Continued from Day 1, Day 1.5, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4…

• Needed to lookup location for tonight's Ask party. Decided to ask Ask's new Local service. Everything was all well and good until I got to the mapping page, which choked in IE7. Had to flip back to Yahoo! Maps, which also choked when I tried to enter in the club's name and its city. Apparently, it needed the specific address, too. Kinda silly, if you ask me - especially if they already have the data.
• Needed to find Gary Price's email address, but I couldn't remember his name (don't ask). Went to Yahoo, remembering he wrote a great article on Gada.be in SearchEngineWatch. Found his name, then was able to find his email through Copernic on my desktop.
• Realized the sweet irony of doing this “fast” while attending SES, the definitive search engine conference. Even so, nobody here really knows that I'm doing what I'm doing. By the time they do realize they could have told me about their alternatives to Google, I'll probably be back on the juice.
• Got hungry. Wanted to find “good italian nearby,” and IceRocket pulled up my room at the Hilton as the number one search result. Wow, that's an amazing engine you got there, Mr. Cuban. [just kidding, this experience didn't really happen]
• There is (seriously) no peer restaurant recommendation engine out there. I wanna know what my friends have to say about these local food joints - or their friends. Why can't anybody do this? Why can't they connect the dots for me? I'm still hungry, dammit - and I don't trust the conceirge at this hotel anymore.
• Got phoned by an ABC affiliate in Australia. They found out about this tale of woe via Steve. On the call, which was quite playful, I upped the ante and decided to keep fasting for another week - for a total of 14 days without using Google. I believe most of my emotional attachment has been burned away, although I'm still struggling to find a close second. You heard it here first.

Hey all. As you very well know by now, I've been generating leads for TextPayMe at a pretty steady pace - to the point where I'm not deleting comments with self-referential links in them. I've built up enough requests to receive four Xbox 360s for free - but two of those will be going to friends of mine. Yes, that's right - I'm giving away two of my free Xbox 360s. Which friends, you might ask? Why, they'll go to my friends who have signed up for Gnomedex 6. How's that for an added bonus? Chances of winning will increase, the more Xbox 360s I win. Right now, odds are 1 in 150 that you (as a pre-registered Gnomedexer) will get one of my free Xbox 360s for free. I realize the event isn't until late June, but we'll likely sell out long before then - and that's when the drawing begins. So, to recap - the more Xbox 360s I receive by referring people to sign up for TextPayMe, the more I'll be able to give away to registered Gnomedex 6 attendees. That's potentially a win-win-win-win proposition.

Uh… since when is ruining people's machines considered worthy of an
award? The Washington Software Association has named Loudeye a finalist for “Entertainment Product of the Year” in 2006. Who at the WSA is doing research on this? Are they only paying attention to theoretical business practices instead of what users are actually saying about them (ya know, in real life)? This has to be a mistake.

I actually attained the third Xbox 360 from the TextPayMe promotion the other day, but didn't have much time to write about it. As of this moment, I'm 9 referrals away from winning my fourth free Xbox 360. I'd like to believe that there are nine of you out there who have not yet signed up for their free service - and I'd encourage you to do so (largely because I'm planning on giving away the extra Xbox 360s that I win in this promotion at some point in the near future). The TextPayMe gang will be stopping by my house in a couple of weeks for our live broadcast - where we'll be promoting it again, although I'm not likely to get credit for those referrals (as I really don't care to share my mobile number with everybody and their grandmother). If you want a free $5 and a chance to win your own Xbox 360, you have to sign up for TextPayMe before March 18th. I only need nine more referrals to break my record. You know you wanna do it.

Continued from Day 1, Day 1.5, Day 2, Day 3…
Didn't visit a single search engine today. About the only thing I might have done remotely close to searching was firing up MSN's Virtual Earth Mobile application (well worth getting if you have a Windows Mobile device). I'd point you to where you can get it on the Web, but I wanna keep today's inadvertent search abstinence standing. Jake looked for it using Gada.be when we were on the boat at Liberty island. However, the right result was blocked by Yahoo! - who still hasn't gotten back to us on requested proper usage of their APIs (and, vicariously, the sweetheart del.icio.us which has been blocking us for months). Guess that's one small strike for and against 'em? Web 2.0 isn't what you think it is, folks.

We took the JetBlue redeye from Seattle last night at 1am PST, arriving at JFK just after 8am EST. It was a four-hour flight, but it truly felt like ten. A quick drive later, the Hilton welcomed us with open arms. This is where Search Engine Strategies is taking place - and we're once again covering this conference for MSN. Jake and I will be walking around with a microphone, video camera, and other assorted recording gear. If you're gonna be here, let me know via email or whatnot; we'd love to interview you and get your take on the whole event (hey, that's free promotion I'm offering).
After a power nap, we drove to see the Statue of Liberty - whooshing past Ground Zero on the way there and the way back, planning on returning when Ponzi gets into town on Tuesday. It was cold today - bitter cold. I was mostly prepared for the weather (except I apparently ripped part of my left pocket, and I forgot my stocking caps at home). Take a look at my Flickr stream for photos of today's NYC adventure. Don't plan on doing much sightseeing this time around, though. Might take in a Broadway show - Spamalot! There are wild parties happening every night, but neither Jake or myself are real party animals. “CHECK IT OUT, I'VE GOT SOMTEHING TO SAY. MAN, IT'S SO LOUD IN HERE.” And now, we're in search of the best pastrami sandwich in Manhattan.
This is my second time in New York. The city is starting to grow on me.

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