At least it was a few seconds ago! And you thought the countdown to New Years Eve was exciting! :) We know the time remaining thanks to www.timeanddate.com. The clock posted in the upper left hand corner of the blog is from the same source. So why do we have this information posted here? Good question.
Many of you already know the answer, right? :) OK. Let's all say it together (for those that still haven't read the rules!) ADSR4's official time zone is Eastern Standard Time (EST) US, and that's where you will find New York. Also, that is where you will find Cucuta, Columbia, which I did not know until I nosed around on timeandate.com. So why is the time in New York important? Well... a couple of reasons, actually.
The race officially kicks off at 00:00:01 on Sunday morning, January 4th, 2009 in New York. But... that doesn't mean that the first challenge will be posted then. (Speaking of the first challenge, where is it going to be? More on that later.) What that means is that it will be posted sometime during the 24 hour period that starts then. Our challenge sponsors are in varying time zones and all of them know the rules too! (Right challenge hosts! :) )
"OK... fine... but where do I find it?" I hear you saying. Officially, the challenge is posted here on the blog. But... see all those great blinkies, blinking at you in the right hand column? The ones under the label that says "Host Sites"? Some racers have been known to stalk those sites, looking for the challenge before it is officially posted here. And many friendly racers have then gone on to post in the NDISB ADSR4 forum that a new challenge is up, and where to find it! All that we ask is that if you do find it, and wish to share your new found knowledge with your fellow racers, please do not cut and paste the challenge into our forum. The whole idea is to visit places that you have (possibly) never been before. So it is okay to link to the challenge from our forum, but it is not okay to publish the challenge in our forum, or anywhere else please. So why do we even have to say this? Past experience!
Alright! So... what was the other reason? Oh yes. Uploading your challenge layouts to your official NDISB ADSR4 Gallery (which you all have already created, yes? :) ) It seems there is always some confusion about when the challenges are due. "I live in Dublin, Ireland, and I don't know what time it is in New York!" Now we can say "Yes, you do!". And the deadline is Sunday, midnight EST. Which is why we have the link to the countdown clock under the EST clock, so you will know how much time you have left. Both weekly challenges are due on Sunday! I'm going to say that again - Both weekly challenges are due on Sunday! If you want to make sure that you upload your layout to the proper place, just click on the link above to the ADSR4 Gallery (you may want to bookmark that page in your browser), then select the proper challenge (Challenge Number One, Challenge Number Two, etc), then click on the "Upload Photos" link. This will pre-populate the proper category for you. This will ensure that it is in the right place, and it will automatically show up in your personal gallery too! (By the way, you can also find a link in the left hand column of the blog under the label "Race Links" called ADSR4 Galleries. Yes... we do want to make sure you can find them!)
Oh, and thank you all for your continuing comments on the December 27th post, and for all of the feedback on the Celiac post! You can see that this disease affects many people in just this small community of racers. That is why I thought this information so important to pass along. And thanks for all of the great sites that you are pointing out to us. They've already proved helpful!
And I had almost forgotten already that this is New Year's Eve! (And for some, it is already the New Year.) We lost our daughter to friends this evening for a sleepover, so she'll be home (sleep deprived!) tomorrow. But we just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy new year this evening.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
And now for something completely different
Theresa just pointed out this article to me in Parents magazine, and I thought it important enough to share with all of you. It is about kids with Celiac disease.
The reason that Theresa pointed it out to me is that three out of our three children have Celiac disease. Although more information is available about it now, according to the article, for every child diagnosed with it, seven are not. And perhaps more importantly, it is a very common disease. One child in every 130 has it. Which is why I chose to highlight it in this blog post today.
We have 226 teams in the race, which means that we have 452 racers. Each racer has relatives - siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. Many probably have grandkids. It is very likely that all of our racers and their families represent over 1300 children. Which means statistically that 10 of them have Celiac disease.
