Blackberry Q10 Giveaway - Don't Text and Drive!

You've all heard it, texting is by far the most distracting and dangerous activity to do while driving. But because texting is a relatively new technology, you probably haven't been involved in or know of people who have been involved in texting while driving accidents. That doesn't mean that you should wait until it becomes prevalent. The time to take action, or rather inaction, is now. Check out ItCanWait.com and see the stories. This one just breaks my heart.



Nowadays, I have been appending this to my text messages: "Don't reply if you're driving!". Clearly no text is so important to risk your life. Check out these other stats from the Kars4Kids.org.

BlogHer '11 Brookstone Giveaway

What do you think of when you think of Brookstone?  Do images of relaxing massage chairs come to mind?  Or perhaps nifty gadgets and accessories for the gadget-holic in your life?  Or maybe just super cool toys.  Like this AR.Drone Quadricopter.  I was lucky to receive this hands-on demo of total coolness.  It is controlled by your iPhone/iPod/iPad and can take videos from the front and side.  Can you imagine sending it over your house to take photos?



But if you're more practical minded, here are some travel accessories that you might like:

   

• Lightweight hanging Toiletry Kit with tons of zippered pockets for super-organized travel

• 4-in-1 Power Charger that can power just about any portable device with an A/C outlet, car, USB port or 9V battery

      

• n•a•p® Plush Eyemask that can be heated or cooled for total eye comfort and zzz.....

      

• Wordlock® Luggage Lock where you can use a word instead of numbers to remember your combination
  

      

• My Life Digital Photo Keychain which holds up to 100 photos to keep your loved ones near

*** If you'd like to enter win any of these Brookstone travel accessories, please fill out the form below.  The Brookstone giveaway is open to all US residents. ***

For extra entries, do any or all of the following:

• Like Brookstone on Facebook
• Like mommy bytes on Facebook
• Like this post (use the Like button at the end of the post)
• Follow Brookstone on Twitter
• Follow mommybytes on Twitter
• Tweet about the Brookstone event or giveaway (using @mommybytes and @brookstone)
• Promote this post using StumbleUpon, blog post or other social media (one entry only)

The Brookstone giveaway ends Friday August 12, at 11 pm EDT.



Hope to see everyone at BlogHer.  Not only do I get to see everyone again, my mom will be making her third appearance! (She should start her own fan club .)

Disclaimer:  Brookstone provided products for me to review as well as for the giveaway.  

In perfect balance with V8 V-Fusion + Tea

Here's a reminder to check out my review for V8 V-Fusion + Tea and a chance to win $100. Photo credit goes to my son Adam.  Here are the outtakes...


Falling right...


Falling left...

I Could Have Had a V8!

Or in this case, check out my review for V8 V-Fusion + Tea and a chance to win $100.

Check Out V8 V-Fusion + Tea

Over at contest bytes, check out my review for V8 V-Fusion + Tea and a chance to win $100. Can you tell Dova loves it?

Who has the cutest Daddy? We do of course!

I never tire of this photo of Dova and Doug after his birthday party in 2005. It always brings a smile to my face.

Parents.com is holding a "Cutest Daddy" photo contest. It's open now and will continue through April 10. Up to six photos of your cute dad and kid can be submitted.  The photos will be judged on overall appearance of the subject, adherence to the cutest daddy theme, and the quality of photo. The winner will receive a Canon PowerShot 8.0MP Digital ELPH Camera.

Enter yourself or if you'd like to give a plug for my photo, go here and click the vote checkbox.  Thanks!

13 Things I Learned About Carbon Footprint

The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Your Carbon Footprint: Nancy S. Grant

I had planned this post long before Thursday Thirteen went away and old habits are hard to break.  I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to all things green, but there were definitely things that I learned from reading this book.

