Well, I started tonight, or technically this morning. I've got 1,747 words under my belt. First thoughts: This might be harder than I thought. But we'll see. It's also kinda fun.
It's not too late to sign up!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Bar Maid a Success...
Well, today was the day. Jae ran the 5K as a bar maid. He did pretty well, finishing in under 28 minutes - 6 less than he had guessed. Kevin and I followed in a chase car and shot some good pics. We even mounted a camera on a small hand-held mount for some "Survivor Man"-style footage. Jae collected the footage from three different video cameras and is editing it together. Hopefully it will grace the pages of You Tube soon.
Jae collected a total of $700 in sponsorships all of which will go to Toys For Tots. It's amazing what can result from some web surfing and a little dare. Thanks dealnews for posting the costume link in the first place! :-)
Check out the pics on PicasaWeb.
Watch the video on You Tube.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
NaNoWriMo - the insanity begins soon!
I've been convinced against my better judgment to participate in NaNoWriMo - a frenzied attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Why? Why not? What else is there to do in November?
The goal here is quantity, not quality. The math breaks down like this: 50,000 words / 30 days = 1,667 words a day. If you type 60 words per minute, that's about 28 minutes of typing per day. Of course that assumes that you spend the whole time typing and not trying to figure out what to type.
There are also several tricks to help increase your word counts. Some of my personal favorites are:
The goal here is quantity, not quality. The math breaks down like this: 50,000 words / 30 days = 1,667 words a day. If you type 60 words per minute, that's about 28 minutes of typing per day. Of course that assumes that you spend the whole time typing and not trying to figure out what to type.
There are also several tricks to help increase your word counts. Some of my personal favorites are:
- A character with temporary hearing loss - characters have to keep repeating themselves.
- A character that sings out loud all the time
- Quoting literature
- A character that talks in his sleep, even if it is gibberish
Bar Maid. A new charity event evolves, and K-Mart still sux...
I have a small addiction to the deal websites. I spend perhaps more time than I should checking these sites to see if an irresistible deal exists on, well, anything really. On Monday I saw that K-Mart was selling Halloween costumes at a deep discount. I was surprised to learn that K-Mart was still in business. :-)
On Wednesday, I was talking to Jae. He was trying to convince me to run in the 5K run that was being held at work. When I realized that it was on Halloween, I suggested that Jae run it in a costume. I was particularly fond of the inflatable bar maid costume which was on sale for $11.99. It turned out that the sale had expired, so I was less willing to buy it. Then Jae said, "Well, if you bought it, I would wear it for the run." Sounded like a challenge to me! I quickly found 6 people to chip in for the costume. Jae started to regret his word choice, but agreed he would wear it.
After some thought, Jae decided to run for Toys for Tots, that way people wouldn't think he was as strange. He modified our ELFK sponsor sheet and went around collecting sponsors. It had a picture of the costume at the top. He quickly collected almost $300 of sponsorships.
At this point, I decided I had better order the costume quickly. I went to the KMart website and clicked "Add to Cart." Nothing happened. I noticed that beneath the button, there was a page or more of javascript code. The site was clearly broken. I checked other items on the site. Every item had the same broken button. I wished that I knew someone who owned stock in K-Mart so I could suggest that they sell it immediately.
I decided that it would be worth a trip into Dallas to buy the costume. I did a search for stores within 100 miles of my house. None. Fine. 500 miles. There were about 5. Only two of them were in my state. The nearest one was in Longview.
My coworker Daniel drives to Longview every weekend to visit his lady friend. I asked him to ask her to go buy the costuime. I called the store to see if they have it in stock. Afer 5 minutes of hold music, I got the "Halloween Costumes Representative." I described what I was looking for. After another minute of hold music, he returned and said "Sir, we do not have many customs. I searched through them and did not find, um, the uh, custom that you specified. You might want to come in and look." Wow that inspired confidence. I'm sure this employee really looked through all of his customs and didn't just put me on hold for a minute while pretending to look for, um, whatever it was that I wanted. Right.
I called my wife at home and asked her to try adding the item to her cart at K-Mart's website. She was successful. Sweet! I told her to buy it. To be sure it arrived in time, we would need the express shipping. Fine. Select shipping method. Express. Next. Enter shipping address. Next. Enter shipping address? Again? OK... Next. Enter shipping address. Oh great. There is an error code in the corner of the screen.
