1. First of all, this contest is EXCLUSIVELY on Google+! If you haven’t been invited to Google+ yet, don’t worry! FOLLOW THIS LINK to get one of John P.’s invites. There are still a lot left!
2. Add John P. to a Circle on Google+.
   
3. Fill out this form! It’s REQUIRED! You cannot win without filling it out!

That’s it! You’re entered to win! But wait… you can get bonus entries as well! Here’s how:

1. Share THIS post to your Google+ stream.
2. Leave a comment on that same post telling John P. what you’d do with a new Drobo!

I hope you guys have as much fun with these contests as we do. It’s always fun to give away thousands of dollars in prizes for no reason whatsoever!!! ;-)

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How to Win a FREE Drobo

UPDATE: This giveaway is OVER!
For the latest Drobo Giveaway, head over to OneMansBlog.com/GPlusDrobo

1. The first entry is required!. Simply fill-out and submit the form found HERE. Done! You’re entered! Easy, right?
2. You MUST do #1. Otherwise these next 2 don’t even matter. For another chance at winning the Drobo, Re-Tweet THIS TWEET by John, or copy-and-paste this into your Twitter feed:
   

   Win a @Drobo! Follow @JohnPoz and @Drobo then RT for your chance to win! Details at: http://onemansblog.com/WinADrobo #OMBDrobo

   Either way, you MUST be following John P. and Drobo on Twitter. (If you win and are not following him, we can’t DM you to let you know!)

3. For a THIRD chance to win, post your comment below and tell us why you need a Drobo!
   Keep in mind that some comments get marked as spam. Don’t worry, we’re checking things routinely so no need to re-submit your comment multiple times. Keep ‘em coming!

Doing one of the above will get you an entry for the giveaway. Do all 3 and you are entered 3 times! Good luck!

UPDATE: This giveaway is OVER! Congratulations to Jack Wilson for winning this Drobo!
For the latest Drobo Giveaway, head over to OneMansBlog.com/GPlusDrobo

If you don’t know already, you may be curious as to what a Drobo
is. Well, check out this video of Cali showing you everything a Drobo can do!

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Hey gang, in case you haven’t heard, John is going on a 5-day road trip with WebBeat.TV producer Norm Flores. They’re headed to New York City for the CEA LineShows. Along the way we’ll be stopping at all kinds of awesome attractions and giving away all sorts of prizes thanks to our partner, Newegg!

Want some free stuff like a Nintendo 3DS? How about a Nuve GPS or Eee Netbook PC? Keep on reading to find out how you can win!

The Event

The CEA LineShows are like a smaller version of CES, but it’s trade only. Don’t worry guys, GeekBeat LIVE has partnered with them to stream the entire event so you guys will get to see everything! Hit up GeekBeat.TV/GBTour for more details on all that.

The Trip

Norm and John are travelling for 5 days across the Eastern half of the United States in this awesome and totally decked out truck and trailer. You can see more pictures at GeekBeat.TV/LLTrailer. The epic adventure starts in Dallas and the boys are making stops in Arkansas, Tennessee, and more until they reach their destination in New York City!
Their entire trip is mapped out via Google Maps at GeekBeat.TV/AcrossAmericaMap so if they are stopping near you, go see them! They’ll be giving out shirts and having a good time visiting awesome attractions. Just look for the awesome trailer!

FREE STUFF!

Ok ok. I know what you’re saying! “Hey guy! Get to the free stuff already!” I can’t help it! The CEA LineShows event is sure to be nothing short of amazing!

Let’s get to the giveaway. The rules are simple. Everyday during the trip, John will tweet something with the hashtag #GBTourPrize. For a chance at winning, all you have to do is retweet it! Simple, right? Of course this means that you need to be following @JohnPoz on Twitter. Since the trip is sponsored by @Newegg, you have to follow them as well!

You can get full giveaway details and rules at GeekBeat.TV/Giveaways.
The prizes you can win are listed there as well! Nintendo 3DS, external hard drives and GPS systems! Oh my!

