Category: los angeles

Shorts and flip flops: Tech companies in 2016

Below is an actual email I received from a technical recruiter. I’ve changed the company’s name to “ACME” to protect the innocent:

Subject: Nice profile!

Hi Kevin,

After reading through your profile 3 times, I couldn’t help but reach out.

We’re ACME, a Los Angeles based tech company shaking things up in the Programmatic Advertising space.

We’re growing at 70% annually and have a new role for an Information Security Engineer. You’re probably not actively looking but so are 90% of the people I reach out to. But once they learn more about ACME, they’re very happy I reached out.

We have a pingpong table, pool table, foosball, and the people here are awesome. Dress code: ties and jackets are not allowed, shorts and flip flops are common.

Come see for yourself, you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Can we talk?

If I was 30, and it was 1999, this job might have sounded interesting to me. But these days the last place I would want to work is a marketing company with a fraternity like atmosphere.

Are you in town for E3? Here is were to eat.

  • The Original Pantry Cafe is an old greasy spoon diner close to the convention center. Great for breakfast. It’s owned by one of our previous mayors. (Breakfast, lunch and Dinner)
  • Philippe the Original is the inventor of the French Dip. Coffee is $0.45, very old school menu. A must for all visitors to LA. (Breakfast, lunch and Dinner)
  • Wurstkuche (“Sausage Kitchen” in German, pronounced Verst-Kuke) is Awesome. Grilled sausages of all types (my favorite is the rabbit and rattle snake), and just about every single German beer available.
  • Cole’s – Another old, speakeasy-like bar that that is also famous for it’s french dip sandwiches. It’s near skid row (LA’s demilitarized zone) so you may see a few crack addicts walk by.
  • The Golden Gopher is an old-timey bar thats been spruced up and restored. Great for dinner and cocktails.
  • The Redwood Bar and Grill – great for dinner and drinks. Small and cozy with an interesting ‘pirate’ theme.
  • Casa La Golondrina, located on Olvera St. is housed in the oldest brick building in California. The food is good too. I love their Mole!

    • Trader Sam’s Enchanted Bar – Krakatoa Punch

    When I heard Disneyland added a Tiki themed bar to the Disney hotel in Anaheim California I just had to go and check it out. This is the souvenir cup and light cube that comes with the Krakatoa Punch cocktail. The cup itself is very high quality, and made by Tiki Farm. The light cube is sealed, with a non-replaceable battery. It looks like you can purchase the cube here for about $4.00.

    The cocktail itself was weak, expensive, and tasted mostly of pineapple juice…

    Santa Monica after sunset

    Here are Emily and I near the Santa Monica pier, just after sunset.  I used a Canon 430EX along with a Radiopopper transmitter, receiver, and “cube” to move the flash off to the left.  430EX was duct taped to Emily’s strobe stand because I didn’t have the proper hardware.  Moving the flash off-camera can have a dramatic effect on your lighting. Click here to see larger versions of this photo at Flickr.