1. The three main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.  Their main sources come from fossil fuels, mining and fertilizers respectively.
2. SHGC is the "solar heat gain coefficient" for windows.  Depending on your climate, you may need a higher or lower coefficient.  This is different from the U-factor which measures how well a window stops heat flow.
3. Add a water bottle filled with sand to your 3 or 5 gallon toilet tank to reduce the amount of water per flush.  I also learned from wrestling with my mom's toilet that you can reduce the amount of water by fiddling with the screws on the float.
4. Burning local wood in a wood stove reduces greenhouse gas emissions because it uses less transportation and distribution networks than other fuels. It is also considered part of the natural carbon cycle.
5. Green roofs use soil and plants to insulate and moderate temperature of buildings.  Doug and I saw lots of houses with grass roofs in Norway on our honeymoon, and I was completely fascinated by them.
6. Ethanol produces less greenhouse gases than regular gasoline.  Ethanol from cellulosic plant material (stems and leaves) can reduce greenhouse gases up to 100%. Ethanol from corn starch (the majority produced in the US) can reduce greenhouse gases 25%.
7. Electric and hybrid cars have up to 72% fuel efficiency rating compared to gas powered cars at 20%.
8. Turning a fluorescent light on and off within 15 minutes can shorten its life.  This fact has been driving me bonkers because I'm always switching off our CFLs only to flip them on a few minutes later.
9. Low pressure sodium lamps are the most energy efficient lights that are readily available.  They are used mostly for street lamps.
10. More than half of the energy to power a large data center is used for air conditioning as opposed to powering the equipment.
11. Heat islands occur where there is a large expanse of asphalt or concrete and can be mitigated by planting grass and trees through the space or using planter boxes.
12. Xeriscaping is the practice of using drought resistant plants for landscaping in dry climate areas instead of grassy lawns.
13. The average food travels 1500 miles before reaching customers.  Lower the carbon impact by buying local foods in season.  This time of year, I see lots of fruits coming from South America!

If you also have a lot to learn about carbon footprint, check out The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Your Carbon Footprint.  If you live in the US  and would like to win my review copy (used but acceptable condition), please leave a comment saying so.  The winner will be picked on February 20th at 11pm.

Knitted Pink Ribbon

Dova refused to pose, so I caught her with her hearty laugh. Here's the pink ribbon that I knitted for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you'd like to have one of four ribbons, please leave a comment. Winners will be chosen randomly at 11pm on October 15th. Open to US and Canada.

Summer Photo Contests

Dova absolutely loves the beach, and I was glad to capture her jumping in the waves. She is always so carefree and enjoys life to the fullest.

This photo is my entry for not one, but two photo contests about summer. Check out them out at 5 Minutes for Mom and Write from Karen.

Help Us Celebrate Father's Day

Don't you think this great dad deserves $250 for the restaurant of his choice? I entered Celebrate with Style's Father's Day Photo Contest and out of hundreds of entries, not one, but both of my photos made the top ten finalists. Wow! So if you could, please visit the contest page and vote for Doug. You'll need to register with Celebrate with Style to vote (email address is all you need). And which picture should you vote for? Doug says Photo 10, the one on the beach. You can vote once a day until June 6.

Here's some notes about the photos. This first one was taken on the pristine shores of the Caribbean Beach Resort in Walt Disney World in December 2006. It was extremely bright and I was glad that my Canon S2 IS point and shoot was able to capture their glow. The second photo was taken after Doug's birthday party three years ago with my first digital camera, an Olympus C3000. Dova was just 17 months old, kicking back and relaxing just like dad. So it goes to show that it is the photographer and not camera, as both of these were taken by point and shoots in automatic mode!

I'm still in shock that my photos made the final 10. Out of hundreds. What an honor! Check out the 25 runners-ups as well.

Giveaway - Be Happy Without Being Perfect

In my enthusiasm to read this book where I am interviewed, I ordered my own copy and also received one from the publisher on the very same day. So I'm giving away a copy of Be Happy Without Being Perfect: How to Break Free from the Perfection Deception, which gives women perspective on how to avoid the Martha Stewart syndrome of constantly striving to be perfect.

