Happy birthday to us- Geekapalooza #5- win a Sony U71!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy 3rd birthday jkOnTheRunnnnnnn, happy birthday to us.

Can you believe it?  Three years ago today jkOnTheRun was born, with us never anticipating how far it would come in such a short time.  What began as a simple place to talk about mobile technology has grown into a site that hundreds of thousands of people come to visit each month.  I get seriously humbled when I think about that.  You folks are the best readers on the web bar none.  It's only fitting that our next contest in the Geekapalooza series should be starting on this our Blogiversary so we're throwing out all the stops!

This special contest has you playing for not one prize, not two but a whole mobile kit.  First up is the smooth leather Vaja Messenger Bag that you saw in this jkOnTheRun review.  This is one of the nicest gear bags you'll ever see, much less touch.  MSRP $380.

Next up is something that we know you're going to love putting in that Vaja bag and hitting the road.  This prize is a device I consider to be the original ultra-mobile PC and one I used as my only computer for over a year.  Yes, the winner of this contest is going to walk away with my beloved Sony U71!  This device has been lovingly used by yours truly and is in perfect condition and even though it's almost 3 years old the specs still rival those of some UMPCs today:

• Intel Pentium M 1.1 GHz
• 512 MB memory
• 30 GB hard drive
• Docking cradle (USB ports, Firewire ports, VGA out)
• Headphones with remote control
• CF slot
• WiFi
• Bluetooth (with included Billionton CF card)
• Touch screen (5") 800 x 600
• Note that the Sony USB folding keyboard is not included

Heck, rather than list everything it's got just go through all of the articles I've written about (often using) the Sony U and see for yourself.  MSRP- Priceless  :)

This prize package is already one of the best you'll see anywhere but we can't stop there, no siree.  We can't give out a Sony U71 without throwing in some cool accessories to fit in that Vaja bag.  First up is the Sony carrying case with integrated stand which makes using the U with a keyboard very nice.  MSRP- who knows?

One case for the Sony U is not enough so we're throwing in the PDAir leather case for stylin' with the Sony.  MSRP- originally a lot.

Last but not least you may have seen my articles about the Sony U as part of one of the smallest desktop PCs when used with a Bluetooth keyboard so we just have to throw in that keyboard.  This is the original Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard that complements the Sony U perfectly.  There's something special about this keyboard though, it's been autographed by Kevin and I making it the official jkOnTheRun Bluetooth keyboard and hopefully adding the personal touch to this prize package.  MSRP- can't be bought at any price (mouse and phone not included).

Last but not least the lucky winner is going to snag an external Sony slimline DVD burner (DDR3) that connects to the Sony U dock.  The burner will boot the U and draws all needed power from the dock connection and originally retailed for $400.  Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the drive, it's the smallest external drive I've ever seen though.

So there you have the total prize package and I think you'll have to agree it's a doozy!  The winner is going to be one lucky person and since it's such a good package you're going to really have to work for this.  Read on after the jump to see what you have to do for this prize.

Looking back through all of the posts on jkOnTheRun for this contest has driven home to us how you can often track our personal lives by what you read here.  We decided to make the scavenger hunt for Geekapalooza #5 a little more personal than the others so here's what you need to answer to be eligible for this super prize package.  The contest will run until midnight 19 May CDT (Saturday night) and we'll randomly select the winner from all correct entries submitted as a comment to this post at that point.  Ok, here's what you need to answer:

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site?
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago?
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery?
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak?
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital?
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web?
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery?
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names).
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep.
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household?

Finally, in addition to providing the correct answers to the above questions, for #11 tell us in a few words how long you've been following jkOnTheRun and what you like best about the site.

That's it, not too big a task for all the loot up for grabs.  Good luck to everyone and thanks for making this all worthwhile for Kevin and I.

Comments

[adlaw1]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? Pocket PC Tools
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open Heart Surgery
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 weeks after the surgery
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? 9/11
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? One
11. I have followed your blog since early 2005 and love it, it is my home page. I like you blog because it focuses on mobility, which interests me greatly. Keep up the great work!!!

[bkbroil]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? -- www.pocketpctools.com
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open heart Surgery
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie worked for 20 years on the personal surgical team of Dr. DeBakey, the pioneer of cardiac surgery
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 weeks
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? all hospitals in the Houston Medical Center were put on alert for possible terrorist activities in the Houston area
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Gentle Giant
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? two (Oven and July 4th bbq)

Finally, in addition to providing the correct answers to the above questions, for #11 tell us in a few words how long you've been following jkOnTheRun and what you like best about the site.

