Wednesday, June 18, 2008

"Lifecasting"

I realize I haven't written a word since Brett Favre announced his retirement. One or two of you might have recognized that, too. I was filled with all kinds of emotion about it, and I certainly had blog fodder, but I never did bring myself to respond here. Instead, I grabbed my support system and held tight as we went through all the coping stages together. I may circle back around to this at some point. ...Oh, who am I kidding? We all know I will. Stay tuned.

The newest time-sucker in my life was introduced thanks to some enterprising fellow geeks on a site called Justin.tv. I've been a Woot addict for years. I tune in every night at midnight Central time (no matter where I am, as long as I'm near an Internet connection) and check out what's on the block tonight. Every once in a while, I make a purchase. (My most recent one was two nights ago, when I picked up some new cases for my iPhone.)

But I'm certainly not alone. Dozens to hundreds of other geeks across the land are dialed in to Woot, all of us hitting F5 together at the zero hour. One fellow geek in particular -- we'll call him Mike (because that's his name) -- was enterprising enough to gather the resources and know-how to begin broadcasting live from his home every night fifteen minutes before the new products dropped (the time now known as "a quarter-to-Woot"). He used Justin.tv because that allowed him to connect with fellow Wooters via chat as he broadcast. The result? WootTV. Mike and his viewers gather together and make predictions about what the Woot will be. He has a pickle and drinks a Zija or a Guinness. If it's worth discussing, the latest product is talked about briefly as we decide whether and/or how many to buy. Then sometimes we hang out and play a game of trivia or exercise some other type of foolishness together. It's usually a blast.

So as I kept watching Mike do his thing, I kept thinking, Man, I could do that. And so now I do. Every night at three-quarters-to-a-quarter-to-Woot (a.k.a. $1-to-Woot... or 11pm Central), I broadcast from my place. DeeDee rolls her eyes, but tolerates it. I've worked through most of the growing pains. The only major one remaining (over which I really have no control) is my less-than-stellar DSL connection speed, but for now the solution is to simply 'cast at a lower bitrate. But you don't really give a shit about that, do you?

The point is, I'm 'casting nightly (or just about) now, and I'd love it if you'd stop on by and say howdy. We have fun, and the more the merrier. Come check me out! Don't worry: I'll post some details soon on how best to assimilate so that you don't look like a total n00b, tool, or dicknuckle.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm seriously waiting for you all to break out the Dungeons and Dragons. I'm blown away with geekdom. I feel like I should bow to you or something...Is there like some sort of conference or something you all can organize? Similar to a Trekkie convention. Startling similar. LOL Just giving you crap... of course. This was the first time I'd really taken a good look. Too funny.

1:02 AM  

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