Blog of the Week : 01/31 - 02/06 2010

The 'Blog of the Week' for the week of Jan 31st to Feb 6th 2010 is 'Signal - The St. John's Blog', which is a fairly new addition to the roll but equally worthy of this designation.  The space is self described as "more than just a blog about St. John’s - Signal is the St. John’s blog." and whether or not this declaration is universal truth, this blog does have a bounty of discussions surrounding the capitol city.  With contributors to the site being local writers, musicians, filmmakers and many others, it certainly is "A celebration of – and infatuation with -  everything unique and wonderful that this city has to offer".  That's their words... and I completely agree with it!

Take the time to pop on by and be sure to tell them that the NL BlogRoll sent ya!  Click the pic and away you go.


Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

Rollin' Some New Blogs

Here's a few more new blogs for ya'll to chew on.  Go say hello!

Pop Goes The Rock
http://popgoestherock.blogspot.com/


Eastern Health - Discovery Needs Assessment
http://www.discoveryneedsassessment.blogspot.com/


Clarenville Campus Life
http://www.clarenvillecampus.blogspot.com/


St. Mary's Anglican Church Clarenville
http://unofficialstmarysanglicanchurch.blogspot.com/


Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

Blog of the Week : 01/24 - 01/30 2010

After a long hiatus from posting here, followed by a crazy two weeks of voting for the NL Bloggers Choice award, The 'Blog of the Week' returns for round 2 of the newest of initiatives.  So, without further delay the blog of choice for the week of Jan 24th to Jan 30th 2010 is 'A Wicked Scoff'.   Besides the "recipes, photographs, anecdotes, reviews and other insights on everything food related" that this blog brings, what's equally delightful to me is that the blog owner is giving us a Newfoundlanders perspective as he lives in New England, USA.  The blog itself is self described as a "fusion of both Newfoundland and New England perspectives of the culinary world" and for that, it's a must visit for any food lover... and who isn't right?  So get going... unless of course you're on some sort of New Year's Diet.  Then, I'd probably stay away. :)

Click the pic to check it out! 

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

We Begin Again

In late 2008, as a way to further help promote the blogs in our community here, we started a Blog of the Week initiative.  While this little adventure was a huge success in itself, it was decided that to  build the community further, something else was needed and voila; the NL Bloggers Choice was born... and with resounding success!

Before tomorrow and the start of a new round of Blog of the Weeks, I just wanted to recap the first ever Bloggers Choice awards which clued up just last week:

• Due to heavy promotion by the blog owners in the first round, an explosion of traffic came to this site resulting in thousands of votes.  It was complete madness, in fact.  With over 550 comments posted in the vote thread and 4800 votes cast via the Poll, I was completely blown away by the response. 

• 'The Maintream Media' caught wind of the initiative and thought it interesting enough to talk about.  I was on the Morning Show with Jeff Gilhooly, had a wonderful article by Kerri Breen  published in The Telegram and was interviewed by Angela Antle of CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine who provided me with a link to a podcast of our talk.
  

• And of course two blogs won and those are again John Gushue... Dot, Dot, Dot and Bitstop.  Congrats!  Bravo.
  

Also, as a heads up, I did learn a few things from this initial round of the NL Bloggers Choice.  I kind of now consider it a beta test for an ongoing project.  The response to this whole thing has not only rejuvinated my drive to keep this place updated but also awakened my mind to thoughts of bettering it.  So, here's what I've been thinking.

• Instead of 10 blogs per round, I will up the total to 16.  I did not want to saturate everything by going every 2 and a half months, PLUS I wanted to give more exposure to those that are voted the winners each round.
  

• With that thought, I'll also be inviting the winners to add exclusive content monthly to the hub here, with links back to their blogs of course.  This is in effort to add a little more value to the NL Bloggers Choice Award.
  

• Voting will change as well.  Instead of just a 2 fold system of poll votes and comment votes, I'm going to add further complexity to it all.  The poll votes will remain the same, but the change comes with regards to how comments are valued.   It'll now be a 3 fold system within itself:
• Anonymous posting will be worth 1 vote.
  

• Non (those with profiles or links to them) will be worth 2 votes.

• AND, in effort to further develop our community here, fellow NL Bloggers will be worth 5 votes.  One vote only and distinguished with a link back to their blog in their comment.

As I stop here and look at this now, I come to the realization that I perhaps put entirely too much thought into all this.  Then again, you should see what I do as the commish for fantasy hockey league.  Now that is obsessive compulsive.  This is nothing!

So stay tuned for tomorrows blog because it all begins again.  With these first round behind us and with what I believe to be improvements put in place, it's sure to be a fun ride!  Let's see what happens shall we...

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

First and Foremost - New Blogs!

