Laura N. '09 | November 21, 2008
"Anatomy of a college student's life"
So the other day, I was totally out of food.
Like, completely. I hadn't been grocery shopping for weeks, and after making a meal out of crackers one night, it was time to own up to the fact that I was going to have to order out.
Thank God for credit cards and the internet. Within a few minutes I had placed an order for Hawaiian pizza and a side of cinnamon sticks at Dominos without even having to pick up the phone.
But here's the really weird thing: then they started tracking my order.
Now, I'm used to tracking my Amazon.com shipments via UPS number, but Dominos has brought the concept to a whole new level.
I just think this is kind of creepy. The bar corresponding to what's currently going on with your pizza flashes red, and turns solid once its been completed. Then the status text on the bottom updates to say something crazy like, "Our delivery specialist Ryan has just placed your pizza in his Domino-mobile as of 6:08 PM."
Not only that, this system is apparently patent pending. Does anyone else find this sort of weird, or is it just me?
God bless America, or something.
In other news, this is what I see when I log in to my MIT libraries account:
That's right. TWELVE. I currently have 12 books checked out of the libraries- plus another 2 from the Boston Public library. (Fun fact: you can get your very own BPL card by showing proof of residence in Massachusetts. All I had to do was bring a credit card statement that had been mailed to my dorm room to the library and they gave me an account. This made me really happy, because I'm a super dork who loves libraries.)
Where are these books? Strewn all over my floor, obviously. The point of this is that...well, I'm hosed. So I'm going to stop writing this blog entry and get back to one of my two 20 page term papers.
I will just leave you with this visual of things that are consuming my life right now, in MIT speak:
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The author has filed this entry in the "Coursework" section; check it out for further reading on this topic. |
Responses To This Entry:
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I rather like your state of affairs. and I <3 libraries too!
Posted by: Ashwath on November 21, 2008 11:30 PM
This is very weird, why are my comments getting truncated like this?
Posted by: Ashwath on November 21, 2008 11:32 PM
Ashwath: it's because you were trying to include the symbol "<" which is interpreted as html and not displayed unless you use the special character code for that symbol. I fixed it for you. =)
Posted by: Laura on November 21, 2008 11:35 PM
@Laura: Thanks!!
Posted by: Ashwath on November 22, 2008 02:57 AM
@Laura: You are lucky. The place I live in has just one library. And( combining it with the school library), I can get just 2 books issued out at any time( there's a rule that says you cant take more than a book).
Plus, i;m hosed too.
Look at my schedule(which I pronounce in total BrE way as sheydule and not sked-juel,altho I'd tried the AmE way for the TOEFL):
7 a.m: School
3 p.m.:Back home(lunch)
4pm: Study
11pm: Applications.
1 am to 1: 30: MIT Dreams( The best part!!!)
Posted by: Monorina on November 22, 2008 04:06 AM
Laura, you mean the comments aren't filtered? But... but... but... that's a security flaw
Posted by: Vytautas on November 22, 2008 04:49 AM
ouch...good luck with all that work...
Posted by: hamsi on November 22, 2008 06:49 AM
Captcha needed big time. And Dominos here doesn't do that :(
Posted by: Ahana on November 22, 2008 07:09 AM
Hi, Laura. So glad you discovered the BPL!
Note to your fellow new students who may need a library card from us as well -- you can make the card registration process a tiny bit easier by starting with an eCard. Follow this link to learn what it is, what you can do with it, and how to sign up. Once you check out books, you still need to bring in proof that you are attending school in the state, but you won't have to waste time filling out a paper application.
Thanks for getting the word out!
Posted by: Scot Colford on November 22, 2008 10:43 AM
@Monorina : Most contenders for MIT, pretty much share the same course load..(I hope that's true! = just on observation)
@Laura : Ah 12 books, at a time ! sigh.. hope I had that here too.. And I want to eat an American pizza ! I mean obviously, it can taste much different from a normal pizza, but still.. And looking what Dominoes did, I bet there's a Dominoes Institute of Technology (DIT =)) Coming up !
Posted by: Dhvanit on November 22, 2008 11:27 AM
The Pizza tracker is the weirdest thing.... Dominos is practically right across the street from me (and since me and my rommie are too lazy to cook we order pizza most days of the week). But I think I will place my order online this time, just to experience the "Pizza Tracker."!!
Posted by: Priyanka on November 22, 2008 11:49 AM
um, one night with books and pizzas, sounds like fun..
Posted by: Hiral on November 23, 2008 01:38 AM
This is what happens, when you envy someone for a pizza, or I should say 'pizza tracker' !
http://theskeptick.blogspot.com/2008/11/pizza-rampage.html
Posted by: Dhvanit on November 23, 2008 12:36 PM
Wow. Dominos's pizza tracker isn't just weird – it's eerily similar to the pizza delivery franchise in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. I didn't think it was possible to out-hyperbolize the deliverator, but Dominos seems to have made this exaggeration into reality. Has anyone else out there read the book (and thus gets my point)?
Posted by: Nick on November 24, 2008 04:18 AM
I think the Domino's pizza tracker is amazing. I remember blogging about it back in January when they first rolled it out. It's another tracking obsession, just as exciting as tracking FedEx packages.
@Nick: I've read Snow Crash too and never made that connection. You're right, it is shockingly similar. Perhaps someone in Domino's Development Dept. took a hint from Stephenson...
Posted by: Noelle on November 24, 2008 08:00 AM
Thanks so much for blogging this! I just used it and it was /amazing/!
Posted by: kimd on November 24, 2008 09:52 PM
Obviously the folks at Domino's have been reading too much Stephenson. Holy Toledo.
Posted by: Photon on November 25, 2008 12:32 AM
