16 posts tagged “qotd”

What's the best April Fools' Day prank you've ever had pulled on you?
Courtesy of Team Vox.

I am pretty sure that all this news of phasing out of the Vox QotD and the Vox Hunt is a top runner.  :D

I wish that Google would offer custom time stamp for emails. That would be so awesome because it would make procrastinators all around the world have to work to find new ways to procrastinate.  Custom time stamping would be like Tivo for real life! Or something.

Good ones, people. Keep it up.

What is your daily commute like?  What is the weirdest thing you've seen on that commute? 
Submitted by E. 

My commute, like tens of thousands of Angelenos, is in my car along the freeway, and then along the streets the rest of the way. Rarely is there traffic in my direction which is always somewhat weird to me considering I often use a notoriously gridlocked freeway, Interstate 405. After checking that link, I just learned that the numbers on the exit signs correspond to miles from the freeway origin. I had no idea!  No one ever really says "Take Exit 33B." They just say the street name.

I usually listen to the radio in the car and it's pleasant and all, but not nearly as interesting as this:

What one year of your life would you like to re-live, if you were given the chance? 
Submitted by Ross. 

"When I was 17 it was a very good year..."

You got that right, Mr. Sinatra. The year I was seventeen was the best summer of my life. I was at Caltech for a five week long summer program (Young Engineering and Science Scholars, A.k.a. YESS, program).  I met some really cool people with some of whom I still keep in touch. Others I've lost touch with of course, but I still wonder where they are and what they're up to now and then. And if you're reading this, Matt Bachmann, I'm still stumped as to how that card trick was done! Do you remember which one? The one where you cut the deck and handed me half and with your half ended up pulling the same number card as I did from mine. How did you do it? My undying admiration in exchange for the secret. What do you say?

Senior year of h.s. pretty much rocked too for reasons it wouldn't even do justice to try and explain. If I re-lived my 17th year I wouldn't do much differently. I would just enjoy the chance to revel in the good times again with my friends from h.s. And maybe buy some Apple stock. :)

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.

Shortly after we introduced ourselves to each other in a nearly empty elevator in '99, David Duchovny (Fox Mulder from X-Files) told me that he-- and his very pregnant at the time wife-- wanted to name their daughter Madeline.

If available, I always try to book first class accommodations when I travel (e.g. hotel, plane, train, boat, etc).

I sang in a Disney show in front of a crowd of thousands with Marie Osmond at the end of '04.

Who was your first celebrity crush?
Submitted by Glory.

1960's-1980's music superstars, unite! My first celebrity crush (that I can actually remember) was either Bruce Springsteen or Cyndi Lauper. Why? I saw this video in the 80's:

I'd previously declared Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" the song of the year because I was born in the USA and when a 4 year old identifies with a chorus that strongly, why bother to pay any attention to the political verses?

Every time I saw/heard WAtW and could hardly wait for his part (which was coincidentally, the chorus).

And I thought Cyndi Lauper had mad rad hair and I loved to watch her sing her part too. Who were your crushes (or favorites) from this video?

If you could make a magic wish for a futuristic gadget or high-tech innovation, what would your item do? 
Submitted by Red Pen.

Don't you hate driving behind another car on the freeway that has a non-working brake light or two?  Since I live in a big city with a notorious freeway system, I wish for a special sound or light emitting device (somewhere in the dashboard) for vehicles that warns a driver when one of their brake lights or tail lights is out.  I think it would be nice if people could know about their light outage without having to be pulled over by the police for a fix-it ticket. At a minimal cost to install in each vehicle, it could potentially free-up highway patrol resources and save lives of those who are *ahem* multi-tasking, during rush hour.

I also want to make a magical wish for another device that compensates for the driver who's driving with their blinker on by mistake (i.e. in the fast lane with their left blinker on). This one's a vehicle motion-sensitive blinker with a timer. Motion sensitive because if you're sitting at a light or in rush-hour traffic with your blinker on, then the timer will not turn the blinker off, but if you're in motion for more than 1/4 mile with no significant rotations of the steering wheel, then the blinker will shut-off, effectively reducing the level of road rage of the driver behind you.

BTW,  I don't really care if someone steals my idea and actually manufactures these alert devices. Please do and make city life that much better!

Are you a re-gifter?  Have you ever re-gifted?
Submitted by Sandals.

To re-gift or not to re-gift?

No. I was taught as a youngin' that it's never ok to give away gifts that I've been given, period. This could explain why I still have collections of knick-knacks and doohickies from who knows where, for which I have no use (if I ever did), and which take up valuable space at present, but that I, to this day, have not thrown away for some unknown reason.

Now that I'm older and have since learned to ask, "Why not?" I feel that re-gifting is somewhat okay for some situations:

- A joke/ white elephant game: The obvious gag fruitcake re-gift. Why break the chain of gag re-gifting fun, eh? I've never received a re-gifted fruitcake and because of that I like to think I only associate with people who have some sense.

- The gift you received still has the card attached for the original recipient (i.e. it's not addressed to you). OBVIOUS RE-GIFT. This actually happened to a friend of mine. The gift was weeks late for her wedding but the person didn't bother to look at her registry and ended up giving her something she had already received (albeit a later poorer-quality version of it).  Re-gifting at its root comes from one not knowing someone else well enough to determine what would truly be appreciated as the symbolic token of one's thoughtfulness. The whole point of having a wedding registry, or any wish list for that matter, is to alleviate the lazy/procrastination/being cheap factor for the giver so that one can't really mess up the process of giving a thoughtful gift if reduced to guessing. The guesswork's already done, right? Alas, a lot of people don't take the time to really get to know each other, and thoughtless giving of useless knick-knacks and doohickies abound. Hence, the re-gift.  If one gets exactly what one has asked for and then one receives a duplicate, why not share it with someone who doesn't have one at all and who could use it?

- Someone gives a non-drinker/non-smoker/vegetarian a big bottle of alcohol/box of cigars/a bag of beef jerky as a gift. Combined with a gracious acceptance and thoughtful re-gift (offer to share them with the giver and others who would like to receive these things) I feel that this is understandable if re-gifted.

So to recap, doing so as a joke, or to pass along a perfectly fine gift that happened to be inappropriate for the particular recipient are valid reasons to re-gift, as long as the re-giver does not lie about the effort put into the re-gift.  One caveat, if it's something given seriously in really poor quality/taste/thought why re-gift it to somebody else? To re-gift something that you wouldn't want winds up reflecting badly on you. Let's remember that it's not the gift, but the thought that counts.

What were you afraid of as a child that seems silly to you now?
Submitted by navelgazer.

What song makes you rock the karaoke mic?
Submitted by Ann.

Artist : Foo Fighters
Album : In Your Honor
Song : Best Of You

What's your dream career? 
Submitted by Something.

A successful entrepreneur turned philanthropist. The opportunity to leave a legacy drives me more than anything else. I want to make someone feel the depth of my gratitude as deeply as if Oprah pointed right at you and said, "You get a car!"

One day, I want to be able to write someone a thank-you note that says something along the lines of:

My dear friend,

Remember that act of kindness you showed me so long ago? That was a really special thing for me and I want you to know that I have never forgotten. Oh, by the way, your kid now has free tuition to any college they choose.

Have a great day.
Madeline Wright

For me to be financially independent and have the ability to do things like that whenever I felt like it would be pure w00t-sauce.