John and Norm would be delighted if you joined them during their trip and we’ll see you guys LIVE June 22nd and 23rd for the CEA LineShows event!

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So, I tossed my name in the hat because it sounded like fun. Lo and behold, I was accepted into what Mercedes referred to as “the Second Round”, in which I was asked to submit an application. At first I was a little excited, though I figured there are probably a million people in the “Second Round” anyway…

THEN I read the actual “application”. And wow, I couldn’t believe what all they were asking for!

What the Contest Promises

Here’s what the official contest tells you before you enter:

Four two-person teams will embark on Feb. 2, 2011, from one of four cities – New York, L.A., Chicago or Tampa – with a pair of Super Bowl tickets and specially outfitted Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

They’ll need to beat out three other teams headed to Dallas. They’ll need to complete a series of challenges along the way. And they’ll need gallons of Tweets from their Twitter followers to fuel them to victory.

If you were “lucky” enough to be chosen for the second round of the contest then you received a Twitter DM (direct message) instructing you to email the contest administrator for your application packet – which I did.

What NOT To Do When Running a Contest

In response, an email arrived with an 8.3MB attached 11 page application. Yes, eleven pages. (BTW, posting this disqualifies me from the contest, but as you’ll see in a minute, it doesn’t matter). A couple of notes for anyone considering running a Twitter contest:

• A lot of people’s email accounts might not accept a 8MB attachment. And even if they do, what if they are traveling or something (which I was)? Why not upload it somewhere and give us a link. Huge surprise attachments are just plain rude, and have been since like 1999.
• You might not want to give people an 11 page application to start with for a freaking contest.

Problems, Problems

Ok, to be honest, even though the 11 page application was a bit of a shocker I was still considering it. But there were two big problems:

1. I received it on December 25, and they required a complete response by December 29. Even taking out the fact that we are talking about the holiday season, the application not only requires written response, but it also requires a photograph with your driving partner as well as a 2 minute video with your partner. I guess they didn’t consider the fact that people might not be in town!
2. MUCH more importantly, this process requires that every applicant submit to an unbelievably invasive background search. I mean that I literally could not believe the nerve of what they were asking for.

The Unbelievable Release

AUTHORIZATION AND RELEASE (driver)
Please print, sign, scan and send completed version to RaceDirectory@MBTweetRace.com

Permission to obtain driver records, employment and education verifications, search for criminal records, litigation, liens, judgments, credit reports, bankruptcy records and all other records reflecting character.

I, ___________________ hereby authorize IPS Associates, LLC to conduct an investigation and/or obtain investgative reports, driver history records, criminal convictions records, credit reports, education, prior employment, character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living.

I hereby authorize IPS Associates, LLC to conduct an education search to verify any enrollment and/or degrees which I have obtained as well as to verify all academics and/or licensses which may be listed below.

I, hereby authorize IPS Associates, LLC to conduct an employment search to verify employment which I have listed below.

I further understand than an investigative consumer report may contain information about my character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living, which information may be obtained through personal interviews with my friends, neighbors and/or other associates.

I further understand that any information obtained by IPS Associates, LLC will not be used in violation of any federal or state discrimination law or regulation.

I hereby and herewith release IPS Associates, LLC, its employees, agents and contractors from any and all liability whatsoever arising from the investigation, report or any decisions made by any person or entity based upon the results of the investgation or report.

Print Name / Sign / etc.

GOOD LORD! They want you to give them your social security number, drivers license, and the right to delve into employment, credit, “…character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living…” and whatever else they like? Oh, and you are going to completely absolve them “…from any and all liability whatsoever….”

So It’s Like a Job and Going to Pay Off, Right?

When I hear all of that I think, this thing better really, really pay off right! NO! According to the competition Terms here is what you get:

Contestants must be available beginning at 9 am on February 1, 2011 through February 9, 2011.

Compensation will not be provided to Contest Teams, including but not limited to, reimbursement for lost wages or business losses. Teams will be provided a daily stipend for food, lodging and gasoline. Travel from the Contestant’s home to the Teams designated race beginning point and from Dallas back to their home will be provided via coach class airline commercial carrier. Contestants must agree to abide by any social media and site rules established by Twitter®, Facebook and Sponsor.

