ebukys

This just means that I have to do actual 9 to 5ish work while launching this summer, that's all. In the end though, ALL the rewards will be mine, so I'm not too worried about it.

I'm with you on this one, I get to start swimming again tomorrow.

Huzzah, nothing like a couple of my guy friends doing it alongside me to get me moving.

I seem to have a competitive streak...

No as well, but frankly I expected it (as my idea really has very little programming in it). For a form letter, the email they sent was pretty well written. I feel more challenged after reading it, and fully plan on making some serious money and turning around and sending them an email of how successful I was, and what exactly they missed out on.

Cheers!

(and congrats to those who were accepted)

Haha, brilliant! The problem is, you need at least one person (someone who has deciding power) to be impressed enough with your pure stubborn flippancy to let you in even after having been rejected.

I was wondering how long it would take for something like this to go into effect--the school I'm currently attending (University at Buffalo, in NY) started an text message alert system last September.

It's good to know that all of the major cell phone companies have jumped on board (or claim to expect to, which I suppose is largely different from actually doing so), though I'm curious as to the balance between executives wanting to gripe about the bottom line, and not wanting to seem "unAmerican".

But if we toppled this horribly useless company, how could we laugh at the jokes based on it (think How I Met Your Mother: "Yes, I received your submissions Barney, and no, we will not be attending any parties in your pants." "But you enjoyed the evite, right? That was an ACTUAL picture of my pants.")?

In all seriousness, however, I'm a big fan of Facebook event creator. And as most of my friends are on Facebook, it saves me a lot of time and hassle to try to figure out everyone's phone number/address/email--just type in approximately the first four letters of their name, select them from the now extremely narrowed down list of friends with those four letters in their name, and tada! You have just completed what used to be several hours worth of work.

Now if only we could get our parents and distant relatives on, so we don't have to send all those wedding invitations by mail.

I think I'd give in just for the sake of having something fun to do... I'm not playing with blocks, Mommy, I'm building a workspace!

Cute. I'm kind of irritated, I want to get a new laptop but I'm going to have to go through and get rid of Vista, as it's the standard Windows operating system now...

And I can't stand it.

Anyone else also boycotting Microsoft Office 2007?

I stop trying to manage my time and just DO the things that I need to do.

Haha, I already know the result. I live in a house with four other girls, and the sink is usually filled with any number of dishes. Once it becomes completely piled up (as we don't eat together, and most of us cook real meals, this usually happens about every other day), one of us will become disgusted with the others and empty the dishwasher, fill it with dirty dishes, and clean most of the dishes left in the sink.

Do the remaining two pans and glass get cleaned by anyone else?

Of course not; they are the base dishes that we pile everything else on top of that day.

Why clean the remaining two dishes, there was originally an entire sink full of them! Comparatively, it's almost spotless!

"SMS messages are transfered over air made of solid gold."

Hahaa, brilliant!

So that's why I've been paying insane amounts for texting...

@ breck: I have semi-unlimited texting with Verizon, it's free to send or receive from Verizon customers (which is why I got it, I was tired of yelling at my friends for sending me texts like, "im bored. whatre you doing later" and "idk my bff jill?"--almost all of them have Verizon). It is exactly ten dollars a month right now, and I only get a hundred or so texts to and from other companies. A truly unlimited texting plan is somewhere in the area of $50.00 a month, I believe. Don't quote that, my internet is being ridiculously slow and I'm not about to wait for it to load the Verizon Wireless page to check.

@ tptacek: I may complain about Verizon, but it's only because I love them. Why, you ask? Two reasons. One, my close friends all use Verizon, so texting them costs me nothing, and costs THEM nothing as well. Two, I have brand name loyalty and know it. It is MY network and so, logically, it is better than everyone else's.

Haha.

Seriously though, if there WAS a better network I could switch to, as well as have all my friends and family switch to, I would do it in an instant. The problem that I have right now, is that even if I were to pay less money, switching over to something like Cricket, my friends would all end up paying MORE money because I'm no longer on their network. Which probably means that while I have unlimited texting to whoever I want, no one will want me to send them messages, because it's costing them money. And if no one is sending me messages, and I am not sending anyone else messages, what is the point of having unlimited texting?