If you've never heard of it, Celiac is an autoimmune disease triggered by gluten, a protein found primarily in wheat. When gluten is ingested (even in extremely small amounts) the immune system attacks the small intestine. When this happens, nutrition cannot be absorbed. In Grayson's case (one of our twin sons) this caused malnutrition, lethargy, and intestinal disorders. We had to change pediatricians to get it diagnosed as our original pediatrician thought that being underweight was healthier than being overweight. But once diagnosed and placed on a gluten-free diet, he started thriving almost immediately.
I wanted to post this information, because Celiac is much more common than previously thought, and as was mentioned earlier, it is often misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all. Most confusing of all is that there are a wide variety of symptoms that might manifest themselves, lending additional difficulty to sorting it out. But if you have noticed unexplained symptoms in your children (or adults in your family, for that matter), you might consider this information. Also, the links above will take you to a couple of very informative web sites about this disease.
Well, enough of our Public Service Message for today! If you haven't read the comments responding to the December 27th post, you might want to do that. And if you haven't left a comment, please do! There have been some very helpful tips posted there, and it gave me an idea of a thread to start in the ADSR4 forum. And while there, I just saw that little dragon has started a poll! It'll just take a second to pop over and vote - and you can leave a comment if you wish. (Feeling a little anxious yet!?) :)
The reason that Theresa pointed it out to me is that three out of our three children have Celiac disease. Although more information is available about it now, according to the article, for every child diagnosed with it, seven are not. And perhaps more importantly, it is a very common disease. One child in every 130 has it. Which is why I chose to highlight it in this blog post today.
We have 226 teams in the race, which means that we have 452 racers. Each racer has relatives - siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. Many probably have grandkids. It is very likely that all of our racers and their families represent over 1300 children. Which means statistically that 10 of them have Celiac disease.
If you've never heard of it, Celiac is an autoimmune disease triggered by gluten, a protein found primarily in wheat. When gluten is ingested (even in extremely small amounts) the immune system attacks the small intestine. When this happens, nutrition cannot be absorbed. In Grayson's case (one of our twin sons) this caused malnutrition, lethargy, and intestinal disorders. We had to change pediatricians to get it diagnosed as our original pediatrician thought that being underweight was healthier than being overweight. But once diagnosed and placed on a gluten-free diet, he started thriving almost immediately.
I wanted to post this information, because Celiac is much more common than previously thought, and as was mentioned earlier, it is often misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all. Most confusing of all is that there are a wide variety of symptoms that might manifest themselves, lending additional difficulty to sorting it out. But if you have noticed unexplained symptoms in your children (or adults in your family, for that matter), you might consider this information. Also, the links above will take you to a couple of very informative web sites about this disease.
Well, enough of our Public Service Message for today! If you haven't read the comments responding to the December 27th post, you might want to do that. And if you haven't left a comment, please do! There have been some very helpful tips posted there, and it gave me an idea of a thread to start in the ADSR4 forum. And while there, I just saw that little dragon has started a poll! It'll just take a second to pop over and vote - and you can leave a comment if you wish. (Feeling a little anxious yet!?) :)
Monday, December 29, 2008
And we're back!
It looks like with the last minute registrants, we made it to 226 teams for The Amazing Digi Scrapping Race - Season 4! Woo Hoo!
So as the excitement builds, we still need to tend to some housekeeping issues, which we are taking care of as we type. But there is something that we would like to ask of each of you racers also. Please take a moment (right now, while you are reading this would be great!), and read through the rules one more time. For some of you, this will be the first time looking at them. To minimize confusion the first week, please pay particular attention to "First Challenge", "Subsequent Challenges" and "Qualification".
Also, many of you have not established a gallery at Natural Designs yet. According to the rules (which you just read, right? ;) ), your official gallery for the race is your gallery at NDISB. All you need to do is log in to our forum or our gallery (the two logins are linked together), go over to the gallery if not already there, click on the upload photos link on the extreme right hand side of the navigation bar, and upload a photo. Theresa will be sending out emails tomorrow to all of those from whom we still need this information. We learned last year that a very long description (or credits) may prevent the layout from uploading. What we ask now is that if you have a longer than average description due to journaling that you wish to type in, or if the challenge requires many products from many designers, please upload the layout with no credits or description. Once uploaded, click on the edit icon right under the layout (says "Edit Photo" when your mouse rolls over it) and add your extended description and/or credits.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank three women (that are not even affiliated with Natural Designs) for all of their talent and time freely given to race participants before the race even started. Trish (TrishB), Lisa (Kandy Kane) and Lilly (MissLilly) in this thread, offered to make ADSR4 blinkies for any team that wanted them. They chose to do this out of the goodness of their hearts to help out fellow racers that wanted blinkies, but did not know how (or have the time) to make them for themselves. They have closed up shop now, but I just thought that a little public acknowledgement would do them good!