Contestants must agree to abide by all traffic and parking rules and laws. Contestants will be liable for all parking tickets, moving violations or other fines levied in connection with driving the vehicle.

Contestants shall be required to sign a Liability Waiver and Release form to operate the vehicle, and Publicity Release consent to the use of their name, likeness and any and all copyright or other intellectual property rights without compensation, in any advertising and promotional activities, worldwide, in perpetuity.

Lets Examine the Prizes

Both the Winning Driver and the Winning Co-Driver of the winning Contest Team will receive a 2012 Mercedes-Benz C250 Coupe, base model, with winner’s choice of paint color (Prize Vehicles).

Oh, there is one little catch:

Winners of Prize Vehicles acknowledge and accept that the Prize Vehicles will not be available to the winners until model retail launch in October 2011.

Well, and another much bigger catch:

…all federal, state and local taxes associated with the acceptance of any and all prizes connected with this Contest are the sole responsibility of the winner.

To Sum It All Up

So, to wrap it all up for you,

• They ran a “contest” that needs lots of participation, and which is dependant on the social media sphere.
• God only knows how many people’s lives they are going to investigate like crazy to narrow the field to 4 teams.
• 3 out of 4 final teams are going to have to give up a week to compete and get NOTHING!
• You have to accept ALL liability while you are competing for free in their contest!
• They can decide to change the contest prize on you at any time – so you might not even win the car they are holding the contest for!
• If you do win, you aren’t going to get the prize for nearly a year.
• You are signing over your name, likeness, etc. FOREVER for them to use in any way they want GLOBALLY (even if you don’t win and get NOTHING for participating).
• And if you win you’re going to be responsible for paying for taxes on the value of the vehicle as if it was income. So hope you have many $thousands of cash laying around to take care of Uncle Sam.

All of this just puts a really, really bad taste in my mouth for Mercedes Benz. Which of course is the complete opposite of what I suspect they were looking for. Sooo… I have just one question for Mercedes:

Who the hell did you hire to run this contest, and what were you thinking???

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ZOMM is a personal communication device that pairs with your mobile phone to deliver three main features:

1. It’s a digital leash.
2. Its a bluetooth speakerphone.
3. Its an emergency alarm.

I personally used a ZOMM to make the World’s first phone call while skydiving with the US Army Golden Knights at OpenCamp! It was awesome.

So, fill out this little form and subscribe to the newsletter and not only will you be eligible to win a ZOMM in November, but you’ll also be eligible to win any monthly prize going forward for as long as you subscribe! And there is plenty of other great stuff coming up!

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Livid Lobster!

As many of you are aware, my new company Livid Lobster, Inc. is the proud host of two new video podcasts (GeekBeat.TV and WebBeat.TV) as well as the parent company of OneMansBlog, OpenCamp, WealthNation.FM and a few other soon to be released projects… Well, we’ve decided to launch a brand new weekly newsletter which will feature all sorts of goodies such as:

• Top posts of the week
• Schedule of events
• Exclusive subscriber content
• and more!

Well, rather than trying to run Twitter contests, or other things that are difficult to track, we’re going to make it real simple! If you are a current subscriber to The Livid Lobster List you are automatically eligible for whatever in the heck that Cali Lewis and I manage to have in our bag of tricks to give away that month! And believe me, between the two of us we get our hands on some primo goodies!

So, add yourself to the mailing list and we’ll not only do our best to keep you entertained and informed – we might also just send you something awesome! What are you waiting for? SIGN UP NOW!

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I have about 20 good reasons for you all to help me with this social experiment. But especially for those of you who are going to be attending OpenCamp and other various places I’ll lecture at this year – I need your help! You would not believe all the metrics I’m gathering and will be sharing with you later about how this works out! But you’ve really, really got to help me spread the word!

Seriously, do me this favor… even if you don’t want an iPad, that’s fine! I thought of you too! You can do it for charity! Just look at the bottom of the iPad Giveaway page and you’ll see that I’m happy to make a donation on your behalf if you win.

