  Patty not picked
Sorry folks, no win this time. I have to admit the guy with the tattoo worked harder for it, but don't think I could get away with doing the same... to Patty (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/05/please-pick-patty-please.html).
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Patty not picked
 I won (in) an HP HDX Dragon contest
That's right, I am indeed a winner in one of the 31 Days of the Dragon (http://www.31daysofthedragon.com/) contests. And by the insertion of the preposition "in" you may correctly infer that I did not win a Dragon (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF05a/12139188-78299199-78299212-78299212-78299212-80247383.html).
Funny story that. For the BostonPocketPC contest (http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/31+Days+Of+The+HP+Dragon+Giveaway.aspx), entrants were asked to submit a description and photo of their gear bag. If you'll recall, my free camera is broken (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-free-camera-is-broken.html), so I decided to dig up an old photo instead. That's when I remembered this gem.
[photo] (http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/BostonPocketPC+Days+Of+The+Dragon+Contest+Winners.aspx)
So I wrote up a description for that along with a description of my real bag. Due to the lack of a photo of my actual gear bag, my entry was disqualified, but I was awarded an honorable mention and a Pantone Huey (http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=79), which among other things, "corrects the color on your monitor so photos [...] print more accurately". But the irony does not end there.
I do have a video camera that takes digital stills, but they're not great quality, so I decided to get creative instead. That creativity got me the award, but if I was thinking, I would have gone back and taken fresh shots to add to the entry. Of course, if I went that route in the beginning, I wouldn't have gotten creative with it and won anything. Bit of a Catch-22.
There's also the fact that I questioned why the first contest was awarded to someone who didn't really follow the twice stated rules (seriously dude, the "hows" are not explained in your story), so naturally I'm going to get hit for not following the rules.
Oh well, there are more contests running currently and ahead, so the big prize is still within reach, and I feel it is somewhat serendipitous to win a monitor calibration tool on a quest to win a computer with powerful visual hardware. Or at least it will prove handy after I hook a Dragon up to my big HDTV. Thanks to BostonPocketPC (http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/default.aspx) for the honor and award!
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I won (in) an HP HDX Dragon contest
 Gardens and rain gutters
The wife and I have been busy planning and implementing ways to green up the house, quite literally, with plants. vegetables, rain barrels, and new rain gutters.
The plan is motivated by several factors. First, our current rain gutters don't work. Could be clogged with leaves, but considering we practically live in a forest, we felt it wiser to deal with the situation permanently with a LeafGuard system (http://www.leafguard.com/homehtml.asp?mode=html). It'll cost more now, but it's maintenance-free and can handle any amount of rain.
Second, we'll be connecting those gutters to rain barrels in order to minimize the amount of drinking water we'll need for our garden. Even a large plastic bin left in the rain can collect enough water to sustain our potted plants for a while, so using the whole roof for water collection should yield more than enough.
Third, our front area is in dire need of a makeover. The big tree soaks up a lot of sun and water. The rain barrels will fix the water issue while we'll attend to the lack of sun with shade-loving native plants. We recently picked up most of these at the garden fair at the state arboretum (http://www.virginia.edu/blandy/).
We also picked up a few tomato and melon plants to add to our growing collection of vegetables, which includes lettuce, cucumbers, and various herbs. The tomatoes will be planted upside-down in bags (http://www.gardeners.com/Gardener+s%20Revolution%20Planter/VegetableGardening_TerrificTomatoes,37-000,default,cp.html) that hang from a hooked pole. The melons will be grown in a self-watering earth box (http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/EarthBox/prodinfo.asp?number=DB+GRN) we can wheel into sunny spots during the day and out of the way in the evening. Corn, potatoes, more greens, and maybe even asparagus are also planned.
We decided to grow food, not just flowers, to add practicality and utility to our gardening. Plus, I'd like to have a buffer against rising food prices and, with the rain barrels, tightening water supply, much the way our choices with cars and commuting have eliminated our concern over gas prices. Just need to replace the roof shingles with solar tiles to complete the self-sufficiency package.
Anyway, garden and greenery are what's taking up our time. Hope to have a sound base established soon.
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Gardens and rain gutters
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