Ad Wrap

I use public transportation to get to and from work. It helps save on gas and gets me to work on time. I also hate driving, but that is another blog post. I have ridden on buses that are completely covered with an ad. These buses are annoying to look at and, on the bus, annoying to see out of. I never once thought of vocally complaining about these buses though. I could only imagine that the amount of money these buses generated for our metro system was worth my slightly blurred view to the outside world.

I read an article from the Capital Times that talked about the public complaining about the full wrap ads. I had no idea that seeing eye dogs couldn't identify the buses. I want my bus system to be able to generate a good cash flow to avoid raising fare prices, but at the same time we need the system to be user-friendly for everyone.The main reason I'm posting this is because before I read the article, I felt that people were probably being petty. I think fully ad-wrapped buses are an eye-sore, but finding something unattractive is a lame reason to try to stop the practice. After reading the article, I felt bad for my assumption.

Sometimes it is hard to see the whole picture.

Ping

I got a Ping.fm invite and am currently testing it out. With Ping.fm, I can write an update and have it sent out to all my social networking sites. Haven't quite figured out if it is truly helpful, or if in using the site I'm admitting I have a social networking addiction.

I drink my own "office-brewed" iced tea since a soda/pop costs $1.25. It wasn�t as hard to brew in an office setting as I had imagined.

The next big thing.

I love new things. I'm constantly looking for something new to play, to try, or to set-up that is of an electronic flavor.  What I'm not good at is staying committed to non-new stuff. Once I get something working, I use it for a short period of time and then I stop using it all together. Google Groups, Instant Messaging and even a free Blood Bowl league have all been an obsession that quickly died out. (Although, I still want to do the Blood Bowl league.)

I've been pretty good about keeping up with my social networking sites and that is all thanks to the web browser, Flock.  The people sidebar helps me stay connected and made social networking fun.  I'm addicted to Twitter and Facebook because it is always one-click away.

As already mentioned, I can't just be happy with what I have.  I have to keep looking for something else that will waste even more of my time.  While I know many Twitter addicts, I have heard from people that they are disappointed by the amount of Twitter downtime.  I have also been frustrated when I need to tweet, but can't due to a problem with the site.  On Twitter, I have started see posts asking about any Twitter equivalents.  This is when I first heard about Plurk.

At first I ignored these posts.  While I don't enjoy how often Twitter goes down, I can't do ANOTHER Twitter-ish micro-blogging affair.  Then I saw a tweet from Jon Gordon from Future Tense on NPR, he said, "Sigh. Signed up for Plurk just in case, and to protect the username jongordon". While I'm not afraid of people taking my net-name, I thought it sounded like a good reason to sign-up.  Just in case.

Plurk has a nice layout, look, and feel (although not everyone likes the headless mascot.), but I haven't been able to find many people on it.  I'm sure some of it is because the site is fairly new, but also because it seems their "find friend" feature is more geared to inviting non-plurkers to Plurk.  This is my biggest problem with social networking... the peer pressure.

I hate forwards, I hate app requests on Facebook and I hate "selling" things to my friends.  I've always wanted to be a person who recommends something because i really believe in what I'm recommending.  Because of this, I do my hardest to cancel anything that will send a request to all my friends automatically.  I do not want to "push" anything on anyone... let alone the people I care about.

No, I'm not going to send that quiz I just took to everyone on my friends list.  Sorry, I'm not going to invite everyone I know to Pownce.  Would you stop asking me to inform my friends about this great new widget?  If Plurk is good, it has to be good with the other early adopters who, needless to say, adopted it early.  If I find that Plurk becomes part of my grid-based lifestyle,  I will then , and only then, share it with my friends.  Respect needs to be built first.

Social networking is getting a bit out-of-hand.  Everyone is out to create the next Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.  On top of doing blogs, micro-blogs, digging, bookmarking and sharing, I'm running out of room for the next big thing.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I suppose you could call it gardening.

I've written in various places of my love (read: addiction) to Pokemon.  I've played every major release of the core series to date and while my level of excitement has died down quite a bit, I still consider myself a fan.  This past weekend, Toys R Us gave away a Pokemon that couldn't be obtained in game.

The first time I went to such an event is when Pokemon was still on the GBA.  I brought my GBA, headed over to Toys R Us, and got in line with a bunch of parents and their children.  While I do admit that I love playing the series, these are moments when I feel "childish".  It is embarrassing for me to be there, but at the same time I want my free shit.  I mean, come on, Mew can learn EVERY TM in the game.  You could fill him up with both FIRE & WATER moves.  You don't walk away from that.  I waited in line in order to connect my GBA to the attendant's GBA.  The event took almost a full hour of my time.

Thank you Nintendo for your innovation.  Getting my free Pokemon has gotten MUCH easier.  Now, I walk in with DS, head to the Xbox 360 aisle ('cuz that is what the old farts play), and turn on my DS.  There is no waiting in line to connect to another person, there is nobody I have to talk to, and I can be in and out in a matter of minutes.

It is now easier to be 31 year old Pokemon player.  I can't thank you enough, Nintendo.

The Pokemon I got this weekend, had a berry with him.  When berries are used they are discarded, but they can also be planted.  When the tree grows, it will have more berries.  Since this is a rare berry, I want to have a lot of them.  My DS is sitting next to my desk and ever half-hour I open it up to quickly water the four plants I've parked my character next to.  This will yield a lot more berries then if I just check it tomorrow.

Asking me to water a plant in real life is pretty much giving the said planet a death sentence.  For whatever reason, I don't have a problem doing this stuff in a virtual world.

Blogged with the Flock Browser