We still have a kickoff chat to look forward to on Friday (which you saw addressed in the rules, right? :) ). And I seem to recall something about a surprise lurking in the shadows somehere. Stay tuned...
So as the excitement builds, we still need to tend to some housekeeping issues, which we are taking care of as we type. But there is something that we would like to ask of each of you racers also. Please take a moment (right now, while you are reading this would be great!), and read through the rules one more time. For some of you, this will be the first time looking at them. To minimize confusion the first week, please pay particular attention to "First Challenge", "Subsequent Challenges" and "Qualification".
Also, many of you have not established a gallery at Natural Designs yet. According to the rules (which you just read, right? ;) ), your official gallery for the race is your gallery at NDISB. All you need to do is log in to our forum or our gallery (the two logins are linked together), go over to the gallery if not already there, click on the upload photos link on the extreme right hand side of the navigation bar, and upload a photo. Theresa will be sending out emails tomorrow to all of those from whom we still need this information. We learned last year that a very long description (or credits) may prevent the layout from uploading. What we ask now is that if you have a longer than average description due to journaling that you wish to type in, or if the challenge requires many products from many designers, please upload the layout with no credits or description. Once uploaded, click on the edit icon right under the layout (says "Edit Photo" when your mouse rolls over it) and add your extended description and/or credits.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank three women (that are not even affiliated with Natural Designs) for all of their talent and time freely given to race participants before the race even started. Trish (TrishB), Lisa (Kandy Kane) and Lilly (MissLilly) in this thread, offered to make ADSR4 blinkies for any team that wanted them. They chose to do this out of the goodness of their hearts to help out fellow racers that wanted blinkies, but did not know how (or have the time) to make them for themselves. They have closed up shop now, but I just thought that a little public acknowledgement would do them good!
We still have a kickoff chat to look forward to on Friday (which you saw addressed in the rules, right? :) ). And I seem to recall something about a surprise lurking in the shadows somehere. Stay tuned...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Please forgive our absence!
For just a few hours this afternoon, as we head to the Chargers/Broncos game this afternoon!
Ladainian Tomlinson catching some serious air versus the Tennessee Titans
We promise that we'll be back later to keep things moving along!
And thanks for the comments on the previous post so far. Keep them coming!
We promise that we'll be back later to keep things moving along!
And thanks for the comments on the previous post so far. Keep them coming!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Less than a week to go!
According to our countdown clock posted in the left hand column.
Natural Designs would like to take a moment to thank all of the individuals that have joined together to make this the biggest ADSR yet! As of this moment, we officially have 223 teams registered, and Theresa may still have a few in her inbox that need to be addressed. If you've raced before, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. If you haven't, you might be a little excited, you could be just a touch nervous, and you very likely are wondering exactly what it is that you've gotten yourself into!
This is where you race veterans come in. We would like to ask you to post a brief comment here (if you wish) about your first race experience here!
Oh, and you might want to check back in every day or so for the next few days... word on the street is that there may be a little surprise before the race kicks off!
Natural Designs would like to take a moment to thank all of the individuals that have joined together to make this the biggest ADSR yet! As of this moment, we officially have 223 teams registered, and Theresa may still have a few in her inbox that need to be addressed. If you've raced before, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. If you haven't, you might be a little excited, you could be just a touch nervous, and you very likely are wondering exactly what it is that you've gotten yourself into!
This is where you race veterans come in. We would like to ask you to post a brief comment here (if you wish) about your first race experience here!
Oh, and you might want to check back in every day or so for the next few days... word on the street is that there may be a little surprise before the race kicks off!
