From my Google Reader shares

• Stephen Hawking expected to recover:
• Possible Marvel vs Capcom 2 teaser site countdown:
• Expensive Running Shoes Aren’t a Necessity [Running]:
• LEGO Rock Band Officially Announced, Includes Europe's 'The Final Countdown':

From my Google Reader shares

• Game Addiction Study:
• Stephen Hawking Battling Infection, ‘Very Ill’:
• UC Berkeley StarCraft Class, Week 11:

A friend’s birthday recently elapsed and since it was midweek I thought nothing of it.  However festivities ensued the weekend after (this past weekend) to which I was part of at the last minute.  The plan was a scavenger hunt for her presents all around town with me and another friend planting gifts just ahead of her path to ensure proper delivery.  The gift locations were meaningful to the gift giver and giftee.

Location 1: Gas station
We had very specific instructions with this one to place it on pump 3.  We drove around what seemed to be pumps with no numbers which made it somewhat tricky, but we finally discovered the numbering scheme and found that someone was actually pumping at pump 3.  So we sat behind them waiting, which had to be akward for this person since we never got out and when he was done we moved up immediately.  We waited patiently while munching on some kind of cheetos which weren’t what I asked for but tasty nevertheless for a text message stating the gift searcher’s location relative to us.  We left the gift, a book, above the pump and hoped that no one would pull up to pump 3 after we left and headed out.

Location 2:  House
We went to a house that we previously lived in and on the way I was thinking about how very horrifying it would be to see if the people living there would notice us planting an object somewhere around the place.  Fortunately for us, the house was for rent and no one lived there currently.  So we popped this present into the mailbox.  Unfortunately for us, this location was literally 3 minutes from the previous location.  So as we were driving to the next spot, the searching party drove directly beside us at the intersection.  I yelled at my cohort to duck and I threw down my sun visor to obstruct the view of my face, but didn’t switch sides as their vehicle drove directly beside us.  We get a text message saying that our giftee was in fact dumb, and didn’t notice us.  We die laughing to the next spot.

Location 3: Scary Restaurant
In what can only be described as the worst part of town, we made headway to this remote restaurant that was apparently shut down.  This is what I coined the warehouse district of the city but there were a couple of seedy looking houses overlooking us.  We actually had no idea if this was the right spot or not, which is kind of frustrating as the driver.  We decided this had to be it, there were no other restaurants around, and then hopped out of the car to find a suitable location for this gift.  As we’re scouring around, we look to our right and notice someone staring us down from their screen door.  Very uncomfortably we find a place to pop this present and hope that our buddy finds this thing.

Location 4: Disc Golf Park
So we’re comfortably ahead of our search party as we attach this gift to the bottom of a bench near tee #2.  We’re sitting here waiting when all of a sudden we spot the search party’s vehicle turning into the park.  My mind reels at the possibility of it not actually being them considering we didn’t get the warning text message, but I decide in the worst case scenario, we have to go.  This is truly a hilarious setup since no other cars are in the vicinity and they parked exactly where we were not but 1 minute ago.  Our clueless friend again, somehow, didn’t notice.  As we’re making our getaway we get a text “HIDE!!!!”  Clearly, some amount of delay occurred there.  We laughed until we stopped.

Location 5: Old job
So we go to this old place of employment that my friends worked at.  We stroll on in and there’s 2 girls on the phone.  With a very very puzzled look on their faces, we explain our situation that we’re placing a gift here for a friend.  One girl asks “Uhhh, is she coming to get this today?”  We said yes and then they just sort of took the gift.  This was an odd moment indeed as my friend breezed her way right to them all the way in the back of this office with no hesitation.  She explained that if they got up it would screw up their actual job so she had to walk back there.  It was gutsy and I thought she was going to punch them.  Ok I didn’t think that, but it was funny because I was going to explain it all from the doorway in a non-menacing way but she just bullied her way to the back and gave them the run down.

Location 6: The bar
We hang out at this place every few weeks.  It’s a nice place and our plan on the way there was to hand the gift off to the hostess.  However since it’s early Sunday, there’s no hostess.  So we waltz up to the bar and explain the situation to the bartender.  He says no problem any place we want to hide it specifically?  Does she have a favorite beer?  I have no clue, but my friend knowing our friend better than me says “Yeah Guinness.”  So he puts it behind the Guinness tap.  When our friend finally arrives at the bar, she snoops around the foyer, the bar, and is completely stumped.  The bartender asks her “Can I help you?”  She says, “Yeah did anyone come by and leave anything?”  He says “No, not that I know of.  But can I get you a drink?” She says “No…” He follows up with a “Well how about a Guinness?”  To which her quick reply is “Ok sure!”  At this point the friend who was traveling with her says “WHAT!?  We don’t have time to sit and drink a beer!”  This friend looks at the bartender with a crazy look and the bartender gives her the nah-it’s-ok-this-is-supposed-to-happen look/hand gesture.  He then hands her the beer and the gift very coolly and doesn’t even charge her for the Guinness!  We as the gift placers were not amused by this beer break!  It is however totally funny in retrospect.  Even without the beer, her next clue took her forever to decipher.

Location 7: Coffee Shop
The problem with this spot is that the coffee shop is closed and secondly in the middle of a shopping center.  So there’s really no great place to hide anything.  Did I mention it was a breezy day?  This gift was a pillow, fairly light.  So our conundrum was placing it in the wind, attaching it to the abandoned store, or doing something else.  We looked over and saw a stack of newspapers which we could use to weigh down the present if placed in a bag.  However as I approached this stack, I noticed a pair of old man glasses on top.  I backed away like I discovered someone had peed on the object and the stank of this form of personal identification had slapped me in the face.  Why? I don’t know, but it was an oddity.  Anyway, we ended up putting it in a paper shopping bag and weighing it down with a water bottle.  We also ended up sitting there for what had to be like 45 minutes.

Location 8: Back to the starting point
The final location was simple enough, it was go back home!  Strangely, it took a while for our scavenging friend.  Overall I think it took over 2.5 hours total.  It was pretty great though, except for the more difficult clues to the next locations.  Mostly that was just boredom on our end, but I’m certain it was probably more exciting for the seeker.  Did I mention a dog was so scared to have me hold it, it pooped all over me?  Yes this was in the beginning of the story and actually created a nice diversion to account for me and my teammate not being around when the birthday girl arrived.  It was pretty funny, even to me, the poopee.  The pizza and birthday pie made up for it.  Plus I’m pretty used to animals doing crazy things, mostly throwing up, but even so, pretty tolerant of such things so it was no big deal.

From my Google Reader shares

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From my Google Reader shares

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From my Google Reader shares

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From my Google Reader shares

• Outfitter not discontinued after all: Welcome back crybabies. Note, I don’t use either Outfitter (I use ItemRack) nor GroupCalendar (too much of a hassle) but I find it funny that they threw their fit and then came crawling back anyway.
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From my Google Reader shares

• UC Berkeley StarCraft Class, Week 10: