Browsing around YouTube with Justin recently, we both happened across the classic Abbott and Costello skit - "Who's on First?"

It's been a long while since I've seen this bit, and it's amazing how much this still makes me laugh. The timing the two of them had was really something to behold.

By day, 27-year-old Lu Yang is a sonogram technician at a hospital in Chengdu.

At night, she was a monarch, the ruler of the "kingdom of Chu"--game players like to respectfully put "queen" before the name of her character. In this virtual kingdom, the "queen" commanded several thousand subjects, her fervent warriors.

In the less than a year since the breakout of ZT Online, Lu Yang was confident of one truth: even though the game's own model is the traditional background of ancient knights-errant, money is actually the most critical element for wandering the wilds of this virtual world [...]

Though she has invested tens of thousands of yuan in the game, she has suffered defeat after defeat due to the fact that others are more willing to spend, and to spend much more money than she is.

I spent a good deal of time reading a fascinating translated article about ZT Online, a Chinese MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft.

The one spin that ZT Online has is that it's free to play, but you level up only after throwing money at the game - purchasing materials and/or equipment, and playing a sort of slot-machine game by buying keys that open chests containing an assortment of "prizes."

Reading over the article, I'm amazed both by the structure of the gameplay itself... and by the willingness of all the players to keep throwing money at the game. Amazing stuff - I'm totally in the wrong business. [via]

Walking from the Red Line to the Blue Line at Jackson.

I left work a bit late and was pleasantly surprised to find myself alone on the typically-busy walkway, between the Red and Blue line stops at Jackson. After missing out earlier on photos, I felt the need to grab any opportunities that presented themselves.

Today at work, one of our vendors sent us a ton of ice cream as a nice gesture. It was a sort of "Congratulations, you're an official company" kind of thing. Which was very nice of them.

However, in addition to the ice cream was the fact that it got shipped with dry ice. Next thing you know, a ton of folks were in the kitchen, doing little ice+water experiments, walking around with foaming cups of dry ice, heavy smoke spilling about everywhere. During lunch, I saw that the sink was still filled with a hazy fog.

Here's a bit of the bubbly that Jane and Chris brought back to their desk:

After Mike mentioned it to me, I've made Seth Godin's blog a part of my daily routine. And with the dry ice episode, it got me thinking a bit about businesses, and the products they deliver to customers.

When you deliver something to a customer, they may not always interact with it in exactly the way you intended. They may surprise you in how they go about using your product. For us, the ice cream was a pretty great treat... but the really memorable, fun, exciting part of the gift was by and far the dry ice.

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Aside: Sadly, I was a grumpy gus for most of the morning... and in a sour mood. When all the commotion hit, I was locked in on work and didn't get up to take photos. Now, after the fact, I'm kicking myself.

Today over lunch, my friend The Grocer stopped by for a quick photoshoot by the ping pong table. He's got t-shirts for sale, and a few of us agreed to help serve as models. In exchange... we each got a free shirt!

Me and Allison, being a little silly.

There are a few more shots on his Flickr page, as well as his official page. And of course, for those who may not know his work... check out the Grocer's Flickr sets: The Streets, and The Lab.