Blogg.ed

I had the opportunity to get a customized iPhone 4 case while at SXSW. So, I took one of my favorite images, the Travis Touchdown wallpaper that Anton made for N+ a few months back. It came out awesome and is printed on a durable soft textured cloth laid in soft vinyl. It's kicky pro.

+Check out the original art in N+Design.
+Check out a HQ version to see the cloth detail.
+If you like gaming, add yourself to N+.

Done!
So Espen and I had no idea we would actually have a small audience following these battles (yes, there will be several). Hopefully the anticipation doesn't overshadow the content of these upcoming epic battles. It is our intention to have a ton of fun and put the idea out there for others to be creative as well. To us, it's cool that two people, on different corners of the planet can have a public coffee drinking challenge spur of the moment and already have an audience waiting feverishly. Kicky sweet.
Coffee Log
_{Coffii for enplussers}
This will be my Coffee log. I am about 30 minutes from the office on the train. I swallowed a little toothpaste this morning by accident.

History of the concept:

[6/7/2007 9:30:37 AM] Ed Palumbo says: yo
[6/7/2007 9:31:00 AM] Ed Palumbo says: i just accidentally called you
[6/7/2007 9:35:18 AM] Espen A. says: heya, no probs. was out getting coffee anyway
[6/7/2007 9:35:54 AM] Ed Palumbo says: we should have a day wehere we compete between ourselves as to who can have the most cups of coffee
[6/7/2007 9:36:12 AM] Espen A. says: i've had 6 so far, but is soon 4 pm here so...

[/IMG]It Begins...This is what I will be eating during the day besides my coffee. Some yogurts, a soft pretzel, and a protein and vitamin water.

[/IMG]Cup one | 10:09
Columbian Supremo.
I told a few people at work about htis and they think I'm crazy. But everyone seems to like the idea of a competition that spans space and time. Even my man Steve Hawking is spinning in his chair with excitement. Hoooray teh internets.

Cup two | 10:18
Kona Extra Bold.
Sooooooo bold! I have to admit, not being a coffee drinker, I have no idea what kona is. my only other experience with the word is w=from when pepsi made coffee flavored pepsi called pespi kona in the early 90's. Apparently distriubution was not widespread, but you can probably still get a can on eBay.

[/IMG]Cup Three | 10:56
Rainforest Nut.
I think it's funny that each tree in the rainforest has something liek 30,000 species of bug on it, but they decided to use the singular "nut" as if these 30,000 bugs proportionately hang around with the single [strand of] nut that exists there.
Or perhaps they were going for the effect, like calling something 'Pizza Espinoza'

I think at this point I should be sure to clarify, that I am not a coffee drinker, so it should suprise anyone and everyone if I end up drinking a lot. I also do not know how much a lot of coffee is. I'm using the reaction of coworkers to pace myself. Haha "Cow Orkers" hehehe...

[/IMG]Pee one | 12:04
I peed, got a cup of water (after being warned that I should drink something besides coffee too) and located some delicious sesame crackers left over from a Wine & Cheese event we had here yesterday.
I'm going to try to find some cheese.
Coffee is ridiculous.

[12:18] hotdogjunctionnn: worst idea ever
[12:23] Battle Happen: hahaha
[12:23] hotdogjunctionnn: sounds like a shit storm
[12:23] Battle Happen: haha
[12:23] Battle Happen: pee storm only please!
[12:23] hotdogjunctionnn: yeha just wait and see

[/IMG]Cup four | 12:40
Caramel Vanilla Cream.
It's like candy! I drank the whole cup (almost) on the way back to my desk. A few ice cubes help to get the best temperature for instant drinking. I hope I don't end up loving coffee after this. But all these flavors ...We should have a wine challenge:drunk: so I can boost my wine skills. 4 glasses of wine before noon probably wouldn't help at work though. But I have been blazing through my plans for the day. I wish it wasn't brown.

[/IMG]Cup five | 1:15
Timothy's Italian Blend.
This is the closest thing I could find to anything blue. as you can see we have a pretty decent selection, but no java.

[/IMG]Pee two | 1:20
Pee two ruled. DOes that happen to coffee people? Do you all have refreshing pees?
Here is our machine brewing the 'kup' ...it's way blue.

