Subject: Bored at work
MW,
i've been supremely bored at work lately. things are seriously slowing down (busy time is oct.-mar., boring time is all the other time). so i need things to do.
here is what i have:
the internet, a mac, general office supplies, a zagat guide
but the key is that i MUST look as though i'm working.
so in the end, even if you just come up with something ridiculous that i can't do, that's okay b/c it will at least allow me a short reprise from boredom when i read about it. or you might not use this in your mailbag. who knows? you're the creative artist here. you can do whatever you want.
I've never been called a "creative artist" before. "Bum," definitely, but never "creative artist. This better be good, I guess. Anyway, it took me forever to come up with this and it might actually be a terrible game, but here's what I've got. All you need to play is a computer with the internet and access to Google for a game I like to call...
Internet Roulette (The "I'm Feeling Lucky" Game)
Okay, here's what you need to do. Come up with any phrase, it doesn't matter what. Although it's probably a good idea to avoid anything with a sexual connotation if you're at work. Now, type that phrase into Google and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button (it's right next to the regular search button). Now, this should take you directly to a website that may or may not have anything to do with what you typed in. Whatever the site you're sent to is about, determine a one-or-two word phrase that you can say the site is generally about (or just take the title in the title bar), go back to Google, type that phrase into the search bar and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" again. Repeat the process until you end up at the same website twice. The number of web pages you see before you hit the same one two times is your score.
Here's an example. Let's use the phrase "miserable failure." If you type "miserable failure" into Google and click on "I'm Feeling Lucky," you get this. I'm not kidding. Anyway, we can determine pretty easily that the subject of this page is "George W. Bush." So, let's go back to Google, type in his name and hit the "Lucky" button again. This time, we're sent here -- a much less interesting connection. We'll say that the subject of this page is "Republican Party." We Google that and we're sent back to the site where we just were. So, we've been to three websites, and as such, our score is 3. Go for the highest score you can, but don't try to make up obscure subjects for pages, 'cause that's cheating.
Got a question for MW? Want to show off your high score in Internet Roulette? Send an e-mail.
(Side-note: If you type in "MW Blog" and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky," you get this. It's about Chicago and the midwest, or I guess you could say media photographers. Either way, it only gets a score of two.)
i've been supremely bored at work lately. things are seriously slowing down (busy time is oct.-mar., boring time is all the other time). so i need things to do.
here is what i have:
the internet, a mac, general office supplies, a zagat guide
but the key is that i MUST look as though i'm working.
so in the end, even if you just come up with something ridiculous that i can't do, that's okay b/c it will at least allow me a short reprise from boredom when i read about it. or you might not use this in your mailbag. who knows? you're the creative artist here. you can do whatever you want.
I've never been called a "creative artist" before. "Bum," definitely, but never "creative artist. This better be good, I guess. Anyway, it took me forever to come up with this and it might actually be a terrible game, but here's what I've got. All you need to play is a computer with the internet and access to Google for a game I like to call...
Internet Roulette (The "I'm Feeling Lucky" Game)
Okay, here's what you need to do. Come up with any phrase, it doesn't matter what. Although it's probably a good idea to avoid anything with a sexual connotation if you're at work. Now, type that phrase into Google and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button (it's right next to the regular search button). Now, this should take you directly to a website that may or may not have anything to do with what you typed in. Whatever the site you're sent to is about, determine a one-or-two word phrase that you can say the site is generally about (or just take the title in the title bar), go back to Google, type that phrase into the search bar and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" again. Repeat the process until you end up at the same website twice. The number of web pages you see before you hit the same one two times is your score.
Here's an example. Let's use the phrase "miserable failure." If you type "miserable failure" into Google and click on "I'm Feeling Lucky," you get this. I'm not kidding. Anyway, we can determine pretty easily that the subject of this page is "George W. Bush." So, let's go back to Google, type in his name and hit the "Lucky" button again. This time, we're sent here -- a much less interesting connection. We'll say that the subject of this page is "Republican Party." We Google that and we're sent back to the site where we just were. So, we've been to three websites, and as such, our score is 3. Go for the highest score you can, but don't try to make up obscure subjects for pages, 'cause that's cheating.
Got a question for MW? Want to show off your high score in Internet Roulette? Send an e-mail.
(Side-note: If you type in "MW Blog" and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky," you get this. It's about Chicago and the midwest, or I guess you could say media photographers. Either way, it only gets a score of two.)
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