The linking the week site for this week brings back the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which you may recall I hiked to raise money for last year as part of Hike for Discovery.  As of December 1, 2008 HFD is now part of Team in Training which is the featured site for this week.  There may be snow outside right now depending on where you live, but Team in Training is starting to have informational sessions for the Summer 2008 events.  Team in Training is the main fundraising arm for LLS, and as you raise money you also train of an event where you may Run, Walk, Tri, Cycle and now Hike.  I will be a part of the Team in Training Hike support staff this season as a Team Captain.  If you have ever thought of doing one of these events TnT is something you should consider as it will help you get to that goal.

Over the next few weeks along the Front Range there will be informational sessions, but also at other chapters around the country you will find informational sessions taking place.   Visit Team in Training to see the events in your area and the local chapter to contact for more details.

The linking the site for this week is a blog recently changed up from a past f/22 photographer.  Evan Prince is a photographer from Austin, Texas whose blog provides information about photography events on going on in Austin as well as updates on his work.

Earlier this month it was announced the Rocky Mountain News is for sale and if a buyer is not found in thirty days the paper may be forced to cease operations.  The viability of the paper moving forward is a concern to the employees of the Rocky who have created the website ‘I want my Rocky‘ which is this weeks linking the week site.

The Rocky Mountain News has had a presence in Denver for almost 150 years (the anniversary is in April) which is almost as long as Denver has been a city.  While it has the history of nearly 150 years the main concern has to do with Denver becoming a one newspaper town.  Currently the Denver Post competes directly with the Rocky forcing both papers to deliver a quality product in the name of competition for readers and even more so advertising dollars.

I am a subscriber to the Post which I receive electronically five days a week with the Rocky being the Saturday paper here in Denver.  This electronic distribution will be the future of the newspapers as they compete with other sources of news in the future and newspapers need to adapt quickly to the changing landscape of news distribution. In Detroit home delivery is being eliminated during the week with the only option on Sunday, also the day with the most ad sales.  Unless the Rocky is purchased and transformed into the new media landscape the losers of the Rocky closing will be the employees of the paper as well as the people of Colorado.  Be sure to check out the linking the week site, “I want my Rocky”.

Earlier this month when flying home from San Diego, I was flipping through Hemispheres Magazine on United Airlines.  As this was the December issue, the winners of the Annual Travel Photography contest were being shown which is this weeks Linking the Week site.  In the printed publication were the overall winners which were a good collection of images in itself, however on the website were there is more space available they show images which won each category as well as some which almost made the cut in addition to the overall winners.  It is always good to look at the work from others, and even though it is a contest which is subjective based on the judges opinion I feel this is a good collection of images to check out and help get some creative juices flowing.

Last week Google released their 2008 Zeitgeist summary making it the Linking the Week site for this week.  This yearly summary of the top search terms shows us the buzz and big events during the year in various categories.  The one breakdown which I find interesting are the top search terms from other countries.  Viewing the search results in this category gives an insight to what is important, whether it is US Politics which took over this year in the United States, the 2008 Olympics or even some musical acts which also are popular in countries around the world as well.

You may also see the past version of Zeitgeist at their archive page and remember some of the larger search terms from prior years as well.

The linking the week site for this week is Help a Reporter Out (HARO).  The premise of HARO is that everyone is an expert in something, letting journalists find sources to help with their story.  The service costs nothing to journalists or sources, but Peter Shankman who manages this website asks if you do want to contribute to make a donation to an animal hospital or animal rescue society somewhere.

There are some rules about SPAM on the list, and also you should question youself if you are really qualified to respond to any of the queries which are sent by e-mail three times a day during the week.  If you are a journalist than this is something you should look into, and likewise if you need to represent clients or your product it allows you to connect to the media when the opportunity is right getting some needed free publicity and knowledge you are an expert.

With Thanksgiving coming up soon this weeks linking the week site is Flight Memory.  I started using flight memory a couple of years ago, and since that time I have included most of the flights I have taken in the past ten years into the database.  Now looking at my flight data, I know I have been on over 900 flights with the majority being in and out of Denver.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone with the amount of travel I did as a software consultant.

Give Flight Memory a look and if you would you may check my stats as well (Neil Corman Flight Memory).  The ability to let others look at your summary data is controlled by you, so you may make it so you can view your flight memory data.

Denver Arts Week is November 14th – 22nd and is the Linking the Week site for this week.  Over the course of eight days over 150 events are scheduled in six arts districts within Denver, including the Starz Denver Film Festival.  To kick off the week, on Friday evening museums in Denver will be providing free admission for a Night at the Museum.  The creative district will be providing special events, including Third Friday in the Tennyson Street Cultural District.  You will want to stop by Bentwave Gallery on Friday November 21st to check out some of my work.  Be sure to check out the Denver Arts Week website for all the details as there is way too much going on to just discuss here and more events are being added as well.

Wildlands CPR revives and protects wild places by promoting watershed restoration through road removal, preventing new wildland road construction and stopping off-road vehicle abuse leads to be the linking the site this week.  While based in Missoula, Wildlands CPR works on projects wherever it is needed with the goal of watershed reclamation.

As a non-profit their organization relies on the donations of members and this coming Friday at Zootown Brew they will be holding a fundraiser which includes a drawing for a book entitled A River Runs Though It.  Included with the book are six original wood engravings created specially for the book.  Only 50 of these sets were created where the authors write essays exploring how off road vehicles have impacted wildlands. The forward for the books is written by Annie Proulx who is known for the books like The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain.  These books are also signed by all of the living authors making it a nice collectable item.  Entry into the raffle is $25/ticket with the number of tickets sold capped at 250.

More information on the drawing may be found at the Wildlands CPR website for the event.

As this past weekend marked the 11th anniversary of the 1997 Colorado Blizzard it is only appropriate that the linking the week site is the Mini Motel for this week.  Most people who were in the Denver area during the blizzard remember the many feet of snow which fell, but more so the four thousand passengers stranded at Denver International Airport .  As Pena Boulevard was closed by the time my flight landed, I was one of those four thousand people.  I even woke up on the B Concourse Saturday morning about ten feet away from Johnnie Cochran .  Anyways that is a whole different story but the Mini Motel is something which could have been useful during the blizzard weekend for the many folks stranded at the airport.

The Mini Motel is a product which was recently developed by an entrepreneur, inventor and business traveler after noticing the problems of being stuck at the airport especially in recent years with overbooked flights, airport hotels filled to capacity and the hard airport benches or floor being the main option for rest.  Weighing in at under five pounds the motel is a kit which you carry in a laptop bag or other piece of carry on luggage and it can quickly turn into a personal tent where you can get some rest at the airport.  Included in the Mini Motel package is an air mattress, pillow, bed sheet, alarm clock, reading light, ear plugs and eye shades.  On the website are the assembly instructions of the motel, which make it appear easy but of course everyone knows how that could work once it comes time to use the product.  You are probably wondering how much this would cost but it comes in at a reasonable price of $49.95 USD, cheaper than a hotel and less of a hassle since all you need to do is find some floor at the airport.

Now I am wondering how practical is this idea, and if anyone has seen one in use at of yet.  Let me know in the comments what you think of this and if you have walked through an airport and spotted a Mini Motel.