Here's how to enter (US and Canada residents only please):

1. Send me a note using the form below.
2. For an extra entry, blog about this contest using this text and send me a link to your post.
   

   Angela at mommy bytes is giving away the book, Be Happy Without Being Perfect. Check out her contest post and enter by March 31st.
   

Winner will be chosen on March 31, 2008. Please fill out this form to enter (be patient with the captcha...):

Knitted Hearts Winners

Thanks everyone for entering the Knitted Hearts Pay It Forward!! Here are the entrants and some linky love:

1. Christine at From Dates to Diapers, and beyond
2. Melissa at LifeWithTwo
3. nor_lou at silly mommy of 2 silly girls
4. dodo
5. Carrie at Life is Like a Mountain Railway
6. SeaBird at SeaBird Chronicles
7. A Cup of Joy
8. eastcoastlife
9. windycindy
10. Stacey at JameeForever
11. Dana Lynne at Too Many Interests & Potential Topics to Successfully Grant a Title To...
12. Janice J
13. deelong at Things in Oregon

And the winners selected from Random.org are:

Here are your random numbers:

2 10 3 11

Timestamp: 2008-01-25 01:44:13 UTC

Congratulations Melissa, nor_lou, Stacey and Dana Lynne! Now for some knitting details on the hearts: I bought the purple and red flag yarns from the Target One Spot last year. They looked like so much fun, but I hadn't found a good use for them until now. The purple yarn is King Tut Egyptian cotton and the red yarn is Lion Chenille (except for the middle heart which was acrylic). Adam's heart is the plain red one on top because he didn't want any "frilly stuff". They were knit using the Mochimochi pattern, with the exception of using size 7 needles and knitting up to 12 stitches instead of 14. For the first lobe, I used k2tog, k4, turn, p2tog, p1, p2tog, cast off. I cut a 24" tail for seaming later. The second lobe is the opposite at k4, k2tog, turn, p2tog, p1, p2tog, cast off. They were stuffed with yarn scraps and sewn together using the same strand of yarn, including the hanging loop. The loop is simple enough: knot on top, loop, thread through the knot straight out the bottom and knot again (this loop needs to withstand my kids). They were really fun to make!

Pay It Forward - Valentine's Edition

Karmyn over at Dreaming What Ifs... sent me these wonderful homemade cards for her Pay It Forward exchange. Now she did change the rules and didn't require that people continue the Pay It Forward on their blogs, but I decided to play along. So since September, I've been wracking my brains as to what I could make, as I am not all that crafty and surely no one wants a cute piece of software code. Finally, I decided on these little knit hearts, based on the Mochimochi pattern. No, they are not filled with potpourri, I am NOT that crafty!


If you'd like one, leave a comment with your choice of color, red or purple. And to keep Karmyn's tradition, you are not required to Pay It Forward or even have a blog. I will randomly choose four winners on January 24th, so spread the word.

HP Photo Books Winners

Thanks to everyone who entered this contest and passed the word along. Here are the entries and some linky love:

1. Laura at Laura Williams' Musings
2. kailani at An Island Review
3. Amy at You are a Fly - And You're Sitting on my Wall
4. Drama Mama
5. Rachel at Simply Living Life the Kahler Way
6. Deb at Mom of 3 Girls
7. Courtney at A Mom Speaks
8. Ginny at Daily Thoughts
9. Naomi at superdumb supervillian
10. NannaBee at My Thoughts on Life - And Anything in It
11. Jill at The Diaper Diaries
12. Amanda
13. Christine at From Dates to Diapers, and beyond
14. Andrea at The Laughs Will Go On...
15. Lace at Keeping My Fingers Crossed
16. Paige at Yes, I would really like to be thin (me too!)
17. Fruit Bearer
18. To Know Him
19. Mary at International Freebies For All
20. Bev at Keep On Believing
21. Angela and Connor at Contests Anonymous
22. Quentin at Perspectives from NH (that's in the Upper Area of the Right Coast)
23. tnchick at tnchick.com (home of the Photo Hunt)
24. Candes at The World According to Candes
25. WkSocMom at Not Just a Working Mom
26. Sabine at Life isn't about finding yourself
27. Katie at Boasting in My Weakness
28. Lara at Gliding Through Motherhood