Well, with so many sponsors that had seen the costume at the top of the form, it had to be this one. I called K-Mart's 1-800 number. I read them the item number. They asked for my shipping address. Then the lady recited the same error code to herself and put me on hold to try ordering through another system. She came back with "Our site is currently down, but if you try again in 30-45 minutes, I'm sure it will be up again." Right. Or at least your shift will be over by then.
Defeated, I suggested we try to find a similar costume. The brand that maid this costume seemed to be exclusive to K-Mart. It turned out that "bar maid costume" was not a safe-for-work search term. We considered the inflatable sumo wrestler - not as funny.
Then my wife called. "It's on eBay! $50." Sold! I handed Jae the cash and he ordered it on his credit card. He emailed the seller to ensure it would arrive in time for the run.
Two days later, K-Mart's site was still broken and they responded to my initial feedback e-mail.
"Dear Eric, Thank you for contacting Sears. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us about this technical issue. A portion of our site is down, and the technical staff is diligently working on a resolution. Thank you for your patience."
Great! They misspelled my name, and they are now owned by Sears. I liked Sears, but it's new gangrenous appendage will probably lead to eventual total system failure. :(
Jae has now raised almost $500 in sponsorships for the event. The local newspaper said the were sending a reporter and a photographer. I decided not to run so it would be easier for me to video tape. The event organizer has been informed and thinks it's an awesome idea.
Jae received the costume on Friday. His dog got to the box and chewed it up a bit. The wig is a bit damaged, but the rest is in tact. Not exactly the same as the picture, but close enough. Jae's goatee really ties the costume together.
So on Halloween, there will be a bar maid with facial hair running along the side of the highway with me videotaping. But don't worry, it's for the children.
On Wednesday, I was talking to Jae. He was trying to convince me to run in the 5K run that was being held at work. When I realized that it was on Halloween, I suggested that Jae run it in a costume. I was particularly fond of the inflatable bar maid costume which was on sale for $11.99. It turned out that the sale had expired, so I was less willing to buy it. Then Jae said, "Well, if you bought it, I would wear it for the run." Sounded like a challenge to me! I quickly found 6 people to chip in for the costume. Jae started to regret his word choice, but agreed he would wear it.
After some thought, Jae decided to run for Toys for Tots, that way people wouldn't think he was as strange. He modified our ELFK sponsor sheet and went around collecting sponsors. It had a picture of the costume at the top. He quickly collected almost $300 of sponsorships.
At this point, I decided I had better order the costume quickly. I went to the KMart website and clicked "Add to Cart." Nothing happened. I noticed that beneath the button, there was a page or more of javascript code. The site was clearly broken. I checked other items on the site. Every item had the same broken button. I wished that I knew someone who owned stock in K-Mart so I could suggest that they sell it immediately.
I decided that it would be worth a trip into Dallas to buy the costume. I did a search for stores within 100 miles of my house. None. Fine. 500 miles. There were about 5. Only two of them were in my state. The nearest one was in Longview.
My coworker Daniel drives to Longview every weekend to visit his lady friend. I asked him to ask her to go buy the costuime. I called the store to see if they have it in stock. Afer 5 minutes of hold music, I got the "Halloween Costumes Representative." I described what I was looking for. After another minute of hold music, he returned and said "Sir, we do not have many customs. I searched through them and did not find, um, the uh, custom that you specified. You might want to come in and look." Wow that inspired confidence. I'm sure this employee really looked through all of his customs and didn't just put me on hold for a minute while pretending to look for, um, whatever it was that I wanted. Right.
I called my wife at home and asked her to try adding the item to her cart at K-Mart's website. She was successful. Sweet! I told her to buy it. To be sure it arrived in time, we would need the express shipping. Fine. Select shipping method. Express. Next. Enter shipping address. Next. Enter shipping address? Again? OK... Next. Enter shipping address. Oh great. There is an error code in the corner of the screen.
Well, with so many sponsors that had seen the costume at the top of the form, it had to be this one. I called K-Mart's 1-800 number. I read them the item number. They asked for my shipping address. Then the lady recited the same error code to herself and put me on hold to try ordering through another system. She came back with "Our site is currently down, but if you try again in 30-45 minutes, I'm sure it will be up again." Right. Or at least your shift will be over by then.
