6 Strategies for Choosing a Stall in a Public Restroom

Whether you prefer to rush, saunter, or simply walk into a public restroom when the time comes, you are inevitably presented with a choice: Which of the porcelain shrines shall be blessed with your presence. While sometimes there is only a single option, for the adventurers encountering multiple whitish doors, I humbly offer you the following strategies:

(Quick note: you can rank them yourself on the UpGuppy Facebook application - here)


1. The Throne Room
Things certainly flow easier in a larger space. Perhaps some of us enjoy the minimal graffiti, or more of an open space that allows especially potent smells to diffuse. Whatever the case, the handicap stall is often the go to option.


2. The Covert Operation
For those less confident adventurers, flying under the radar may be a higher priority than the deed itself. In this case, the fear of detection sends these embarrassed bathroom goers to the stall furthest from the door... "They'll never find me here."


3. The Discussion Room
While open space does it for some, for others, nothing like a good conversation leads to uninterrupted flow. What better way to increase the chances of a conversation partner than choosing a stall with as many adjoining stalls as possible, hence you will find them somewhere in the middle.


4. The Work Station
"Get in get out" is the maxim of a certain high-powered group of restroom commandos. In this case the logical choice is the stall closest to the entrance for a more efficient arrival and departure. These distinguished persons stand in almost complete opposition to the covert operatives mentioned above and can almost always be heard checking emails while on the toilet.


5. Flexibility Option
In some of the more heavily traveled rest stops, public restrooms can be filled with all sorts of questionable characters. In this situation, one of the most commonly used strategies involves a little recon. The end goal is usually finding the stall farthest from the one with the weird noises. It seems to be a well known fact that weird noises are linked with uncomfortable smells.


6. The Green Stall
You will not find those who follow this strategy in public restrooms. For them the world is their restroom. A restroom full of open air, a restroom ideal for flying under the radar, a restroom filled with the conversations of mother nature, a restroom with no walls or doors to impede efficiency, and a restroom with infinite possibilities. From these few rebels a single phrase can be heard: "I only poop under trees."

And now for the best news of all! Everyone can rank and add their own favorite strategies on the UpGuppy Facebook application. Check it out.
http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/23388

Do the University of Florida Gators really party harder?

The Princeton Review has just released its latest list of the biggest party schools in the country. The University of Florida came out on top this year beating out some stiff competition, including last year's reigning champion West Virginia University.

What do you think are the biggest party schools in the country? You can rank them here on UpGuppy:

http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/162497

Let's see if the Princeton Review got it right.

Woohoo! 1,000 Users And Growing!

Just a quick note that we finally reached 4 digits (just 7 or so to go before world domination!). Thanks to all our users for checking out the app and providing ongoing feedback. We look forward to continuing to hear from you.

Version 0.1

We rolled out a bunch of new features today that we're hoping you like (you can thank Daniel O'Shea for all his hard work on this front):

1) Commenting in the house. We got the message loud and clear that you wanted to talk about rankings not just rank them. The new version gives you the chance to do exactly that. Just click on the commenting tab above your ranking and chat to your heart's content.

2) You deserve recognition. Previously there was no real way to track ownership, meaning you didn't get cred for all the great rankings you created. Well, now you do. Create a ranking and check it out.

3) Snazzy new profile box. Thank Alex Budnitz for that!

Get on the app and let us know what you think!

Chinese most optimistic people in the world?

The Pew Global Attitudes Project recently announced that Chinese citizens are the most optimistic people in the world regarding their national economy and the direction their country is heading (read here). In stark contrast, according to the survey, only 23% of U.S. citizens believe the U.S. is heading in the right direction, and 20% believe the economy is good.

I'm curious to hear more about why people think the U.S. should be optimistic about its future. Tell me what you think here.

Top NFL Quarterbacks

With the off season now in full swing, I have been looking for some excuse to once again indulge the football shaped hole in my heart. Several days ago, SportingNews did just that with it's list (link) of top NFL quarterbacks.

With little surprise, I noticed Tom Brady perched atop the number one spot. A spot well deserved as shown on the left here after throwing his record breaking 50th TD. With much more surpise, I noted the single quarter back to defeat the Brady, Eli Manning, all the way down at #12... fishy

Well lucky for us we have UpGuppy.

And the NFL QB ranking on UpGuppy. (link)

Behind the Fish

Alex Acree caught the entrepreneurial bug a few years ago and is still alive to tell about it. He's the CEO of UpGuppy, before which he helped start a legal outsourcing company, internet fashion magazine, community bank, and nonprofit community organization. Alex is one of the many Yalies on the team having earned his J.D. and M.B.A. there.

Logan Beirne became handy with power tools in January after developing an unhealthy addiction to home improvement shows. He has over seven years of finance experience in investment banking and private equity positions at JP Morgan, UBS and GE Capital. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and can write with both feet.