And the winners selected from Random.org are (no drumroll please, the kids are sleeping):

Here are your random numbers:

8 21 5 13 17 23

Timestamp: 2007-11-17 04:15:37 UTC

Congratulations go to:

• Ginny at Daily Thoughts
• Angela and Connor at Contests Anonymous
• Rachel at Simply Living Life the Kahler Way
• Christine at From Dates to Diapers, and beyond
• Fruit Bearer
• tnchick at tnchick.com

For those of you who are still interested in purchasing an HP Photo Book, you can purchase HP Photo Books at the HP Store and use this 20% discount coupon.

Thursday Thirteen #21 - Contests and New Blogs

Here's the latest scoop on contests and a few new blog announcements!

1. First and foremost, check out my very first contest for HP Photo Books. I have six to giveaway, so chances are good for picking up one!
   


2. I failed to get many votes for the FuelMyBlog MyBowlAd contest, but then MyBowlAd completely backed out of the trip to Hollywood and hate clubs started forming. FuelMyBlog also issued an apology even though they were not at fault.
   


3. Speaking of FuelMyBlog, I've been entering their captioning contests and actually won for this picture with the caption "Hello? We said a paisley tie-dyed theme, not solids. But since you came with your peace sign pendant I suppose you're still in." Unfortunately, the something random from Kevin Dixie's cupboard escaped from the envelope on the trip across the Atlantic.
   


4. And for this picture, I got second place with the caption "'I didn't know it was a vibrating microscope!' exclaimed Dr. Bluebottle." A blue Nalgene bottle just happened to be sitting on my desk when I wrote that one.


5. I won this cute dog from Mommy Community's Scavenger Hunt for this post. Adam is modeling it next to a pumpkin that he carved completely by himself. Since I was the only legitimate entry, it was a shoe-in. Just goes to show you that you should always enter because you never know.


6. I won the Blogrush contest at Contest Blogger, getting a month-long link on their homepage. So far so good on Blogrush as I can see some traffic coming from them.
   


7. I got the wildcard prize for a $25 Amazon gift certificate at Super Fundraiser's Back to School writing contest for Inside the PTO Secret Society. I'm not sure why a people would vote for a post with typos for a writing contest, but I guess that's not for me to say! At least I got a few other votes besides my own.
   


8. I didn't win the V-moda Headphones, but I was secretly hoping that I wouldn't since they since came out with a newer version with an iPhone clicker control.
   


9. Here the results of the Where the heck is my contest? poll:
   
   What should I do with my $100 Apple Store Credit (see map)

   Run a blog contest for an iPod Shuffle:
   (0%)
   Use it to repair my current iPod (if they allow it!):
   (0%)
   Put is towards a new iPod Classic ($249):
   (75%)
   Buy myself the Vmoda earphones if I don't win the contest (this is really not a choice because I will win!):
   (0%)
   Save it for the next generation iPod:
   (25%)
   Just save it as it doesn't expire:
   (0%)

   
   I've been squeaking by on my old iPod in the car and using the iPhone more and more outside of the car so no iPod Classic is needed. Besides, the iPod Classics have been getting bad reviews and poor sales. So even though the results of my poll say otherwise, I will hopefully pick up a pair of those new V-moda headphones before my next business trip to California next week. I'm attending another leadership training session with experiential techniques, yippee! If you missed those posts, check out beautiful Rancho Capistrano, Peanut Butter River and Gone Fishing.


10. I also didn't win the Nintendo DS Lite from Bob Meets World back in June, but grandma graciously bought one for Adam's birthday. Now I'll have to snag one for myself so I can race Mario Kart with him.
    


11. So with all this contest mania cluttering up my blog, I decided to give it a life of its own in a brand new blog, contest bytes. I even entered three different iPod Nano contests in one day. Check it out!