Before I do anything else here (ie: recap the last couple of weeks), I really have to take the time to add the new blogs that sprung up recently.  While I'm at it, here's an invite to the rest of you to go visit.  In other words...

10 New Blogs!!  Go say hi.

Ramblings from Afar
http://baygirl-ramblingsfromafar.blogspot.com/

Greg's Real Estate Blog
http://activerain.com/blogs/rgosmond

Nate Gates' Blog
http://www.nategates.com/theblog/

What you see in here, stays in here
http://www.vickielinegar.blogspot.com/

My Yellow Apple
http://myyellowapple.blogspot.com/

Don't Know Much About Photography
http://aurorastears.blogspot.com/

Model Citizens
http://modelcitizensvintage.blogspot.com/

Judy Cooper Textile Designs
http://judycooper.blogspot.com/

A Newfoundland Blog
http://nfldblog1.blogspot.com/

Coastal Cruising in a Pathfinder
http://buildingpathfinder.blogspot.com/


Did you visit them all?  Nice wha'?!

Please, as this list grows, remember to PING YOUR BLOG each time you post something new as this will bump your blog to the top of the list, letting everyone else know to check it out!

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

And the Winner is...

After a whirlwind of a couple of weeks for myself and this blog which followed a response that completely blindsided me, this day came pretty quick. It seems like the contest just started, but now the votes have been cast and counted for our first ever NL Bloggers Choice award.  It's now the moment we've all been waiting for; Announcing the winners!  Let's get right to it shall we?

As you may have read, there are 2 winners for this award with those being the top 2 blogs out of the 24 listed with the most votes (by way of a Poll worth 1 point and Comments worth 2).  The two winners this time around did a brilliant job at getting out the vote and truly commanded the lead in votes by doing so.  In the end though, there is only one top winner and for this round, nobody got out a vote like John Gushue did.  With that, his blog is declared the first place choice NL Blogger.

NL Bloggers Choice Award - Top Winner

John Gushue... Dot, Dot, Dot

2722 Points

NL Bloggers Choice Award - 2nd Place Winner

Bitstop

1774 Points

Congratulations to both of you.  It is well deserved!

Besides the 2 winners, I'd like to share some love to the 5 blogs who were runners up in the contest.  They are as listed below.  Please take the time to visit and say hello.

• Rock Recipies 
• Missing the Rock 
• NL Running 
• Kayaking Dreamin' 
• Gas and Oil

This was all very exciting folks.  I have a recap of everything this week and also a couple of annoucements on some changes that'll come to the contest for the next round.   For now, please take the time to not only the 2 wonderful winners and the 5 runners up but also all the blogs on the NL BlogRoll.  It's a wonderful ride.  Trust me.

Until next time, congratulations to all once again!

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

Final Push

Before you do anything else, 
GO HERE to VOTE for your choice NL Blogger!

The final push for votes is on with just over 12 hours to go until everything ceases and the counting begins.  As it currently stands, we have 4513 votes in the poll and 513 comments in the vote post which is a massively unexpected amount.

And you know what, it's just now dawning on me that... I have to count all those...

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

Two Days Remain

As per normal as of late, if you have yet to do so, before you do anything else, 
GO HERE to VOTE for your choice NL Blogger!

With only 2 days remaining for the vote process, we now have 3916 votes in the poll and 471 comments in the vote thread.  The turnout continues to impress the heck out of me and what's best is that it's not over yet.  Lots of votes can come in just over 48 hours, so keep the votes comin'!

In other news...
For those waiting to be added to the list (or have something updated), please be patient.  I'll be getting to that next week, among a few other things I'd like to knock off my To-Do list.

Related to that, if anyone knows anyone who owns a blog that is not on this list, that SHOULD be on this list, please have them contact me so that they're included.  Our family here can never be too big, so be sure to pass the link on.

Not much else to share beyond that right now, but please remember  to GO VOTE for your favorite NL Blogger!

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

5 Days and Counting

If you have yet to do so, before you do anything else, 
GO HERE to VOTE for your choice NL Blogger!

As of right now there are 2338 votes in the poll and 278 comments posted in the vote thread.  Wowzers!

In other news, the wonderful Angela Antle provided me with a link to the podcast of our chit chat we had the other day regarding the Blogroll, which was aired on Sunday morning during CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine.  You should all go check it out.  Don't laugh at me though!

AND I'm sure if anyone caught it, but a wonderful article by Kerri Breen was published in The Telegram today.  It was very lovely meeting Kerri and just wanna take this time to say thanks a billion!

Oh and I almost forgot (because I'm not used to such early mornings) I was on the Morning Show with Jeff Gilhooly today as well.  Thanks Jeff and everyone over at CBC Radio.

