Blogebrity

Interview with Meg Hourihan

Meg Hourihan over at Megnut sat down at her computer with me at the other end on AIM and decided that, yes Virginia, cupcakes are delicious, Blogger isn’t all that cool, and Pride and Prejudice is awesome. You might remember Meg as one of the co-founders of Pyra Labs, where she and others created Blogger (you know, that über blogging site that Google bought?)

Anyhow, I sat down and talked with Meg about Blogger, what’s she’s been up to, her favorite type of cupcake icing and even Pride and Prejudice. A fun interview with a very fun lady if I do say so myself, and so here we begin with the first question…

Kevin Myrick: Ok, first question: what have you been up to since Blogger sold?
Meg Hourihan: I was gone from Blogger for quite some time before the sale
Meg: I left in January 2001.
Meg: So I’ve done lots of things since then.
Meg: Kevin: Well, why don’t you just bullet point what you’ve been up to since you left Blogger then.
Meg: after Blogger, I did freelance and co-wrote a book on blogging with former co-workers, then moved to ny and co-founded kinja.com with Nick Denton
Meg: I did that until 4/04, then took time off from tech.
Meg: I then worked in a restaurant for a while.
Meg: And I’ve been doing freelance stuff and speaking since the beginning of the year
Kevin: Sounds like you’ve been having fun. So, if my memory serves me well from reading the site, you worked as a chef, right?
Meg: Well, I worked in the kitchen. I wouldn’t say I was a “chef.”
Meg: I was a cook.
Kevin: Ah, I see.
Kevin: But you do like to cook?
Meg: Chef implies more experience than I had.
Meg: Yes, I love cooking.
Meg: And I loved working in the restaurant
Meg: I worked garde-manger, which is the cold foods station. So I prepared salads and appetizers during dinner service
Kevin: that’s cool. A good Caesar salad and some stuffed shrimp as an appetizer would sound great right about now, actually.
Meg: Mmm
Kevin: Ok, second question: What software do you use to blog?
Kevin: If you use software at all.
Meg: I use movable type.
Meg: An old version, like 2 something?
Meg: 2.661 if that makes any difference.
Kevin: So you don’t use Blogger?
Meg: No, I haven’t used Blogger since 2001.
Kevin: Any particular reason why?
Meg: Well it was really slow for a long time, and prone to errors, so it was too difficult to use.
Meg: I coded by hand for a long time after I stopped using Blogger, then probably in early 2003 I started using MT.
Meg: Because it was easier and it had features I wanted.
Meg: And I realized I was never going to get around to writing my own system.
Kevin: Ah… But seeing as you were one of the co-founders of Blogger, do you feel the sale to Google ended up being a good or bad thing, even though you left it in 2001?
Meg: At the time I felt it was a great thing, I thought it would give the team resources to more things with Blogger.
Meg: But frankly, the applications languished, or languished, for a very long time, and lost its position as the leading software years ago to MT.
Meg: I’d hope the Google sale would give the team the resources to really kick start the app again, but not a whole lot’s happened with it since the acquisition.
Meg: Sure, a redesign that’s much better, but feature-wise, there’s not a lot that’s new there.
Meg: Which is a bummer because I think there’s a lot that remains to be done on the publishing side, tool-wise, and it’s not happening.
Meg: To be fair, not with Blogger, and not with MT/Typepad, or some of the others, either.
Kevin: Ok, let’s get away from Blogger and all that nonsense before heads begin to explode and children begin to scream in tongues, shall we?
Meg: Lead the way.
Kevin: You lived in New York, so I’ve gotta ask this since I’ve been to both places: New York or Boston. Which is better?
Meg: well, I grew up in Boston and went to college there, but New York is where I plan to live the rest of my life.
Kevin: So New York then? Or is it a tie?
Meg: It’s New York.

Kevin: Ok, here’s a tough one. I was looking at your site last night and noticed that you had two posts in less than a month about cupcakes. (And with the amount of posts you do, this basically adds up to 2 posts on the front page.) Are you addicted to the frosty covered goodness that is the cupcake?
Meg: I do love cupcakes! Though “addicted” is perhaps too strong a term.
Meg: I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, but I like cupcakes.
Kevin: Favorite type of icing?
Meg: Chocolate Buttercream.
Kevin: Sounds good actually.
Meg: sounds good? Is good!
Kevin: I’m partial to vanilla with the sprinkles on top.
Meg: That’s not bad either.
Kevin: Well, I’ve never had Chocolate Buttercream before, so I guess I can’t really judge
Meg: You need to try it.
Kevin: I shall, if I ever get out of Alabama.

