In Vegas staying at the Wynn. This trip prompted a couple of random thoughts:
Flew Virgin America. It’s actually a pretty great airline. Their employees are shockingly friendly. The flight attendants in addition to being friendly, have this really upbeat attitude. They sound excited to be flying on a VA plane, and it rubs off. The […]
I’ve been gone for a while. Life on the West Coast has been keeping me busy. Between work, the commute, trying to see friends, traveling, and of course, trying to make heads or tails of writing a book, this blog has been neglected massively.
I’m opening the blog up to more frequent posts about a broader […]
priceless.
from the onion via pmarca.
funniest moment of the day (month/year?).
20 Nov
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Misc, The Apprentice
Background: Phone call from a magazine fact-checker for an article having to do w/ex-reality TV people…
Him: spell your name
(me): S-u-r-y-a Y-a-l-a-m as in monkey-a-n as in nancy-c-h-i-l-i
him: can you confirm that you were on the TV show, The Apprentice?
me: yes.
him: can you confirm it was Apprentice season 6.
me: yes. The Apprentice LA…also known […]
musings from out west.
17 Nov
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Misc, Technology, Business, Life, Personal
1. public transportation is fun. i take the company provided shuttle to work, occasionally get rides from co-workers and roommates, and then ride the bus/train. what i’ve always loved about public transit was how calming it is. just the fact that you don’t control when the train comes, you walking faster doesn’t help, driving faster, […]
Moving is a trip. The emotion spans the gamut from ’scares the total crap out of you’, to ‘day-dreaming about everything that’s ahead.’ That’s a pretty big spread.
Change definitely scares people. And I’m no exception. And I realized this week, that I’m going through a lot of change.
1) Leaving my job (of ~5 years).
2) Leaving […]
I don’t watch a ton of TV. LOST, The Wire, Entourage, and occasionally House. But I think starting this year, I’ll have to add another show to the “regular” rotation: Frontline.
It’s on PBS, but is also available online. Think of it as a (very) extended 60 Minutes. So instead of a 20-minute segment, they’ll do […]
I haven’t written a movie review in more than a decade. I think the last one I did was for the school paper. But I got to see a sneak preview for the movie “The Kingdom” tonight. And since it doesn’t open until the end of September, and there aren’t really any other reviews out […]
Surya on The Apprentice: how it all began.
09 Jul
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Misc, Life, Personal, The Apprentice
How did I end up on The Apprentice? This story is as interesting as anything that came after.
It’s the first Thursday in the eight month of 2004 in Cincinnati, OH. I’ve been working for a little over a year, and I happened to stumble upon a newspaper article. The article mentioned that the hottest show […]
i just spent nearly an hour looking for a mallet in my condo. It’s not a very big mallet. Nor a big condo. Yet it’s lost.
Why do I own and need a mallet in the first place? Let’s just say that my answer to that question is so much less interesting than just letting the […]
I love having a blog. It’s great to have an outlet for stray thoughts that you want to share. For those deep conversations that you want to have with someone, but you’re not sure who, so you just kind of post it and see who’ll respond. It’s great for staying in touch– it’s amazing how […]
So I’ve seen Europe. Or 4 amazing cities in Europe anyway: Berlin, Barcelona, Rome, and Paris. And they were, in a word…amazing!
Part of the reason I wanted to take the trip was a little known fact. While I was traversing the continent of Europe, almost exactly a year ago, I was filming The Apprentice. I […]
I’m back from Europe! It was amazing. And I won’t talk about it now. I think I’m going to do a slew of posts about the trip, reflections on traveling, etc. But right now, I want to post about the TV show, LOST!
I don’t watch a lot of TV. Like at all. With the exception […]
The New Yorker. I want to have little babies with The New Yorker. What am I talking about? The weekly magazine The New Yorker. It’s my favorite. Ever. Why?
Long thoughtful articles. What’s missing from like practically everything today, is depth. We skim the surface and boil stories down to simple truths and neat little tales. […]
This blog was down for what appears to be almost a week. Part of this time I was away at my friend’s wedding in NJ. When I came back to OH, somewhere along the way I figured out it was down. I never realized how weird it felt for this blog to not be there. […]
When you’re on TV you put yourself out there for “public consumption.” And consume the public does! The judgments, leaps of logic, mocking, and undue praise, all of it is really a trip. The beauty of the Internet is that all of these thoughts, “observations,” and judgments get posted for the world to see. But […]
Now that life has returned to semi-normalcy, I’m going to start what was my vision from the beginning: a post every weekday. I’m going to need you guys to be sending me those interesting articles and links through email and myspace so I have something to write about!
my debrief on the apprentice…
12 Mar
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Misc, Life, Personal, The Apprentice
An Introduction
I want to start off by publicly thanking my friends and family. I couldn’t ask for better. And frankly, you’re all better than I deserve. Your kind words of support (and your anger at your TV’s!) really helped me escape this bizarre experience relatively sane (or as sane as before anyway).
I write this for […]
Go see it! If you liked Braveheart and Gladiator you’ll certainly appreciate this very simple, stunning movie.
I’m not a huge fan of Bono. And I mean that honestly– I like the guy, and U2, but I’m not one of his gushing fans. But Shakes is, and I read his blog (well, I read it when he’s not writing about a terribly-edited-version-of-me!). He highlights an excellent video of Bono giving a speech […]
I know the posts on this blog are typically pretty serious. But I thought I would share something dear to my heart. Food. Now, it’s not that I cook. Because I don’t. I think for the last 3 years or so 98% of my meals have been prepared by some combination of Wendy’s, Skyline Chili, […]
The topic of climate change is “hot” right now (pun unintended– but I’ll take it) with the release of the UN report. My position is that I think climate change is ocurring because we consume like drunken sailors, and are leaving so much “behind.” That can’t be good. But this week as I watched coverage […]
Barack Obama says political campaigns should not be reality TV. Wow. When I weigh in on this, it will be an entry for the ages. Or at least 5 minutes. This entry has been stewing in my brain for months, and then I see this. Wow. Some entry…
(I had a cold and so curled up on the couch like a little baby and thus the hiatus for those who are curious. Now on to the post:)
I played the Wii at a friends house on Saturday. And it is freaking awesome. And it’s shocking that we haven’t seen anything like this sooner. Especially […]
As a change of pace, I thought I’d share something personal instead of analysis. I love reading. I also think that what we love to read reveals a lot about us. And so, here are 4 authors I adore and why:
Jhumpa Lahiri
Lahiri is best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning first book, a collection of […]
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Surya is...
an Internet entrepreneur turned Brand Manager. I've “returned” to my roots and today focus on emerging media strategy. And strange as it is, if I look familiar its because I was on the TV show The Apprentice. And, yes, I know it was terrible.
Click here for my bio.