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Home » Donors Choose and Contests

TN Fall Contest: The Final Awesome

Submitted by on October 4, 2007 – 12:41 PM26 Comments

You’ll need to sing the words “The Final Awesome” to the tune of Europe’s “The Final Countdown.” You’ll also need to sing the synthesizer parts.

“‘Europe’? You’re old.” Noooo kidding.

Anyhoodle: Final Awesome Round is now open. I set a 25K cap for this one, and seeded it with projects from all over the U.S., but actually we still have 5K’s worth of room, project-wise, so I welcome suggestions. I favor projects that haven’t got any funding at all yet; projects seeking to buy specific books are especially good ones.

If you didn’t get to donate yet, now’s your chance; if you’d like to donate again, feel free.

Prizing list is updated on the contest page, but not yet complete, so if you don’t see your prize/a thank-you on there yet, that’s my bad; I’ll get to it this afternoon. I’m kind of behind because the fire department showed up earlier TO PUT OUT THE FLAMES OF AWESOME. …Not really, they were doing an inspection. I can report that they ain’t stopped making hot firemen in Brooklyn.

…What was I saying? Oh yeah. The Tomato Nation readership: greater than the awesome of its parts.

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26 Comments »

  • Karen says:

    Re hot firemen: I actually live 3 doors down from a firehouse, and I can tell you they ain’t stopped making hot firemen in Morningside Heights, either.

  • Angela says:

    You said “anyhoodle.”

  • Jenn says:

    Great, now I have “The Final Countdown” stuck in my head. But it reminds me of GOB, so it’s all good.

  • Cathy says:

    Aww yeah, even the FDNY wants to check out the hottness of TN. Maybe the mayor will be next?

    I will resist the overwhelming temptation to make any number of puerile innuendoes, but yeah, you are the hottest thing in the 718, yo.

  • Cathy says:

    Also, Where the Sidewalk Ends? Oh you have no idea what you are unleashing. Just when I thought I was out (for giving the rest of the week) … the awesomeness of TN pulls me back IN!

  • Carolyn says:

    Please, please, can’t the awesomeness wane, just one iota? I can’t donate until mid-October when I enter a new credit billing month, and I’m actually starting to worry that the final goal will be met before then.

    Seriously, congratulations to all those that have participated to date. That is an incredible sum to amass in less than 4 days. Well done!

  • DensityDuck says:

    I prefer Warrant’s “Cherry Pie”.

    “Yoooou’re my/Awe-some Guys/Dohhh-natin’ money/what a sweet sur-prise…”

  • bronte says:

    Just went to have a look at the new challenge (Woo! New challenge), and aside from it being in Euros now, it doesn’t have the challenge list down the side and doesn’t come up on the lists of challenges, neither All nor General. I’m hoping this is just due to the DC site gassiness and that we haven’t been excluded to give the other a chance. Hee.

    And I’m still hanging out for those Cherry Tomatoes.

  • Kona says:

    Doo do doo do. Doo do do do do. It’s the final awesome…

  • Sars says:

    Aaaaand Angela and I aren’t friends anymore. Hee.

    @Cathy: I was wearing pajama shorts, and my hair was SO TALL. Then they got even more scared because I had to write down some info for them to put on their forms, and I gave it to them…on a Post-It in the shape of a baseball. The cutest one was like, “Wow, you’re intense.”

  • Sars says:

    Also, per Zach: 1) “expired” tags should be fixed now; 2) one of the projects that showed up as 0%, the money got negged because the teacher retired and declined the materials. Anyone who donated to that project will get philanthropy credits, which you can plow back into the contest.

  • Talix18 says:

    Thanks for including some MD projects. I just donated again to double my awesome.

  • Katherine says:

    Somehow, The Final Countdown became The Ultimate Showdown by Lemon Demon in my head, and now I have strange mental picture of Chuck Norris in a tomato suit.

  • Marguerite says:

    I hope that if the Final Awesome Round gets funded before the end of the month that you continue to post projects or a “Double Awesome Certain Death Round.” I think we all know we don’t have to donate, but it would be a shame to not have the chance to be a part of this just because one got paid later. Let it go as far as it can.

    (I’m not seeing my comment. If this ends up a double post, I applogize)

  • Stephanie says:

    Are you sure 25K is going to be enough for the FAR? We still have most of the month left. But what happens when the Final Awesome is over? On, like, October 10th?

    I’m sure the frenzy will die down some. It has to, right?

  • Judy says:

    So, I’m still holding out to donate after the 15th, but I might just have to squeeze a few buck out before then if this is truly the Final awesome. I did find this project, which does not involve books, but specically mentions tomatoes…

    http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=98685&zone=0

  • Kymster says:

    I’m with Carolyn . . . I can’t donate yet, and I’m afraid it will all be gone by the time I can.

    Suggestion: Keep running it all month in 25k increments – and add an adjective to each one. This one is “The Final Awesome” so the next one could be “The Final Amazing Awesome” and then “The Final Amazing Incredible Awesome” etc., etc.

    And then cut it off near the end of the month, 28th or so, when the last one closes out, so that you don’t pick projects that cannot be funded if we don’t make the 25k before month’s end.

  • Lizbetann says:

    You picked a project that is in the minuscule town down the street from the even more microscopic village my much-beloved grandmother grew up in! (Hardwick, VT is where the project is.) My dad spent much of his childhood there, and I’m e-mailing to ask the Scrooge (love him, but…) to kick in. Thank you!!!!!!

  • Colleen says:

    I finally had the cash to donate to and the Final Awesome has a project to buy interesting history books for kids in a middle school I pass every day. So I gave double what I was planning to. Heh. So much awesome!

    @Katherine: Get out of my head! Except for me, it’s Chuck Norris getting beaten up by a giant tomato. As in:
    TN came out of nowhere lightning fast
    And kicked ignorance in its cowboy ass.

  • Driver B says:

    I had to donate again because Step Away From The Textbook is in my hometown, a decidedly blue-collar-at-best part of Boston. *Sniff* Thanks for being awesome everyone!

  • Jobetta says:

    Ok, I’m never going to get that song out of my head. That song and its stupid catchiness is a running joke at the paper where I work and now it’s in my head again.

    Still, awesome.

  • Colleen says:

    Heh, Driver B, maybe I can buy you a beer sometime at the Banshee.

  • Rebecca says:

    Cool – one of my suggestions is here and already fully funded! You guys rock!

  • Driver B says:

    Thanks Colleen! I’ll have to take it in spirit since I’m a denizen of SF now, but I grew up right near Ashmont station. Good times.

    p. s. y’all – not even quittin’ time here on the west coast, and we’re at 42% of the Final Awesome??? WOWOWOWOWOW!

  • Grace says:

    So, have you been banned from further entries in the Donors Choose Bloggers challenge? It sure looks like if you kept putting up new challenges (Triple Dog Dare Challenge Round!), you would keep taking new spots on the blogger challenge leaderboard!

  • Sars says:

    Not banned; I just didn’t select the field that would put me on the leaderboard. Time to give other blogs a chance.

    All of our Challenges may get mooshed together into one awesometron at some point; I’ll keep you posted.

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