Unlocked the "dork" badge

I started playing foursquare relatively recently. Since I do not have a smart phone I play through the mobile interface. I try to stay true to the game and not abuse that way to check in, although I do occasionally check in at the local community college I have never even visited. You can see the badges and mayorships I have achieved at the bottom of this post, thanks to MyFoursquare. Whenever I earn a badge or become a mayor, I have foursquare post it to my Facebook wall. Then my wife sees it and calls me a dork.

Earlier today I came across Veronica Belmont's post on EpicWin. I have been flirting with wanting an iPod Touch (3rd gen, no camera) in order to help keep myself organized. EpicWin seems like just the type of task manager I would want. Of course, it would be awesome if it had a desktop client as well, and it would also be awesome if it integrated with Google Tasks. Since I do not even have an iPod Touch or an iPhone it does not really matter. I am toying with trying out Chore Wars, but I have a feeling that it would only be fun/cool as part of a guild. Here's hoping family will try it out!

I thought it was interesting that an aquaintance of mine, Seth Holloway shared this article on Google Reader today. The article talks about behavioral psychology motivating us to be better people. Okay, it does not phrase it this way, but any follower of Skinner would see the connection. While I don't think behavioral psychology is the answer to all life's problems, I do think we could apply it in many ways through video games and augmented reality to actually help us meet meaningful goals.

For example, nothing can help one stick with a diet better than knowing all your twitter followers and facebook friends will see your weight. I have to admit that I kind of want one of those too (but not as much as an iPod Touch, and I'm not even sure I want that).