Free Shark Tank Stuff

Last night, I introduced a weekly contest to give away Free Shark Tank merchandise on The Shark Tank Blog. Past entrepreneurs who have appeared on the show are donating goods or services to further publicize their businesses and thank our readers  for being fans of the show. Each week, subscribers to our Shark Tank newsletter are automatically entered in the contest. Each week, there will be new goodies and the prizes for the following week will be announced on Thursday.

Go on over to the Shark Tank Blog and enter today.

Win a FREE PUNCH BUGGY TEE SHIRT

As many readers may know, I have a bunch of websites. One of my newer sites is The Punch Buggy Game, a site I made to publicize the Official Rules of the Punch Buggy Game as I have been playing them for 40 years! With the new Volkwagen ad campaign, we risk raising a generation that plays the game incorrectly. There is simply no way you can legally deliver a punch for a Jetta!

I want to get the word out about this site, so I am having a contest! If you have a facebook page, website or blog, all you need to do is follow the rules as posted HERE and you could win this shnazzy tee shirt FREE!

Be the envy of all your friends and win one today!

CLICK HERE FOR CONTEST RULES

Free Custom Refrigerator Magnets

Our refrigerator is loaded with artwork and photographs. Many of them are held up with magnets given to us by area business people. Everyone from the local plumber to the local Real Estate broker has their own custom magnets they hand out to people. We get a LOT of Real Estate magnets because my wife works in a Real Estate office.

The people who give out custom magnets as advertising WANT you to hang your kid's artwork up on the refrigerator so you can see their advertising message every time you go for the gallon of milk. It's like having a mini billboard in a customer's home. I have a few of my own magnets from my mortgage brokerage days on ours. I even have a friend who sends out his family Christmas cards in magnetic form.

It is so easy to make your own custom magnets online these days. At VistaPrint you can design it yourself and even upload your own photos or artwork. They're so confident their service is good, they are willing to give you 25 FREE MAGNETS to try their service.

Simply go design a small custom magnet and when you are done, you enter the following COUPON CODE into your checkout: Blog25FreeMag. Then you'll get your FREE MAGNETS in a week or so!

I'm going to get mine!

Free Raleigh, NC Getaway

I've written in the past about moving South someday. North Carolina is one of our favorite dream destinations. Anyone who has flown South has probably connected through Raleigh/Durham airport-I have a bunch of times- but not many have taken the time to explore the city of Raleigh. Since I come from Boston, much of the USA and many of its cities looks like homogeneous urban sprawl to me. Boston is a city with colonial charm and an "old world" feel. So is Raleigh-it has been around almost as long as Boston and it has that charm.

Raleigh is also a heck of a lot more affordable than Boston! For the money we spent on our spacious town home in the burbs of Boston, we could buy a MANSION in Raleigh! There's a lot of fun stuff to do in Raleigh too. The Durham Bulls (minor league baseball) is nearby. Minor League baseball is a great pass-time in my book. Good baseball without the whiny millionaires.

The great thing about Raleigh is it has the feel, sophistication and charm of a Northeast City without all the hustle bustle. The Southern, relaxed atmosphere is far less hectic and stressful. There's lots of great stuff to do in Raleigh. It's a fantastic place to plan a Fall Getaway. There are many wonderful small concert venues with international talent nearly every week of the year. You could see Trace Adkins in Concert if you wanted to. Elvis Costello is even performing with the North Carolina Symphony. (I wonder if they'll do "Pump it Up?")

There are two things I love: Travel and Free Stuff. I may have found a really cool contest and it involves Raleigh. You could win a Free Raleigh Getaway by registering with the Raleigh Convention and Visitor's Bureau Free Vacation Site. If you win, you get:

-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Winning a free vacation is definitely worth 5 minutes of my time!

New Header!!

I got the cool new header designed for FREE by Revka at The Porch Light.

I came across her site one night while surfin the net and she was offering to design free headers for the first 25 responders so she could promote her new design service RS Designs. Sorry there are no more freebies :o( but she does good work, is prompt in responding and seems like a genuinely nice person to boot.

Her blog has money making info, recipes, religious stuff, family activities and a lot more. Check out her site and her blog.

THANK YOU REVKA!!!!!!

The February Blues

February has to be the worst month of the year. Its so bad they shortened it. In New England it is the absolute dead of winter. Even though this year we didn't really get winter started until February (very warm Dec & Jan.) it still seems oppressive. Thank God its almost over! March may come in like a lion and go out like a lamb and it too can be a rotten month-at least the first day of Spring is tucked in there.

As you may be able to tell, its one of those snowy days the world is deprived of the delicious doggie delights from the Hot Dog Truck. A snowy day equals no business so I've been playing with my 2 year old (she didn't go to daycare today) and surfing the net while she takes her early afternoon "night night." In a few minutes, I'll have to go shovel (AGAIN!)

Life as a Hot Dog Man in the winter in New England is a tenuous existence. The elements keep a large portion of the clientele away and make for uncomfortable working conditions, even with the heater on. The reason I stayed open this winter was to keep my spot. The place where my Hot Dog Truck is parked is considered an A PLUS location for such a venture. Once a week or so a would be Hot Dog Man inquires about the availability of the spot and my landlord has said I don't need to give him notice as he's got 4 or 5 guys who'd be happy to take over the spot. So I shiver and suffer the cold and the slow business days with visions of April (thank God only a month away) when the crowds will be out, the dogs will be flying and the almighty dollar will reacquaint itself with my pockets.

In the meantime, I'll be working on some other projects online.......

Lug Nuts anyone?

An example of a situation where the use of profanity is completely acceptable.

Try your own caption here.

Free Stuff and Poker, What a Country!

If you like free stuff and you like playing poker, check out pokerprizes.com. The deal is you sign up with them, then complete "offers" which involve filling out surveys, taking free trial offers, using a new web product etc. Each completed offer is awarded a point value. Accumulate points and redeem them for prizes like DVDs, video games, ipods, even computers and plasma TVs! You can also use your points to buy into-you guessed it- poker tournaments. Players can win points in these tournaments which can ramp up their point totals thus allowing them to redeem more valuable free stuff. There is no cost to participate. Its a neat little site. I'm going to try to get enough points for a new Mac Laptop by next Christmas. pokerprizes.com