Attention Utah!

Are you looking for something creative and fun to do Friday night? I  work with an amazing gal, Cassi Palmer, who is spearheading a super benefit music and comedy concert featuring Jason Hewlett and some great local musicians!  Her cousin, Dan Sloan, discovered he had a huge brain tumor during an eye exam.

 He has had it partially removed but doctors couldn't get it all because it was too close to vital brain tissues. The remaining portion was rated a stage 3 tumor, 1 being the least serious and 4 being the most dangerous.  He is seasonally employed and has minimal insurance.  This is a great way to help a wonderful person while enjoying a great night out.  Please join us!  There will be a bake sale and silent auction at 6 pm, before the concert, which starts at 7 pm.
 It will be held at The Waterford School, 1480 E. 9400 S. Sandy, UT  84093

To buy tickets online or find out more, visit dansloanconcert.com. Tickets are $15 for one person or $35 for a pack of four. Tickets can also be purchased at the door on the evening of the 4th.
And for those who wish to donate in lieu of or in addition to attending the concert, there is a paypal account set up for taking donations electronically (there is a charitable account set up at America First Credit Union in Dan’s behalf). It’s difficult to express how much your generosity is appreciated.
 Thanks so much!
Hugs,

Helena

Gina Parker PR - NOT!

How many of you have heard the name Gina Parker, PR?  I had been hearing about it and had almost participated in one of her events, but didn't.  But then I heard about this $1000 giveaway for one lucky winner! Participants were giving $5, $10 and $20 to list their individual sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. Those who entered the giveaway were asked to follow any or all sites on the list and also tweet about the giveaway. Well, this was all a ruse and anyone who paid Gina Parker was duped.  There is now no giveaway link, no linky for entrants to continue entering, no $1000 to be given away and no site.   All have disappeared.  Hey, I guess I was a sucker too.  I was actually going to post about the difference between taking part in Blogtastic with Jessica at My Silly Monkeys and this one a week ago.  Now, I just need to say that the difference is Blogtastic was legit and Gina Parker's Social Media & Small Biz Hop was a scam!  Blogtastic was so much fun! We got the chance to meet a lot of great bloggers, hook up with some great sponsors, get a few more fabulous followers and it was totally free!  The only thing we needed to do was come up with our own sponsors or our own prize pack, worth $50.  With Gina Parker's crazy "Social Media and Small Business Hop" you had to pay for the chance to participate with the hopes of winning the big prize and maybe get a few followers from it. 
I was also harrassed to be in Blogmania, initially run by Ms. Parker, and I frankly just didn't have the time.  I'm so glad I didn't do it, or pay any money.  
I got a sick, sinking feeling in my gut when I couldn't find the contest website anymore. She hung around long enough to get fairly well known around the blogosphere and then made her pathetic move. I, for one, will be very skeptical about any event that requires payment to participate. No doubt "Gina Parker" will attempt to morph into yet another another "Mom Blogger" and try to scam everyone again. She definitely should be prosecuted and severely punished so that she and others like her will think twice before trying this again. Our faith and goodwill have been terribly eroded because of one bad apple. So sad...
I now have a firm new philosophy, thanks to Gina Parker PR.  That is, I will not pay money for gaining followers.  How stupid, in the first place.  Am I so insecure about my blogging abilities that I have to resort to that?  Time to take a break and evaluate why I am blogging.  I shouldn't be in a competition with anyone to get more followers, anyway!  And I typically am not, but it just makes me mad that I was so naiive to just plunk down $30 (yes, 30 friggin dollars) to someone I only vaguely know of in print.  I think I was coming off the high of Blogtastic that I wanted it to continue!  It's almost as if the fact that "Gina Parker" could express herself on the cyberspace web page and that made it OK to trust her pitches and just throw over $30 to her.  I should have given it away to my readers already here!  Sheesh!  I could have put up another great cash giveaway for that!  Let that be a lesson to me.  I already have 830 or so fabulous followers.  What, isn't that enough?  I can't even keep track of most of you. Why in the world would I want to pay for more?
I already have more wonderful giveaways than I can keep up with.  My sponsors have been fabulous, my readers have been patient and haven't desserted me because I don't post every single day or just have one or two giveaways up right now (albeit some really good ones).  Excuse me, you know I'm busy like you are!  
Anyway, I think I'll just chalk this one up as another lesson learned in the world of blogging, and hopefully some of you will learn from my mistake(s) and avoid a pitfall.  Frankly, I hope Gina Parker, PR enjoys her money, has a good time spending it and then gets it all back in bad karma! 

Hugs,


Helena

CSN $75 Giveaway!

Congratulations to #504, Abbey, who said--dt
http://twitter.com/#!/uberabby2/status/36891860479778816  Thank you all very much for entering and please enter my book giveaway - Alpine Weight Loss Secrets! 

 Here it is!  My highly anticipated (at least by me!) CSN $75 Gift Code Giveaway. I hope that you know who CSN is by now.  If not, let me enlighten you.  CSN has 200+ stores, they have free shipping on a whole bunch of their items, great customer service, and better selection than many specialty stores have for items you are looking for.  Just type in the general term in the search area, and voila!  You will get 100's of results in most cases.  You can narrow it down or target specific items or brands after that.  One of my all-time favorite areas at CSN is the cookware.com sight!  It makes one giddy to see how many casserole dishes they have, for instance!

 So enjoy looking around the CSN website and salivate at all the many wonderful things you can get at great prices and some even with no shipping!  And since I mentioned searching for the item you want, let's explore how to do that.  Let's pretend that you want to search for a pie pan...and while you're at it, you can enter to win a $75 CSN Gift Code!

  

First and Mandatory Entry:  Follow me on Google Friend Connect and visit Pie Pans on CSN. Go to Narrow Your Results on the left sidebar and find something you want based on a search from that.  What search did you do and what item did you choose?

Example:  I follow with GFC (Helena) and I searched aluminized steel pie pans and chose the Calphalon- Classic Bakeware 10" Tart Pan! http://www.csnstores.com/Calphalon-BW3510-CPH1117.html

Extra Entries (Make one comment for each entry):

+3 - Subscribe to my e-mails! Make sure to confirm your subscription!

+1 - Follow me on Networked Blogs!
+2 - Enter my 'Alpine Secrets' Giveaway!
+2 - Friend me on Facebook!

+2 - Follow me on Twitter!

+2 - Like CSN on Facebook!

+1 daily - Blog, Tweet, Stumble, Facebook, and/or list this on a giveaway linky!  You can do any of these daily and get 1 entry per day for each one you do.  Make sure to leave a link to where you did it!


You can tweet this:  "A GAL NEEDS...to #Win $75 @CSNStores! http://t.co/JiJABid #Giveaway 2/16"


+2 - Follow CSN on Twitter!

This giveaway will end on 2/16/11 at 10:00 pm MST!  Open to US and Canada, although CSN will not be responsible for duties and fees in Canada!  Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified through e-mail.  Thanks so much to CSN for sponsoring another great giveaway!  I was not compensated in any way for hosting this giveaway.