A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF DOTCOM GIRL; Welcome to a world where human contact is very rare and only pizza is on the menu.WHILE most of us have no idea what will happen to us this year, one man knows exactly what he'll be doing.Mitch Maddox, who has legally changed his name to Dotcomguy, will be at home in Dallas, Texas “Dallas” redirects here. For other uses, see Dallas (disambiguation). The City of Dallas (pronounced [ˈdæl.əs] or [ˈdæl. , for 12 months with the Internet as his only friend. The 26-year-old computer programmer has started a year-long quest to prove that all he needs to survive is a credit card and the Internet. Set up in a flat without any furniture, food or extra clothing, the world can watch him 24-hours-a-day on www.dotcomguy.com. But his existence will be lonely. The conditions of his new web way of life are that he can only leave his flat in the event of illness or death in his family. Living on the Internet might be fine in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . But is it possible in Scotland? Elaine Hunter spent a week holed up in her Glasgow flat to find out. MONDAY IF I've to stay in my flat for a week, I'm going to make sure I'm well-fed. But it's hard to get groceries on-line. Only Iceland take orders and deliver to 97 per cent of the UK. Tesco only cater for England and Marks & Spencer don't yet have the facility. So my weekly shopping has to come from Iceland. Does that mean a diet of ice cream and chips? I log on to www.iceland.co.uk and choose my provisions for the week. It's not all frozen food and you can get alcohol and household necessities. The only snag is that you have to spend more than pounds 40 to order via the Net. I take a peek at the M&S web site just to see what is on offer and the food looks tempting. Pity they don't deliver on-line. I look up my horoscope horoscope: see astrology. horoscope Astrological chart showing the positions of the sun, moon, and planets in relation to the signs of the zodiac at a specific time. and wonder if it matters that my lucky number today is eight. But it says I should speak to loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl , so I'm going to e-mail my sister Fiona, in New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , for a chat. She's just set up her own website, so I'll visit that, too. I'm starving starve v. starved, starv·ing, starves v.intr. 1. To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food. 2. Informal To be hungry. 3. To suffer from deprivation. now and since Iceland won't deliver until tomorrow, I order a pizza from www.dominos.co.uk. They're the only fast-food outlet I can find that offers an Internet order delivery service. I think I'm getting a cold, so decide to have an early night. I e-mail my goodnights and go off-line. TUESDAY I NORMALLY have the papers delivered, but today I search out the news on the Internet and opt for the Washington Post. I want to watch TV, but before you think I'm cheating by switching on the telly, I'll just call up www.realplayer .com and download a couple of TV programmes. While I'm there, I download some radio programmes, too. Some radio shows broadcast in this country can be heard on the other side of the world via the Internet. So while I wake up to Wogan Wake Up to Wogan (WUTW) is the name of the most listened to radio show in the United Kingdom and the flagship breakfast programme broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The show is presented by Sir Terry Wogan who has fronted WUTW since January 1993; he had previously presented the , Australians can listen in just before they go to bed. The food from Iceland has arrived, so I decide to make some dinner. I wonder what else I can find out there in cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. ? I e-mail the man who started all this - dotcomguy on dcg @dotcomguy.com, to say hello. It would be useful if he could give me some pointers about online survival. I suppose a week is a walk in the park considering he's going to live like this for a year. I invite my friends round for a chat - an e-mail chat that is - but find no-one's there. Of course, they're at work and not stuck with a computer as the only link to the outside world, so I'll just have to be patient and hope that someone e-mails me soon. I'm definitely getting a cold and I just hope it's not flu. I need some TLC TLC total lung capacity; thin-layer chromatography. TLC abbr. 1. thin-layer chromatography 2. , but the next best thing is some health advice from my mum. I've just e-mailed her with my symptoms and hope she checks her e-mail before she goes off to work. WEDNESDAY MY mum e-mails me to suggest that I get some homeopathic Homeopathic A holistic and natural approach to healthcare. Mentioned in: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome homeopathic, adj help for the cold, and the now-hacking cough, which I had described in some detail. I look for pharmacy information and see Freeman's homeopathic pharmacy, in Glasgow, with an e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address . I put in an order for a remedy. But I am getting stir crazy now. I order another pizza, just so that I can meet another human being. It only takes 10 minutes before Domino's have my order. The only thing about life in cyber (1) From "cybernetics," it is a prefix attached to everyday words to add a computer, electronic or online connotation. The term is similar to "virtual," but the latter is used more frequently. See virtual. space is the very worrying probability of piling on the pounds - especially with these delicious pizzas. Internet auctions are becoming big business, with people putting up all sorts of items for sale. Recently, Drew Barrymore's mum attempted to sell off some of her daughter's memorabilia online. There's nothing quite as glamorous available today, but I make a bid for a signed cover of an Eagles album. It's not that I'm a great fan, but the bidding seems pretty harmless fun. There's one thing you can't order off the Internet - and that is fresh air. I decide that some exercise is a must, so I do a couple of exercises on my stomach crunch torture machine to make up for the endless pizzas I am scoffing. THURSDAY MY cold is better and I wonder if I can cancel my homeopathy homeopathy (hōmēŏp`əthē), system of medicine whose fundamental principle is the law of similars—that like is cured by like. order. Maybe it's too complicated, but I e-mail them to say I'm not on my last legs after all. Then, just as my health is improving, my washing machine (storage) washing machine - An old-style 14-inch hard disk in a floor-standing cabinet. