Normal Entries Below. Let me know if you like this new feature.

for those who don't go to the JerseyCam website, I thought I'd eliminate the middle man. The larger versions can be seen at JerseyCam.

So in order to shorten my tweets for RoofCoffeeCup, I thought I should make some standard abbreviations to use instead of writing them all out, and also define what they mean. This list will be updated if a better description is suggested, or something missing needs to be added. Also, when tweeting reactions, please add the "#RoofCoffeeCup" hashtag, so that everyone can find the tweets by doing a simple search, like this. I tweet the trip to and from work by themselves, but if I go out somewhere, I only tweet once.


Honk: Well, just what it says. It's when someone honks their horn to let you know. If someone uses a truck air horn or a firetruck horn, you can list that separately. I also usually only count each car that honks, not the number of honks. So if one car honks three times, I only count it as one "honk".

Point: This is when someone points at the cup, either at yours or at the roof of theirs from inside. This is not the same as the...

Mime: The mime is when someone goes through the motion of putting a imaginary and/or a real cup on their own roof. If they hold up a coffee cup in their own car, that ALSO counts as a mime, but I call it a "Full" Mime.

Stare: A stare is when anyone just stares as you go by either in a car's passenger seat or on the side of the road, but doesn't tell you.

Wave: A wave is when a driver, passenger, or pedestrian waves their arm(s) to let you know.

Flash: No, a flash is not when someone lifts their shirt at you. It's when someone flashes their car headlights at you.

Yell: A yell is when someone just yells at/to you. You can break this down, if you want, to what they yell, like Yo! or Hey! or Sir!.

Tell: A tell is when someone tells you about the coffee. This can happen while driving or be done by a pedestrian. However, if someone in another car tells you while you are at a stop light, it becomes a...

Stop-Light-Tell(SLT): A Stop Light Tell is when another driver tells you about the coffee while at a stop light. However, if in the process of telling you at a stop light, it becomes a...

Stop Light Get Out(SLGO): This is when someone gets out of their car physically. It can be either just opening the door, all the way to walking up to your door/window. The only step higher than this is a...

Stop Light Take Off(SLTO): This is when either a pedestrian or other driver attempts to take the cup off. I usually stop them by this time, thank them, and hand them a card so they can follow the cup online.

Someone Taking Your Picture or Video(Cam): Cam covers anyone you see taking your photo or video with a cell phone or camera. You'll sometimes catch people out of the corner of your eye or see a flash.

Double Take(2x Take): This is when someone looks at you, then looks again, almost like that can't believe it and have to check again.

Along-Side-Rider(ASR): An Along-Side-Rider is someone who either speeds up or slows down and pulls even with you. I usually only count someone as an ASR when they stay with me for at least a half mile/30 seconds.

Stop In Road(SIR): A Stop In Road is when someone stops in the road, and won't let you pass.

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Most of these can be used with descriptors for notable events, like "Cute girl w/Cam" or "Cop on side of road point". Sometimes, a few can happen at once and each action should be counted. If someone pulls along side you while driving, honks, points at your roof, and tells you that "there's a coffee on you roof", that would be 1 ASR, 1 honk, 1 point, and 1 tell. Others can "escalate", i.e. a yell can progress to a tell, so in the end it's a tell. If someone does a SLT(Stop Light Tell), then gets out, then I count it as a SLGO(Stop Light Get Out).

If anyone thinks I missed something, or has something to add, please add a comment below.

So what IS the Roof Coffee Cup?

Well, after reading an article by the smart and VERY attractive Rosa Golijan about a study in which a researcher sent a student dressed as a clown around a college campus, then asked cellphone users if they noticed anything unusual, I got an idea.

In the study, the cellphone users were less than half as likely to have noticed the clown on the unicycle. So, if they were oblivious to this:

how would drivers, who should not be on cellphones because they are distracting, react to seeing something unusual, i.e. a coffee cup on someone's car roof?

On the advice of OMG!Ponies!, I started with a discarded Starbucks coffee cup, complete with the cup condom. I cleaned the cup, dried it, and then applied a few coats of lacquer. After it dried, I hot glued the holder onto the outside, added some paper to the inside to give it a little reinforcement, then glued the lid on. To keep it attached to my car, I took three magnets from some hard drives, and glued them to a piece of round plastic, which was glued lightly to the cup. In theory, the cup should come off before the magnets do:

Lastly, I added some electric tape to the bottom to stop it from scratching my car and also giving it some grip to prevent sliding.

What I ended up with was a realistic looking coffee cup that will stay stuck to my roof at highway speeds. Which, honestly, is one of the things that makes me laugh the most. I can take a turn at 15-20 mph and the cup won't move, and people will still think it's going to fall off. What's even funnier is that you think people would back off when they think a cup might fall off your roof. But they don't, they usually speed up and tailgate me. But that isn't the only reaction I get.

There are a few main reactions I get. You have your "alongside riders", which are people who pull even with you while driving, and try to signal you. You have your honkers, who usually just honk. You have wavers, yellers, pointers, light flashers, and even the "imitators", who mime that there is a coffee on your roof by pretending to put one on theirs. The top people are the "retrievers". These are the people who at a stop light get out of their car and try to take the cup off the roof. Most people as soon as they try to take it off, realize it's stuck to the roof and laugh. Some actually take it off and don't realize it has no coffee in it.

But to be honest, as of yet, I have yet to see someone with a cellphone or texting notice the cup on my roof. This includes a person on a corner, waiting for a green light, talking on a cellphone, and didn't notice the cup literally three feet in front of her IN her line of sight.

So THAT is the roof coffee cup. It has it's own Twitter hash tag, and now it's own Twitter account: http://twitter.com/RoofCoffeeCup. There's discussion about installing a camera in the cup to get peoples reactions, but that costs money, so it's a dream right now.