"The hunt begins, Number One." Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
When thinking about what to post on here, I find there are a lot of awesome things on the 'nets and just in general that I feel people should know about but which would be old news to many savvy readers. Think of this as a "catch you up" post for anyone unfamiliar with the links to follow.
This free, browser-based game has rapidly gained a huge following for its wit, easy to pick up gameplay and ever-expanding world. With classes like Seal Clubbers (who hail from the Frigid Northlands, because you always need a class that hails from the Frigid Northlands) and Pastamancers (I cast Spaghetti Spear at the darkness!) and pop-culture references to everything from the Final Fantasy games to classic literature, it makes reading item descriptions and battle messages as entertaining as beating down the various denizens on your way to free King Ralph. The game doesn't end there, oh no....it features a "reincarnation" ability that allows you to play through again and again, and enough versatility and new stuff that it doesn't get boring to do so. I've been playing for years and still haven't gone through all the content yet....
One deal. One day. One website that makes rotating orange lights sexy.
Each day woot.com features one item, usually nerd-oriented, at a cheap price. The item is only on sale until midnight central time (when something new is posted) or the product sells out. Their product descriptions are laboriously crafted to provide accurate descriptions and humor, and the website encourages community reviews and conversation about the items it sells.
Shipping is always $5 for the entire order, and you can usually buy anywhere from one to three of the item listed.
Tuesdays have a two-for-one theme, where the offer includes two of whatever it is they're selling (for those of you who like doing the math, that means if you buy your maximum 3 you'd get 6 items).
There are now several different woot sites, including
shirt.woot.com (which offers one t-shirt a day for $10 with free shipping),
kids.woot.com,
wine.woot.com, and
sellout.woot.com.
The best part of woot.com, though, is the ever-so-addictive "Woot-Offs", which I'm sure cause huge productivity slowdowns in the world of cubicle-dwellers. These events feature extra stock at even more heavily reduced prices. One item at a time goes up, complete with a status bar to show how many are left, and as soon as it sells out they throw another up. You can tell a Woot-Off is in progress by the spinning lights graphics on the page and the aforementioned progress bar.
Not only can you get great deals on Woot-Off days, you might also be one of the lucky few to land a Random Crap item (otherwise known as a Bag O' Crap). These sell out within seconds. They cost $1 with $5 for shipping and you'll get at least 3 items of some sort. This could be anything from the super-cheap to the super-expensive; the mystery's half the fun!
One of the most quotable sitcoms in years, especially so if you consider yourself at all nerdy. The plot centers around three physicists, an engineer, and a waitress who works at the Cheescake Factory along with a veritable rainbow of colorful supporting characters that includes Will Wheaton. If you haven't yet,
go watch it. Now.