All in all, this is fantastic promotion for all the blogs here and blogging in Newfoundland, generally speaking.  Thanks to everyone for participating so fully that this much attention was made aware of us.  It's all very overwhelming at this point...

But there are still 5 days and counting, so as I end this, please remember to GO VOTE!

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

One Week Left to Vote!

I've refrained from posting over the past week to try and keep the Voting post as visible as possible.  SO, if you're reading this and you haven't done so yet, GO VOTE for the your Choce Blogger.  You can pop back to read this post after that's done... or visa versa I s'pose, as long as you remember to cast your vote!

With one week left to voting it's time however, I do some talking.  I'll make it quick.

-- As of right now there are 1,450 votes in the poll and 159 comments.  The response has been overwhelmingly incredible, something I'll discuss heavily later on.  Don't let that stop you from getting more out to vote though.  Let's keep it going!

-- If you're up between 6 and 9 tomorrow morning, turn on CBC radio and tune into WAM with the lovely Angela Antle.  She was kind enough to give the Blogroll and the contest some air time, something that completely blindsided me, by the way.   I had no idea the response would be this crazy but in the end, it was great meeting Angela and it was a really fun interview, so be sure to tune in!

-- Voting for the contest closes at 11:59pm Saturday January 16th, 2010.  I'll announce the winners the next morning.

-- The Blog of the Week will return the following Sunday.

-- For those waiting to get on the roll, I promise that I'll get to you.  Just let this contest die down first, okay?  I'll get there!

-- For those NOT on the BlogRoll yet:  We don't bite, Join us!

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll

VOTE NOW! - NL Bloggers Choice Award

Voting is now CLOSED for our first ever 
NL Bloggers Choice Award!  Thank you all for voting!

--
I've decided to put all 24 blogs together for voting purposes instead of in a number of waves (as I originally intended).  With this, I'll be leaving the polls open for two weeks instead of the usual one that will come every 10 Blog of the Weeks in the future.  ALSO, the top TWO blogs will get an Award this time around!

Remember, votes via comments to THIS post are worth more (2 points for 1 comment) and I encourage everyone to share what they like about the blog they choose.

There is also a Poll in the sidebar as well.   For more information on what's going on here, check out the introduction post for the NL Bloggers Choice Award.

NL Bloggers Choice Award

PLEASE NOTE: The NL BlogRoll site is currently under a revamping stage.  One major element which will be revamped is the Bloggers Choice award that is discussed below.  Details on such changes will come in 2011, but if you are curious feel free to read how it was done in the past.

---------------------

The newest initiative to hit the Newfoundland and Labrador BlogRoll is the 'NL Bloggers Choice Award', which quite simply is a blog most voted upon by fellow blog owners and other visitors to our hub here. It's sort of like a people's choice award that happens every couple of months. The imitative stated in January 2010 and will continue for however long I and/or this blog survives.

Here's how it works:

Every TEN 'Blog of the Weeks' will be listed and available for visitors to vote apon for one full week. Voting can occur in two ways. First, by way of a simple poll which will be located in the sidebar and secondly (and perhaps most importantly) by way of comments added in the voting post. I'll be adding a higher weight to votes cast by way of comments (a 2 for 1 ratio) to help entice voters to share reasons why they voted the way they did.

SO, for example, if Blog A gets 10 votes in the poll but Blog B gets 6 comments in the thread, Blog B will be rewarded the NL Bloggers Choice award.

The Award:

The choice blogger will be rewarded with some free advertising here on the NL BlogRoll Blog. This will be by way of a 125by125 clickable snapshot (or pic of your choice) hosted on the site for at least 2 and a half months (which is the time it takes for 10 blogs to be featured). 

As always, comments and suggestions are always welcome!

New Year Newbies

It seems that in my absence from updates to this blog, bloggers have been clamoring to get listed with the rest of us.  Well, not clamoring, but requesting and before I get into anything new (as I mentioned in a recent email) I figured we should get these new friends added.  

Please take the time to visit these wonderful new additions!

That’s Tangly
http://angryredhead.wordpress.com/

Hey! What's up with That!
http://heywhatsupwiththatstuff.blogspot.com/

The Ocean View Hotel
http://oceanviewexperience.com/

Little Poems and Pretty Pictures
http://littlepoemsandprettypictures.blogspot.com/

lowercasestudio.com
http://www.lowercasestudio.com/

Labrador Moving
http://labradormoving.blogspot.com/

Virtual High School Meanderings
http://virtualschooling.wordpress.com/

My Blog. My Rules.
http://worstblogevernewfoundland.blogspot.com/

My Husband's Cancer RCC
http://www.myhusbandskidneycancer.com/

St. John's Daily Weather Forecast
http://stjohnsweatherforecast.blogspot.com/


Go play nice everyone!!  Stay tuned for more in the coming days.

Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, BlogRoll