The Dish: The Ears Have It

Find out another quirky habit of the beloved TSS product specialist.

By Darci Wood

I get to go to Orlando, right?

Last year, "The Screen Savers" scheduled a remote airing of the show in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World -- the second happiest place in the world next to Disneyland. I wanted to go. Not only would I get TechTV to pop for my airfare to Florida, but I would get to bring my daughter, too. Since my best friend lives in Florida, she could watch my daughter while I was working. This was a win-win situation for me.

Yoshi is always in my way

Now, getting on this trip wasn't going to be easy. I had to get through Yoshi, who was already slated to go on all of the On the Road trips. I considered putting something in his lunch to make him sick, but at the last minute I decided that would be less than politically correct. It was going to take begging, bribery, and brown-nosing to get me on that plane.

I don't do any of the three very well (except for bribery, maybe). So, I was left to discover another device to get me on that flight. I had a pair of Mickey Mouse ears at home with my name printed on the back, so I grabbed them and conjured up the greatest idea. A venture in shameless self-promotion, I donned the ears at work and refused to remove them until a plane ticket for Orlando was placed in my paws. I even received Yoshi's blessing to take his place on the trip.

Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

I had Leo in my back pocket, Ken was offering his support, most of the staff thought I should go. As usual, Patrick was convinced that I had completely taken leave of my senses. The only one left to push over was Paul, our executive producer, and he was close.

Then, as the final decision process was taking place, the trip was cancelled, and no one was going to Orlando.

However, I had started a buzz throughout the office about the Mickey Mouse ears. Even Greg Drebin, our vice president of programming, was in a meeting in his office one day when I crossed in front of his glass wall with the ears. In the middle of his meeting with about five others (their backs to the glass wall), he made two circles with his hands near his ears and mouthed, "Nice ears!" Just because the trip was cancelled, it didn't mean the fun had to end.

Variety is the spice of life

In an effort to not let the questions about why I was wearing something on my head end, I gathered up all the "dress up" headbands that my 6-year-old daughter had in her toy chest. We had headbands with flowers, kitty ears, Tigger ears, and a princess tiara. Each time I go into a store that sells headbands, I always buy as many as I can find. I also have tiger ears, a bat, a spider, bunny ears, bumblebee antennae, Dalmatian ears, zebra ears, devil horns (that light up), stars, hearts, and an angel's halo. We are always on the lookout for more, and just stocked up on the after-Halloween sale. (I want producer Kim Kinst's guest to get me Shrek ones like the ones he gave her.)

A fish dies by the mouth

I wear them randomly now, just whenever the mood strikes me on a particular day. I wore a different pair at Comdex and CES each day and received a mixed reaction in the general computing public. I'm a trendsetter, and I don't think they're ready for me yet.

Here at TechTV though, Patrick thinks I'm a lunatic, but occasionally a new one will make him chuckle. Morgan laughs every time, but the best laugh comes when I catch Paul Block off guard. I was wearing the gold stars when I met Paul Allen, and I'm convinced he wanted to ask why one of his employees had stars coming out of her head. Most of the people in the building are used to seeing me with something on my head, so no one asks anymore.

A funny thing happened one day while Chris Pirillo was co-hosting the show. He came into our morning production meeting, and I remarked how funny it was that Chris had all of these gadgets attached and hanging off his clothing. This, while I had bumblebee antennae on (I forget they are there after a while). I think it was Paul who remarked that I should be careful, as fish die by the mouth.

Posted January 16, 2002