Perpetual Blog
The Official Perpetual Peanut Tracking Website!
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Perpetual Blog The Official Perpetual Peanut Tracking Website! | |
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This Blog reads from bottom to top. To see the first entry go to the bottom of the page.
Sunday, December 13, 2009 WOW! Exactly one year since the last update. Weird how these things go isn't it? We started mailing packages again and hence started sending out peanuts. Old lucky number 13 is on his way! Haven't heard a peep from any of the other fellas for a loooog time. Maybe we'll have better luck this round?
Sunday, December 14, 2008 I hate this blog....no updates for more than a month again. No new packages out recently. I hope to get some out soon. Been really busy with other things, illnesses and whatnot. Anyway, one thing that has changed is I added a new clock to the site. My brother-in-law sent me an email with "people numbers" in it with a link. I used them to create a new timepiece for the site.
Friday, September 12, 2008 Wow! What a drought! A month and then some eh? I was away from home for a bit but have arrived back safely. Thank you all for your concern. I just sent out another
Peanut. It was a fluke sale, nothing to do with eBay. But that makes it
number 12 so far. An even dozen!
Number 11 went out awhile back but at the time I
was up Oh yea, in my downward spiral I almost forgot to mention that I added a stupid little icon deali-o to the website address (see it in your url address window at the top?) and if you save this site to you favorites or good heavens your desktop, you will see our little orange, Peanut, planet, satellites, circling, logo, thingy there. Good times.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008 I posted the item on eBay just now. The ad turned out better than I thought and hopefully it will draw some bidders. Although selling another item at this point would only be secondary to the elation of having already broken the "double digit" mark with sending Peanuts that I'm still coasting on today. Yeah, it's the little things in life I suppose. And apparently I'm easily amused. It's the rest of the world I'm not sure of. This whole exercise may just end up leaving my cheese out in the wind. (c.i.n.w.2) Time will tell.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Spent what time I could taking pictures and getting another item ready for sale on eBay. It's late and I am going to wait until tomorrow to recheck everything in the listing before I go ahead and post it. The ad came out pretty well. It has a LOT of pictures and hopefully someone will see that they need it and bid. Always a "crap shoot" with auctions though. More tomorrow.
Monday, June 30, 2008 Hey! Another sale on eBay
and another Peanut leaves the nest. This is very exciting for During the update to the
stats I also added a couple of items. You can now
see the date and time The Experiment started and the current date and time where
I am. And how many days The Experiment has been running. The last two figures
update automatically whenever you visit or refresh the page. A simple thing? It
would appear that way but, with most things associated with this Experiment, not
really. I got some help from some kind online programmers at I think that takes care of the updates. More postings as things develop!
Friday, June 27, 2008 Sold another item today on eBay today! Number 9 for those of us keeping track, and after all tracking is the FUN part. So today's events? The short version; I packed up another Perpetual Peanut and sent it out. The truth; I got so excited at the prospect of sending out another Peanut that after carefully bubble wrapping and boxing up the item, taping the crow out of it (well, that maybe forcing it a bit), buying postage online and slapping it on the box I realized I forgot to include The Peanut! Oh Man! So I took it out of that box, went to the post office, got another box (which was actually a better fit) and sent it, and the latest Peanut on it's way. Then it's home to update the site! I found the mileage, fixed up the images to reflect the new Peanut's location and updated the other statistics. Oh, and I made some entries into the mileage chart to show the reigning leaders in each particular column. Then I thought maybe, someone, somewhere (and also partly for my own morbid curiosity) would be interested in the total financial and physical cost of this experiment. So, I created a new chart fittingly called: The Cost of The Perpetual Peanut Experiment. Catchy huh? So maybe you want to check out that new bit. And finally this bit...the update to the Perpetual Blog. Ug! I have a few more items on eBay to close soon so, hope for the best!
Earlier today: Made a few more changes to the navigation menus at the tops of the pages. It's finally getting closer to what I would like it to be. If this is your first time here this will make no sense what so ever. Suffice it to say I have been trying to get the site to look a certain way since the beginning and it's getting a whole lot closer. Touched up the Track The Nuts! page images too. Made them more soft and "pillowy" if there is such a word. Time for bed.
