Some Kind of Funny

(Source)

I actually wish I got more e-cards from folks (hint, hint). This one from someecards is fun and fantastic! There are more like this to send - go crazy!

Check it:
someecards

Big Money! Big Money!

My Latest Moola Update: $31.27! (Source)

It's been about 2 months since I signed up with Moola.com, and last night I finally hit another milestone! I surpassed the $30 mark! Woot, woot! I am a Hi-Lo genius! There have been many-a-moment that I just wanted to delete my account. Moola is quite addictive, especially for those "I-want-to-kill-time-moments" (which for me is all the time). Moola has just given me 100 invites, so if you're intrigued and think you have the umph to win big money, go and sign up! It's free, and you get a penny to start!

Click on the invitation below:
http://www.moola.com:80/moopubs/b2b/exc/join.jsp?sid=4d5449744e7a63794e44413d-2

Check it:
Moola.com
It's Official: I'm Addicted to Moola.com, Sprampblog (September 18, 2007)

Spramp Hodgepodge 1

Originally uploaded by Burn-A-Bee

In no particular order, 10 news- and blog-worthy things that caught my attention today. It's a little bit geeky, somewhat artsy, and big gay and fun. Enjoy the hodgepodge...

• What's So Special About Left-Handers?, Seattle Times (November 3, 2007)
• Las Vegas Goes All Out to Attract Gay Travelers, Wall Street Journal (November 2, 2007)
• Imperium: Google's March Towards Becoming America's Biggest Company, TechCrunch (November 1, 2007)
• Consolidate Your Phones with GrandCentral [Screenshot Tour], Lifehacker (November 1, 2007)
• Ireland to Introduce Civil Partnership Legislation, Towleroad (November 1, 2007)
• 25 Best Web Sites, Kiplinger (November 2007)
• Pilots Fell Asleep on Overnight Flight, Rick Seaney (November 2, 2007)
• Invention of the Year: iPhone, Ars Technica (November 1, 2007)
• Sotheby's Surprising Sizzle, Business Week (November 12, 2007)
• An Explosion of Color, in Black and White, New York Magazine (November 1, 2007)
  

Image is courtesy of Burn-a-Bee - check out his photo set "Macros of a Dying Plant," from which I chose the image.

Joost Is Now Live

Joost Screenshot (Source)
Joost has now officially gone live to all. Joost lets you watch TV online. I had gotten a beta invite months ago, but have not (and will) get to use Joost's services. Why? So get this: Joost is not compatible with PowerPC Macs! I think the technology behind this venture is fantastic, but sucks that the company is ostracizing a whole chunk of the Mac community!

Check it out and let me know what you think:
Joost.com (www.joost.com)

Be My Smackin' Friend at Jellyfish

Spramp's Profile on Jellyfish.com (Source)
Be my Smackin' Friend on Jellyfish:

• http://www.jellyfish.com/users/signup/spramp

Check it:
"Microsoft's Jellyfish Buy Is No Stinger," Business Week (October 3, 2007)

Check It: Smack It at Jellyfish!

Screenshot of Jellyfish.com (Source)
Yup - I've got another addiction. It's called "Smack" ... smack shopping, that is. For those of you in the know, "smack" is a group of jellyfish (you learn something new everyday, eh?), and hence the name. Jellyfish has been described as a "reverse auction" site. Products are put up for auction with the retail price shown; slowly the price decreases. It is up to you, as a buyer, to figure out at what price you want the product. So in theory, you could win the item for free (although I have yet to see this happen). The only snag is, you don't know the quantity of the item being auctioned. So if you're waiting for say a 90% discount, and there's one item of the product you want in stock, someone will most likely snag (or smack) the product at a smaller discount than you wanted. It's all about timing, and the final price includes shipping! Plus, all the items are brand new! I have yet to smack an item, though I've seen some great deals pass me by. Jellyfish has time slots for an array of products that fit themes, such as products for photography or apparel. Because of this, you can't really just smack shop on the fly - it helps to know when groups of products are being sold that you are actually interested in. And for this there is a lovely schedule provided. You can, however, earn coins or cash back by visiting partner shopping sites. Coins can be redeemed for a bunch of things. In my period of lurking, I noticed that Jellyfish is very much a social networking site as well. Smack shoppers can create profile, add buddy shoppers, and chat with each other. There's a nifty space for audience members to chat while an auction is going. One of my biggest complaints is the speed of the auctions. It feels unbearably long sometimes to get from one item to the next. Unless you're participating in the community chat, I suspect that people just leave the Jellyfish window or tab open while they do other things on the Web. It would be kind of cool to have multiple auctions happening at once - just a thought. I actually like the premise of the site a lot, and will definitely use the site more in days to come! I love a bargain, and you'll definitely get one if you can get your reverse auction skills down!