Defeated, I suggested we try to find a similar costume. The brand that maid this costume seemed to be exclusive to K-Mart. It turned out that "bar maid costume" was not a safe-for-work search term. We considered the inflatable sumo wrestler - not as funny.
Then my wife called. "It's on eBay! $50." Sold! I handed Jae the cash and he ordered it on his credit card. He emailed the seller to ensure it would arrive in time for the run.
Two days later, K-Mart's site was still broken and they responded to my initial feedback e-mail.
"Dear Eric, Thank you for contacting Sears. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us about this technical issue. A portion of our site is down, and the technical staff is diligently working on a resolution. Thank you for your patience."
Great! They misspelled my name, and they are now owned by Sears. I liked Sears, but it's new gangrenous appendage will probably lead to eventual total system failure. :(
Jae has now raised almost $500 in sponsorships for the event. The local newspaper said the were sending a reporter and a photographer. I decided not to run so it would be easier for me to video tape. The event organizer has been informed and thinks it's an awesome idea.
Jae received the costume on Friday. His dog got to the box and chewed it up a bit. The wig is a bit damaged, but the rest is in tact. Not exactly the same as the picture, but close enough. Jae's goatee really ties the costume together.
So on Halloween, there will be a bar maid with facial hair running along the side of the highway with me videotaping. But don't worry, it's for the children.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
ELFK: Wrapping Up...
Well, the three of us made it all 36 hours. We are just wrapping up now. Kevin and I played some Starcraft against computers for the last couple hours.
Overall, we had a fun time. Some of us are taking the day off tomorrow for recovery, while others are going to work. I feel sorry for them. :-)
Thanks to all my sponsors. I'll be coming to collect soon! ;-)
Overall, we had a fun time. Some of us are taking the day off tomorrow for recovery, while others are going to work. I feel sorry for them. :-)
Thanks to all my sponsors. I'll be coming to collect soon! ;-)
ELFK: Hour 32...
We're down from our five initial people to 3 players: Kevin, Patrick, and me. Jen was feeling pretty bad between her ankle and the lack of sleep. She made it 25.5 hours before calling it a day. Brandon left a few hours later.
For a while I was feeling really tired. I was actually almost drifting to sleep in front of my Xbox. But now I feel like the last 4.5 hours should be a piece of cake.
I've played everything from PC games to retro arcade games like Centipede. Good times all around. I've spent most of my time playing either Warcraft III or Evil Dead. Optimus Prime may have made a few phone calls from our event too. :-) I think I'll mix it up for the rest of the day. I don't have the attention span for anything major.
Patrick bought the Orange Box for this event (for XBox 360). He finished Portal in expert mode already, but it still looks like a pretty cool game. Team Fortress 2 looks good too, but I haven't played it yet.
For a while I was feeling really tired. I was actually almost drifting to sleep in front of my Xbox. But now I feel like the last 4.5 hours should be a piece of cake.
I've played everything from PC games to retro arcade games like Centipede. Good times all around. I've spent most of my time playing either Warcraft III or Evil Dead. Optimus Prime may have made a few phone calls from our event too. :-) I think I'll mix it up for the rest of the day. I don't have the attention span for anything major.
Patrick bought the Orange Box for this event (for XBox 360). He finished Portal in expert mode already, but it still looks like a pretty cool game. Team Fortress 2 looks good too, but I haven't played it yet.
ELFK: 24 Hours and going...
Well, we're 2/3 done now. I was getting pretty tired, but sure enough, when the sun came up and the breakfast tacos arrived, I found myself with a little bit of a second wind. 12 hours left. Time for some Full Tilt...
Sodas consumed: 4+
Pizzas consumed: About 1
Energy drinks consumed: 1 Jones Energy drink, 1 Red Bull
Candy consumed: Too much
The Jones Energy drinks say that you can only have two a day. But it's OK to pile those on top of other brand energy drinks, and soda, right?!? :-/
Sodas consumed: 4+
Pizzas consumed: About 1
Energy drinks consumed: 1 Jones Energy drink, 1 Red Bull
Candy consumed: Too much
The Jones Energy drinks say that you can only have two a day. But it's OK to pile those on top of other brand energy drinks, and soda, right?!? :-/
ELFK: Hour 20
I'm tired, it'd dark out, and all of my games suddenly seem to be more difficult than they were before. The veterans tell me this is the hard part and that it gets easier when after sunrise. Somehow, my body is supposed to "forget" that I forgot to sleep. But I'm wondering if that will work out. I do know that with the morning come some tasty breakfast burritos. Perhaps they will revitalize me.