Thursday, June 26, 2008 "BIG" development! Well...big by Perpetual Peanut standards anyway... Tuesday, June 24, we got another registration that morning! From Eilat Israel! This Peanut was originally sent to Louisiana. The calculated mileage to Israel from it's location in Louisiana worked out to be over 7,000 miles. Very cool! So, after the initial elation began to wane we did our checks to confirm that it did indeed arrive in Israel. I then started to think of everything that needed to be done to the website to accommodate this new development. We'll need a new graphic of some sort to convey the fact that one of the little fellers has left the U.S. borders. It was exactly what I was hoping for. I just didn't expect it so soon. So, a new international graphic, update the statistics to jive with the new data, and add a couple of things like touching up the existing images and adding a little more info. to the data areas that I have been postponing until now. Finding an image of the earth as a whole is much more difficult than you might think. I "Googled" around looking at images, sifting through literately thousands of images to find a couple that might fill the bill. Unfortunately they are owned, in whole and in part by their respective map companies. I made some calls and was advised to submit a request by email for use of the images, which I did. I heard back today from one of the companies that said they would have to clear the idea of lending us the image to corporate HQ. Both companies were very nice and seemed receptive to the idea. Actually they never "batted an eye" come to think of it. I thought it was kind of an odd request but who knows? So while we wait I found another image online at Freeworldmaps.net that is free to use if credit notice is given on our site. Hey I'm all for that! There are some REALLY creative people in the world and I am more-than-happy to give them credit for their work. Needless to say, I snagged the image, tweaked it a bit and will be using it for now and perhaps forever depending on what the other companies say. So, very cool and thank you very much Freeworldmaps.net. We'll put your credit at the bottom of every page. There were many trials to fine and way to annoying to go into great detail. A couple major problems, pieces of images disappearing after they are open. Things showing up where I don't want them and on and on ad nauseum. I use Photoshop Element for all of my images. I like it a lot because it's very powerful like it's parent the full-blown-Photoshop but easier to navigate and not so cryptic once you understand the basic command sequences. At first it makes absolutely no sense what so ever, but I have been using it for quite a few years and have come to really like it. But it can also grow ten heads if you don't do housekeeping along the way. In short; images are built in layers. Each tiny little thing in every graphic is a layer. The map of the U.S.A. has over 100 so it can get out of control real quick. But after a couple of tries it's done. And it does convey the point that the Peanut has now leapt over the ocean to a new foster owner in the Middle East. And yes, I do know that the U.S. is not located at the north pole but I have limited space here folks. Have a little mercy on me. The other things that were changed: I added the time of day to the stats so people could see how long the experiment has been running in their own time. Added "Number of Peanuts to leave the U.S.A." for those who are interested. And logged the first "Longest and Shortest Single trip" by a Peanut. As well as some housekeeping; changing mileages, and such. And adding a couple of links so you can jump to the Peanut in question; #6 for example. That's about it. I'm not sure if this entry "reads" long but it sure "looks" short in comparison to what has been done since the last entry. Hope you are enjoying the site and keep checking back for updates! Monday, June 16, 2008 Last night: Sunday, June 15, 2008 12:45 AM, I got the site navigation working with the right graphics finally. Whoopee! Had to strip all the formatting and start anew. Didn't take long though. Then, it's time to upload to the server. Server crashed. The Peanut site and all of the sites we work on are in limbo at the moment. After resetting our dsl and wifi network and rebooting the computer a couple of times I visit the server site to find nobody home. No tech support. I sent an email to tech support asking if they are doing an update or something telling them the names of our sites. Their reply..."what are the names of your sites?" Useless. So today I try again, just now and everything is fine. No explanation. Today, changed the Peanut Gallery photos. Well, not the pictures just the layout. I first posted them very quickly and they needed some attention. I put them in a grid and numbered them and included captions. Put some graphics on the Enter Serial Numbers page. Trying to make it look more FUN! Got positive feedback yesterday from two more items we sold and mailed. It's great to get feedback though it would really be nice to hear from some of our Peanuts. I worry for the little fellers. mmmhm. Saturday, June 7, 2008 Just got done updating the site. It's not a real quick thing to do because the map and locations are all done one little graphic bit at a time. Everything on the map is a separate element. I really like doing it though, and use it as a reward when I am done working on whatever it is I have been at that day. Mailed another Peanut the other day and needed to record it's whereabouts. This one's first trip was over 3,000 miles! Not bad. That makes a total of eight Peanuts "in play". Not a lot but, we're just getting started. Also, added a couple of more statistics to the "Track The Nuts!" page, "total combined distance traveled by all the Peanuts" and "total distance traveled by each Peanut" Was working on another project this week and was sick for a couple of days so the chances for getting more stuff up on eBay this weekend is looking pretty slim. I guess I'll try for next weekend if I can't get something up later on today. Time for bed.