ThinkingSkull.com

I’m flying out to the West Coast to visit a friend this weekend, but part of this trip is also to clean out my portion of a storage unit and have what I’m not throwing away shipped back with me. I’ve asked my buddy out there (repeatedly) to take a few digital snapshots of the stuff to help me pre-sort it, but that hasn’t happened (thanks, Ed… you’re buying the first round). My ulterior motive for the request, however, was that I can’t seem to remember too much of what is actually there.

A lot of teens graduating high school can’t see past their senior year, and up until I joined the Navy, I only had a thought as to what I wanted to do with my life and neither the focus nor ambition to move in that direction. I believe I was 22 when I enlisted, 23 by the time I got there, and after traveling the world, enduring the rise and fall of an infamous ISP, and getting married then divorced, it has been almost half my life since looking through all the things I thought were important to me back then… my “half-life,” if you will.

I know there are books in there I want to keep and hope aren’t damaged. I also remembered my original Worlds of Wonder “Lazer Tag” equipment is there, too, with the old-fashioned toy guns that didn’t have the mandatory orange tips (no taking those on the plane). Everything else is a mystery lying in wait, but at the time it was the cumulative worldly possessions of a college dropout with only a hunch that a stint in the military might do him some good.

To be continued…

Isn’t it funny that a marriage license looks ready for framing as a document to endure for all time, while the divorce finalization looks like it was stamped in a post office for whoever was next in line?

This was originally posted at CommandLineIdiot.com.

The United States economy is in a funk. Food prices are up, oil is through the roof, real estate has collapsed, and credit is becoming scarce. Here are 12 signs to look for when the recession hits the Internet:

1. Digg.com moves their server over to Dreamhost
2. Jeff Bezos delivers his TED talk with a GoldenPalace.com tattoo across his naked chest
3. i can affordz cheezburger?
4. Drew Curtis switches to Pabst Blue Ribbon
5. For $20, Rick Astley will show up to do it in person.
6. Woot.com starts accepting payment in Flooz
7. Jeph Jacques sells all remaining ad space to Warner Music Group
8. Nigerian spammer steals your identity, only to return it 3 days later when he finds out your credit score
9. Scoble spruces up resume for sweet new gig as Hugh MacLeod’s intern
10. StuffWhitePeopleLike? Liquidity.
11. Guy Kawasaki trades in his MacBook for a Dell
12. You hire a PHP Developer for $12 an hour through elance.com, and it turns out to be Matt Mullenweg

A while back I got an unbelievable steal: $200 round-trip to San Francisco, California, from Jacksonville, Florida (and that wouldn’t pay a car’s gas even half way).

The primary purpose of the trip (other than to hang out for a weekend with an old high school bud) is to sort and empty out a storage unit 3/4 filled with stuff from about 18 years ago. Most of what’s there are books that I intend to keep, while the rest of it has either been upgraded or replaced long since. The question is, how to move just under 100 lbs. of books from coast to coast on the cheap?

FedEx wants over a dollar per pound and seven days to get it there. UPS is only asking for $80 or so. US Postal Service wants around $60-$70. And an option I’ve seen used in the past, “Greyhound Express” would throw it under a bus, up to 100 lbs in something as large as a foot locker, for about $60. Not bad.

There is another option, however. Being that its only a weekend, I can pack light and use my non carry-on (up to 50 lbs) to pack stuff in, then pay $25 for an extra bag (of up to 50 lbs again). If either bag is over 50, however, they charge you $50, and that’s only for 51 and up to 70 lbs. No, those numbers don’t make any sense, but you CAN stuff two bags with up to 50 lbs. each and only be out $25 more than your plane ticket. Of course, it used to be free and tipping the skycap $5 will let you load up two Navy-issue sea bags with about 100 lbs each (which is how I got most of that crap out there in the first place), but those days are sadly gone.

Not that this would be a problem for anyone, but Jessica Alba wants you to stare at her. In fact, she challenges you to do so! She absolutely DEMANDS that you stare… until one of you blinks, that is. In what may be the dumbest idea ever for an Internet publicity stunt, it doesn’t seem crazy or calculated at all when proposed by Ms. Alba. Check out her challenge at celebrity.myspace.com and remember, if you can’t find a reason to out stare Jessica Alba, you’d better be blind, in a doctor’s care, or seriously playing for the other team. Good luck!

Interestingly, if you’ve ever wondered whether or not a MySpace page was really a celebrity or not, I’d say this is a pretty good way to prove it. Golly, I hope she approves my “friend” request… tee hee!

We have a local coupon magazine in Jacksonville, Florida called Mint Magazine. It comes through the mail once a month chock full of local deals and such. Every local and franchise pizza place is listed, from Domino’s to Pizza Hut. The one I was most interested in, however, was a specialty pizza only available at Papa John’s and for a discounted price.

After logging onto their website, I attempted to place my order to get the deal, but unlike Pizza Hut or Domino’s, no online coupons reflecting their printed counterparts could be found. I checked again to see if their were any “promo codes” that I had simply missed. Nope, no codes, no anything, just nothing there.

I called the local restaurant that would be fulfilling the order and asked how to get the deal through the online ordering, but I was referred to their corporate web site’s help desk number (at the bottom of the screen). After a prompt answer, I was told that they had “problems with Mint Magazine before” and that these local deals were never submitted to the site, or else they’d be included in one of the “deal blocks” at the top and bottom of the ordering page. Sadly, I had to call back the restaurant to place my order over the phone (with my credit card) to get it for the prices advertised.

I’m a consumer. Ordering online lets me use a credit card without reading out the numbers over the phone while ensuring that the order placed is the total I expect. The salesperson at the restaurant threw the blame at the website, and the website threw the blame at the advertiser, and I’ll bet whomever the local owner of the restaurants are is the same person who sold the ad to Mint for inclusion. Judging from the reactions from all involved, no one felt the need to do anything (although to be fair, the website rep said they would tell their supervisor about the issue, but only when I’d asked them to).

Here’s what should happen:

1. The owner should ensure that the ad has website promo codes and that the website can accept them. If they are getting sales from the website, this is a must.
2. The company should put pressure on their franchises to ensure print ads contain the updated info. If it isn’t easy for a local franchise to add these (even themselves if they have to), something is very wrong.

Am I over reacting? Maybe, but I set up stores like this for a living professionally. Of course, I can just order from Pizza Hut and not worry about it, right?

Just got the word, so for everyone who voted me up, thanks! Here’s an excerpt:

Your video will be shown before several feature films at the Jacksonville Film Festival at the festival executive director’s discretion. May 21, 2008, the final night of the film festival, Jacksonville.com will be hosting the event and announcing the winner based on Editors’ Choice. The winner will be presented with a $500 prize courtesy of the Jacksonville Film Festival.

Your video will also be included in the trailer video of the 2007 48 Hour Film Project winners that will be screened tonight on the giant projector in the Jacksonville Landing courtyard during the 2008 48 Hour Film Project Launch Party festivities beginning at 5:30 p.m.

As I already said, I may not win, but it’s nice to see how far it can get.