Rainbow!

Well, I was sorting out my bookmarks the other day and came across a folder of things I meant to look at from the balloon race, so I thought I’d share them with you. I’ve put them into alphabetical order by sort-of-subject… you’ll get the idea (I hope).

Art, Design & Photography

• Chris Charles – photos I can imagine hanging on my walls…
• Hexapus Doodle Book – blog of cartoons, some touching, some arty, some a bit creepy!
• Jan Peter Thompson – student designer with some interesting projects.
• Munkeybars – designer Patrick Barba’s portfolio.
• Phase Six creative – Canadian design consultancy.
• Richard Wild, photographer – very interesting arty photographs that kind of remind me of Helmut Newton at times.

Computing

• 8 bit hero – gaming, 80s style.
• 48k awards – oldskool celebrity pixel art.

Environment and living

• Green upgrader – an excellent blog about living a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Games

• Reverse Breakout – it will melted your brains…

Humour

• Coin Stack Challenge – well, it made me laugh.
• Survive animal attack – cute cartoons with an educational message. Well worth ten minutes of your time.
• Top Ten Literal Album Covers – why? Just why? Did nobody have any better ideas? A great site celebrating the record biz’s lack of imagination…
• Top Fourteen Oddest Celebrity Childrens’ Books – and boy are some of these odd!!!
• Your parents are lying to you – top “facts” parents tell children that are as fake as a nine-bob note…

Management

• Synyx – leadership and management development.

Shopping

• Cheap Bargains.org – does just what it says on the tin.
• Sell Student Books – second-hand textbooks for sale. What a great idea!

Travel

• Scuba Diving in Egypt – been to Sharm-el-Sheikh, can recommend it, and this looks a great site for info if you’ve never been.

Web

• Dave Keen – developer for hire, with a nicely designed site.
• Internet Alphabet – nice A-Z of web sites. Worth printing and pinning on the wall!
• Simple Content – a nice looking site promoting their CMS product.

I’ve got more but I got bored. Maybe next time

I’ve been playing the Orange balloon game quite assiduously. Or should that be obsessively?

Yes, it should.

Anywhy… when I first signed up I thought “well, only someone who was together enough to get a balloon in the first hour will win this.” And I started 30,328 or thereabouts. So, I decided to give everybody I came across (when I was logged in, obviously) a boost. Just one, to help them out. Anyone who was behind me.

So, I started looking at everyone’s balloons. And there I was, 29,328 or so, while some of them were in the 1,000-2,000 bracket. Which meant they weren’t that far behind me. The bastards.

However… I am now about 558 in the rankings. Yes. I am in the top thousand. And with this comes some kind of enlightenment. A well-being, if you will.

I have to approve all comments here (spotted where this is going?)

Well…

Leave the tag to show your balloon and I’ll give you five boosts. Someone did it for me, so I’m spreading the love. Leave it here in the comments and you’ll get the five before I approve the comment (unless you’ve got five already).

Before you say I’m a comment pimp (which I am, that’s true), just float your balloon past me and I’ll give you them anyway, without you even getting here. So there. Two ways to get free buddy boosts.

By the way, you can’t give me any – right now, anyway. Because some kind person gave five to me. So that’s wahat I’m doing – paying it forward. Do the same, folks.

The Orange balloon race starts right now – get your balloon here! Leave me a heads up if you like… let us know how you’re doing