Friday, December 26, 2008
206!
And still counting!
We know that some of you are concerned about whether we have received your registration email or not and you are biting your fingernails waiting to see whether you "made the cut"! If you sent in your email, and you did not get a bounce-back message, that means that you very likely sent it to the correct email address. But because you waited 'til the last day, (along with about 25 other teams!), we are still wading through them and updating our database.
If you check this thread on our forum, we are updating it frequently as we update our database. But you should get an email from us about the same time that we update the thread. We know that we have about another dozen or so that we have yet to process.
Oh, and for the record, you still have about 3 hours and fifteen minutes to register! :)
We know that some of you are concerned about whether we have received your registration email or not and you are biting your fingernails waiting to see whether you "made the cut"! If you sent in your email, and you did not get a bounce-back message, that means that you very likely sent it to the correct email address. But because you waited 'til the last day, (along with about 25 other teams!), we are still wading through them and updating our database.
If you check this thread on our forum, we are updating it frequently as we update our database. But you should get an email from us about the same time that we update the thread. We know that we have about another dozen or so that we have yet to process.
Oh, and for the record, you still have about 3 hours and fifteen minutes to register! :)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Four more days!
You still have four more days before registration closes for ADSR4. We still are receiving new registrations, and we have many looking for partners in our ADSR4 forum at NDISB. The existing "Looking for a partner" thread has become several pages long, and is not the easiest thing to navigate any more, so I will consolidate the remaining seekers into a new thread, and post the link here. If you see someone looking for a partner, left click on their name in their post and send them a PM!
UPDATE
Okay. Here is the link to the new "I REALLY need a partner" thread. Only one page long at the moment, and much easier to read. (And see how we really gave you two links to this thread? See how easy we want to make your life?) :)
UPDATE
Okay. Here is the link to the new "I REALLY need a partner" thread. Only one page long at the moment, and much easier to read. (And see how we really gave you two links to this thread? See how easy we want to make your life?) :)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Still counting!
We're up to 147 teams with six days of registration remaining.
See your team name in lights here! (Or at least in a thread in our forum :))
See your team name in lights here! (Or at least in a thread in our forum :))
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wow!
As of this afternoon, we are up to 136 teams registered!
Yay ADSR4!
Eventually, we will have all of the team blinkies and names posted on the left side of the blog. But for now, you can check out the team names here.
Also, this is where you will post links to your ADSR4 layouts that you will post in the NDISB Gallery. Find your team number, and post the link to your challenge layout in that thread. Each team member is responsible for posting their own layouts to the gallery. We will have an ADSR4 Challenge gallery, and each challenge will have its own gallery. So Challenge One will be posted in the ADSR4 Challenge One Gallery, and so on. I will post links as soon as I have created these galleries.
Oh... so you've just wandered in here, 'cause you heard about the ADSR but don't really know what it is? GREAT! Scroll down a ways, and read some of our earlier posts, and follow some of the links and you will get a pretty good idea. Basically, it's a way to have a lot of fun, get a dozen or so digital scrapbook layouts done in six weeks, and get some really cool prizes along the way, with a chance to get some more uber cool stuff at the end. And guess what? No judging! Just finish a layout (according to the challenge) and keep on going. (And we don't kick out the last one done either!)
If you think that you would like to give it a go, but don't have a partner (we race in teams of two), you can look for a partner here. Many good friendships have been made in the race that have continued on. Hope to see you at the race!
Yay ADSR4!
Eventually, we will have all of the team blinkies and names posted on the left side of the blog. But for now, you can check out the team names here.
Also, this is where you will post links to your ADSR4 layouts that you will post in the NDISB Gallery. Find your team number, and post the link to your challenge layout in that thread. Each team member is responsible for posting their own layouts to the gallery. We will have an ADSR4 Challenge gallery, and each challenge will have its own gallery. So Challenge One will be posted in the ADSR4 Challenge One Gallery, and so on. I will post links as soon as I have created these galleries.