[/IMG]Cup five was accompanied by unexplained pizza and a FedEx delivery.

I feel that at this point I should note that I have absolutely no desire for a flavored, non-coffee beverage. Namely, my VitaminWater. For whatever reason I only crave cold water right now. Just thinking about a flavored drink other than coffee is kinda unappetizing.

I want to brush my teeth. If I play my cards right this will happen after pizza / before cup six.

Despite it being a remarkably slow day at work, I am powering through tasks with coffee-like reflexes. I either need coffee during the day or more sleep at night. Also, my knee won't stop bouncing

EW! I've just been told that if you drink a lot of coffee your pee can start to have the aroma of a freshly brewed cup! WTF. That is GROSS. I will update on this theory after pee three, which I am told will be soon.

For those interested in what the rest of my office looks like, please to enjoy.

[/IMG]Cup six | 2:45
Hazlenut.
BORING! Dude Hazlenut is straight stupid. The name suggests a flavor may be infused with the business casual color. They should call it Phantom Ass instead; there is nothing to taste but if you focus you can describe the sensation as crappy.

[/IMG]Pee three | 2:55
I am not peeing enough.
I decided to get more water and a refreshing cup of stale bread and crackers. Lord, whatever a sesame grows into, I don't care. Just keep letting their seeds rest delicately on crispy things and I will remain faithful. Thank you God, for the sesame.

Also I am feeling extremely.. warm and kinda tired... but my knee continues to bounce.

[/IMG]Cup Seven | 3:40
French Vanilla.
I'm going to call this one Victory Vanilla, in the style of Freedom Fries and Victory Cabbage. While not triumphant in flavor, Victory Vanilla does delight the eyes as well before gracing the pallet when brewed using the French language option on the Kuerig Machine. Un, s'il vous plait.

Another cup of water.

I love almonds, but Almond Snickers are not better than regular Snickers.

Pee Four | 4:06
IT'S TRUE.
I can't believe it... So many new experiences already today and on top of it all, I brewed my own batch of coffee smell pee. Today is a day of days! Huzzah!

Celebratory teeth brushing happen.

So, rememeber how I wanted cheese? Yeah, I do too. Stupid invisible cheese. I think drinking this much coffee in a work day is not feasable. It takes a good deal of effort to constantly acquire and use coffee. It certainly can't help anyone to focus, because after the caffiene rush, your less than normal after, your breath and pee smells, and you probably spilled some somewhere.

[/IMG]Cup Eight | 4:39
Breakfast Blend.
Why don't they just call this one Misleading Horror? It sounds DELICIOUS, yet somehow ends up tasting like I'm drinking a stick. Dammit, I'm really getting pissed with these flavors. Maybe I'm turning into one of those pretentious coffee drinkers.

When I was in LA two years back there was a sign at a diner that said "Unpretentious Coffee," Cassie and I loved it. I have a picture, perhaps I will dig for it tonight. Oh, and coffee does not help you focus, I was right. Beacause for cup eight I peeled the lid off my creamer and then threw the whole thing in the trash. It was funy until I realized this cup could use much more, as it tastes like kindling.

That's an Orange flavor speckled LifeSaver btw. And Pep-O-Mint.

Pee Five | 4:40
Why is it getting clearer?
Where is all the coffee dirt going?

[/IMG]Cup Nine?! | 5:15
Vermont Something.
Great. Now I know what Vermont tastes like. Forgettable. I really have to step it up... I want to reach Ten coffees in a work day. But I'm kinda full.

[/IMG]Cup Ten | 5:20
Decaf.
Never again will I dring more than a few cups of coffee in a day... I just guzzled that last one to get to this one, which I will finish and call my last. Then I'll check Espen's blog to see how we did. I hope he's alive, I haven't heard from him since:

[1:37:37 PM] Espen A. says: i'm at home, gonna take a shower and gonna go to the electronics store before it closes
[1:37:44 PM] Espen A. says: need a new headset
[1:38:01 PM] Espen A. says: my stomach is all messed up

I'm not going to say I learned a lot from this. But I did learn many new things... Like, yes, coffee is pretty crappy, and you don't have to "have more to really appreciate it."

I leave you with this image, as I finish my tenth coffee.

Thanks for everyone's support!

