You know when you sign up for something online, yo…

You know when you sign up for something online, you have to occasionally give your birthdate? Back in the internet-boom days, this was “personalization,” the great little get-to-know-ya thing that was supposed to revoloutionize the internet. You give them your information and they would target products to you based on your info and send you emails, etc. But you always had to enter your birthday. So through the years, I’ve signed up for a few things here and there (Friendster, Amazon, blah blah blah) and I always wondered when some company would utilize my data and send me a birthday wish. Today, my dreams came true.

The Boston Bruins sent me an email this morning wishing me a happy birthday. Isn’t that sweet? There is, however, one problem – I never have signed up for anything with the Boston Bruins website and today is not my birthday. Screw the internet.

Off to New York today until Friday for my, uh, internet related job. Will post from the Big Apple as I attend the Search Engine Strategies conference. Whoooooo!

Who wants to play Pac-Man?

Ruminating today about decision-making. What happe…

Ruminating today about decision-making. What happens in our brain that sways us to do one thing over another? If you have two choices to make for places to go on a Friday night, it’s almost always a pretty simple decision. But what’s at work inside our heads when we’re walking down the street and there’s a person coming at us from the opposite direction? How does the decision get made to stay left or right? Is it a conscious decision? It’s made in a matter of milli-seconds in that example, but there’s got to be some kind of internal process that decides it. This morning, this process fascinates me.

My example about walking down the street is an interesting one – I read somewhere that the decision-making process in that scenario actually comes from hundreds of years ago. What I read was that it was an unwritten law that men would always walk furthest from the street (in affect, staying to the right) and that women would stay closer to the street (left) because there were bound to be more accidents or mishaps closer to the street. Since men were considered more important than women in those times, that’s the way it worked. It became such standard practice, such a part of the fiber of daily life, that eventually it just become second-hand – an unconscious decision – and as generations passed, it just became hard-wired to the point where it was automatic.

Of course, our society today and its views on women has changed significantly. But next time you’re walking down the street, pay some attention to people who are walking in the opposite direction from each other and how they interact and what split-second decision they make, particularly men and women. Also try to pay attention to yourself as you walk down the street.

Decision-making is really an interesting subject. For example, what made me choose a heavy ceramic monkey to hold my business cards at work?

First things first, this new law recently enacted …

First things first, this new law recently enacted by the state of Massachusetts has put a damper on my heterosexual marraige plans. Stephanie won’t be pleased. The question: is there a grandfather clause which lets currently married or engaged people maintain their heterosexual union while determining the partner for their homosexual one? Stay tuned.

Lots of good search engine material recently. Of course, there’s the latest Wired cover story, which features 13 full pages of nothing but Google. It reads much more like a paid advertisement than an article, really. What I mean is that this piece is more suited to People magazine, based on it’s near-adolescent content and writing. Wired, normally a pretty fantastic magazine/editorial, ought to be ashamed of themselves really, but let’s face it, Google’s a juggernaut now and we’ll probably see more of it in the weeks and months to come. I’ll hold off on adding “years” to that statement for now.

Wouldn’t hurt to take note of this interview, too, with Ask Jeeves VP Of Product Management, who makes some interesting comments about the future of search (editorial note: I work for Ask Jeeves).

I’ve noted here previously about my disdain for the sport of basketball. But it’s kinda cool to see that Kent State, my alma mater, has strung together some very impressive seasons, including this year. When I was at Kent, all of our sports team were pretty horrible, with the exception of baseball, who had a dominating young pitcher named Dustin Hermanson at the time. You might recognize his name. Anyway, I believe that while I was at Kent, the aggregate record of our Division 1 football team was 1-39. I think.

Song now playing: The Clash – “Lost in the Supermarket”

I got a call late yesterday afternoon and it was a…

I got a call late yesterday afternoon and it was a friend-of-a-friend who was looking for someone to play hockey in his league because a few guys couldn’t make it. Seeing as though the rink was less than 5 miles from my house, I accepted.

So anyway, I’d like to thank the guy on the other team who thought it was a 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals and decided to hack me with his stick:

Is there anything more bizarre or frustrating than people who are so competitive that they feel like they have to do these type of things? Maybe competitive isn’t the right word. How about maniac? Some people are just not mentally prepared or mature enough to accept the fact that everyone out there playing has to work the next day, or that most of us are there to have fun and burn off some calories. I mean, is it that important? Oh well….

Song now playing: Tarbox Ramblers – “Columbus Stockade”