First Random Winner:

Kim from Ilax Studio

Second Random Winner:

Catherine, my friend in writing

Third Random Winner:

Dave2 from Blogography

Congrats to the winners. I will be sending out email to each of you asking for a mailing address to send your $10 iTunes gift card to.

Congrats to all of you!

I’ll be doing more giveaways throughout the year, including making up for one I did two years ago.

Happy 3rd Blogiversary to Banal Leakage!

Today, the blog turns three. Also, this is my 300th blog post. Two milestones.

And what’s a double celebration without making it a third: a giveaway.

Just leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win 1 of 3 $10 iTunes gift cards. Even if you’ve won before out here, you can win again. I will use random.org to generate a number (based on how many comments I get) to pick 3 winners. You’ve got a week (that would make it April 8th) to leave a comment.

Let’s see if I can shake off the distraction shackles and make the next 366 days great for this blog.

But that’s really not what this post is about. In my shopping today, I looked at some of the flash drives that were on sale and decided to replace my current flash drives. Which got me thinking.. “Why do I need all of these flash drives?”

SO….

They served me well. Now onto serving someone else

Let’s give these away to my readers. I have a 4gb Sandisk and an 8gb Sandisk. As odd as that may sound to give away used flash drives, they do work great. They’ve got some exterior wear on them, which I like to call “field tested” [they've mostly traveled in my pocket.. I've even cleaned all the pocket lint out of them]. I even have a brand new, in the package 4gb USB flash drive to give away [for those that may not want something used]

Brand new, never been used or opened.

So leave a comment, I will use some sort of random guessing tool and pick 3 winners. If there’s only one comment, you get all 3 [no hacking allowed on my blog to delete other's comments]

Good luck and let the shopping season begin!

Yep, two years ago today, I started this blog. My first post wasn’t very exciting or entertaining, but hey, I had to start somewhere.

Since that first day of April two years ago, I’ve blogged about all sorts of topics, made many videos of both snow and scooter rides, showed you what kind of food I eat, spoke my mind on political subjects and many other details of my life.

While I’ve made promises in the past to post more often here, I am doing my best to change that. I’ve had my own distractions that have wedged their way into my time, which bothers me more on a personal level than it may my readers. Just know that I have daily thoughts about this place and eventually, that will translate into more posts and [hopefully] more often.

And speaking of readers, thank you to those of you that have stuck around. Karl was my first [and only commenter on the first post, and Dave2 was not too far behind on my second post.

So as I start my third year of blogging here at Banal Leakage, I hope to keep my readers just as entertained as they have been these past twenty-four months.

No witty comments or fun contests [saving my next contest for my two year anniversary and the return of Scooter Sunday Season 3] or anything smart or clever.

Just marking a milestone for me.

Now when I reach 500 posts out here, then it’s time to celebrate.

In the meantime, I’d like to announce the first Banal Leakage Blogoversary Celebration giveaway. As with the rules of my previous giveaway I did for my 100 Posts Celebration, it’s easy to enter.

Just leave a comment with your three (that’s 3) favorite episodes of Snowy Sunday. This may require you re-watch all of the episodes, or you can just randomly pick three numbers between 1 and 16. Or maybe you already know what your favorite episodes are. Or you can wait and vote until the season ending episode of Snowy Sunday comes out [it will be Episode #17]. You have until Saturday April 18th at 11:59pm PDT to enter, when I will pick three (3) random winners. So no worries on time. No reason to rush the vote.

What’s that? You couldn’t find three favorites? Impossible, I say. But hey, It’s all good. Just list two or even one if you only have a single favorite. Just make sure to leave a comment with the episode(s).

What’s the prize?

I will pick three (3) winners, who will each get a $10 iTunes gift card. Not much, but hey, it will get you an album [at least most of one, anyway] or nine songs or a movie or, hell, whatever you can get for $10.

My Three Favorites

Now that I’ve asked you for your favorite Snowy Sunday episodes, I will share mine. Because, hey, I created them, I can have favorites, too.

——————————————————-

*** #3 ***

Snowy Sunday #01

- I liked this one for several reasons, including it was one my daughter and I did together. And I love all things Jackass and it was just plain fun to do.

Snowy Sunday Ep. 001 from Marty Mankins on Vimeo.

——————————————————-

*** #2 ***

Snowy Sunday #06

- For some reason, the music and the type of snowy event I was filming just melded together very well. Score on for the Bee Gee’s

Snowy Sunday Ep. 006 from Marty Mankins on Vimeo.

——————————————————-

*** #1 ***

Snowy Sunday #08

- I had so much fun sledding that day. It was fucking cold here that morning, too [it was barely 10 degrees]. People driving by and seeing a crazy guy with a camera, sledding down this hill multiple times. No apologies. Plus, being able to fit a Guns N Roses song into one of my videos made this the first place winner in my book.

Snowy Sunday Ep. 008 from Marty Mankins on Vimeo.

Contest Over

The contest has ended. I will announce the winners soon.

Banal Leakage Turns 1

April 1, 2008 was when I posted my first blog entry out here. Karl was the first to leave a comment.

A Month Long Celebration

So that’s it? Just a silly black and white photo of some kid blowing out a candle and a brief birthday mention? Nope. Not even close. I will be celebrating all month long here with all sorts of fun: the season ending episode of Snowy Sunday, the return of Scooter Sunday, contests, giveaways and so much more. I’ll be taking a look back at some of the posts I did this last year, listing my favorites and finding out which ones you liked the most.

There will also be some design changes that will show up at various times throughout the month. Just trying to keep the blog looking current and fresh.

Stick around. Celebrate my first year here at Banal Leakage. And who knows… maybe you’ll win a cool prize or learn something you didn’t know about me.