Kevin: So on average, how much time do you spend a day on the internet?
Meg: Well, I used to spend probably 8-10 hours. Now it’s much more like 1-2 and some days barely at all!
Kevin: Compared to how much time you like to spend cooking, has the time you spend cooking grown since you’ve not been active on the internet?
Meg: Well the time spent cooking while not online grew when i worked at the restaurant! Meg: But not a whole lot more since then.
Meg: I always made time to cook.
Kevin: but I’m speaking more of for yourself, rather than for a restaurant.
Meg: Except when I was 110% going crazy at start-ups.

Kevin: Ok, back to the questions. Your top five favorite books (and you can’t include your own)… go!
Meg: Ha, mine would hardly be included.
Meg: Fiction or non-fiction?
Kevin: We’ll go with fiction, just to make life easier.
Meg: Ok, 5 books I love and can’t live without, in no particular order…
Kevin: Sure
Meg: Pride & Prejudice
Meg: The Awakening
Meg: Crime & Punishment
Meg: Lolita
Meg: Anna Karenina
Kevin: Can I ask you something, just for the sake of mankind, but what is it with women and the book Pride & Prejudice?
Meg: Um, I don’t know, is there some thing with women and P&P? I wasn’t aware.
Meg: I just love the writing and the characters.
Kevin: It just seems that many of the girls I know love that book for some reason, and they won’t explain it.
Meg: And it’s a nice strong woman main character, which isn’t as common as it should be.
Kevin: Maybe that’s what makes the ladies love it so much.
Meg: Yeah, and there’s love.
Meg: A happy ever after without the woman compromising and/or giving up who she is to get it.
Meg: In fact, it’s because of who she is that the man loves her.
Meg: Because she’s opinionated and smart, etc.
Kevin: Well, I’ll give you that (I’ve had to read this particular book three times and I still can’t remember the man’s name…)
Meg: Mr. Darcy!
Kevin: Thank you
Kevin: Darcy’s a joke throughout the book though.
Kevin: joke actually = jerk because I’m trying to type too quickly now
Meg: My fiance read it recently and he enjoyed it.
Meg: yeah, he is, he’s got the pride.
Meg: But she has the prejudice
Kevin: Ok, a few more questions, then you can be off to what you must do.
Meg: OK.
Kevin: One - what do you think of all the blog networks starting up. Good idea or does it remind you of the dotcom boom?
Meg: Um, like what?
Kevin: Like for instance, AOL buying out Weblogs Inc.
Meg: Eh, I guess it’s good
Kevin: They’ve actually established themselves, but others like Webby Media (which I was going to join) collapsed before they even had a product.
Meg: I don’t really understand what they’re buying.
Meg: I never even heard of webby media.
Kevin: Content
Meg: But I missed a lot when I was in the kitchen, and I can’t catch up.
Meg: AOL is buying content? Yeah I guess, but that’s some expensive content
Kevin: who has the time to try to catch up anymore? I know I don’t.
Kevin: 25 million worth for basically 35 blogs.
Meg: Yeah, that seems a bit, um, pricey.
Meg: Though I guess I’d take a million for megnut.com Kevin: Even if it meant selling your soul to the likes of AOL-Time Warner?
Meg: Yeah, I was kidding, I wouldn’t do it.
Kevin: Ah
Kevin: And to think, I had my suitcase full of 10s and 20s all ready to go…
Meg: Ha ha.
Kevin: Ok, last thing, then I’ll get out of your hair. Anything you want to add, about, you know, yourself? Or Megnut? (Which is quite a good name.)
Meg: Um, I don’t think so.
Meg: Glad you like the name Megnut.
Meg: I do too
Meg: I wish I could think of something to add, but alas, I can’t…it’s all on the site… somewhere.
Kevin: Ok.
Kevin: Well, thanks Meg.
Kevin: It was an honor and a pleasure to get to speak to you.
Meg: It was nice to speak with you too.
Kevin: And I shall now bow down before the great statue of you and pray that you shall never strike me down.
Meg: Ha ha.
Meg: Only if you say mean things about me! Kevin: I won’t. I promise.

This entry was posted by Tomas on Saturday, October 15th, 2005 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Blogger, Interviews, Meg Hourihan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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