Erica Lee

some product stuff. some nyc wanderlust girl boss stuff.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@PublicHotels no running water in my room this morning — how is this okay?! Can’t shower or use the sink.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@JetBlue my flight from Reno to JFK has been delayed 10 times (so far). It was supposed to depart at 12am on 8/28, now it is departing at 8pm on 8/29! Your chat customer service is not providing compensation despite “customer bill of rights”. Help 🙏🏼

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

Anyone know why @lyft and @Uber require billing zip code when adding a credit card to your account?

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

I wish Google flights was a native app

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

One time, I read that Marc Andreesen stopped drinking alcohol, so I stopped drinking alcohol.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

On Pausing Alcohol

"Always carry a flask of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore always carry a small snake." -- W. C. Fields

About six months ago, I stopped drinking alcohol. I feel much better, and I’m mad as hell about it.

I never really drank through my 20s and 30s, but grew to really enjoy whiskey through my 40s, coincident with “Mad Men”, and roughly a thousand academic studies that proved that alcohol is actually good for you. Win/win!

I had read that the sure sign of an alcoholic is someone who drinks at night, by himself, at home, so I decided to only drink at night, by myself, at home.

I was even scurrilously quoted as saying “the perfect day is 10 hours of caffeine followed by 4 hours of alcohol”, which I did indeed say, and which is still indeed true.

Unfortunately, in recent years, it’s become clear that most or all — probably all — of the scientific studies on the benefits of alcohol are fake, the scientists unwitting or witting victims of selection effects. As Michael Crichton says, “wet streets cause rain”, or rather wet streets don’t cause rain. It turns out that sick people often don’t drink, or subjects just lie to researchers about their consumption outright. There go the studies.

It is now pretty definitively clear that no amount of alcohol is good for you. Andrew Huberman recently summed this conclusion up on his podcast; the topic made me so enraged I never listened to the episode, but I did read the notes.

Andrew says “the best amount of alcohol to drink is no alcohol” — imagine someone who both hates and loves humanity that much.

Since I stopped drinking, I feel much better. I don’t need as much sleep, but my sleep is better. I’m more alert through the day. I’m cogent and focused at all times. I have more energy when I exercise, and it’s easier to control my diet.

It’s great, and I am super mad about it.

I feel like the color has drained out of my evenings[*]. Spending time with people is still fun, but now it’s hard to sit still and watch a movie or read a book and unwind at the end of a hard day. I’m more prone to just work until bedtime. Grump grump grump.

Frankly, I don’t know what Elon is doing farting around with cars and rockets and Twitter, why doesn’t he solve THIS problem[**].

And one of these days, I am going to get deeply, seriously, hammered.

But not today!

[*] A lot of people I know are substituting cannabis or hallucinogens for alcohol. I’m not, I won’t touch any of those things — a topic for another time.

[**] I’ve been trying all the alcohol free whiskeys, wine, and beer. So far, no luck on the whiskeys. For wine, Sovi is pretty good. For beer, there are quite a few good choices; I’ve become partial to Hopwtr, which is zero calorie hop-flavored sparkling water. I’m still not drinking either at breakfast, though I am tempted.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

wtf nyc #15degrees

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

Shoutout to #ChatGPT for helping me write all my performance reviews

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

An ounce of product intuition is worth a pound of A/B testing.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

beatboxing: new ick unlocked

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

Effective #product managers are kind in their tone and ruthless in their actions

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

If an #interview candidate starts using “they vs them” terminology as opposed to “we, us, team” - it’s an immediate pass. #tech #hiring

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

The experience is also the product. There may be impactful, no code improvements to the user experience like outreach campaigns and better email copy that drive usage & engagement more effectively than #product features would.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@AmericanAir sent a DM

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@AmericanAir from Rio back to JFK, the plane does an emergency landing in San Juan due to a passenger experiencing medical issues, but we’re informed the flight will be delayed 13+ hours due to maintenance. Can you advise on what to do next? Stuck in San Juan.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@AmericanAir I rebooked myself on a Delta flight bc the American flight I was rebooked on would arrive at JFK over 15 hours after our originally scheduled arrival time. Can you help with issuing a partial refund for the return flight?

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

We’ve become so quick to write off someone who doesn’t accomplish something in a short period of time. Perseverance is actually so underrated.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@odannyboy :/ I'm sorry to hear, we're actively hiring a UX Designer at Onaroll right now! We're looking for someone who has experience with research, is deeply empathetic, and wants to be a parter with Product - not a task taker! Sent you a DM. https://t.co/mseVlpQ662

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

@tpurves All dogs go to heaven. I’m sorry for your loss, Tom! 🤍

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

Apple needs to create a quick way to move an app into a folder. The hold down and drag into a folder method is too error prone and just annoying in general.

[Erica Lee @ericuhlee]

When someone says something can’t be done bc xyz, assume they’re wrong.