It was just announced today that Microsoft has purchased Jellyfish! I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing yet. If anything, they now have a bigger pot of money to spend to get this sucker going! A strategic cock-block maybe from eBay? Interesting, interesting ...

Check it:
Jellyfish.com
About Jellyfish

Read it:
Microsoft Acquires Discount Shopping Site Jellyfish.com, TechCrunch.com (October 2, 2007).
At This Auction Site, Prices (on Chickens, iPods, Etc.) Are Going, Going Down, WashingtonPost.com (July 1, 2007)

Visit it:
Spramp's Jellyfish Profile

Check It: The Anne Bonny

The Anne Bonny, Screenshot of Homepage (Source)
I've been trying to catch up on my pile of The Seattle Times. I've gotten a free daily subscription, which has become more overwhelming than anything else. Free is free, I guess, so I shouldn't complain. I stumbled upon a really great article about The Anne Bonny, a store that sells "Art, Home Accoutrements, and Dead People's Furniture," based out of Seattle. I like the idea that drove the owner Spencer Moody to start the store...something like: "F*ck it, I'm starting a store, and I'm selling what I f*cking" want!" It's not only an eclectic store, but also a venue for arts and music. I love that. I'm in the process of trying to translate that ethos into my own life ... stay tuned and check out the The Anne Bonny if you're ever in Seattle.

The Anne Bonny
1355 East Olive Way
Seattle WA 98122

Check it:
"Retail Notebook: What he likes is what he sells: The Anne Bonny trades on eclectic tastes," Seattle PI (September 21, 2007).

Also check:
The Anne Bonny Homepage
and for fantastic images from The Anne Bonny - The Anne Bonny Flickr Page.

It's Official: I'm Addicted to Moola.com

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)
I've been remiss once again with blogging, but I've been hard at work - my "other" work - I promise. In my breaks, however, I've been Beta-hopping. What, you might ask, is Beta-hopping? I've been testing out quite a few Web sites/services that are in Beta-testing mode - sites that aren't officially "live," but rather sites that are testing things out with people who've been "invited." Keep those invites coming! Recently I got a fantastic invite for Moola.com - an online site that offers visitors up to $10 million by competing with each other on 3 games on the site. Moola gives you a penny, and it is up to you to try to double it by winning matches against others. Each win, in theory, can double your bank: so 1 cent to 2 cent; 2 to 4; 4 to 8; up to $10 million. The games are easy to figure out: Hi/Lo card game; Rock, Paper, Scissors; and Guess the Weight of Gold Nuggets. But as easy as they are, they can be rather frustrating! I spent well over 3 hours last night, only to get 2 cents by the end of the night - can we say obsessive? You can earn more money, using Moola as your search page - it uses Google to handle the searches. The site also has cashback you can earn by shopping on partner sites. The site earns revenue by selling ads that each gamer has to watch before he/she can play. It's not as bad as you think, actually. I only wish the ads were shorter. My other suggestion is: more games! Playing the three games over and over gets tiring. But having said that, the site still manages to grab that competitive spirit of folks like myself, keeping us on the site for hours and hours. Good for Moola - bad for trying to those of us trying to be productive citizens.

If you want a Moola invite from me, CLICK HERE or on the SCREENSHOT below.

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)

BTW: I'm out of Grand Central Invites. Thanks for those who wrote to ask for one! Cheers!

We Love Kiva.org!

Kiva.org Screenshot (Source: Kiva.org)
So I've been spending the day trying really hard to maintain my good karma - to do good things and to stay out of trouble. It's hard to escape the profundity of the day, not that we necessarily should try to escape. Quite the opposite, I think. We shouldn't lose sight of the violent events that transpired 6 years ago, nor the continuing violence taking place in our country and throughout the world. We should move forward, propelled by what is now, for better or worst, part of our collective history. I've been asking myself some pretty tough and loaded questions today, like: How can we generate meaningful dialogue with each other? For artists, writers, and intellectuals, can we create and produce visual and written work that speaks to a collective history that moves beyond rarefied notions of "us" vs. "them"? Can we somehow give of ourselves to those around us without necessarily a desire to get anything back? Obviously, a lot of this is rhetorical. But what I take from this day are the resounding answers that "we can" and perhaps "we ought to."

So today I decided to open an account with Kiva.org - the fantastic Web site/service that allows everyday folks like you and me to help folks throughout the world become entrepreneurs and to pull themselves out of poverty through microcredit-lending. All it takes is $25 and a vision to help. I heard about Kiva.org way before Oprah had featured the organization on her show a few weeks ago, but have been sitting on the sidelines for no real reason other than the inertia of my work and life distracted me (sadly). We need organizations like Kiva to help us re-focus and re-evaluate our privilege and, bottom-line, to help those who need it the most.

