chair gives away and you fall down hard on the floor and hit the back of your head hard and have a very bad concussion.

3) You think that IZ Reloaded has a lot of crap, the next thing you know, you are out walking on the streets, you turn around and see a group of the IZ Rabid fangirls with parangs chasing after you. You outran them as fast as you can. Thinking that you may have excaped possible butchery at the hands of the IZ Rabid fangirls, you breath a sigh of relief, you turn around and all of the sudden a rubbish truck crashes onto you.

4) While reading this, you laugh so hard because the last paragraph is so funny that you have a heart attack and during the last few seconds of your life, you wish you didn't read this blog.

5) You think that the above cannot possibly happen to you and go on cursing me instead. The next thing you know the roof falls on your head and you are crushed under tons of rubble.

Ok, I think that's enough. Happy Friday the 13th.


IZ Reloaded, why don't you love me? (originally posted on June 6 2005)

I'm very honoured to receive many fan mails. Recently, I received one which really stood out. Giselle Loh (she said she is a big, big fan) sent me an email with a lyrics of a song she called 'IZ Reloaded'. She told me that she changed a few words from the original lyrics of the song by Bree Sharp called 'David Duchovny' (yes it is a song dedicated to Mr X-Files man) and turned it to the following.

It's Sunday night, I am curled up in my room
The monitor light fills my heart like a balloon
I hold it in best I can, I know I'm just another fan
But I can't help feeling I could love this cute blogging man

And I can't wait anymore for him to discover me
I got it bad for IZ Reloaded
IZ Reloaded, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me?

My friends all tell me "Girl you know he's just a blogger."
But deep within his words I see me wrapped up like a bow
Reading his blog for a sign, he is always on my mind
I'm waiting for the day when my lucky stars align

In the form of IZ Reloaded floating above me
In the alien light of the spaceship of love
IZ Reloaded, hovering above me
Blogging Superstar, brooding and coming
IZ Reloaded, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me?

IZ Reloaded, I want you to love me
To kiss and to hug me, photograph and blog me
IZ Reloaded, I know you could love me
I'm sweet and I'm cuddly
I'm gonna kill the rabid fangirls
IZ Reloaded, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me

Giselle, awwww...I'm touched.

Best of IZ Reloaded in 2005 Part 4
Best of IZ Reloaded in 2005 Part 3
Best of IZ Reloaded in 2005 Part 1