Alex Budnitz loves to draw pretty pictures and does some version of that in his day job as senior art director at Stoltze Design in Boston, where he works with a diverse group of national-level clients. His work has earned him numerous trophies and has been featured in many a glossy publication.

Ethan Fletcher is a Boston sports fan who still can't believe the locals came within a freak David Tyree catch of winning all three major sports championships in a row (sorry, hockey). He has a professional background in entrepreneurship, progressive politics, and business strategy. Ethan holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and graduated from Tufts University (go Jumbos!) longer ago than he cares to admit. He often signs his emails "UpGuppily yours" and is widely considered the funniest member of the team, but then looks aren't everything.

Justin Jannise is an English literature major at Yale College. A lifelong ranking addict, he has experience in print journalism, radio broadcasting, museum management and flipping burgers. Justin is also an award-winning Meryl Streep impersonator.

Joey Kiernan is a sophomore at Williams College where he's studying computer science. Joey currently divides his time between UpGuppy, studying and rowing. He also occasionally eats (when he has the time).

Arun Mohan is a doctor surrounded by lawyers. He's often scared during meetings. Before UpGuppy, Arun was a co-founder at PictureRx, a healthcare software company. His good looks and charisma (not as tantalizing as Ethan's) have earned him recognition as one of Georgia's "Top 40 Under 40." Arun apologizes for having once stolen and raffled off his best friend's car while a student at Swarthmore College.

Daniel O'Shea does double duty as our in-house technology God and CTO. Before coming to UpGuppy, Daniel was the Co-Founder, Sr. Vice-President and CTO (lots of titles) at Foldera.com. When he's not writing killer code, Daniel lives and breathes the Lakers (much to the dismay of Ethan who loves the Celtics).

Dave Wilkinson is a Jedi master of grassroots marketing having run an 8,000-member nonprofit where he did exactly that. Dave has also led successful efforts to launch a $25M bank and an innovative $75M housing finance pool. If you haven't already guessed, Dave also earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, but is a Virgina Cavalier at heart. There is nothing funny about Dave.

Benedict Wong is our marketing queen and in-house early adopter. Not surprisingly, Benedict is an engineer by training and recently finished business school. She has had several stints at hi-tech companies like Motorola where she is a product manager.

All-time favorite video games

CNN's iReport is asking the age-old question for gamers: which games are your favorite? There are thousands to choose from over the last 30 years. IGN and countless other video game mags have posed the question to their readers. Now, I'd like to do the same for UpGuppy users. What do you think are the best console video games of all time?

To add yours, click here
or go to the following URL: http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/121853

Here's my ranking:

1. Nobunaga's Ambition (NES)
2. Halo (XBOX)
3. Super Mario World (NES)
4. Goldeneye 007 (N64)
5. Final Fantasy 4 (NES)
6. Legend of Zelda (NES)
7. Chopper Command (Atari)
8. Tetris (NES)
9. Street Fighter II (SNES)
10. Mortal Kombat (SNES)

Should You Create a Ranking?

I recently received the following from a friend:

"I’m not much of an expert on anything? You sure you want me to create a ranking?"

When we created UpGuppy we had two major goals. First, we wanted to develop a tool that would move rankings away from the purview of experts. We were tired of having the folks at VH1 or People tell us who the best artists of the century were or who the sexist man alive was. Second, we wanted to give users the power to dive into the long-tail of rankings. Forget the big, annual ranking that everyone knows about, we were interested in giving users the power to explore the rankings that only a small group of people might care about or that were being ignored by the mainstream media.

The point here is that you can use UpGuppy to rank anything. It doesn’t have to be exhaustive or clever or earth-shattering. It just has to be interesting to you.

I recently created a list of the most pressing issues of our time, which you can check out here. Over the course of a few days, the list grew from 10 items to 28, with issues I had never thought about. The truth is that I was no expert on the matter and chances are neither were many of the people who ranked the list. And therein lies the beauty of the app.

So think about what you’re interested in. Movies, bars, food, sports, politics, whatever. Almost anything you know can be converted into a ranking. And then go for it. Create something, share it with friends and watch it transform.

The Best Movie Robots

Inspired by WALL-E's theatrical release last week, Lucas Kaiser and Eric Amonson at FilmWad recently did a ranking of The 13 Best Movie Robots. It's a pretty great list, but I think they're missing a few key players including Kitt from Knight Rider (who is, by definition, a robot), the Fembots from Austin Powers (who have the dual honor of winning the awards for most beautiful and hilarious robots ever) and ED-209 from Robocop (who is a serious contender for the righteousness award), among others. I've created a similar list on UpGuppy, which you can check out and rank here. It'd be interesting to see who else is missing and who the crowd favorite will be.