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Custom URLs, #SecretSanta, and a new Explorer appears

A somewhat slow week, so this post will be a bit shorter than the rest.

So this week, yesterday in fact, Google deemed me worthy to receive a custom URL for my Google+ page (http://plus.google.com/+JoshWilson-sohjsolwin in case you're curious). I was not allowed to reserve a simple +JoshWilson like I would have preferred, simply due to it being too common of a name. I was instead forced to append some characters to the end to make it unique. I am not too happy with the result. Being able to select something like /+SohjSolwin would have been preferred to the naming scheme I had to abide by, but in the end, I still got my custom URL and it's still easier to remember and write out than the long number i was assigned before.

Now, on to the #SecretSanta. This year, I will be participating in the #GPlusSanta #SecretSanta gift exchange on Google Plus. It's this really awesome thing where you put together an Amazon Wishlist, send it in to the GPlusSanta, and someone may pick your list and buy you a present off of it. The real goal (and fun of it) is to pick a random other person's list and send them a gift. The actual sending of gifts is all handled by Amazon, so it's incredibly simple. I'm looking forward to participating and sending out some secret ninja gifts that will arrive on someone's doorstep in time for Christmas, but it would be cool to receive something too. I like having no clue what's in a gift when I open it. I put things on my list that I've put in my shopping carts at various points, but always decide not to get right now for whatever reason. I won't include a link to my list here because I would rather you go to the www.gplussanta.com site and buy someone else a gift.

A new Challenger Explorer appears! I submitted my wife, +Rachel Wilson, +Maximillian Fox, and +Tim Wendland as potential +Google Glass explorers. So far, I only know of Rachel that's received her Glass. She went with the Sky model. She's quite excited to be a part of the program and is having a blast already. I just realized that I've been part of the program for 6 months now. I wear my Glass every day, all day until I get home, at which point it rests on it's charger until the next day. That's probably why I forget I have it on so often and why I am now accustomed to looking up to see the time, even when I'm not wearing Glass. It really begins to feel like an extension of your consciousness after a while since you don't really have to think about using it, you just do a natural action and you have all the information you could need. It really is an amazing device.

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