The article makes a very good point. I like the dents-in-the-car metaphor. I don't, however, agree with how he interpreted it. If I have a car with, say, ten dents in it, and I get one more, no, I am not inclined to try to fix it. And let us follow his story, and say that someone comes along and fixes all but two of those dents for me.

The question is, does the fact that I have fewer dents in my car make me more likely to fix the others? If someone comes along and does almost all of my dishes for me, am I more likely to wash the last few myself?

I believe the answer to that is not, as Bennett suggests, "Yes."

If someone comes along and fixes most of my car for me, or cleans most of my dishes, when I had no inclination of doing it myself, why would I stop them? If someone is going to come and fix my problems for me, why do it myself? All you have to do is wait long enough, and, like magic it's done for you!

So while it is an interesting theory, the problem is, people become set in their habits fairly quickly. If I do not wash my dishes one day, I am not really more inclined to wash them the next. Indeed, why should I? There is suddenly an almost empty sink in which to store the dirty ones.

"It's not going to be a lot of fun. Recessions are never fun"

I laughed when I read that.

What I would actually be interested in, though, is a study on how difficult it is for the unemployed sector to find jobs if they are completely open to relocating, retraining, etc. It was one of the things I couldn't understand when watching Moore's "Roger & Me" (though not the only thing I was frustrated with, to be sure): Why, if you can only pay for one more month's rent, at which point you will be kicked to the curb, and there is absolutely NO hope of finding a job in your own town, would you pay that month's rent? Why wouldn't you take the money and make a last ditch effort a few towns over, where the chances of becoming employed are higher?

Ha, I'll bet Verizon waited them out on purpose, just to make them wimper a bit.

Growing willpower is pretty much impossible for me--I'm smart enough to reason my way out of anything, even if it's something that will benefit me in the end (ie: exercise). The key is to not think about it. If I start to think about not wanting to go to the gym, I won't go. I realized that I was doing this, and decided to use my incredibly stubborn nature to defeat it.

I just say, "No."

Cliche, yes, but it works. It works so well, in fact, that none of my friends will discuss anything with me if I'm in a jovial mood, as when the argument begins to look up for them, and I no longer feel like defending my own point of view, I will simply contradict whatever they say.

I'm sure they also hate that I'll start arguing fine points that really have no relevance to the topic at hand, but...haha.

Willpower is exactly that, the strength of your will. The person with a strong will will do exactly as he decides fit, regardless of arguments presented by any camp, including his own.

Some call it will power, some call it determination. Even others call it perseverance. But in the end, it is pure OBSTINANCE.

Brilliant, I feel like it's describing me to a T.

If I could pick any way to die, this would be it...positively legendary.

While it's a good idea in theory, it would ultimately fail if we tried to apply it to reality. Think about it. Ignoring the fact that we are releasing personal information (no matter how trivial), attached to our email address, how often do you personally recieve spam that is useful or interesting to you? If the answer to that question was anything other than "never", guess what? It wasn't spam. Spam emails are mass emails that generally want you to click on their link. This will most likely direct you to their site, ask you to complete other offers, populate your screen with popups, etc etc etc. Perhaps some people like completing 5 offers which cost them X amount of money, in order to recieve an Xbox six months later. Perhaps some people like being asked if their breasts need to be twice as big. Perhaps some people like their computer crashing repeatedly because of a virus they've infected their computer with by opening an email, going through a link, or downloading an attachment. Personally, I am none of these people. Spam is classified as such for a reason. They are emails that we don't want, and don't ask for, the internet version of junk mail--only without the tiny bit of irritation that comes with getting the latter, thinking of all the better things someone could have done with the millions spent sending out glossy paper that immediately goes in the trash. Either way, regardless of whether or not I personally like spam emails, someone has already implemented the idea of sending people advertising emails based on what they like: mailing lists.

It's a very good point--but its lost in translation. There is nothing that aggrevates a reader more, whether consciously or subconsciously, than being told "THIS IS THE CONCLUSION". It is? Really? Are you sure? Criticisms, however well thought out, are ineffective when you cannot convey the thought properly.