I don't often blog about things like this, but I haven't written anything in some time as I've been incredibly busy. So I think it's important to do something.

My 9 Names:

Read more...

As, requested by Espen, I've posted an album of 20 pictures of my office.The coolest part is that when labeling all of the pictures I realized the album is similar to a room in Hotel Dusk, there are even mysterious things. Also, there's some kicky sweet images of my ultimate dry erase board, Metroid inspired furniture layout, and pixel perfect floor plan.

Secret Power:
.ed receives Nerd +1 when left alone:domo:_{Checks it outs.}

[/IMG]I was doing some housekeeping on my computer and started to organize some photos. SInce I rarely get photos of myself, I decided to share what I found in my pictures of myself album. There are now 78. Like this jewel of a photo to the left.

...stunning

I will add info and descriptions to them in my down time.

So I just got tagged by birdmatt67 and Wiidark in under an hour. Normally when tagged, a person needs to reveal 5 things about themselves, but I got tagged twice fairly quickly and I'm not going to cop out so I'll do 10.

5 10 Things You Didn't Know About Me:

1. I automate as many processes in my daily life as possible, from my cats' water fountain, to my bills, everything is taken care of for me so I can worry about bigger things and focus on the non routine tasks.
2. I'm working on tracing my entire family history back as far as possible. I intend to contact all living relatives, contruct a digital family tree, and go well past 1000 years. I realize I'll never get to be Indiana Jones, but that will not stop me from taking part in a real acheological adventure.
3. Related to the above, I've learned that both my mother and father's families (meaning thier elders) followed each other's paths to where they currently live in America from a tiny Italian village where both sides have members' birth, death, and wedding certificates on file. so before my parents got married, our families knew each other for like a century.
4. I've recently been reading hundreds of pages of literature regarding the Knights Templar.
5. I've never done drugs or smoked anything, nor will i ever. But I do drink alcohol.
6. I am always hungry, and eat extremely slow because when I had braces I preferred not to chew with my molars as food would get stuck in the brackets; I chew smaller bits towards the front of my mouth and simply can not comprehend how people chew larger mouthfuls of food in 1/5th the number of bites as me.
7. I got amazing grades in school by paying attention in class and almost never doing homework, ever. I also did not study for tests.
8. I've never been bored in my life. I think constantly, and about so much that I've come to the conclusion that the reason I can eat 4000-5000 calories a day isn't because of my metabolism, but because I'm burning calories by thinkging so freaking much.
9. I haven't slept more than 4 hours on average each night for 13 years. Partly because I do not tire, partly because I need more time.
10. I think I might be a communist, despite my desire to be a wealthy philanthopist and charity organizer in my later years.

Now to tag 3 friends: Ian, Joe, and Carey.

If you've met me in person, then you may have heard me go off randomly about how I hate YouTube's site design/interface. For that reason alone I only visit the site when:

Friend: Oh dude you gotta see [description of video], go to YouTube.
.ed: Ugh. Are you sure its there?
Friend: Yeah just search for [description of video].
.ed: Yeah, (I know how to search for things, ass) but did you actually see it on YouTube?
Friend: Yeah, just go.

If the answer is "No, but it should be there." I get sad. Well, thanks to someone who has much more free time (and probably inve$tor$), there is SofaTube. A site that lets you watch videos from YouTube (and Revver)and displays them in a far more aesthetically pleasing way, with much less clutter and less site load time. Designed specifically for Wii Browsers (that's you), it will more than likely feature a few upgrades as feedback rolls in but for now it blows away anything else like it.pleas.ed

Everyone enjoying thier (trial version) Wii browsers? I nearly missed my train trying out different sites and browsing around the community. But i'm typing this safely from the train now, so i made it (thanks opera mini).

While browsing i was pleased to see some ofmust have imagined Opera's 'mouse gestures' mapped successfully to the Wii remote. here's what i found this morning:
Hold B to scroll w/ pointer.
Hold B and move quick to the left or right for Back and Forward respectively. Update: I must have dreamt this, but I went back by accident, then went forward. has anyone else got this to work, or am i being drugged?
press 2 for an alternate view (small screen rendering) that makes reading easier for some.
+ and - to zoom in and out.

Has anyone found any more? and what do you think of the controls in the trial version so far?