12. Speaking of new blogs, I also gave my iPhone its own blog as well at iPhone bytes and have been secretly posting to it for months.
    


13. And let's not forget about my neglected group dream blog, geek sleep. I have a few drafts waiting for me there as well. So many blogs, so little time!

HP Photo Books contest

HP Photo Books are a fun, easy way to create customized, professional quality photo books at home with an inkjet printer. They come in two sizes, 5"x7" and 8.5"x11", in multiple colors. They are professional looking two-toned linen books which come with 12 sheets of HP Photo Paper and software. You just bend the binding back to replace or rearrange pages and add mementos as you like. It is great for scrapbookers (which I definitely am not), or photo enthusiasts (which I definitely am). My last photo book before HP was created at Snapfish of our Disney vacation. Now I can "do it myself" at home and have total control. I've got six(!!) HP Photo Books to give away, three in each size. To enter, here are the rules:

1. Write a post about this contest which includes this line with links: Angela at mommy bytes is giving away six HP Photo Books.
2. In your post, suggest a photo book theme and include a picture if you like.
3. Post a comment here with a link to your blog post and which size book you would prefer.
4. If you don't have contact information listed on your blog or profile, please contact me as well.
5. Contest ends November 15th at midnight.
6. Open to US and Canada shipping addresses only.
7. Winners will be chosen by random draw (technically a sweepstakes, not a contest).

Good luck! For those of you who can't wait, you can purchase HP Photo Books at the HP Store and use this 20% discount coupon.

The mug, the picture frame and my phone

It could be a title for an eclectic movie such as The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover. I had once suggested this movie to Doug and a friend long ago because Helen Mirren starred in it. The movie was so disgusting and vile, they forever banned me from picking out movies. But I digress. This photo is actually a contest entry for Mommy Community's Scavenger Hunt contest. Check out the cool stuffed dog prize. Adam expertly took this picture of Dova and myself. My parents gave me this mug as a Christmas gift when I was in high school and is still my favorite. The picture frame was bought for Adam so he could have a family portrait in his room. Of course we've never updated the picture to include his sister. And you all know about my beloved iPhone... 

Speaking of the iPhone, here's a quick update. I've been using the iPhone on my bike rides and it is working really well. I can use the side volume buttons to adjust the volume (they removed these buttons from the iPod Touch), and I also use the microphone clicker on the cord to pause. It's not very easy to select new tracks while riding, so I usually find an hour long podcast to listen to (usually WNYC Radio Lab, This American Life or Story Salon). Plus I have the added bonus of having my cell phone with me in case I get a flat or have an accident, etc. My ancient 27x1-1/2 tubes have been hard to find in regular stores so I've gone without a spare for the last season (shame on me!). We're coming close to foliage season here and I'm looking forward to biking through the leaves.

Fuel My Bowl Ad!

OK, what I meant was vote for me in the FuelMyBlog and MyBowlAd competition for a trip to Hollywood to watch a Superbowl Ad filmed and perhaps star in it. And this is supposedly my funny post to convince people to vote for me. Oh, the pressure!

So it all started with this silly picture I took while driving, which I captioned for the "funny brand name" contest:

Yes, it's really a BMW customized with Geo Metro skins.

So out of 31 entries, this made the final 10. Hooray! So will this windfall promote the dangerous habit of taking pictures while driving? Here's another shot I took a few weeks ago of the sunrise over the highway:


Oh wait, that isn't funny, that's just shameless promotion of my photography.

How about some funny pictures (and shameless promotion) of my kids:

Dova pretends to have a moustache by using paintbrushes.


Adam likes to levitate.

Here's my best funny face as taken by Adam:


Wait, how about our LOLcat?


OK, I give up. Please vote for me, we'd love to take a trip out to California. Needless to say, our kids love commercials and would really "learn" something while we were out there. Of course this is for their benefit not mine, right?

Check back for details on how to vote.

Update August 15th: Click here to vote everyday until August 23rd! Thanks!