this is where i win forever and ever and ever

Stupid ways to entertain yourself at work.

1.) Open firefox.
2.) Open Gmail in one tab.
3.) Open a website about something in the next tab. (try 'kilts')
4.) Go to the Gmail page, click on Refresh in the browser, not on the page itself.
5.) See advertisement for 'kilts'.

Where 'kilts' == your weird item of choice.

Note: sometimes this does not work literally, but rather in one degree of separation; sometimes, I find puppy and it says liposuction.* I've been sitting here trying to find a more useless way to waste time, but I think this may qualify as the epitome. Right here. I just don't think there's anything that can quite beat Gmail Ad Roulette.

Yes, I judge myself. I am right now proving gmail has advertisements for bricks.

I think this is where I say bring it. What is your most useless time-wasting activity that can match websurfing for items to see if Gmail will generate an advertisement about them?

* I am trying not to spreadsheet my results. I have to draw some lines somewhere, and this will be one of them.

Comments

[cesare]

Hee! I thought I was the only one who did that. :D

[mrshamill]

What is your most useless time-wasting activity that can match websurfing for items to see if Gmail will generate an advertisement about them?

READING YOUR JOURNAL.





N.B. I was going to say 'work,' but then I realized you were making a spreadsheet about Google ads and I had an epiphany about your epitome. Srsly.

[seperis]

I AM NOT MAKING IT YET.

I know the yet is questoinable, but it is there.

[isagel]

I still haven't overcome the feeling of hilarity I get from seeing google try to sell me synthetic skating ice every time my emails talk about figure skating rpf. I can't imagine a product I would ever be less likely to buy.

[justascream.livejournal.com]

For the last few days I find myself meandering back to http://www.soundpocket.org.hk/home.htm to goof off with the sound interface. >_> It's fun to sing to it. Or whistle to it. Or clap to it. Or...okay, you get the picture. Also, playing with the recording volume gets different effects!

What else, um...

I draw spirals on post-its. Pointlessly.

...sometimes I color-code the deep freeze's contents? Yeahhhh...

[justascream.livejournal.com]

http://www.soundpocket.org.hk/home.html Forgot the l. It makes all the difference!

[justascream.livejournal.com]

(Playing reggae to soundpocket sounds like I'm in a train station. Fun times.)

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

I smear liquid glue on my left index finger, wait for it to dry, then peel it off. Then I hit refresh on all my tabs to see if anything has happened.

Takes an average of three repeats before something interesting pops up.

[jazzy-peaches.livejournal.com]

lmao! This is an awesome game.

I think we should have a competition to see who can get the weirdest advertisements. Or can achieve the like 9th degree of separation.

I enjoy http://sometimesredsometimesblue.com. Refresh.

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

...Yesterday afternoon I spent over an hour drawing pictures of Jonas Brothers in MS Paint?

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

::Looks at GMail with interest::

WOW! Adblock Plus works so well that I'd completely forgotten that there are supposed to be adverts in gmail. I SEE NO ADS! AT ALL!

I don't know if this counts, but I have a slew of tabs open to rec pages and challenge pages. I click thru links and read fanfic to waste time!

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

I used to be fond of trying to kill gmail ads with unusual keywords. In long threads, the ads used to turn off entirely if you had too many sex-related keywords, or, oddly, things to do with eggplants.

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

Eggplants are considered a major phallic symbol in Japan, so maybe it is all the same thing?

:-D

Zombies

[(Anonymous)]

I was emailing friends about _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ and noticed that Target's keyword-generated ad thingy came up with (paraphrasing) "For best zombie prices, go to target.com"! OOPS.

~babs

[pi]

That sounds like a fantastic new game! Personally wiki racing of various kinds is always fun. Pick two words start with the first one and attempt to connect to the second via links in the articles, and time yourself for kicks. But Gmail add baiting sounds equally fascinating. It's a bit like googlewhacking, though perhaps easier? Yay for more ways to spend time!

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

My friend C blackmailed me into opening a facebook account just so that I could play Petville, because she needed a certain number of Petville neighbors in order to qualify for a beach house.

Okay, yes, I am easy. She promised chocolate.

ANYWAY. So now I play Petville. My pet is named Bruce. He is a pink transvestite bunny. I admit to squeeing a bit when I realized that I could get him a corset as part of his wardrobe. He also has a dungeon in one room of his house.

So, my time waster is creating a genderfucked cyber pet with fetish tendencies.

There's a sentence I never thought I'd type.

;-)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ack! You're here! How's it going?

*hugs*

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

I live! Yes!

:-)

I was at Con.txt last month, and had a blast. I"m working on some new stories - one of which is a Merlin fic that DOESN'T center on porn.

I also have some ideas for some incredibly kinky Merlin fic and wondering if perhaps I should post the idea anonymously at the Kink meme and then answer it anonymously pretending I am not answering my own prompt... But I will probably just end up posting it as is at my journal. Afterall, there just aren't enough really good porny stories in Merlin fandom, and daddy issues just NEVER get old.
:-)

Otherwise, I spent the last two weeks in VA finally arrnaging ofr the last of the stuff in my house to be donated, and getting ready to sell it. the repairs and stuff should be done by the end of the month and then I will list the place. At this point I would be happy even to rent it.

I'm still loving Tennessee, and I have recently realized that it is only six hours or so from here to Chicago - so next year I think I will try to go to VVC - hopefully I will sell the house in the next few months and then have some serious extra money since I won't be paying rent and a mortgage!

How are things with you? I read up in your journal a bit, so I know you have medical stuff looming - but VVC first, right?

[lebannen.livejournal.com]

I feel that Doodle God (http://www.playedonline.com/game/598506/doodle-god.html) would be a lot more useful (and by 'more useful' I mean 'less brute-force point-and-click') if it had some sort of indication of where the branches of the tech tree go. I mean, you can make werewolves, bread, demi-gods and frigates (and 111 other things!). I only found out that there were boats at all by looking at a cheat. And I still can't make concrete.

Clearly it needs someone with coloured pens, and/or a speadsheet, to sort it out. I am not that person.

Today I entertained myself at work by asking my boss things like 'why is there a [non-usable as currently situated] television in that shed out the back?', and 'did you know one of these bulk food bins is full of saucepan lids?'. While it did turn into a rather productive afternoon, it was nonetheless pretty much totally unrelated to the job I was supposedly being paid for. Yay?

Edited for html fail, oops.