Snowy Sunday The Winners List from Marty Mankins on Vimeo.

More YouTube Downsizing

As I mentioned in last week’s Snowy Sunday post, I will not be using YouTube as a location for any videos that contain Warner Music Group (WMG) artists. This week’s episode uses a clip of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Give It Away”, which prevents it from being uploaded to YouTube intact. I tried to find another song that would fit this week’s topic, but this one fit so well that I decided to stick with it. It’s a short clip used at the beginning and end of the episode.

BUT WAIT….

… I didn’t want to leave any YouTube users out of the loop on finding out if they won or not. So, in an effort to skirt around the greedy fuckers at Warner, I have “improvised” the clips used at the beginning and the end of the YouTube version for this week’s video. Sometimes, you have to do what you got to do. This will most likely NOT be a regular feature [sorry, I don't believe in inflicting torture on any human beings]. The Vimeo version contains the beginning and ending clips of the actual song.

Click here for the Snowy Sunday – The Winners List – YouTube Edition

I am writing a separate blog post that will go into more detail about this WMG/YouTube issue, which I will post sometime this week. I didn’t want to take away too much from the excitement of this week’s Snowy Sunday with an extended rant.

ATTENTION WINNERS

I will be contacting you via email this week, asking you for your mailing address, so I can send you your prize.

To All of My Readers

Thanks to all of you who visit here on Banal Leakage. You have read my posts, listened to my rants and watched my silly mug in the videos I post. I hope to keep providing more entertaining, informative and thought-provoking posts in the future, occasionally celebrating blogging milestones by giving away free stuff.

The contest ends tonight – January 31, 2009 at 12 midnight PST [that's California, Washington and Oregon time]. I will be drawing the winners on tomorrow’s special edition of Snowy Sunday [yep, your name, should you win one of the prizes, will be forever remembered in a video]

So click the link NOW…. 100 POSTS

NOTE: Comments turned off on this post.

Since I started this blog on April 1, 2008, it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve done all sorts of blog posts with subjects covering my car, politics, food I like, my scooter, Top 9 lists, videos with snow and many more. I thought for sure, after 100 blog posts, I’d have thousands of weekly visitors and get regularly featured on TWiT, Digg and have my videos mentioned on an episode of Tekzilla. But alas, none of those popular web sites came calling. But, I must say that I have a nice bunch of regular visitors that I look forward to seeing here and that’s what matters.

So how do I show my appreciation for my readers?

Free Stuff

What’s that you say? You’re giving away free stuff? Fuckin’ Sweet!

um… wait a minute… what’s the catch? What kind of crazy hoops do I have to jump through to win a prize?

Read on.

Only One Thing You Need To Do….

And that’s leave a comment on this post. Pretty simple. For you readers that never leave a comment [you know who you are], this is your chance to make yourself known, even if it’s just this one time. You can leave multiple comments, but only one entry per person will be counted. How will I know it’s really you posting more than once? By email address, of course [also your IP address, which shows up when you post your comment], which is why you need to use a valid email address. How else did you expect me to contact you if you won?

Now I don’t have any of those fancy tools and what have you to check for cheaters multiple entries, so I’m really trusting that everyone will be honest here. I mean, if you really wanted to, you could login under 12 different names with 12 different email addresses and from 12 different locations and that could count as 12 different entries, increasing your odds of winning a prize. But that would just prove what a douche and fraud you are. So be cool and be honest. It’s not like I’m giving away a brand new scooter or the original suit from IRON MAN.

Ok.. enough rambling already…..

… Show Me The Prizes!

• COOL LEAKAGE (3 prizes) – $10 iTunes gift card
• RANDOM LEAKAGE (1 prize) – 8gb SanDisk USB Flash drive
• TOP LEAKAGE – (1 prize) – $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
• GRAND LEAKAGE – (1 prize) – $50 Visa gift card

I wanted to do something for my readers, both loyal and brand new. For those of you COOL LEAKAGE and TOP LEAKAGE winners that are non-US residents, I can provide an equivalent valued prize. If you are a non-US winner of the GRAND LEAKAGE prize, then let me know where you want your gift certificate to and we’ll make it an equal-valued amount. I won’t leave anyone high and dry here [even though the US dollar sucks in exchange rate value].

DID I WIN???

Sheesh… greedy, are we? I will announce the winners on February 1, 2009. That’s a Sunday – a Snowy Sunday, to be exact, and the video that week will be me announcing the winners. So that gives you time to post a comment [and for me to make sure I have enough cash to purchase the gifts]

How Will I Get My Prize?

Damn, you people really are greedy…

Ok, so if you win one of the $10 iTunes gift cards, the 8gb SanDisk USB Flash drive or the $50 Visa Gift Card, I will mail those out to you, which means you would have to provide me a physical mailing address. For the $25 Amazon Gift Certificate, you can choose to have that redemption code emailed to you. We’ll work out those details when I announce the winners. Are we good? Cool.

Good Luck

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for celebrating 100 blog posts here on Banal Leakage. Leave your comment [where you can ask any pressing questions], cross your fingers and come back on Feb 1st to see if you won…. well, you can come back anytime for new posts and an all new Snowy Sunday this weekend.

UPDATE: Comments are now closed for this entry.

So what kind of writings will you find here? Pretty much anything I care to post that I see throughout the week. I will post as often as I have time, hoping to at least get three a week in the beginning. My goal is to work up to a daily post.

As for the site design, things will change here and there. I am working on a site logo and some other graphics. For now, it’s pretty basic and clean, but it should be easy to navigate, with or without cool-looking graphics.

So if you stumbled onto this place, welcome. If you like what I have to post, bookmark this site and come back often. Have something you want to ask or tell me? Leave a comment below or use the Contact page and let me know what’s on your mind.