I was thinking about all the giveaways I've blogged about here and realized they're all food-related. If I were to win any or all of them (so far, the only thing I won off those lists was the North Carolina BBQ Battle Box from Sammi's Blog of Life; we had meat up the wazoo.. er..), I'd need to do something to offset all those sweet, sweet calories.
That is why I'm featuring Champagne Living's Jockey Sport Collection giveaway. Three lucky weiners will get their choice of workout pants from Jockey.
Also, the woman who runs Champagne Living is named Zipporah. How cool is that? I've only known of one other Zipporah in my life -- a guy I knew in college had a brother who had a daughter with that name. Anyway, PANTS. Go enter by February 9th, 2011.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Beware: science ahead
Yesterday morning, I was a judge at the Northeast Minnesota Regional Science Fair for the 9th year in a row. God, that makes me feel old.
This year, I judged the Environmental Science category. In previous years, I've judged this category, Environmental Management, Earth and Space Science, and Botany. You'll see a lot of the same topics within a category, which is a little strange, seeing as the kids doing them don't all go to the same school. It looked like the hot topic in environmental science this year was how fertilizer runoff affects growth of aquatic plants and/or Daphnia. A couple others tested the effects of various medications on Daphnia survivorship. I guess they don't understand that the environment has a lot more facets than water flea mortality, but I'm not sure that I'd have been able to come up with anything better at that age.
I love being a science fair judge because I'm always learning something new and I get to see some of the same kids and their projects year after year. Pretty strange thing for me to say, seeing how I'm frequently complaining about kids. The kids at the science fair are always on their best behavior and they're very respectful of the judges. Sometimes, you can walk over to a project you're not judging, introduce yourself to the presenter (who is trembling like a leaf in a spring breeze), and the moment you indicate you're not actually judging their project, all that tension dissipates. I like to think that because I'm still one of the younger judges (even after 9 years there), the students feel more comfortable around me. That being said, some of the older judges fail to realize that they are not dealing with their colleagues at the science fair; they're dealing with 7th-12th graders. These kids are still learning. If a 7th grader doesn't know how to run an ANOVA test, don't drag her over to a 12th grader's project to show her "real" graphs. There is no worse faux pas for a science fair judge than to completely demoralize a student who may have been genuinely interested in her topic.
However, you will occasionally run across a student who clearly does not give a single, solitary crap about science, the science fair, or speaking civilly to the judges. These are the kids who do projects on how Mountain Dew affects plant growth and when pressured, tell you they started the project last night.
Or the kids who give you a 20-second overview of their project and give one-word answers when questioned about it. When I see projects like this, I don't even fill in the scoring boxes on my judging spreadsheet; I automatically put a "3" next to their name. We're forced to give each project a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place ribbon, no matter how poorly-conducted their project was. I mean, I can understand a kid getting nervous or intimidated and not being able to recite their spiel, but some of these kids aren't even trying. A lot of the time, it's because they've been forced to by their teachers. If someone isn't interested in science to begin with, chances are they'll be even less interested after being forced to to explore whether having short legs makes a person a better runner or if goats are colorblind.
This year, I judged the Environmental Science category. In previous years, I've judged this category, Environmental Management, Earth and Space Science, and Botany. You'll see a lot of the same topics within a category, which is a little strange, seeing as the kids doing them don't all go to the same school. It looked like the hot topic in environmental science this year was how fertilizer runoff affects growth of aquatic plants and/or Daphnia. A couple others tested the effects of various medications on Daphnia survivorship. I guess they don't understand that the environment has a lot more facets than water flea mortality, but I'm not sure that I'd have been able to come up with anything better at that age.
I love being a science fair judge because I'm always learning something new and I get to see some of the same kids and their projects year after year. Pretty strange thing for me to say, seeing how I'm frequently complaining about kids. The kids at the science fair are always on their best behavior and they're very respectful of the judges. Sometimes, you can walk over to a project you're not judging, introduce yourself to the presenter (who is trembling like a leaf in a spring breeze), and the moment you indicate you're not actually judging their project, all that tension dissipates. I like to think that because I'm still one of the younger judges (even after 9 years there), the students feel more comfortable around me. That being said, some of the older judges fail to realize that they are not dealing with their colleagues at the science fair; they're dealing with 7th-12th graders. These kids are still learning. If a 7th grader doesn't know how to run an ANOVA test, don't drag her over to a 12th grader's project to show her "real" graphs. There is no worse faux pas for a science fair judge than to completely demoralize a student who may have been genuinely interested in her topic.However, you will occasionally run across a student who clearly does not give a single, solitary crap about science, the science fair, or speaking civilly to the judges. These are the kids who do projects on how Mountain Dew affects plant growth and when pressured, tell you they started the project last night.
Or the kids who give you a 20-second overview of their project and give one-word answers when questioned about it. When I see projects like this, I don't even fill in the scoring boxes on my judging spreadsheet; I automatically put a "3" next to their name. We're forced to give each project a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place ribbon, no matter how poorly-conducted their project was. I mean, I can understand a kid getting nervous or intimidated and not being able to recite their spiel, but some of these kids aren't even trying. A lot of the time, it's because they've been forced to by their teachers. If someone isn't interested in science to begin with, chances are they'll be even less interested after being forced to to explore whether having short legs makes a person a better runner or if goats are colorblind.
Friday, February 04, 2011
Free Coffee-Mate coupon for those of the Facebook persuasion
I'm sure everyone on Earth has heard about this already, but Coffee-Mate is giving away 100,000 coupons for a free bottle of their product TODAY ONLY at 9 AM PST/10 AM MST/11 AM CST/12 PM EST. "Like" their page on Facebook to have a shot at this. Based on their Facebook fanbase, only 27,955 people will leave disappointed.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
All the theobromine you can handle
I thought I'd do a roundup of chocolate-related giveaways, seeing as I'm a girl and I like chocolate... Oh yeah, and Valentine's Day is coming up.
