i think im gonna stop using foursquare

and its all because im no longer the mayor of the LA Times.

see that screen shot from this morning? i have 100 checkins for my work.

meanwhile every time i check in, foursquare tells me that the “mayor” of the Times is a guy who hasn’t even been in our building 100 times.

how am i supposed to feel about that?

truth of the matter is i dont care who the mayor of any of these places is, and its very nice that foursquare is currently saying that our mayor is a lovely and hardworking young gentleman fresh outta college.

but what worries me is, if they cant figure out something simple like 100 is more than 20 then what are they really doing with all that amazing personal information that i give them several times a day like

where i am

what im doing

who im with

what im buying

what im eating

what im drinking

people i love and would die for dont know all those minute details

yet these faceless Anybody’s are constantly compiling not just my personal deets but everyone who uses their stuff. so what are the doing with it? and what are they telling people about it?

if you cant even get the easiest part of the “game” right, then what are you doing with the more sensitive stuff that’s not so easy?

a lot of social media and hell even blogging is a trust game with strangers.

and for the most part most of the people have been pretty cool with each other.

but at some point someone is going to feel stupid for sharing such information with people they know nothing about.

i think i have reached that point with foursquare.

as you can see my drinking partner last night was dressed up a tad

and while we were waiting to be introduced to the talent, we found ourselves in the same room as a big tall handsome tv news personality.

one of the things i like to do is make up stuff when people ask how karisa and i met. particularly when shes dressed like she was last night.

“i answered an ad on Craigslist.”

“her family played against mine on Family Feud, hosted by that dude from Home Improvement”

“i met her on the bus on the way here.”

“my toilet was clogged, i called Rotor Rooter, and she knocked on my door.”

“we’re undercover agents for a secret arm of the CIA called the XBI. shes my decoy. look, i have your wallet.”

last night i gave this guy a new one, “shes my kid’s second grade teacher and im trying to improve his grade.”

sometimes the fiction is better than the truth.

last night i got to meet and interview a big time huge movie star

at a famous hotel

i sat in one olde school leather chair and he sat in one.

earlier his people pretty much amplified the nervousness that i felt. they told me that if the questions were dumb he wouldnt respond well. hes no cheerleader. hes no ones monkey.

i had a cameraman with me and the lovely karisa said shed come and there they were.

of course when it came to show time they asked karisa to stay out of the room which was sad because she was relaxing me.

which is the crazy thing because one reason i like her and we get along so well is the same reason that i was in that room about to interview a guy who has grossed between 2-3 billion dollars in the box office: because i like to be nervous.

i like it because i never am nervous. sometimes at work the fit will hit the shan and my body just goes into this weird overdrive and the world slows down so i can catch up to it. it only lasts for a little while so you have to put out the fires quickly but for that brief moment when pressure hits me, usually a forcefield of Cool envelops me and im good.

the other day when i had to lead that panel discussion at that wine bar in venice in front of many of our advertisers that forcefield didnt arrive until minutes before showtime. but last night, even though i just wanted and needed 5 minutes to collect my thoughts, organize my questions, and say a little prayer, i was overwhelmed by handlers, assistants, and weirdo party goers.

only for one minute before the actual interview did i have time to say to myself some encouraging words of hope. in this case it was youre just two bald guys talking.

and then bruce willis came into the room, shook my hand, sat down, and i earned my money.

stay tuned to see the entire interview on video. dare i say it couldnt have gone smoother.

Update: heres the video!

karisa at the roosevelt