Owen Thomas Lands At KNTV Digital From Valleywag; Starts May 26th

Owen Thomas, who introduced me to the great libations at what was once Moose's in North Beach during the Valleywag Friday happy hours of a few positive GDP growth cycles back, then left the helm of that Gawker-run tech gossip site, has landed on his feet at KNTV Digital, according to "Broadcasting & Cable".

Reportedly, Thomas will manage the NBC Bay Area website, nbcbayarea.com, but I'd guess absent the interesting, biting, and at times down right wild commentary that spared no one. 

Well, almost on one. He and the other Gawker staffers had this soft spot for Internet celebrity Julia Allison. But I digress.

 

Owen Thomas with Julia Allison Hanging On

The Friday meetups stopped well before Thomas depature, but knowing him I'm sure something close to what used to be will materialize. But I say "congratulations, Owen!" The next one's on me!

And on a personal note thanks for the tips!

Sarah Lacy Is A Cool-Ass Chick At Valleywag Happy Hour

If you read my blog on a regular basis, or if you read Valleywag, or if you attended the Facebook SXSW event, or all of the above, then you've probably heard of Sarah Lacy. You've also undoubtedly formed an opinion about Ms. Lacy without meeting her; a common habit in today's media-driven culture. But you've also certainly not met Sarah Lacy.

Well, I did, and she's one cool chick.

For some background, Sarah Lacy's the person who interviewed Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook at SXSW and got panned for what some said was a "softball" set of questions. Sarah took the entire event in stride.

As a seasoned writer for Businessweek and a tech-finance video reporter for Yahoo!, Sarah's used to mean comments and controversy. She even tossed water on TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. (No kidding.) But you never know who a person really is until you meet them and talk with them, and listen, and get a feel for who they are -- not the whole deal, mind you but a good part of it.

I met Sarah at Owen Thomas' Valleywag Happy Hour event last Friday at what is called, but is soon not to be referred to as, Moose's in Washington Square in San Franciscos' North Beach. Sarah, my friend and business colleague Paula Storti, and I enjoyed oysters, tea (for me), and cocktails and just talked about whatever came up.

That's off the record.

But I can report that Sarah Lacy's fun, smart, opinionated, interesting, and just plain cool.

So the next time you tech-heads go off on her, consider that it may be because she's cooler than you are and you just can't admit it.