“JUST BREATHE”, my first tattoo. It feels right to start planning for my 2nd.

Once again, I’m seeking your advice. This time I want to go beyond asking a few friends directly. How about we crowd source? As a bonus, let’s make it a contest of sorts.

I invite you to begin by reading my About page and the @tojosan bio. Couple that with a healthy dose of what I tweet and blog about and you’re on your way.

I’m looking for either a very short phrase or single image that you feel embodies who I am, what I love, or what I believe in.

Bonus? You don’t have to nail it!  I’m going to reward one person and suggestion with a Amazon gift card/code worth $25.

Just complete the form below and submit. Your entry will be recorded and you’re entered. Comments don’t count. Tweets don’t count. Just fill in the form.

You can enter once per day. I’ll be double checking.  Entries due by midnight CST April 9th.

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Seth Godin and The Domino Project Team bring down the house and the price on Poke the Box.  Setting out to drive the social angel, Seth and the team set out to offer Poke the Box for $1 if enough people subscribed to the newsletter.

They made it!

Poke the Box Kindle Edition is an even $1.

What is Poke the Box?

Poke the Box is about the spark that brings things to life. We need to be nudged away from conformity and toward ingenuity, toward answering unknown questions for ourselves. Even if we fail, as I have done many times in my life, we learn what not to do by experience and doing the new.

I’ve already ordered the Kindle edition as well as a five pack of the hard cover.  Enjoy reading a physical book?  Sign up for my Poke the Box giveaway.

Go.Poke.Succeed.

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Giveaway Closed – you can buy Poke the Box on Kindle for $4.99 now.

Seth Godin releases his latest work, Poke the Box, in March.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.”

Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life.

The above sums up what the book is aimed at – kicking you in the pants.

In Seth’s own words about what you’ll learn from Poke the Box:

Hopefully you will learn lots but do more. Start thinking about when you’ve taken initiative in a way that really meant something to you and your team, your family. When was the last time you did something for the first time? How did it feel?

There are no step-by-step how-to instructions in Poke the Box. Instead, you’ll find a series of layers, a foundation for taking a different approach to your work. Instead of learning to be more compliant, I want to push you to be the one who takes initiative.

I’m excited to get my hands on this book. So excited in fact that I’ve ordered five copies. Five copies means four copies to give away.

The Giveaway: Four lucky winners will win a hard cover copy of Poke the Box.

Required Entry: Leave a comment telling me your favorite core belief of The Domino Project. Winners notified by mail only, so make sure I have a way of accessing your email address when you comment.

Extra Entries: The following are all extra things you can do for more entries. Leave an additional comment for each thing you do to earn extra entries.

• Subscribe my feed via email and then leave a comment letting me know you have done so. If you are already a subscriber, let me know that in the comment instead
• Follow @tojosan on Twitter and send a tweet about the giveaway. You can do this one time per day. Leave a direct link to your tweet in your comment for an extra entry for each tweet.
• Share my giveaway on your own blog. Leave a comment with a direct link to the post on your blog.
• Like this post via Facebook and leave a comment letting me know you have done so. Be sure to leave your Facebook name so I can verify.

Rules: Only one of each entry method listed per person/family/household. No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc. If I catch you cheating you will be banned from this and all of my future giveaways! This giveaway is only open to those in the USA, ages 18+. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Central Time on Monday, February 28, 2011. I will pick a winner and email them and they have 48 hours to claim the prize. If no response, I will pick a new winner. Good luck!

Disclosure: The image above and Poke the Box links are affiliate links. Contest format modeled after Robyn’s Online World.

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I posted this one week ago:

Running today, May 24th, through midnight Central time on Sunday May 30th, all you have to do is comment and you’re entered to win. I’ll select a random winner Monday the 31st.toddrjordan.com, Demystifying the web and more. Come join me., May 2010

Selecting a winner was done by using Random.org. There were 12 qualifying comments during the week. One was chosen at random.

The winner is Karen Goodman.

Karen,

Thanks for your loyalty and encouragement.  I’m sure the Problogger book will prove useful.

Regards,

Todd Jordan

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What is it? – A group of people (the “competitors”) will cook Ribs (pork), Pork Butt (pulled pork), and Brisket (beef) through the night and early morning hours of the event. The competitors can cook any or all of those items. Given that the competitors will be individuals and not competition teams it’s unlikely many will attempt to do all due to space restrictions. So if you’re only good at one of those things then by all means sign up. They will necessarily consume large amounts of alcohol in the process and have been given advance reprieves for any untoward behavior they may exhibit. Another group of people (the ‘consumers’..get it) will then arrive without having done any work whatsoever and partake in all of the goodness that is BBQ. We’ll follow KCBS rules for the most part.

Sounds yummy! But when is it?

