Lauren Hauptman

Building Better Business Stories Through Words and Pictures

The Ezra Chronicles, prologue

I’ve decided to blog about being a first-time dog parent. It’s harder than I thought it would be. Much harder. I plan to be painfully and brutally honest, but please keep in mind: It all works out happily in the end. The Hauptman family does not have a great pet history. To wit: My first…

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And a Happy Chanukah to you

Please, I beg you, do not wish me a Merry Christmas. No, really. It will lead to unpleasantness: You will receive a lecture, and I will feel bad. And I’m reasonably sure that was not your intent. I’m pretty sure most of you just don’t know how awful it makes me feel. Here’s the thing:…

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The Sliver Palate

I love the work I do as a tourism writer. Telling people where to go and what to do is particularly satisfying. Alas, as I perused the menu of a restaurant for which I was doing a write-up (www.nightanddayguides.com/coolcities/sanfrancisco/outdoordining.html), I came to the realization that my quirky food issues might be a slight impediment to…

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Innocent Until Proved Guilty

Yes, that is how it should read. I swear. Really. Correct: “Innocent until proved guilty.” Incorrect: “Innocent until proven guilty.” Don’t believe me? Here’s the thing: Prove and proved are verbs; proven is an adjective. She has proved herself worthy. It is a proven formula. If only I can convince Law & Order.

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Dressing-Room Optimist

I was in the Bloomingdale’s dressing room. Never mind why I was in the Bloomingdale’s dressing room at 11 am on a work day. Never mind that I came to the mall with the sole and specific purpose of picking up a father’s day gift that was already on hold, with a definite intention of not shopping.…

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I’m Happy: Hooray!

I love Virgin America Airlines. I like the perky crew, the satellite TV, the under-seat plugs, the non-Unitedness. But like turned to love today, when I was perusing their music offerings and discovered one of the playlist options is “Best of Schoolhouse Rock.” They had me at Schoolhouse. I learned everything I truly needed to know in the 1970s, on…

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Brotherly Love

I met Posey when she first got to the shelter and was still in quarantine. A one-year-old border collie mix, she is black and brown and white and gorgeous and sweet and loving. Walking her was the high point of the highlight of my week: volunteering as a shelter dog-walker — Woofy Wednesdays, as my…

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Kitchen Accidental

I cook twice a year: once for Rosh Hashanah and once for my husband’s birthday party every January. While three sit-down dinners in three days is exhausting, millennia-old recipes and limited attendees make the Jewish New Year manageable. Plus, if I really screw up, I can repent the very next week and, truth be told,…

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Old Friends

I’m grateful for a definitive answer. It’s unfriended, not defriended. As in when you deliberately stop being someone’s “friend” on Facebook by purposely removing him or her from your friend list. As I did this very thing recently — it being my only (passive-aggressive) recourse against a familial schmuck — I wondered aloud on Facebook about what…

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Lauren’s LinkedIn

Having done LinkedIn profiles for several clients, I was asked to give a little presentation on LinkedIn to a little networking group to which I belong. I am all for repurposing, so here are some of my insights: 1. What/Why/How LinkedIn is basically an online resume, minus the detail. Yes, you need a LinkedIn profile,…

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