It’s that time again kids! I write a blog post, I get paid. You don’t see any Google Ads. Long one tonight so let’s begin:

Backyard Party Events Photos on Lenzr
Backyard Party Events is a photo contest which eerily reminds me of my days in catering where I was fed like a king but ate on milk crates in the back alleys behind the eyes of guests and clients. The sponsor for this particular contest is a Toronto party rentals company who are demanding pictures of people who stay at home and do it themselves, ie: renting tables, chairs, tents, wet bars, stages and fences for their own events. The photo contest is designed to immortalize the people that have rented the big stuff and made a memory that will stand the test of time.

These guys have warehouses that’s absolutely stuffed to the rafters with party making stuff. This place is a party bomb waiting to explode on somebody’s backyard. Check out the Toronto party rentals sponsor profile on the Lenzr blog.

The prize for the Lenzr member that uploads the highest ranked picture is a spiffy new 10×10 Popup Tent, and $500 Gift Certificate for anything in Absolute Tent and Event Services catalog. Got a wedding coming up in the spring? Get clicking!

Fire and Ice Photo Contest on Lenzr
The Fire and Ice photo contest on Lenzr is (okay… breathe…) the most spectacular (wheeze!) most incredible (gasp) most incomprehensible prize ever (wheezzeEVAR!) given away on Lenzr!

Okay time to filter out the hyperbole and get down to facts: Steve Hamoen of ZoneLife.ca is is a is a geothermal installer.  What does this mean? He’s a guy that brings to you cooling or heating solutions from our own mother Earth. Bless her soul. He finds solutions to regulating a blast of hot from lava or a soothing cool glass of water from the middle of Lake Ontario on a hot summer day. To me, it’s magic but he gets the job done somehow for home application.

The Prize is GeoAir PCO air purifier. Photo Catalytic Oxidation (PCO) is an “advanced air purifying technology that unlike existing air cleaning systems that rely solely on ultraviolet light, the GeoAir PCO device integrates a titanium dioxide semiconductor to leverage photocatalytic oxidation allowing it to vaporize indoor air pollutants, including those that cause odors, and break them down into non-toxic products like C02 and H20. Bacteria, viruses, mold spores don’t stand a chance and are destroyed when they come into contact with the system’s 187 square-inch Ti02 grid. All volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are destroyed. The system is cost-effective, maintenance-free and provides maximum energy efficiency with negligible resistance to airflow.” Meaning – crap goes in, good air comes out.

The contest is to capture contrasts in temperature: a hot fire in a snowbank, a poptart in a snowbank, an underwear model in a snow filled bus stop, etc. You get the picture.

How Green Are You? in Lenzr Photo Contest
The How Green Are You? photo challenge hopes to collect one sentence stories and snapshots of eco friendly notions submitted by Lenzr users that could be readily adopted by society in general. The organizers are hoping that the contest captures some great suggestions and becomes a repository of green ideas. Photographers are asked to be generous and share wisdom inside environmental theme images and art.

This contest is sponsored by a solar powered grass cutting business in Toronto Ontario that offer sustainable, organic services that is also a relatively silent; their Neuton battery powered lawnmowers are very quiet.  This service is just cutting into the GTA (geddit?) and needs this contest t o achieve some prime publicity. Good cause, say I.

This sponsor is competing in the 2010 Green Innovation Awards.  Every year the Toronto Community Foundation donates up to $50,000 to help green businesses get established in the competitive Toronto marketplace.

The prize winner gets a Neuton CE 6 Battery-Powered Mower with DURACELL® battery technology. There is no gas or oil to spill and no engine emissions to pollute the air, making lawnmowing as fun as an Xbox360 with fireworks sticking out of every port. Not really, but it certainly saves on dirty trips to Canadian Tire.

Obsolete Office Equipment
Obsolete Office Equipment is another dynamic challenge you can do around the workplace. Photograph the antiques that are still being used in today’s offices – which won’t be hard to do with everyone coming out of a recession. Water cooler shots of ancient co-workers not valid, ok? Show us the obsolete objects that are still relied upon by frontline staff and backroom employees and the people who manage them. I’m thinking of the 10 year old Mac mouse (the round hockey puck kind) that is above my desk, hanging like a trophy of dead technology

However if you have any rotary dial telephones, punch clocks, obsolete measuring devices and such, preferably with more wires coming out of it than Turing difference engine, that’s all the more better.

The prize courtesy of an office phone systems provider S.E. Telecommunications is a 4 Line business telephone AT&T Model 1070. This state-of-the-art technology piece has 4 line speakerphone & answering system capability. With Caller ID / Page / Intercom / Call transfer / Expandable to 16 stations / 32 # speed dial / 3 party conference. Perfect for someone starting a business or wanting to play Uhura on Star Trek.