So please, if you read my blog all year, do me this one favor today of helping to spread the word. I’ll love you forever! (Oh, heck. I already do!)

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I told him that was preposterous! Nothing scares John P!

The problem with statements like that is they lead you right into these stupid bets that guys make. So yes, this is a REAL bet. And yes, I must ask Nina Hartley any question that you put in the comments below. However, there are two rules to protect me. After all, my mother is going to watch this video!

• No vulgarity. I won’t say curse words or be crude.
• No talking about body parts for the sake of just talking about them. You have to ask REAL questions!

Actually, now I wish I was able to come up with more rules for this little bet, but alas that was all I could think of at the time it was formed. So, there you have it.

Anyway, I’m not really worried about it. I don’t think anyone can come up with a legitimate question that I would be embarrassed to ask Nina. I mean, they’re only questions… right?

Oh, there was one other tiny little stipulation to the bet. It’s no big deal really because no one is going to win. But if I’m too embarrassed to actually ask the question I must publicly admit it and give credit to each person during the video interview. (He freakin made me even put that last part in italics. Whatever….)

Caio!

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As with before, as you scroll down you’ll find many of the photos submitted by users that I really enjoyed today. And at the end we’ve got the final winner of Trey’s new book A World in HDR. For those of you who are in the Austin, TX area don’t forget that next Wednesday, December 9th, there is going to be a book launch party at the Driskill hotel in downtown. So come on out and get your copy signed.

Now, lets get on with the list.

Honorable Mentions

Squid Vicious posted this fantastic photo called UP the down hole. It’s a visual treat, and something you certainly don’t see every day.

Yesterday’s winner, Matthias Weigel, came back strong with a series of submissions today including this one of an Audi museum (I believe). Matthias got mad skillz…

This photo of Venice is from Vicky Tsavdaridou:

Ken Snyder posted this photo of Chicago’s Navy Pier. I love the city, and the photo brings back fond memories. Hint though Ken – I think putting a watermark in the photo kind of lessens the appeal of your image. Keep in mind that you’re still protected by copyright, so I think the watermark undermines your Creative Commons license because bloggers generally won’t use your image and give you attribution. But love the photo anyway…

Here is an interesting night shot by Definitive HDR and submitted by Priyesh Patel.

This photo by Brandon Watts is of Lou Neff Point in Austin, TX and was shared by Kenneth Lee.

Brian Winshell, who is pretty darn new to Twitter, shared this photo of the Hilton Woburn.

This one was taken and submitted by Leo Teles and entitled Narrow Old Street. It’s part of his rather large online portfolio that is worth stopping by…

At first, I thought Oliver Wilke’s photo entitled March 14th was of some sort of apocalyptic fire. Then I realized it was just how the image was processed. :-) Very nicely done!

Here’s one called Peace in Prague from Eugene once again. I’m very impressed with the consistent quality of Eugene’s work and I highly recommend that everyone spend some time exploring his photos.

Another from Matthias Weigel entitled Nature is Coming Back.

This next one, sent in by Jonas is of the NXP building in the Netherlands courtesy of photographer Torfinn Berset. I’ve never seen a building quite like it!

This one is of Lincoln’s Tomb taken by Ron McDonald. Magnificent colors…

Here is a fantastic photo by Thamer Al-Tassan of the Taj Mahal which was shared by C Whitfield. I love everything about this photo and it makes me wish I was there to experience it firsthand. The sign of an exceptional photo!

Enjoyed this one called Going Through the Mill by Jacob Crosby. Kind of peaceful in a rustic old sort of way.

This next one from Astin is fantastic. It’s a sign hanging on City Hall with only four simple letters. It’s George Orwell’s worst nightmare come true. ;-)

Heather Lang demonstrated her exceptional taste by sharing the next two images. This first one is of a Pyramid in Cairo, Egypt.

And this next one is called Chasing Blue Sky.

Nick Foust sent this next one, which I think just goes to prove that sometimes the most interesting view is simply straight up! This is the Scotia Mcleod Building in Downtown Victoria, B.C shot by Brandon Godfrey.