I would love to see Kiva expand the scope of microcredit-lending to include folks in the U.S.

Check it:
Kiva.org
"D.I.Y. Foreign Aid," New York Times (March 27, 2007) - Video
Microlending on Wikipedia

Spramp Art: Hello 20x200.com!

20x200.com Screen Capture (Source)
I was reading the latest issue of Dwell in which the fantastic site by gallerista Jen Beckman called 20x200.com is featured. Naturally, I had to check it out. The idea behind the art online gallery/shop is simple:

"large editions + low prices x the internet = art for everyone"

You can purchase fantastic 200 edition prints for $20. Prices increase as editions decrease. I love it! The official site is set to go full-on live September 15, though you can pick up some early prints NOW! You can now own a print made by one of my fave artists, Amy Ross, who I've featured before.


Manshroom by Amy Ross, 200 edition, $20 (Source)

Check it:
20x200.com
"20x200 Is Here!," Personism (September 9, 2007)
"Spramp Art: The Fungal Beauties of Amy Ross," Sprampblog.com (August 21, 2007)

Interesting: InviteShare.com Might Be Your Answer

Screenshot of InviteShare.com
I've been getting a lot of traffic from the Grand Central blog, when I posted my need for a Grand Central invite (which is fantastic!). Grand Central invites are highly coveted - which is understandable since GC is super fantastic! If you still want an invite for Grand Central or any other highly coveted Web sites in Beta testing or sites that are exclusive, you might want to try InviteShare (www.inviteshare.com), where a whole community of invite-seekers and the invited can congregate and share! Grand Central is among the top invites on InviteShare, btw. Check it!

Interesting: Get Green on Yahoo!

Alongside its new omg! site, Yahoo! has implemented a "green" portal of sorts called Yahoo! Green. Get your fix of celeb-gossip and then appease your guilty conscience and go green! This is a perfect combo for someone like me. Although, like omg!, Yahoo! Green is still in its nascent stage - honestly, I still much prefer the fantastic green blog Treehugger (www.treehugger.com) to this one. Check it out nonetheless.

Interesting: OMG on Yahoo!

OMG! beta on Yahoo! (omg.yahoo.com) Screenshot (Source)
Taking the cue from other popular celebrity gossip blogs (Perezhilton.com, Pinkisthenewblog.com, and Dlisted.com and others), Yahoo! has started omg! beta. I love the widget function! Otherwise, where's the snarky comments that the other celeb-blogs do so well? Yahoo! needs a resident snark (or spramp) to spice things up on omg! - otherwise it's just a site built around the AP newswire and pictures with staid captions.

Interesting: My Widgets, My iTunes

Apple My iTunes Widgets Screenshot (Source)
Apple has decided to jump on the widgets' bandwagon (and not the kind that pop up when you hit F12) - I'm talking about the kind that bloggers totally drool over - the kind that you'll see all over the sidebars of blogs (<------- Here ------->) . Apple has released My iTunes Widgets that will let your friends, lovers, and blog readers know what you've purchased, what you love, and what you've reviewed (Note: If you don't use iTunes, this new Apple widget is basically worthless). I have yet to incorporate it onto my site, but expect something soon - so long as I can figure out where in the world to put one in my already crowded sidebar space.

Read also: "Apple introduces My iTunes Widgets," TUAW (August 9, 2007)

Spramp the World 2: Flight 001 Sale!

Flight 001 Sale!
If you're gonna travel, why not go in style. Check out Flight 001 Summer Sale (www.flight001.com) for some fantastic deals on everything you might need for your next "Spramp the World" journey. I absolutely love this online store and am very excited to see them expand their bricks-and-mortar business (come to Seattle!) Remember: receive an additional 10% off by using the code: SALE at checkout. Sale ends August 18, 2007. (That blue tote in the advertisement is so tempting!)

All the store needs now is a soundtrack, n'est-ce pas?

Visit: Flight 001 - www.flight001.com

Not So Itsy Bitsy - Etsy.com

Etsy.com Screen Shot (Source)
Sometimes it's so hard being me ... you know, a shopping addict. My latest and really fantastic discovery is the shopping Web site for lovers of arts and crafts and "all things handmade" - Etsy.com. People who make beautiful things can sign up to sell their wares for people like me to buy, buy, buy and admire forever! Check it out and support your friendly artists/craftspeople ...

Read: "Etsy: A Site for Artisans Takes Off," Business Week (July 12, 2007)

Eat With UrbanSpoon

Screenshot of UrbanSpoon.com
I'm all for fantastic tools to make my eating experience better. Check out UrbanSpoon.com, a one-stop restaurant guide/portal. Seattle is well-represented! You can also search for places to eat in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, DC. I love it!