I've been following JK's writings since Day1! (From the PocketPCTools days right up till now) What I like best is Kevin and James' articles are always about the technology and family issues that I want to hear about... I think of James and Kevin as brothers from a different Mother! :)

[james]

1. PocketPC Tools.com
2. Open heart surgery
3. Dr. Lawrie
4. five weeks
5. hospitals were put on alert due to 9/11
6. Twitter!
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. two?
I've been lurking for 8 months. I love the reviews (esp. the videos) and tablet pc news. You make these gadgets look so cool :) jkOnTheRun convinced me to get my first tablet pc Feb. of this year. Maybe I should stop visiting so I'm not tempted to buy more? hehehe

[ds]

1. pocketpctools
2. Heart Surgery
3. Dr Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. Conditioning yourself - day after walke to chair, then 3 days walking halls.
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two - blazing fire on grill and oven fire went to home depot to get extingquisher

11. I don't remember how long, but this is the first blog I ever followed.

[Nikoooo]

1. pocketpctools
2. Heart Surgery
3. Dr Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. 9/11
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I've been following the site since JK talked about installing XP tablet edition on the Sony U70. I remember pretty well, because this particular thread fired up my need for a mini-ultra-mobile computer... 3 years already? Life is too short...

[gork]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? Pocket PC Tools
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open Heart Surgery
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 weeks after the surgery
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? 9/11
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? One
11. Off and on since reading JK's posts on PocketPCthoughts. Been reading it steadily since the start I guess!

[Cary]

1. PocketPCTools
2. Triple coronary bypass
3. Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. 911 attacks
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I have been reading this site since 2004. I ran across your site by hearing about your surgery. My favorite part of the site is the typical day stories, closely followed by the hardware/software reviews.

[Jonathan Balkind]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? www.pocketpctools.com

2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Triple bypass heart surgery.

3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr Lawrie.

4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 weeks.

5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? 9/11 attacks led to all hospitals in the Houston Medical Center being put on alert for possible terrorist activities in the Houston area and so all patients not considered to be in a life threatened state were released.

6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter

7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo

8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland

9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee

10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? Two (Barbeque on July 4th and Oven fire)

11. I've been following jkOnTheRun for the last year, and it is the first site I check every day. I like this site because it has a great style, great content and amazing writers! Since I started reading, you've converted me to the way of the tablet and I'm not gonna turn back :)

[Eric Vass]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? Pocket PC Tools
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open Heart Surgery
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 weeks
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? 9/11
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? Two
11. I've been reading the site for about 6 months when I first started getting interested in UMPCs. I really love is the fact that you always seem to be the first to cover in detail whatever new device just popped up. This is clearly evident from how often the blog entries on this site are linked to from other blogs.

[Gonzalo]

NO WAY!!! i was born a day like today too!!! may 10th, but i think i have more years that jkontherun =)

[Michael Venini]

1. Pocket PC Tools
2. Open heart surgery
3. Dr. Lawrie
4. 5 Weeks!- Ouch
5. Hospitals were put on alert due to 9/11(Sad Day) :(
6. Twitter!
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I been following this site since 2005. I don't always agree with the opinions, but I highly respect them from both JK and Kevin.
Both JK and Kevin, have helped me a great deal through emails, and for that I will always respect them.

[Marcus C.]

1. Pocket PC Tools
2. Heart Surgery
3. Dr. Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. Sept. 11th (Possible terrorist activities in the Houston area)
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I found your site through Eric Mack when I was reading about Tablet PCs a year and a half ago, and as soon as I actually embraced RSS I've been a regular reader ever since. I like that you continually update with new news and reviews, and that you keep productivity in mind too.

[Cheryl]

Uh, perhaps people should've e-mailed their answers, so that later commenters can't just cut and paste the answers? :)

[Richard Braley]

1. Pocketpctools
2. Triple Coronary Bypass Surgery
3. Dr. Lawrie (House anyone? Ok i'm off by a letter :D)
4. 5 Weeks.
5. The events of 9/11 putting hospitals in houston on alert.
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. One
11. I visit your site religiously because I love technology. while my girlfriend despises me spending my money on expensive gadgets, I find that visiting your site gives me an oppurtunity to "almost have something" and in her eyes, it's free to visit so we get along on that note. :D

[gonzalo]

Yeah, thats too easy (copy,paste) i think i should get an automatic prize for just being born the same day as jkontherun. Eh EH???

[Bryan]

1. Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? PocketPC Tools
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open heart surgery
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? Five weeks
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? All hospitals in the Houston Medical Center were put on alert for possible terrorist activities in the Houston area
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter
7. What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8. Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? Two - Oven fire and Blazing gas grill fire

11. I've been following jkOnTheRun for over a year. I usually access the articles using my RSS Reader. This website provides me with so much information and the reviews are great!