Oh... so you've just wandered in here, 'cause you heard about the ADSR but don't really know what it is? GREAT! Scroll down a ways, and read some of our earlier posts, and follow some of the links and you will get a pretty good idea. Basically, it's a way to have a lot of fun, get a dozen or so digital scrapbook layouts done in six weeks, and get some really cool prizes along the way, with a chance to get some more uber cool stuff at the end. And guess what? No judging! Just finish a layout (according to the challenge) and keep on going. (And we don't kick out the last one done either!)
If you think that you would like to give it a go, but don't have a partner (we race in teams of two), you can look for a partner here. Many good friendships have been made in the race that have continued on. Hope to see you at the race!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Updated Rules
Hey Racers!
We have updated the rules so we ask that you take a look below. To make your life easier, we highlighted the updated portion in red. Scroll down to the part that discusses "Qualification" and you will see item 3 highlighted in red. Instead of emailing us with the completion of your layouts, we are asking that you post a new reply in the forum indicated, and select your team number to post your reply. You may want to bookmark that page as you will be using it quite often during the race. You may also use your team thread to talk to your partner if you wish. Keep in mind that anyone can see these threads, and please remember to only post in your own team's thread.
If none of this makes sense at the moment, it will as soon as the race starts. If you have any questions, please post them in the "I have a question" thread in the ADSR4 forum. Thanks!
We have updated the rules so we ask that you take a look below. To make your life easier, we highlighted the updated portion in red. Scroll down to the part that discusses "Qualification" and you will see item 3 highlighted in red. Instead of emailing us with the completion of your layouts, we are asking that you post a new reply in the forum indicated, and select your team number to post your reply. You may want to bookmark that page as you will be using it quite often during the race. You may also use your team thread to talk to your partner if you wish. Keep in mind that anyone can see these threads, and please remember to only post in your own team's thread.
If none of this makes sense at the moment, it will as soon as the race starts. If you have any questions, please post them in the "I have a question" thread in the ADSR4 forum. Thanks!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
And the floodgates have opened!
Day three, and we have already received over 40 entries into ADSR4! Thank you for your enthusiasm!
If you have already sent your registration in for the Race, and you followed the instructions in the rules below, then we have most likely received it, and are processing it. We will be sending out confirmation emails to let you know that your registration was received, and processed. But... please be patient. It may take a few days to process the registration, and get a confirmation email to you. (We actually do have real jobs, so all of this gets done in our "spare" time.) If more than a week goes by, and you still have not received a confirmation email, then we would ask that you follow up. But please allow us that time to attend to your initial email.
Once again, thank you for your enthusiasm, and make sure that you tell your friends about all of the fun (and prizes) that they will be missing out on if they don't join in!
If you have already sent your registration in for the Race, and you followed the instructions in the rules below, then we have most likely received it, and are processing it. We will be sending out confirmation emails to let you know that your registration was received, and processed. But... please be patient. It may take a few days to process the registration, and get a confirmation email to you. (We actually do have real jobs, so all of this gets done in our "spare" time.) If more than a week goes by, and you still have not received a confirmation email, then we would ask that you follow up. But please allow us that time to attend to your initial email.
Once again, thank you for your enthusiasm, and make sure that you tell your friends about all of the fun (and prizes) that they will be missing out on if they don't join in!
ADSR4 Blinkies Here!
So you're thinking about playing along this time.
But you're thinking... "If I play along this time, I want people to know that I am playing along this time!"
So you need the Official ADSR4 Blinkie to include in your siggie wherever you hang out in cyberspace! That's right. Your very own, to wear proudly at all the hot spots in town!
Just scroll down the page, and you will find in the left hand column the Official ADSR4 Blinkie. Just right click on it and you can score it for your very own, right from here.
May you wear it in good health!
But you're thinking... "If I play along this time, I want people to know that I am playing along this time!"
So you need the Official ADSR4 Blinkie to include in your siggie wherever you hang out in cyberspace! That's right. Your very own, to wear proudly at all the hot spots in town!
Just scroll down the page, and you will find in the left hand column the Official ADSR4 Blinkie. Just right click on it and you can score it for your very own, right from here.
May you wear it in good health!
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