Can I tell you a story?

A few days ago, I was just browsing through my email and saw a message from lulu.com about a contest from NatureMade to write a bedtime story. I love writing. Before I got so busy writing ebooks world, I started by self publishing some of my poems and children's books on lulu, so I thought I would try my hand at this contest.

I just wrote my entry, a bedtime story entitled, "Let's Play A Game" dedicated to my son Chris. I would love for you to read it and vote for it if you like it. Then share it if you love it! I'm not so lucky when it comes to contests, so I could use ALL the help I can get (lol).

For my fellow entrepreneurs and mommy bloggers I have one final thing to say, always stay in the loop and be aware of what other people are doing in the online world. You might learn something new or earn something new that could make your day a little better than it already is!

Thanks for reading this post and an extra thanks for clicking here to read my story. TTYL -lh

Sense of the City Winner: Congrats ssales of San Francisco!

It all came down to a close race between ssales' San Francisco, sallycat's Buenos Aires, and DeborahMcCoy's Chicago tours, which between the three of them captured a full 50% of the 99 votes cast in Where's Sense of the City Challenge at NextStop.com. The winner when all was said and done late last night was ssales, a "hoop goddess and aspiring lawyer" from the City by the Bay whose tour of her town struck just the right balance between quirky sights, hotspots, and parks to grab 22 votes and earn her the top spot bragging rights and a $50 Visa gift card from NextStop.

All of us at Where would like to extend our hearty congratulations to the winner, and to thank everyone who entered and voted. It's been fun to get a sense of how you experience your cities these past couple of weeks -- and what a mix of cities it was! The Sense of the City Challenge drew 17 entries from San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Prague, Sydney, Milwaukee, Vancouver, Gold Coast, the two Portlands (Oregon and Maine), Athens, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Austin, and Bali.

Thanks, also, go to the folks at NextStop.com, particularly Isabel, who set this whole shindig up, and Kevin, the programmer who built the nifty widgets that have been up on the Where homepage during the contest. The widgets will stay for a few more days for anyone who wants to swing over to NextStop to check out the Sense of the City entries (though voting is now closed) and any of the other challenges that NextStop is currently running. Bon appetite!


(Photo from Allposters.co.uk, by way of NextStop.com.)

Sense of the City Challenge - Only 2 Days Left!

Attention all Wheresters: our Sense of the City challenge at NextStop.com is quickly coming to a close. Only two days remain in the competition, so if you haven't had a chance to check out the dozen entries posted by your fellow readers, make sure to get over to the contest page before midnight on Wednesday to check out personalized tours of cities around the world and vote for the ones that you think best convey a strong sense of place. The winner (who will receive a $50 Visa gift card for their top-notch e-tour skillz) will be determined entirely by public vote, and anyone can put in their two cents by registering at NextStop (which is simple, quick, and totally painless, scout's honor) and voting before the contest closes.

Also, the contest is still close, so if you think you can muster up your own personal fan base and underdog it, it's not too late to create an entry. That should serve as a reminder to those of you who have already entered -- get the word out about your contest entry and get your friends voting. You never know what can happen in 54 hours. Good luck to everyone! (Here's that link, one more time.)

Sense of the City Contest

Where has partnered with new travel and exploration site NextStop.com to bring you, our wonderful readers, the Sense of the City contest. Check out the contest page and use NextStop's super-intuitive site to create a tour of your city to enter. The contest will last for two weeks from today, and can be accessed easily during that time by clicking on the big fancy link at the top of the right sidebar at Where's homepage. The winner (to be determined by a public poll) will be announced on Thursday, May 14th, and will receive a $50 Visa Gift Card. So check out the prompt below, and get to work! We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

What defines your city's sense of place? The way that a city makes you feel is determined by so many things -- that's why the same city, or even the same neighborhood, can mean so many things to so many people. Where is hosting this contest to give you a chance to communicate how your city makes you feel, and why. Tell us about the places -- neighborhoods, public spaces, transit stops, buildings, businesses, whatever! -- that capture what your city is all about.

Do the Gedanken, Win a Copy of Hyperborder

Everybody loves a contest, right?

In an effort to generate some reader participation and get the creative juices flowing around here, Where is turning Monday's Blogedanken into a contest. Entries should be added as comments to the original post.You can enter as many or as few of your five results from the exercise as you'd like, but no more than five entries per person, please.

The contest will run between now and March 22nd, at which point I'll narrow the entries down to the most creative/funky/innovative/entertaining of the bunch (yeah, it's subjective, I know) and open things up to a public vote from March 23-30. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 31, and will promptly receive, via mail, a copy of PA Press' book, Hyperborder.

We're on the honor system here, folks, so play fair. Best of luck!

Blogedanken: The Wishlist

Strange title, no? To explain: the term "blogedanken" is a portmanteau of "blog" and "gedanken," a German word that translates, roughly, to "thought experiment." Tonight, a blogedanken for your entertainment and mental exercise. After the first part, you'll need to highlight the text to see the next three. Resist the urge to look ahead -- go one at a time, or it won't be any fun.

1.) Spend ten minutes brainstorming every bit of urban designery that would be on your ultimate wishlist for your city. Does your city need a more efficient subway? Better street life? A giant sculpture of Chuck Norris? Go crazy. Get creative. This is the easy part. (Here's a great example featured in Weekend Reading two weeks ago, in case you need inspiration).

2.) Now go back over your list and decide which fifteen things would be your top priorities if you could put together your ideal plan for your city. Think carefully -- what would really make your city a better place to live?|||

3.) Next -- without changing the order of your fifteen priority items -- circle the first, sixth, and eleventh entries on your list. Now try to come up with a way that you could combine all three into one grand, symbiotic piece of urban design and/or policy. Repeat the process for the groupings of items 2-7-12, 3-8-13, 4-9-14, and 5-10-15. Again: Go crazy. Get creative.|||

4.) You should now have five innovative, wildly imaginative urban solutions unique to the challenges that face your city. Post your favorites in the comments section of this thread. Floating sustainable fast food culture villages? Tribal teen centers hung from the bottoms of elevated high-speed train tracks? Tax breaks for city workers who rent their homes and volunteer with local nonprofits? Show us what you've got.|||

Go get your gedanken on.

EDIT: This blogedanken is now officially a contest. You can enter as many or as few of your five results from the exercise as you'd like, but no more than five entries per person, please. Entries should be added as comments to this thread, and only participants who complete all four steps will be eligible to win. Entries will be accepted between now and March 31st, at which point I'll narrow the entries down to the most creative/funky/innovative/entertaining of the bunch (yeah, it's subjective, I know) and open things up to a public vote from April 1-10. The winner will be announced on Friday, April 11, and will promptly receive, via mail, a copy of PA Press' book, Hyperborder.

(Photo from Flickr user Dom Dada. The original full-color version can be viewed by clicking the photo.)

Aretha Franklin CD Contest

Win a copy of the new CD: ARETHA FRANKLIN, Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul.

A Black Freebies Exclusive on Multiple Shades of You Online