Today was the last day to clear out the scholarship account. Along with a few other bum’s, I was cruising the store looking for anything that was half worth while. Here’s the cool stuff I found:
Liquid pencils – Pens? Yea, I think so too.
USB fan – So geeky, but yet just so cool.
Left hand notebook – My brother is a lefty and has never even seen one of these (have you?). It’s so… LEFT
TI-83 Plus – Yea so it’s not cool. Screw you. I got two and am putting them on eBay.
I got a lot of other boring stuff, but it was pretty damn hard to find anything useful. If it weren’t for the calculators, I would have only spent like $40. Ha. Now, to covert the calculators into an iPod…
At about 8 AM this morning, MobileTracker had a nice spike. This isn’t news… It gets spikes all the time. That’s just publishing. It’s actually kind of sad that I was watching the site at that time and am taking the time to write about it here. Alas.
Here’s where it gets weird: there were no big referrers. A few Google News searches here and there, but the vast majority of visitors looked like they just typed in the exact link to a permalinked story. Very unlikely.
It’s not even that great of a story… So what kind of link doesn’t produce referrers? My only thought is email, but it’s a hell of a lot of people for an email. And I figured I’d see a lot of “webmail referrers”.
Also, most large email lists have link tracking built in, so I should see a referrer. For example, a list might link to ‘http://www.theirsite.com/link/?id=12545’ and their scripts note that you clicked on that link. That way they know you are:
A) Actually reading and enjoying the content
B) They can jack up advertising rates
C) They know what their readers like best
Anyway, if you know what’s up… comment. I doubt that I’ll find out, but you never know. Another thought is that it could of just been a LOT of people checking their RSS readers. But I don’t think that’s the case cause the popular story was posted several days ago.
For your viewing pleasure (and due to the graph’s y axis being unlabled), the spike capped out at about 400 page views. The green is uniques, and it capped at about 150ish.
I was under the innocent impression that integers were public domain. Alas. I just found out that trendy US textile companies own ’em. Take the fight over the fine ’22’… Hollister [no site because they are so trendy sticking to a 1-year hosting contract would be a big risk] is suing rival American Eagle Outfitters over use of the number 22 on its apparel.
My favorite part of the case:
According to the lawsuit, Hollister began using 22 the day the chain was started in 2000 to represent the fictitious year it was established – 1922.
What’s the best way to make an iPod materialize? I have about $300 left on a “use-it-or-lose-it” book/supply scholarship that I’d love to turn into said music player.The problem is the bookstore at school is about as large as a decent sized gas station (one of the newer nice ones that you don’t need a shower after you leave). As expected, no iPods. Since it’s a school funded scholarship, you must spend on campus. Here’s the options as I see them:
1) Find someone that needs stuff at the bookstore and buy it for them (with my scholarship). Get cash from them in exchange for the goods. The problem here is that I’ll have to make a pretty decent discount to make it worth it for the other party. I might get only 90 cents on the dollar. Also, I’ll need someone with cash. Tough to find amoung a sea of newly-indebted-kids.
2) Buy books that I don’t need and sell them back. This is even a worse move than option 1 because they really rape you on buy-backs. Probably only 40 cents on the dollar.
3) Find non-book items that I can hock on eBay for a pretty good return. Stuff like bookbags, Palm’s (I’ve heard they carry a few PDA’s) and anything else that lacks a spine. this will take the most effort, and the return is hard to predict. Probably in the 75 cents on the dollar range.
4) Risk it and ask if they can order an iPod for me. I don’t think they can do anything if they catch on that I don’t want anything for school, but just want a gadget. However, to ask this question would imply I was guilty. Possibly 100 cents on the dollar. The bookstore is a mess right now (about 8,000 people in 500 square feet at any given time), so I’ll be better off waiting until it settles down to ask. I doubt anyone but the higher ups would even know.
Any other ideas? A 10 gig iPod is $269 via EDU pricing. By my count, that’s $287.83 with tax, plus shipping if I get it from Apple (most likely as it will be either Apple or school that has the EDU price). This means that if I want to literally get the iPod “for free”, I’ll have to have a full conversion of my money.
The gameplan as of now is #4, #1, #3 and then #2.Now that I think of it, this is one of the better problems I’ve ever had.
I’m starting up school again tomorrow. Monday’s conist of Calculus 2, Physics and its lab. Not bad at all. Gotta love Match + Science. Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are the lame artsy classes.
I was hoping to have a PowerBook before classes started, but Steve Jobs is being really slow releasing the new ones. I’m getting cranky.
Postscript: Wow. My physics class is the easiest class I have ever taken. 83% and up nets you an A. I’m going to try for a final grade in excess of perfect. Take that you under-achievers.
I’m a pretty average guy—I don’t want someone to steal by cash. So when I got my Visa check card I wrote “Ask For ID” instead of signing my name. Worked great (although most cashiers don’t ask) for 6+ months. Today at the wonderful ol’ USPS Post Office, I gave the over-paid-under-worked man my card as usual. Once he sees “Ask For ID”, he points to a sign that says, “We do not accept unsigned credit cards” and then reads it to me like I’m a blind man while handing back my card.
I looked at him with the most oppressed serial killer face I could muster, take his pen, and without looking down make a squiggle on the card. Still without looking down, I hand it back to him and say nothing. He gave no complaints and checked me out as usual.
The garbage in the slight grey box in the image is what my sightless scribble made. That from now on is my sig. 🙂
There comes a time when you know you need a vacation. I think I finally realized this tonight after I placed two scoops of ice cream on a plate. No, not even a small plate. Thanks for the benefit of the doubt. It was a full 10″ dinner plate. Straight from Martha Stewart. I had no intention of doing this mind you, I actually believed it was a bowl. I’m a sad pathetic little man.
Update: I got a mini-vacation. Good times. Only Unsigned Visa cards and bowls of ice crea—I’m one crazy mother.
They are so pointless, but yet are a major part of any company larger than a group of close friends (and even then sometimes).
Ever had a turf war? Did you win?
First there was MSBlaster. Now there is Sobig.F. The only difference from my angle is that I got a few bounced messages (from infected cpu’s that sent email in my name). Set up a rule pretty quickly to filter the rest.
Sure, some Mac users are getting hit hard (one friend has received 1000’s of copies of the virus), but none of us are infected / sending the messages. I think it’s about time to call a few friends still knee deep in tech support and brag about the Mac :).
My domain makes me out to be some what of a stalker, but I am not by any means. I don’t even have the hots for Mena, I just wanted to give them all a laugh.
I am here today to tell you that there really are TypePad stalkers. I met one tonight.
At about 10:50 PM the home phone rang (this is odd, as there were already parties in bed). I sprang up from CSI and answered:
Me: Hello? **rage builds but is low because it could be someone in trouble**
Stalker: Hey you don’t know me… But I was wondering if you had another discount code for TypePad.
Me: Umm no. **holds back words that would make a soldier grimace**
Stalker: Really cause on the post it says you have a lot
Me: Yea well email or something and I’ll look. I’m not at the computer. **in disbelief that holding back rage is working**
To whoever you are: I do have some discount codes remaining. You’ll never get one from me. And I hope from no one else. Calling someone’s home number (not posted anywhere… what did you do? Look it up in DNS?) late is uncalled for. Call the cell during the day if you feel the need to hear my [sexy] voice. However, the post said “comment” not “call my house at night”.