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Organizing the Garage
Organizing the Garage
Ted Merz Surface Area
My father has been cleaning up the garage. I saw him this weekend and asked him how it’s going. “It’s getting there,” he said. My father is 98 and he’s been working on this project for decades. The garage, it should be noted, is already pretty damn...
3 days ago
4 MIN READ
Rotating the Mattress
Rotating the Mattress
Ted Merz Surface Area
My parents rotated their mattress this week.  Dad keeps a schedule written on an envelope that gets tucked between the mattress and the box spring. It was the seventh time in almost 25 years. It was last rotated on the Ides of March 2024. Before that:...
2 weeks ago
3 MIN READ
Winning the Pulitzer
Winning the Pulitzer
Ted Merz Surface Area
Imagine winning a Pulitzer Prize without knowing you entered. That’s evidently what happened to Bloomberg News, according to an account by Lachlan Cartwright in the newsletter Breaker Media. Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait got a call from...
2 weeks ago
3 MIN READ
Summarizing Gatsby
Summarizing Gatsby
Ted Merz Surface Area
One thing you won’t find in the SparkNotes version of the Great Gatsby is the memorable last line: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”  It’s among the most enduring phrases in American literature, but it...
2 weeks ago
4 MIN READ
Advice for the Summer Interns
Advice for the Summer Interns
Ted Merz Surface Area
Jefferies CEO Rich Handler is out with his annual list of suggestions for how to succeed at the firm in particular and life in general.  “What You Need to Know as a Summer Intern” is a list of 20 recommendations for how to get the most out of a few...
2 weeks ago
5 MIN READ
Prague Startup
Prague Startup
Ted Merz Surface Area
I met up with StockStory Founder Adam Hejl 👋 at the Eska Bakery in the Karlin section of Prague. I had the scrambled eggs with onion and chives. He had the poached egg with fermented wheat and mushrooms. Karlin has become the destination for the...
2 weeks ago
4 MIN READ
Pockets Only Travel
Pockets Only Travel
Ted Merz Surface Area
It’s possible to travel fast and light. My perspective on when and where and how to travel is being influenced by two influencers.  Jeremy Maluf and Kevin Droniak are two New York City-based content creators who document their adventures on Instagram....
3 weeks ago
5 MIN READ
The New Journalism
The New Journalism
Ted Merz Surface Area
Sign up to receive Surface Area or follow me on Linkedin or Twitter. Book a meeting here to talk about ghostwriting from my agency, Principals Media. Business Insider dropped a bombshell this week when it said it would lay off more than a fifth of...
3 weeks ago
4 MIN READ
The Veterans of Memorial Day
The Veterans of Memorial Day
Ted Merz Surface Area
Sign up to receive Surface Area or follow me on Linkedin or Twitter. Book a meeting here to talk about ghostwriting from my agency, Principals Media. There’s a Memorial Day parade every year in the beach town where my parents live.  I didn’t make it...
3 weeks ago
3 MIN READ
Pitching Startups in the East Village
Pitching Startups in the East Village
Ted Merz Surface Area
Sign up to receive Surface Area or follow me on Linkedin or Twitter. Book a meeting here to talk about ghostwriting from my agency, Principals Media. I spent an evening last week in the basement of The Whiskey Cellar, a bar in the East Village, listening...
3 weeks ago
4 MIN READ