Play and Win On A Rainy Saturday Afternoon

game –noun
[geym]
1. a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators
It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon here in Capital City, staying inside mourning the loss of Summer I’m beginning to feel a little bit bored and a little bit anxious with my financial situation. As you may know, when boredom and anxiety hits I turn to the internet to find some distractions.

Today I stumbled across a site called SkillAddiction.com. This site hosts free online games that you can Play and Win prizes ranging from as little as $5 to upwards of $1,000. The games vary from strategy, action and arcade games to puzzles and card games. If you become a member you can join up to 5 different types of tournaments, including head to head, group tournaments, and progressive jackpot tournaments. The site may be relatively new but they already boast thousands of members and over 50,000 tournaments running daily. With over $10,000 already won by players this could be a fun way to try to pay down my enormous debt.

The only shortcoming I have found with the site so far is the time it takes to actually register. After stumbling across SkillAddiction.com I excitedly sign-up for an account, after close to 30 minutes was still waiting for my verification email. Although it does take some time, it is well worth the wait, so try to be patient, you will thank me for it.

If you end signing up for an account leave your user name in the comments section and I’ll challenge you one of these days. I have to warn you, I got some skills.




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The Folly With Facebook

ad⋅dic⋅tion –noun
[uh-dik-shuhn]
1. the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma
Other than the most notable problems, those concerning privacy issues especially in Canada, Facebook has become to be known as the root of all evil. There are stories of people being fired, not landing a job, students getting expelled from school, and relationships ending in ruin all because of Facebook.

Before social networking websites the only times these things could happen is if someone close to you, whether it be your co-workers, your references, your teachers of your friends and family dropped the ball and put your character in a bad light. Now anyone can tag you in an embarrassing photo, video or note for the world to see.

Granted there are steps you can take to protect yourself, and many of the potential problems can be avoided if you use social networking responsibly. However this is a relatively new technology and the problems have never had to be dealt with before. Many people will require some education on how to responsibly use social networking. Especially the younger people, it’s scary for me to think that they will be the first generation where their entire life is documented digitally, never to be permanently erased.

Thankfully for myself, my highschool years are comprised of a few memories in people’s heads and a couple of pictures, most of which have been lost or destroyed.

For my own experience with Facebook I found it had become an obsession. Working from home, alone, I have been cut off from any type of social interaction. Facebook filled that void. But when my habit became checking the News Page every 20 minutes I knew I was addicted. I kicked the habit cold turkey in the winter of 2008. And like any addiction I actually went through withdrawal.

After a few months of being Facebook free I went back to that monkey and placed him on my back. It’s been 2 months now, sensibly using. I think this time I might have it beat.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone has written anything new on my Wall…

For more reading on the Folly of Facebook check out the top 10 reasons why Facebook is Evil.



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The Trouble With Twitter

lone⋅ly –adjective
[lohn-lee]
1. affected with, characterized by, or causing a depressing feeling of being alone; lonesome.

I was encouraged by my boss to open a Twitter account last year. If you don’t know what Twitter is let me explain.

Twitter is essentially a micro-blogging social network that allows you to post updates of only 140 characters. My boss thought by having a Twitter account it would help with marketing for our clients. Potential partners would easily be able to confirm I am a real person and not some link spammer from India.

Being a regular user of Facebook, Twitter was easy to get the hang of. Essentially your ‘tweets’ are the same as your Facebook status updates.

However the major difference I found between Facebook and Twitter is this – on Facebook my contacts are actual people I know, friends, old highschool pals, acquaintances and even previous one-night stands. On Twitter however my contacts are complete strangers, excluding of course the few people I actually know, like MwiStar from The African Accent.

At first I would update my Twitter account with all the nonsense stuff I was doing in the day along with posting links to some of my marketing contacts. That was until I watched this episode of SuperNews!Now I just can’t do it anymore. I feel ridiculous, and have to laugh at some of my contacts personal updates. I keep thinking ‘None of you have any friends!’.



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The Problem With Plenty Of Fish

damaged goods –noun
[dam-ij-d goo-ds]
1. a person who is impaired, corrupted, or defiled

A few months ago at a dinner party the topic of Internet dating came up, specifically two sites Plenty of Fish, a free dating site apparently run by one guy out of his Vancouver apartment, and a paid site called eHarmony.ca, developed by Dr. Neil Clark Warren. Two of my friends were trying out both of the sites, without any success. The complaint with eHarmoy.ca, besides the monthly fee, was the amount of time it took to actually get a chance to speak with someone. With Plenty of Fish, although it was free, the quality of potential mates was not really there. Although these two friends were not happy with the results, they kept their accounts going for well over 2 months.

I have always been a big proponent against Internet dating. When asked why, my only real argument was that it was too easy. Finding someone should not be like going through a catalogue and ordering merchandise. There is no thrill, no butterflies, and no spark. These were just assumptions on my part, so ever being curious and constantly Chasing Distractions, I decided to test out the world of online dating.

Being in the perpetual state of 'brokeness' I opted for the free dating site and created a profile on Plenty of Fish. Within the first few days I noticed something wrong with the potential mates on the site. No one seemed to respond to any of my emails. After changing tactics and slimming down my original contact I started to receive responses. After building what I assumed was an appropriate time on back and forth communication I attempted to plan ‘dates’, a time a place to meet someone for a drink or a coffee. It was at this point where everyone backed off. Excuses were made, or strange requests such as they would only agree to a date if I could lend them money first.
It may be hard to get the sense of someones personality through email and instant messages, but one thing that does stick out is when people are not right in some way. Now I know at this point if you have been reading my blog that last statement is ‘like the pot calling the kettle black’, but it is true. In my opinion, Plenty of Fish seems to deal in damaged goods.
Or it could just be that I am the one that is damaged goods... nah, that can't be right.
Maybe I should finally take down this ‘motivational' poster my ex-girlfriend gave me:




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The 7-Minute Morning Workout

ex⋅er⋅cise  –noun
[ek-ser-sahyz]
1. bodily or mental exertion, esp. for the sake of training or improvement of health

A friend of mine shared this 7-minute workout with me the other day. It may not seem like a big deal, 7-minutes is not a long time, but after three days of doing this I can already feel it. And let me tell you these 7-minutes are hard, really hard.



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