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the "top-loading" access to the media packs - and, of course, they were always set on "spin cycle". packs up and I'm left wondering if I can contact a repair man on the Net. After at least an hour of trying, I'm not getting anywhere. I try home repairs and washing machine repairs in Glasgow, but I don't have any luck. Day four and I am bored with being a 21st century girl. I am in need of a good night out. I take a look around the world to find out what everyone else is doing. I log on to newyork.citysearch.com and find a hot little club which runs mambo A popular open source content management system (CMS) that is used to create and manage Web sites. Written in PHP and using the MySQL database, Mambo was released in 2001 by Peter Lamont of Miro Construct Pty Ltd., Melbourne, Australia. , salsa and rumba nights tonight. And ladies can drink for half price, too. Pity I can't leave my flat. FRIDAY I CHECK the post for my no longer-needed cold remedy cold remedy Popular pharmacology Any OTC product for relief of one or more common cold symptom Types Antihistamines, decongestants Pros CRs provide some relief by partially suppressing nasal congestion, runny nose, cough Cons CRs are not antimicrobial, don't and the books I ordered. I don't expect the books until next week, but you never know. But the postman POSTMAN, Eng. law. A barrister in the court of exchequer, who has precedence in: motions. - one of the few real people I have contact with -- has let me down. No post. I'm beginning to run out of food - I'm eating it all as comfort food - so I place an order with Iceland again. I think I'll get them to throw in some wine to keep me going over the weekend. Still no reply from dotcomguy. He's probably scrolling through the hundreds of e-mails he must be getting every day. But still, I thought I might have heard something by now. Since he's not in a chatty chat·ty adj. chat·ti·er, chat·ti·est 1. Inclined to chat; friendly and talkative. 2. Full of or in the style of light informal talk: a chatty letter. mood, I decide to see if anyone else out there wants a cyber chat. I have to make new friends since my old ones aren't replying. I enter a chat room where lots of Internet users Internet user n → internauta m/f Internet user Internet n → internaute m/f talk to each other. I am given the screen name denta654. I wonder who would want to chat with someone who sounds like a character from Star Wars. Chicky, whoever that is, says hello and asks a few questions before giving up on my vague answers. I'm unsure about giving away too much about myself in case this person turns out to be an Internet weirdo. SATURDAY SHOPPING is never far from a woman's mind and today I have to buy a present for my sister, Nicola. I need a birthday card, too. It's day six and I feel the need to melt my plastic. I go on a spree and visit the Gap site and spy a pair of beaded capri jeans that I just can't live without. Okay, so I'm not supposed to be shopping for clothes, but some comfort shopping comfort shopping comfort n → Frustkauf m of my own will help me get through these last few days. I find a site for a company called Gifts From Scotland and spot a fantastic Celtic-design bracelet. I e-mail them to ask for some information on sizes since I think it would be perfect for my sister. There is no immediate answer, so I'll have to wait. But I do manage to order a handmade birthday card. Those cancel messages A cancel message is a form of control message which is issued to request the deletion of a specific article from Usenet newsgroup. Control messages are specially-formatted Usenet messages which are sent to the special Usenet newsgroup control. didn't work. The homeopathic remedy arrives and I decide to take it because I get e-mails from friends who say they haven't been in touch because they've had the flu. SUNDAY AFTER all this time alone with just the Internet as my virtual world, I decide to visit some cyber churches, but I'm beyond redemption. I just want out of my cyber world. It's been too long and lonely here in my flat for the scriptures to help me. I then decide to order some CDs for my dad, just to take my mind off the fact that I'm losing my mind. I'm craving craving Psychology A strong desire to consume a particular substance–eg of abuse, or food; craving is a major factor in relapse and/or continued use after withdrawal from a substance of abuse and is both imprecisely defined and difficult to measure. human company. I e-mail everyone I know and invite them round for a meal tomorrow night to celebrate my release from living life via my computer. No matter how much you try, cyber friends and virtual clubs cannot replace the real thing. How dotcomguy will last a year living without one-to-one contact with the outside world, I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. . I doubt it's possible. Even if it is possible to survive physically on-line, the cyber world is just no substitute for the real one. I realise I've run out of washing up liquid, so I'm glad I'll be able to go to the shops tomorrow and not have to bother with Iceland. I check the auction page and find out that my bid was sufficient to buy that signed Eagles album. That is enough proof for me that living your life on the Internet is only for sad people. I would really like a curry for tea tonight, but I can't find anyone who actually delivers one. There are plenty of web pages with tasty pictures - but not one which can bring that picture to life. I just stare and drool instead. Looks like it's going to be pizza for dinner - again. MONDAY: All this surfing the Net makes a girl a bit peckish peck·ish adj. 1. Ill-tempered; irritable. 2. Chiefly British Somewhat hungry. [From peck1, to eat. , so Elaine starts to search out websites where she can stock up on provisions for the week. The only one which will deliver in Glasgow is Iceland, so she orders up food, drinks and household necessities TUESDAY: The provisions arrive from Iceland which means that Elaine can now make her first meal with ingredients ordered via cyber space WEDNESDAY: Apart from the postman, the guy who brings the pizzas from Domino's is Elaine's only human contact THURSDAY: The washing machine breaks down but Elaine can't find anyone offering a repair service via the Internet FRIDAY: The weekend starts here, so Elaine opens a bottle of wine try to to cheer herself up - but her big night out consists of a tour of websites SATURDAY: It's Saturday, so it must be time to go shopping. Elaine starts to track down a suitable present for her sister Nicola SUNDAY: She got that Eagles LP |
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