Over the last hour, I have downgraded from Warcraft III, to Hitchhiker's Guide and now to Rez - an interesting Dreamcast game. I promise that I don't have the optional "Trance Vibrator"... :-)
Over the last hour, I have downgraded from Warcraft III, to Hitchhiker's Guide and now to Rez - an interesting Dreamcast game. I promise that I don't have the optional "Trance Vibrator"... :-)
Saturday, October 13, 2007
ELFK: Hour 14
Still going... But getting sleepy. Played enough Evil Dead to get to the fun part - the part where you get Sam, your deadite dwarf sidekick. He is already dead, so you use him by kicking him into deadly obstacles, which usually cause him some form of torture. He then respawns back to life, berates you for hurting him, and you do it again. I particularly liked putting him through the wood chipper. :-)
Now to take a "break" with some classic Warcraft III.
Pizza eaten: 7 slices
Caffeine consumed: 2 sodas, one Jones energy drink
Candy consumed: plenty...
Getting tired, but my eyes don't hurt yet.
I suddenly remembered the story about the Korean guy who died from playing Starcraft. Hmm....
Now to take a "break" with some classic Warcraft III.
Pizza eaten: 7 slices
Caffeine consumed: 2 sodas, one Jones energy drink
Candy consumed: plenty...
Getting tired, but my eyes don't hurt yet.
I suddenly remembered the story about the Korean guy who died from playing Starcraft. Hmm....
ELFK: Hour 10+
Kevin is lame. Totally pwned me at Starcraft. But then again, it's been almost 40 years since I played Starcraft... Ok, maybe less. Time to play some Warcraft III. Or maybe some Team Fortess 2.
Jen was feeling sleepy, but now that it's night time, she's waking up. Go figure.
Jen was feeling sleepy, but now that it's night time, she's waking up. Go figure.
ELFK: Hour 2
Well, we're all set up and 2 hours in. Already feeling a little sleepy. The sugar-induced coma from donuts is setting in. Luckily we brought an LD-50 dose of caffeine. Evil Dead and Crazy Taxi lead the way for me while the other play Halo and WoW. Jen sprained her ankle this morning, but it is apparently not required for WoW'ing... :-)
Friday, October 12, 2007
ELFK - Night Before
I'm having some doubts about making it for 36 hours. But I'm certainly bringing enough junk to keep me busy. There's no way I will be able to play all of these games, but I'm keeping my options open.
We went shopping for snacks and went a bit overboard. We've got enough sugar and caffeine to induce at least one heart attack. But we plan to share.
Well, time to finish packing up and get to bed early.
We went shopping for snacks and went a bit overboard. We've got enough sugar and caffeine to induce at least one heart attack. But we plan to share.
Well, time to finish packing up and get to bed early.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Extra Life 4 Kids - Getting Ready
After a few days of convincing from friends at work, I've decided to play in a charity event called Extra Life 4 Kids. It's a 36-hour gaming marathon that benefits the Children's Miracle Network starting at 9 AM this Saturday. I don't know if I will make it 36 hours, but I plan to try. It sounds like there will be 6 participants in our area this year. I've already got quite a few sponsors, but it's not too late for you to sponsor me with either a fixed or hourly donation! :-)
I'm getting ready by taking inventory of the games I will bring to play.
I'm getting ready by taking inventory of the games I will bring to play.
- Xbox (Original)
- Evil Dead!!!
- Crazy Taxi 3
- Psychonauts
- Voodo Vince
- Splinter Cell(s)
- Dreamcast
- Crazy Taxi 1 & 2
- Frogger 2
- Rez
- Worms Armageddon
- PC
- Warcraft III
- Diablo II
- Starcraft
- Pazaak
- Oblivion
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (online version)
- Miscellaneous Web Games
- Non-Electronic
- Cards (for poker, or other)
- Mastermind
- Sudoku
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