Astin posted this wonderful photo of Lunenburg Academy in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia.

Mike Appel submitted this photo of The Met in New York city. I love the way the banners just jump out at you.

I really love this next one. I like the name of the shop, the brightness of the colors, the fact that the door is inviting me in, and the bokeh effect with the lighting drop off in the background. Congrats to Jonas once again for this photo. Your overall body of work is superb.

This photo of the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia took me back a little at first. I wasn’t sure I cared of the black and white, fading into color effect. But I kept staring at it trying to figure out if it was a result of the lighting, or deliberate Photoshopping by the artist. Eventually I decided it didn’t matter! The photo was interesting! Thanks to Ted Doherty for sharing and Marc for taking the photo!

This next shot of the Coat Hangar Bridge in Sydney Australia was just edged out by our winner. I’ve never seen this bridge before but it’s magnificent. Thanks to Matt Cozza for sharing it!

The Winner!

Michael Appel submitted this absolutely amazing photo from Anto 13. Just look at it. How could it not win? I can’t take my eyes off it. I want TO BE THERE! I want to take that photo! I want it hanging on my wall. Just magnificent.

Oh, by the way, before the controversy erupts… Scott Barlow also submitted this photo! But Michael beat you to the punch. ;-) Even though Michael jumped the gun a bit by sharing it before official Architecture day, I gotta give him credit for the win…

There were so many other fantastic submissions over the last few days, some of which I’m sure I missed, and many which I could not publish because of the nasty copyright restrictions the photographers placed on them (which HURTS you, not HELPS you). I looked at hundreds each day though, and many, many were fantastic – so on behalf of Trey Ratcliff and Peachpit, thanks to everyone for playing!

If you are an active photographer on Flickr make sure and friend me up over there so I can follow you back and keep an eye on all those fantastic photos. And until then, happy shooting!

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It’s was very difficult picking a winner because all of the submissions are really fantastic. The photographers did a great job, and the people who submitted the images had a keen eye. But don’t you worry your pretty little heads… I picked a winner down below! ;-)

So, today is Landscape day and let me give everyone two big hints if you want a better chance at winning:

1. Make sure you link to an image that is a reasonable size. If I can’t view it in at least 1024×768 it is definitely not going to win. I mean who wants to squint at a tiny little image. Just upload it in 1920×1080 and you are going to be safe. Oh, and don’t put ugly watermarks all over it either…
2. If it’s not Creative Commons licensed then it’s not going to make it onto my blog or any other reputable ones either. Which means that you also aren’t going to get a powerful backlink. Or the traffic that comes with it. Using a CC license doesn’t erode your ability to sell commercial licenses, it just lets you get free publicity from people like me who might use it non-commercially.

That’s it! Off to the photos now!

James Tuck submitted several photos, and apparently he’s a brand new Twitter user just for this contest! Welcome James! Anyway, here is a photo from Anders Bjørshol entitled “Polluted“:

Jonas Christensen posted a link to this old Battery, which is not quite a landscape, but certainly is a human made impression on one.

Lisa Boulden shared this image called Thought’s Landscape:

Club 1137 submitted this photo of Khao Lak beach (I believe in Thailand‎). I like it a lot, especially the reflection of the trees in the water. I think the image just needs a little Photoshop work to cover up the drain hoses poking out.

Dan shared this photo of a beautiful Koi Pond in Brooklyn:

FotoGrafZahl posted this magnificent HDR shot of a tree:

Mike Bright submitted this photo entitled Storm Over Polperro:

Matthias Weigel shared this photo of sheep in a field. I absolutely love it. It’s just not quite the “Landscape” theme we were looking for today so it couldn’t win…

Vivek Sekar sent in this photo of a waterfall in Iceland. The composition is very nice, including the little frozen flower in the foreground. I would like to see the colors turned up a little in post to really make it “pop”, but enjoy the photo very much as is.

Here is a photo by Barbara Jean which was shared by Jonas. The image is very visually interesting, though maybe a little too busy for some eyes. Still, I love it!