Ending February 2, 2011
• New Age Mama is giving away an Oliver Kita Studio Collection box of 16 beautifully-designed chocolates.
• Mon Cheri has long-stemmed chocolate roses from Bea's Gift Baskets up for grabs!
Ending February 3, 2011
• Closer to Lucy is giving away some Chocolate Heart Lollis from Illinois Nut & Candy's Raising the Candy Bar.
• Rachel's Reviews and Giveaways has an assortment of Nicobella Organics chocolates up for grabs.
Ending February 4, 2011
• Mommy Is Green and she's giving away some Equal Exchange Organic Chocolate bars!
• Real Heart Prints is giving away a $25 gift code for Choccreate.
Ending February 5, 2011
• Classy Mommy has a huge basket of Dove Chocolate products up for grabs. You can enter this one daily!
• Ask Ms Recipe is giving away 3 $12 Choccreate gift codes.
• My Milwaukee Mommy is also doing a Choccreate giveaway, except the prize is a $25 gift code.
• Lisa Cooking is giving away Veronica's Cake Pops. I decided to include this here because they contain chocolate and that's good enough for me!
Ending February 6, 2011
• Heck of a Bunch has one $12 gift code for Choccreate up for grabs!
• Momma Told Me is giving away 2 Righteously Raw chocolate bars.
Ending February 7, 2011
• Sweet T Makes Three is giving away a 1/3 lb. sampler box of Cowgirl Chocolates.
• Thanks, Mail Carrier has some delicious Lindor truffles up for grabs.
Ending February 8, 2011
• Closer to Lucy is giving away a $25 gift code for Choccreate.
• 3 Princes and a Princess 2 is also giving away $25 to Choccreate.
• Kidsumers is giving away two Bloomsberry Chocolate bars to each of 5 lucky winners.
• My Little Review Corner is also giving away Bloomsberry Chocolate.
• MamaBuzz is giving away $50 worth of Sarris Candies, which includes chocolate-covered pretzels and chocolate fondue!
Ending February 9, 2011
• Blessings Abound Mommy is giving away Hershey's Miniatures.
• Tammy's Two Cents is giving away a box of Swiss Colony chocolates.
Ending February 10, 2011
• Smart Girl Reviews has some Cowgirl Chocolates for you to win.
Ending February 11, 2011
• Two Classy Chics is giving away a box of chocolates from The Chocolate Nation!
• New Age Mama is giving away some delicious-looking Terra Source Vegan Chocolates. One 2 Try is giving away the same thing on her blog.
More to come......
Ending February 2, 2011
• New Age Mama is giving away an Oliver Kita Studio Collection box of 16 beautifully-designed chocolates.
• Mon Cheri has long-stemmed chocolate roses from Bea's Gift Baskets up for grabs!
Ending February 3, 2011
• Closer to Lucy is giving away some Chocolate Heart Lollis from Illinois Nut & Candy's Raising the Candy Bar.
• Rachel's Reviews and Giveaways has an assortment of Nicobella Organics chocolates up for grabs.
Ending February 4, 2011
• Mommy Is Green and she's giving away some Equal Exchange Organic Chocolate bars!
• Real Heart Prints is giving away a $25 gift code for Choccreate.
Ending February 5, 2011
• Classy Mommy has a huge basket of Dove Chocolate products up for grabs. You can enter this one daily!
• Ask Ms Recipe is giving away 3 $12 Choccreate gift codes.
• My Milwaukee Mommy is also doing a Choccreate giveaway, except the prize is a $25 gift code.
• Lisa Cooking is giving away Veronica's Cake Pops. I decided to include this here because they contain chocolate and that's good enough for me!
Ending February 6, 2011
• Heck of a Bunch has one $12 gift code for Choccreate up for grabs!
• Momma Told Me is giving away 2 Righteously Raw chocolate bars.
Ending February 7, 2011
• Sweet T Makes Three is giving away a 1/3 lb. sampler box of Cowgirl Chocolates.
• Thanks, Mail Carrier has some delicious Lindor truffles up for grabs.
Ending February 8, 2011
• Closer to Lucy is giving away a $25 gift code for Choccreate.
• 3 Princes and a Princess 2 is also giving away $25 to Choccreate.
• Kidsumers is giving away two Bloomsberry Chocolate bars to each of 5 lucky winners.
• My Little Review Corner is also giving away Bloomsberry Chocolate.
• MamaBuzz is giving away $50 worth of Sarris Candies, which includes chocolate-covered pretzels and chocolate fondue!
Ending February 9, 2011
• Blessings Abound Mommy is giving away Hershey's Miniatures.
• Tammy's Two Cents is giving away a box of Swiss Colony chocolates.
Ending February 10, 2011
• Smart Girl Reviews has some Cowgirl Chocolates for you to win.
Ending February 11, 2011
• Two Classy Chics is giving away a box of chocolates from The Chocolate Nation!
• New Age Mama is giving away some delicious-looking Terra Source Vegan Chocolates. One 2 Try is giving away the same thing on her blog.
More to come......
NOM NOM NOM
Can someone please buy me a giant fortune cookie?
Momma Told Me, in conjunction with Fancy Fortune Cookies, is giving away a giant fortune cookie to one lucky entrant. Hopefully, that lucky entrant is me... or you. That would be ok, too.
Giveaway ends February 15, 2011.
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