HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Home-and-bedroom.com is hosting a contest. The winner will receive a Baroque-style fashion bed in their choice of a queen or king size (a $769 value if king-size is chosen). This would be the perfect opportunity to spruce up the house when budgets are tight, or even donate it to a Habitat for Humanity House to make someone feel extra special. How do you win?  Submit an essay telling them how you would describe Harry Potter’s bedroom if he moved into your neighborhood.

Truth be told, this is more an “idea pitch” than an essay, as the rules limit the composition to 100-200 words. Ideas will be judged on the criteria of sense of fun and originality. Grand prize is the bed (does not include the mattress), and an additional prize of a $100 gift certificate will be awarded to the individual who recruits the most friends. By “Friends,” I mean, of course, Facebook friends.

Harry Potters Next Bedroom Contest runs from now through November 25, 2010. ***Important*** The contest runs until 6:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, rather than the midnight conclusion of most contests. In other words, it concludes at the end of the business day on Thursday, November 25,2010.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Lunchables. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you know that 56% of American Schools are eliminating or deeply curtailing field trips for children 1st through 8th grades? Due to budget cuts, the extras are falling under the knife. There are some field trips that are truly educational and reinforce what is taught in the classroom. Some individuals learn better when they are shown rather than told. It can also create a hands on learning experience.

Lunchables Lunch Combinations is running a Field Trips For All contest, where 50 lucky classrooms will win a field trip for up to 30 students, a teacher, and one parent or guardian per child. The trip should be within an approximate 30 mile radius from the classroom and transportation and a meal is included. Individuals age 6 and up can enter their 1st through 8th grade classroom. Entries may be submitted until June 1, 2010, and the trip will take place before November 30th.

I remember going on several memorable field trips. The best one ever was a night at a museum. Not only did we get to see things we talked about in class, but it gave an appreciation of museums to children whose parents had never taken them. We saw lions, tigers and bears, but no aliens like these children saw.

I wonder if the class the student was in at the time of entry will be reunited, or it will be their new class for the Fall of 2010? I guess it might depend on where they decide to go.

Field Trips For All

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

There are different non-profit organizations that provide life changing medical surgeries for individuals. There are doctors that provide surgery to correct cleft palates to give children in third world countries a better sense of self esteem, for example. I have never heard of individuals competing for a procedure until I heard about the iLASIK Video Contest.

Entries were called for and individuals sent in creative videos on why their lives would be improved by iLasik surgery to correct nearsidedness or farsightedness. You may say that its a bit vain. However, the price of contact lenses and glasses over time can equal a few thousands or even over $20,000 as one entrant illustrates. For some it is not merely cost savings. There are folks who have such severe nearsightedness or farsightedness that they are far from a “correctable range.” Even with glasses, the world looks fuzzy. If their vision were to be corrected, or if not, and they were just brought into a correctable range, it could be even more life changing. Also, folks who were turned down for service as a pilot in the armed forces could pursue their dream not having to rely on corrective lenses. Truth be told, the prize was not a surgery per se, but the cost of the surgery. This was probably legally better to offer because not everyone medically is a candidate for the surgery and it allows people to do what they want with the money.

It was refreshing to see while the winner had some polish and appeared to me had some pretty sophisticated equipment, there were video winners  that appeared to be average folks who were not in the production industry or obvious film students that were taking a go at it. One entrant showed how annoying fumbling around with contact lenses were, while another employed stop action and toy army men to get their point across.

To see the rest of the winners and entrants, check out the iLASIK Video Contest on the web.