Astin submitted this photo of a waterfall in Iceland. I’m fascinated with Iceland and this is why!

Eugene submitted this photo entitled Dreams of Summer. I simply love it.

And Finally…

Jean Loh posted this photo by Scott Weber entitled Lower Lewis River Falls. And guess what folks, this one is the winner for the day! Quite simply – it made me want to be there! That is not to say that the other photos weren’t beautiful and I didn’t love many of them. But when I saw this one, it was like emotion in pixels for me.

So, congrats to Jean on winning a copy of Trey’s A World in HDR book! And many thanks to Scott Weber for taking such a fantastic photo of such an amazing place. Cheers!

Remember, tomorrow is Vehicle day! So you can Tweet photos of anything that will carry humans! Planes, trains, and automobiles… oh my!

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I’ve assembled as many of the videos of his performances as I could find to show the road that led up to the win. Sit back and enjoy.

Here was the very first performance. From the minute he walked on stage the judges were like, “oh no… not a ventriloquist.” But as soon as Terry’s puppet whipped out the first words in Ella Fitzgerald’s voice, it was all over…

Later, In the Top 20 semi-finals, Terry performed with Winston the Turtle doing an impersonation of Kermit the Frog singing Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World.

When he made it into the Top 10 he did Unforgettable. And it was…

Here is Terry Fator singing Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” and Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” from the Semi-Finals – Top 8.

This is Terry’s first finals performance with Walter T. Airdale singing Garth Brook’s country single “I Got Friends In Low Places”.

This is Terry’s second finals performance with Winston the Turtle singing Roy Orbison’s “Crying”.

Here was the final performance, along with Kermit the frog.

And here was the winning announcement:

After all that, I’ve got no problem declaring him the most talented ventriloquist on Earth.

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The prize for beating me will be one crisp new US Dollar. Good luck!

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Congrats to her for all her contributions as well as just being a subscriber. I’ve also got a couple of other rather large announcements coming up, so I’m going to suspend the monthly contest for December just to thin out my schedule a bit until I figure out a far less time intensive method of doing this. I’m sure I’ll be back with the contest in January, and I’ll try to make it something extra special!

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Ok. I received word that one of my “biggest fans” has nominated One Man’s Blog for a Blogger’s Choice Award! In fact, OMB was nominated as the Best Blog of All Time! I don’t know about all that… but thank you very much for the nomination.

Funny thing is, there are only a few hundred votes for the other blogs which are nominated (it’s not that huge of a contest I guess), so it is theoretically possible that if ALL of my subscribers were to take a minute to go over there and vote I could actually win (“…he wrote, while laughing at the thought this would happen…”).

Of course, to make matters worse, it looks like the voting – which has been going on all year – ends in a little over a week!

Sooo, if you are operating under the delusion that you’d like to see me crowned “King of the World” or something like that, then mosey on over and load up the votes! But remember, you’ve only got about a week to get ‘er done.

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They fold up and come with a little travel case, so you can toss them in your bag and use them with an iPod, laptop, or whatever. Frankly this is one of those items that most people normally wouldn’t drop this kind of change on, so naturally it makes for a perfect prize here on OMB!

We’re going to run this by the same rules as last month for now. You can do either (or both) of the following to qualify for an entry into this contest:

1. Subscribe for e-mail updates (form on the right side of the page). This makes sure that I have your e-mail so I can contact you if you win, and it allows my readers that don’t have Web sites to still have a chance at winning. NOTE: if you aren’t receiving daily e-mail updates then you are NOT confirmed and need to sign up again.
2. Create a post with at least one link back to any OMB article during the contest month. Please make sure to leave a trackback on the post you link, or drop me an e-mail, so I can keep track.

Details:

• If you win I’ll ship anywhere in the world. I don’t care where you are! So, everyone is eligible.
• Winners will be chosen by a random drawing which I’ll have my wife select while blindfolded (or at least not looking).
• If you do something spectacular to help promote this site it will earn you extra entries. (Like start a Digg, Stumble, or Reddit storm, create graphics or improve my theme – or anything else generally kick ass.)
• The rules may be changed a little here and there to keep things fair if I’ve forgotten anything. Please ask questions if you see glaring holes in the plan.