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 Well, it's been a week and still no response from Discovery. Made numerous phone calls and sent emails and not a word. Maybe they don't care about an eleven year old graphic wanting to be used by some goofball tracking packing peanuts around the world? So, I decided to design a graphic of my own for the site based on one I liked. I gave them credit for the idea though the graphic doesn't really look much like the original. I built this one from the ground up piece by piece. It's similar but different. I like this version better anywho. Put up new charts showing Peanut Progress on the "Track The Nuts!" page. I think it might encourage people who receive the Peanuts to register and gives anyone visiting the site a place to get involved and follow their favorites. It's actually pretty cool to see the information starting to form! Anxious to see what happens next. I noticed the map got blown apart maybe when it was resized for the page. Had to upload a new one. Looks good now. Still can't get the navigation on the site to look the way I want. It's going to take some digging to find the problem. People I've heard from say it looks fine but it's not the way it should be. It's a stickler. I'll work on it later. I have to get more stuff ready to sell on eBay. The pictures are already done. I just need to finish the descriptions and post. Hopefully by the weekend. Hopefully. It's late, again...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Just finished updating the map locations. Changed fonts and background of the fonts to make the numbers easier to read. Also added arrows indicating which way each peanut is traveling. Makes a little more sense now when looking at the map. It's coming along nicely! Sent three more packages today. That means we've added 3 more peanuts added to the mix! Have been getting favorable responses from people who have seen the site. Hope to get more. Slow but steady wins the race! Finally got a hold of the graphic creator today. He said to contact Discovery.com where I saw the graphic. I sent a few emails and now await a response. Blog still not working right. Dang! It's late. I'm beat. Sunday, May 25, 2008 Worked on the USA tracking graphic tonight and got it done! It's nice and clear and turned out pretty good I think, I hope. It now shows where the Peanuts started and their first destination. Feels good to have that one done. It was a big concern. I think I have it into a form where I can update it pretty easily as the Peanuts are registered. At least for awhile. I may need another system when the number of outstanding Peanuts increases. Going to start work on the statistical stuff next. Need to put them in some sort of grid I think. Not sure yet. Needs some more thought. Sent another email to graphic artist. Still no word.. Friday, May 23, 2008 Found a peanut graphic I liked and traced it back to a graphic artist that did some work for The Discovery Channel website. Sent out a "hail Mary" from an email I found in an old article about him. It worked! It WAS him and he responded. I sent another email explaining the Perpetual Peanut Experiment to him asking for help with the graphic. Still no word back. Thursday, May 22, 2008 More updates to the site and more selling on eBay. Sending another "peanut package" today and hoping for the best. Wednesday, May 21, 2008 The first "peanut" has just been registered!! It came in at 02:06 PM today. Very cool! One out of three. Thirty percent! That's a pretty good average! Let's hope it keeps up. Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Just finished with the site after one long night. There is something there and it looks pretty good but it's far from complete. A work in progress I think they call it. Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Had a manic chat with my wife. (a very calming influence) She broke it down into smaller pieces and suggested that I just get the main parts of the site together and then keep adding to it. Great logic! I already had the site mostly blocked out so I pared it back a bit to get just the main info. so people can get the "gist" of what we're trying to do. Got some temporary graphics, she typed in all the copy to be divided and edited between the pages. Monday, May 19, 2008 Packages went out today as planned. I've been working on the site off and on all day. Looking for graphics, trying to decide what to put in and what to leave out. It seems like I can't leave anything out or it won't make any sense but I find I am duplicating a lot of information on pages trying to get the point across of what it's about. There is so much to do and now I have about one day to get the entire website done. It's starting to seem WAY too big of a project! This leads to that, to that to that...getting pretty confusing. I seem to be "Chasing my tail" a lot. Put a call in to my artist friend Wil Clay to see if he had any ideas about what we could use for a graphic for the project. I've been looking online for "peanut" images and artists but have yet to find anything suitable. The search continues. I have to tell you right off I'm not a big writer. Pretty good talker, bad writer. Not a big reader either. Maybe the two are connected? I'll have to read up on that. Anyway, this tirade is offered as a kind of running commentary on the State Of The Peanut. Sometimes longer entries, sometimes shorter. And most of the time not very eloquent (had to spell check that one) But hey! It might end up severing as a way for me to see where and when things went horribly, horribly wrong with this experiment should the whole thing get out of hand. So, it is what it is. If you enjoy this kind of thing, help yourself. Check out some of the links along the way as you go through the text. There are the typical links to other pages in this website but also a couple of not-so-typical links just to keep things interesting. That all being said, this first entry comes after we finished packing up the first three peanuts. Painting the Peanuts was a part I never worried about and it ended up being one of the hardest things to accomplish. The paint kept melting the Peanuts! But we figured it out. Painted up eight Peanuts in total. Got the labels laid out and printed so the next batch should be less taxing to get out. The packages go out tomorrow. No idea what will happen. Need to finish up running auctions and get the website built before the first Peanuts arrive at their first destinations. |
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Credits: Graphics: peanut concept
Discovery.com, Map
Free World Maps, Icons
Roman Hubatsch |
