– Just got home. After getting tired of being at Starbucks, I headed to The University Lounge at 663 S. Highland. It’s about a block south of the train tracks. The lounge’s claim to fame is that it’s a hookah bar, where you can buy and smoke their flavored tobacco. I didn’t smoke, though; I was more interested in their free Wi-Fi. Very nice place and the owner couldn’t have been friendlier. There were couches to sit on, and a big TV tuned to CNN for me to watch. They had Sirius Satellite radio tuned to the coffeehouse channel (channel 30). The volume was just right, not too loud like it had been at Starbucks.
I had a strawberry smoothie and some chicken spring rolls while I worked. They have a full range of coffee drinks, smoothies, and desserts, and a limited appetizer menu. They’re open 10 AM to midnight Sun-Thur, 10 AM to 2 AM Fri-Sat. I was impressed with the place and it seems like a very good place for laptoppers to go during the day to get work done. I’ll be back soon.
Is there anyplace else near the U of M that has free Wi-Fi? I know MO’s does. Any others? I love hanging out in that neighborhood.
– I just went on an Amazon.com shopping spree. It started when I stopped by Bookstar at noontime and saw the following book on the shelf:
Wikinomics examines how global collaboration through social networking is changing business. You’ve heard of Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr, but there are also large, traditional corporations such as Procter & Gamble, BMW, and Lego that have embraced the new model. A good look at the direction business will take (whether it likes it or not) in the 21st century. I almost bought it at Bookstar, but then I realized that Amazon would probably have it for 30% cheaper and I wouldn’t have to pay sales tax. So I ordered it there, and I’m glad I did, because while I was reading reviews for Wikinomics I found this book:
Wealth of Networks appears to offer more in-depth, scholarly coverage than the other book on the phenomenon of social networking and how it will change business. I ordered them both.
Since I’ve been programming mainly in ASP.NET for the past three years and will now be building some sites with PHP, I decided I needed to brush up. The last book I bought covered PHP3; PHP5 is out now. So I did a search and this one
came up.
PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Websites was among the highly rated books on PHP (4.5 stars out of 5), and several reviewers said it was the only book you’ll need. They also said that it’s free from the typos and errors that render many computer programming books useless.
And just for fun, I ordered
In 1997, World Championship Wrestling was the number-one pro wrestling promotion in the world, generating tens of millions of dollars of profit a year. It was so strong that they were on the verge of putting their major competitor the WWF (now WWE) out of business. However, just four years later in 2001, it was WCW that went out of business, purchased by WWE for only a few million dollars. The Death of WCW looks at the causes of WCW’s decline – idiotic storylines (making David Arquette the world champion), wrestlers whose egos came before the good of the company (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash), corporate execs who ass-kissed the wrestlers when they should have been managing the company (Eric Bischoff), writers who didn’t have a clue what wrestling fans wanted to see (Vince Russo), talented young wrestlers who were kept down in favor of the older guys (Steve Austin, Mick “Cactus Jack” Foley, Chris Benoit, Booker T). WCW was just plain awful to watch for its last three years and this book chronicles the events that led to the company’s demise.
In keeping with the blog’s theme for the month, I need to mention that WCW employed dancers (The Nitro Girls) who looked smokin’ hot in tube tops.
Since I develop affiliate marketing websites, I should have no problem writing the first three books off on my taxes. It may be harder to convince the IRS that I had a business reason for buying the WCW book.
Friends of mine pointed out something VERY interesting last night – since I now have an online store called The Romania Store, if I took a trip to Romania I could write it off as a business expense. Good point! Too busy to go this summer but maybe in ’08 I’ll visit Romania.
Whew! Tired of typing. Going to head to the Second Street branch office with the laptop to get a couple more hours’ work done, then head to the Madison around 6 for The Dempseys.