If you’re going to enter via a blog article, how about helping spread the love about this contest? And if you don’t have a Web site but are a regular reader, perhaps it’s time to get an e-mail subscription (top right of the page) so I can include you too? See my privacy policy if you have any concerns.

Now… since handing out just one prize at the end of the month doesn’t seem all that fun to me. There will probably be a few smaller mystery prizes as well. I don’t know about you guys, but to me it just seems more fun if more people win stuff!

So good luck, and keep reading! :-)

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Anyway, as previously mentioned, you only had to do one of two “no obligation” things in order to be eligible to win the Sony Camcorder. Be an e-mail subscriber to OMB updates, or link to any article from your blog. (Both allow me to at least hunt down the winners.) Well, the results are in, and we have a winner!

First, the methodology… Because I don’t want anyone worrying about how the winner was chosen.

1. I gathered all of the inbound links showing on Technorati into a collection and printed them all out.
2. I cleaned up the e-mail subscriber list and printed all of the current subscribers out.
3. I checked those lists against the e-mails and comments from the contest post to make sure I had everyone.
4. I tossed in a few extra entries for things that some readers did which deserved extra entries.
5. I then manually cut each and every entry into strips and placed them in a big bowl.
6. My wife looked in the other direction and then selected a winner from among the group!

And the lucky winner of the Sony DCR-SR60 Hard Drive Camcorder is Mark Rayner! Mark’s entry came courtesy of the link he provided to the 150 Monty Python sketches article. So I wonder, did Mark even know that he had become eligible for the drawing as a result of the link? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.

Now, in case Mark is unable to fulfill the duties of the One Man’s Blog contest – namely to make contact with me fairly quickly, we did draw a runner-up. And lo and behold to my surprise it was Lorelle VanFossen! Yep, the very Lorelle who I filmed at WordCamp. So, just in case Mark got run over by a bus or something, the camcorder will go to Lorelle (but personally I wouldn’t count on it).

Congrats to Mark, and don’t despair if you weren’t the winner this month. I will announce next month’s prize and associated rules tomorrow… So stay tuned!

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So, I’m happy to announce the implementation of the OMB Member of the Month Contest! Here is the deal… At the beginning of each month I’m going to announce the OMB Member of the Month winner along with the prize for the upcoming month. You can do either (or both) of the following to qualify:

1. Subscribe for e-mail updates. This makes sure that I have your e-mail so I can contact you if you win, and it allows my readers that don’t have Web sites to still have a chance at winning.
2. Create a post with at least one link back to any OMB article during the contest month. Please make sure to leave a trackback on the post you link, or drop me an e-mail, so I can keep track.

To make sure we start out with a bang, the first ever prize is going to be a Sony DCR-SR60 Hard Drive Camcorder with a retail value of $599. Great for video blogging because there is no tape! Record to hard drive, then USB it right into your computer for uploading!

I bought this as an evaluation unit and it’s been opened and tested one time only.

Now, I’m not promising that every month will be a $600 prize, but I will tell you that every prize will be something that I would personally love to receive. And as most of you probably know by now I’ve got some tasty toys.

Details I’ve already thought through:

• If you win I’ll ship anywhere in the world. I don’t care where you are! So, everyone is eligible.
• Winners will be chosen by a random drawing which I’ll have my wife select while blindfolded (or at least not looking).
• If you do something spectacular to help promote this site it will earn you extra entries. (Like start a Digg, Stumble, or Reddit storm, create graphics or improve my theme – or anything else generally kick ass.)
• The rules may be changed a little here and there to keep things fair if I’ve forgotten anything. Please ask questions if you see glaring holes in the plan.

If you’re going to enter via a blog article, how about helping spread the love about this contest? And if you don’t have a Web site but are a regular reader, perhaps it’s time to get an e-mail subscription (top right of the page) so I can include you too? See my privacy policy if you have any concerns.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to read and contribute at One Man’s Blog. You guys are the reason I keep going!

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