We are currently looking at the “spring break” period (generally in mid March). As weather is always a factor in the St. Louis region at that time of the year (short sleeves, Down jacket, or rain slicker?) we’ll firm this date up as it approaches and ideally have a backup date.

Well how can I keep up with the plans or volunteer?

First Annual BBQ Competition Tweetup #STL

They are still looking for venues, possible sponsors, fundraising ideas, brains, and hands to help.  Please follow the link above and let them know how you’ll pitch in.

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self portrait of Todd R Jordan - click to see on Flickr

It’s that time again; time to bring in a new year. I’m ringing in 2010 by taking the 365 challenge again.  Nanna J will be taking self portraits as well.

Help me celebrate the new year and the photography challenge. I’d like to give away a Flickr Pro account to one of my readers.

It’ll be simple. Leave a comment with a link to your Flickr profile and add me as a contact on Flickr.  I’ll randomly pick a commenter to receive the Pro account.

All comments must be in by Midnight Central Time on Sunday January 3rd. Random.org will be used to pick.

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Soon this will be my mother; her face will be glowing to the light of a computer screen.  She’ll be the one checking emails at 5:30 AM and just before bed. Perhaps mom will become addicted to online shopping and I’ll visit to find her house full of Zappos shoes.

Whatever happens, I want to steer mom in the right direction with her first computer and first real time alone on the Internet. Firefox will be the default browser of course, but what should I load it up with. What bookmarks should I start her off with?

I’m asking you, my friends, family and few readers – What bookmarks to start off mom with.

As incentive to answer, each person who leaves a unique bookmark site in a comment and in such a way that I can find your email, will receive a copy of my Sunday Guide to Social Networking e-book in PDF format.

To share this post, please hit the Tweetmeme button at the top of the post, or copy/tweet the following.

Get Sunday Guide to Social Networking for bookmark suggestion – http://wp.me/pfLxC-pC

Thanks and give me your best.

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UPDATE: WINNER SELECTED. COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

The holidays are here and with that is gift giving.  I’ll be receiving books of course, and buying some with gift cards. Overflowing shelves will be the result.

Planning is everything though. Giving away some of my completed novels seemed like a plan I could enjoy implementing.

The Giveaway

I’m giving away the set of the first eight books. These are slightly used but I’ve been the sole owner.

Required Entry

Tell me your favorite thing about the Sookie Stackhouse novels or about your favorite vampire series, in the comments below. Winner will be notified via email. Please make sure your email is accessible in your comment.

Extra Entrees

The following are all extra things you can do for more entries. Leave an additional comment for each thing you do to earn extra entries.

• Subscribe via email here to my feed and then leave a comment letting me know you have done so. If you are already a subscriber, let me know that in the comment instead.
• Blog about this giveaway and come back here leaving a comment with the link. This can be done once.
• Follow me on Twitter, @tojosan, and send a tweet about the giveaway. You can do this once per day. Leave a comment with a direct link to that tweet for an extra entry for each tweet. Here is a tweet you can use or make your own.

Win the first eight Sookie Stackhouse novels and sink your teeth into some vampire fun. http://wp.me/pfLxC-ph Pls RT.

Rules

Only one of each entry method listed per person/family/household. No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc. If I catch you cheating you will be banned from this and all of my future giveaways! This giveaway is only open to those in the USA, ages 18+ only. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Central Time on Thursday, December 24th, 2009. I will pick the winner and email them and they have 48 hours to claim the prize. If no response, I will pick a new winner. Good luck!

About the Sookie Stackhouse Series

Charlaine Harris brought new life to the vampire mythos with her Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is a Southern girl with a handicap; she can read minds. It just gets more interesting from that premise, with Sookie meeting and falling in love with a vampire.

Charlaine entertains us with ever more complex plots. There’s goth of course, along with sex, humor, and fairy creatures of all types.

Buy the latest in the series, Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9).

* Contest format inspired by Robyn of Robyn’s Online World.

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Namecheap, my favorite domain name service, is hosting another Twitter contest.

Want a free domain name? NameCheap is having a holiday domain name extravaganza – our second – and you are invited to participate. The object is simple Simply follow us on Twitter and participate in our trivia game. We’ll ask a new question on the hour every hour. Eight winners will be chosen for every question. That’s right, we’re giving away 8 domain names every hour.

But it doesn’t stop there. We’re giving away prizes to the individuals who answer the most questions over the course of the competition. Five winners will win the brand new Barnes & Noble nook† which will allow you to access over 1 million book titles in digital format in the palm of your hand. The nook allows you to store as many as 1,500 ebooks on its 2 GB of internal storage.

Last time Namecheep tweeted questions and gathered up the replies. You have to be quick though; there were many folks following this.

Namecheap provides the full guidelines to the contest. It’s fairly simple to play and the prizes are great. You can take the first step by following @namecheap on Twitter.

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