[kornel]

1.Kevin and James first worked together on what defunct web site? PocketPCTools.com
2. JK had what emergency surgery 6 years ago? Open heart surgery (bypass)
3. What famous heart surgeon performed that surgery? Dr. Lawrie
4. For how long after the surgery was JK unable to speak? 5 Weeks
5. What hastened JK's release from the hospital? The terrorist attacks of 9/11.
6. Kevin first announced his engagement where on the web? Twitter, of course.
7.What is the name of JK's dog that aided in his recovery from the surgery? Oreo
8.Name JK's grandson (first and middle names). Grady Leland
9. Name JK's dog that had to be put to sleep. Bradlee
10. How many fires have been experienced in the JK household? Two.
11. I stumbled upon your site about a year and a half ago, and since then have been enjoying your content. This site is my daily read! I also love your video reviews, thanks to JK's I now have a P1610! Keep up the good work!

[Mark]

1. PocketPCTools.com
2. Triple bypass
3. Dr. Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. Possible terrorist activity in Houston area following 9/11
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I first searched for Tablet-centric sites in November of 2005 when I got my first Tablet, a Toshiba Tecra M4. I wanted to absorb as much information about Tablets as possible. This site and GottaBeMobile have proven invaluable! Now I'm on my second Tablet, a Lenovo X41, and I'm never turning back!

[Paul Schofield]

1) PocketPCTools
2) Triple bypass
3) Doctor Lawrie
4) 5 weeks
5) 9/11
6) Twitter
7) Oreo
8) Grady Leland
9) Bradlee the Gentle Giant
10) 2

11) Only been following JKOnTheRun for 6 months, but yours is the first and only site I visit EVERY DAY. Love the humour and feeling you both share with us.
Thanks Guys!

[Aaron]

1. Pocket PC Tools
2. open heart surgery
3. Dr. Lawrie
4. 5 weeks
5. "all hospitals in the Houston Medical Center were put on alert for possible terrorist activities in the Houston area"
6. twitter
7. oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. 2
11. I think I've been checking this site for 2 years? I'm not entirely sure but it started with a post linked I think from Jeff Kirvin's Writing on Your Palm newsgroup. I added the site to my daily bookmarks then. Last year when I made the decision to by my first tablet, my frequency of visits went WAY up. ;) I love the tablet coverage you guys give. You tend to cover aspects of hardware that is skipped over on other sites, but that I want to know about. You guys rock!

[massimo]

A1) pocketpctools
A2) JK had an open heart surgery when he was 45 Years
A3) Dr Lawrie "the best cardiac surgeons in the worlds"
A4) for five weeks after the surgery (he was intubated)
A5) on september 11 because all hospitals in Houston Medical Center were put on alert for possible terrorist activities.
A6) on twitter
A7) he's name is Oreo, a cute mutt
A8) Grady Leland, born 06/05/2006
A9) Bradlee, January 16 2006
A10)Two (an oven in 2004 and a gas grill in 2005)
A11) to be honest I can't remember when I arrived here for the first time. Probably it was because of my beloved HP Tablet TC1100 (infact I think I found the link on a tabletpc related site... tabletpcbuzz??). I liked it so much that even copied the "cartoon" stylish of JK face ad adopted it for my own (death) blog (forgive me!). I still consider this the best resource for tabletpc (ergh now UMP). I read it every day!! Thanks you all.

[Rob Bushway]

1. www.PocketPCTools
2. Triple coronary bypass
3. Lawrie
4. five weeks
5. 9/11
6. twitter
7. Oreo
8. Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. Two
11. I've been following James since he poked his head in at TabletPCBuzz.com years ago, which was around the time he launched JkOnTheRun.com. He started the Sony U71 craze and started calling it a Tablet PC when it officially wasn't. The first UMPC - imagine that. Been good friends ever since.

[Mike Cane]

James knows why I won't enter this particular one. Ha!

[Pamela]

1. PocketPC Tools
2. Open Heart Surgery
3. Dr. Gerald Lawrie
4. Five Weeks
5. Terror Alert in Houston because of the 9/11 Attack
6. Twitter
7. Oreo
8. UMPC (just kidding) - Grady Leland
9. Bradlee
10. 2
11. I started following the blog in March 2006 just as "Origami" was hitting the scene for real. (I'm still sad they went with UMPC - acronyms are so clunky..) It sometimes seems longer for me because I have basically read everything in the archives at some point or another.

I actually found the site looking for more information and of all the sites out there doing reviews yours seemed to be the best for covering the bases. I often don't agree with your opinions on many things, but can't seem to walk away from the point of view that is expressed here as it gives me a fresh perspective.

[Mark E.]

1) PocketPCTools
2) Open Heart Surgery
3) Dr. Lawrie
4) 5 weeks
5) Hospital Alert on 9/11
6) Twitter
7) Oreo
8) Grady Leland
9) Bradlee the Gentle Giant
10) 2

11)I have bookmarked this site for about a year and check in on your reviews and hints everyday for my tablet and other gadgets, usually while using my nokia 770. The site doesn't disappoint in revealing the new applications that mobile gadgets perform.