Bargain Picking in the Amazon

Screenshot of JungleCrazy.com
If you haven't already guessed, I have a sickness called "shopping." I've been known to online window-shop for hours, always trying to find an online coupon or code for free shipping and/or money off. I highly recommend the fantastic shopping resource called RetailMeNot.com, an online consolidator for coupons and codes. It's a community of money-conscious and bargain-basement fanatics that have no problems sharing the wealth by posting the retail deals that they've found. I confess, I use it a lot! I stumbled upon a sister site whilst perusing RetailMeNot called JungleCrazy.com. If you've ever just been totally overwhelmed with the immensity that is Amazon.com, you'll find JungleCrazy.com a great way to find the hidden deals that litter Amazon. The site only features items from Amazon that is at least 70% (now if that isn't incentive to use JungleCrazy.com, well, you probably have more money than me). Check the site out. Bookmark it. And go crazy in the jungle!

Twitter Twitter

Addendum: For Mac users, you can download an application called Twitterific that allows you to post Twitters without having to visit the Twitter.com Web site. Visit Iconfactory to download and twit, twit away! (July 20, 2007)


Twitter Screenshot (Source: Twitter.com)
Some days I feel like I'm on top the latest trends, other days I'm slow to everything happening within a 2 foot radius around me. I might be way behind on discovering this "thing" called Twitter, but oh well ... I've signed up, and I'm giving it a go! Twitter helps facilitate the inherent need of folks to know the answer to the age-old question: "What Are You Doing?" I'm all for tools that helps us feel more important than we really are! In short: Twitter is a social-networking site with a simple premise that helps connect the curious to other curious-minded folk. I especially like the "badge" function that lets you embed your updates on other social networking sites such as MySpace or on your personal blogs - I've got mine embedded already on the right sidebar! Come add me as a Twitter friend!

Find me at: www.twitter.com/spramp .

Speaking of social networking. I've been a bad monkey for not realizing this any sooner! MySpace has a way of policing folks' profiles that screws with people's CSS codes! Hence all this time I thought the links on my MySpace page all worked. They don't! Ugh. Be patient with me. I need to get all that MySpace shizz in order before I can start getting messages and adding folks as friends. Boo on MySpace!

Coffee, Tea, or Eisley

Telescope Eyes (Live Studio Recording @ Studio UGO) (Source: studiougo via Youtube)


I'm sitting here having a cup of coffee and pining for Seattle. Tis true, coffee doesn't taste nearly as good here as a cup in Seattle. I know there's no logical explanation for that, but whatever - bear with me, I have one more night in the big A2, and I'm ready for the calmness that is Seattle! Since I've been thinking about coffee for way too much time (more time than I'd like to admit), I want to share with you a super fantastic Web site I discovered. The other night I had a spell of insomnia and happened upon a documentary about coffee on the National Geographic Channel (dork that I am) called "Coffee: Beans to Buzz" at 3am. The documentary was surprisingly good for what it was worth. It was intelligent and actually covered a pretty good swath of coffee history - and naturally, Starbucks is prominently featured. During the program, the Web site Delocator (www.delocator.net) is featured. Delocator is a fantastic search tool for those of us who enjoy patronizing independently-owned and locally-based coffee houses (and bookstores, and movie theaters). Just type in your address and a whole slew of coffee houses in your area pops up! It's really a great way to discover new coffee places (and people)! Check it out!


Delocator Web Site
But on another note, I've been listening to one of my fave songs on repeat while philosophizing about coffee and Seattle. At the top of this post is a YouTube vid of the fantastic band Eisley performing the song "Telescope Eyes" live at Studio UGO. I absolutely love this song! The song is off the 2005 album Room Noises. Eisley is a family affair, comprised of four DuPree siblings and a Dupree cousin, who are all very cute and sweet-looking. But as you listen to the song, you can feel the depth of their emotive angst. Their voices come together seamlessly and with a melancholic force that makes you want to hit that repeat button again and again. I have heard two versions of "Telescope Eyes," both having different tempos. I prefer the faster version (or the one performed in the YouTube video), which I think has more lyrics than the slower version. Regardless, I do love me some Eisley any day, and this song will forever remain one of my favorites.

Telescope Eyes, Eisley, Room Noises (2005) (Courtesy of Cicles of Concrete)

I [Heart] Eisley (Source: Eisley Myspace)
Eisley is due to release a new album Combinations on August 14, 2007. The first single out is called "Invasions," which you can listen to in its entirety on their MySpace page. I've now listened to it a couple of times, and I love it too. Check it out!

Invasion, Eisley, Invasion - Single (2007)

Anyone want to come with me to see Eisley on July 23, 2007 at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle? I need more coffee and more Eisley!