Truer Words - A Journal

PMC Fundraising: Home Run!

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:36:03 GMT

I"ve raised over $10,000 so far this year. That was my goal.

Up until a couple hours ago I was planning to shut the site down tonight. However, I just found out that a friend, Chris Rawson, is having a hard time meeting his fund raising goals this year in the PMC.

So, I'm going to keep it running for a few more days. When I agree to a bundle, I'll just give the buyer the URL for donating through his PMC account instead of mine.

Progress in the PMC Bundle Builder

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:04:26 GMT

Since the post went up about building your own software bundle, on Monday, I've had at least 600 offers come in.

Probably more than that. But I've lost count.

I do know that, right now, I have 341 unprocessed offers. Offers I haven't even read yet.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once that I may have made it a little too easy to build a bundle this year. :-) I can't possibly keep up. Eventually everyone will hear back from me. But it'll take awhile. Next year I need to more fully automate the system. (Duh.)

Since we went live I've added at least ten new titles to the list of what's available. Also, I ran out of the most popular apps in the first couple days, but many of them are back in the bundle builder again because the donors stepped up with larger donations! Yay!

I'm two thirds of the way to my $10,000 goal, and all but the first $1,000 of that is from selling these bundles. (That total doesn't include the $700 or so that I got for the two Adobe apps that were auctioned on eBay. Those haven't been credited to my PMC account yet.)

Make Me An Offer!

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:25:12 GMT

For the third year, I'm selling thousands of copies of mac applications, to support my fund raising efforts in the PMC.

I'm running a bit late this year, but I think I've found a great way to present the software that's available, and to make it really easy for the buyer/donor to choose what he/she wants in a bundle.

I have three targets to meet before we're done:

$4400 by the end of September (I'm "legally committed": they'll take any balance from me, personally)
$6700 by the end of October, to meet my "Heavy Hitter" commitment
$10,000 by the end of December, to meet my personal goal for 2008

Please go build a bundle and make me an offer, and tell people about this however you see fit: twitter (where I am sethdill), digg, your own blog, StumbleUpon, smoke signals... whatever.

PMC Day 1: Sturbridge to Bourne, by the Numbers

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:03:02 GMT

Saturday, August 2, 2008

This was my sixth year riding the PMC, and my fourth year to include the Huckleberries ride (which makes it a three-day event). Those previous three years, I was totally exhausted on Saturday morning from the hard ride on Friday.

This year was different...

PMC Day 0: The Huckleberries Ride Again

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:50:25 GMT

Friday, August 1, 2008

This ride was epic.

There were fifteen of us, as shown in the picture below:

15 at the Start

From left to right: Scott, Joel, Jon, Tom, Mark, Dave, Tim, Not Sure, Ellen, Me, Steve, Mike, Mark, Not Sure, and Steve.

Could someone fill me in on the "Not Sures" please?

Did I forget to mention that I was riding with Lilliputians? They may be tiny, but they make up for it with numbers!

Click the image for higher resolution. (This is Mark Stockwell's photo, used with permission.)

Not pictured...

PMC 2008: Day -1, "Holy Screwed Up Feet, Batman!"

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:17:27 GMT

Thursday, July 31, 2008

“Day -1” is the travel day from home in Mystic, CT to our hotel on the MA/NY line in West Stockbridge, MA. This day is normally quite uneventful, if slightly stressful. I sleep poorly the night before (mostly due to excitement), work in the morning instead of packing, hear a little (deserved) fussing from Corinne because I haven't yet packed, then finally pack everything into the car and leave.

Things were a little different this year. I slept well, and only worked for less than an hour in the morning, while Corinne was at a doctor's appointment (checkup), and manage to pack most of my clothes before she returned. I checked my Gmail account to see if any new software donations had come in, and found that someone had donated 1,000 licenses of his app!

After Corinne returned and we finished the packing, I started loading up the minivan which we borrowed from my Dad for the trip. My bike was the last item to go in, and I was prepping it in the garage. Dad was holding Lauren, and kept "peeking" her out around the garage door so I could say "boo!" and make her giggle a little. The last time he did it, I jumped at her to get a bigger reaction... and my left foot landed squarely on an old screw on the garage floor... !

If Only Drivers Shared the Road...?!

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:58:49 GMT

Billy Starr, founder and leader of the PMC, sent out an email today asking — nay, commanding — all of the PMC riders to read an article on the Boston Globe's web site: If only drivers shared the road, cyclists would be safer.

It's very much like similar articles I've seen many times before: it's a little dangerous to be a cyclist on the roads with big cars and angry drivers. I have no argument with the basic premise, and it's certainly true that many drivers wish we weren't out there. Most drivers tolerate us just fine, and a few seem to actually like to see us, but there's a very vocal minority who would rather see us banned. More dangerous, I think, are the careless drivers on cell phones, though. While the angry driver will usually just try to scare you, he hasn't actually lost control of his big, red pickup truck. The careless driver, though... look out.

As I said, I have no argument with the idea behind the article. Some of what it actually says, though, is bordering on asinine.

I just have one question: Why are you so angry? We're out there obeying the rules, getting exercise, and saving gasoline. We've ridden in charity rides that benefit cancer, mental retardation, poor children, multiple sclerosis, and myriad other causes. We stay on the far right side of the lane. We never blow through traffic lights or stop signs. We're cautious because we know that you're out there in mega-ton vehicles, any one of which could flatten us in an instant.

Sure, lots of us ride in charity events, but I honestly don't know many drivers who always obey the rules of the road. In fact, that paragraph is so ludicrous that I have to wonder if it was written just to get a rise out of the motorists who read the story. MOST CYCLISTS COMPLETELY IGNORE THE TRAFFIC LAWS AND ALL COMMON SENSE RULES OF SAFETY.

I'm going on a 60 mile hill ride with a bunch of ultra-experienced cyclists in about an hour. All of us will put in at least 5,000 miles this year, and some of the group were actually professional (that is: paid, Cat-1) racers at one time. Yet, the most experienced of the whole group is almost certainly going to do little more than slow down for stop signs, and will only stop for red lights if the cross-wise traffic is not yet moving.

Now, I know the roads I ride on VERY well. There's a light at the end of River Road, for example, that a cyclist can't 'trip' to turn green, so there's no choice but to go through it (after checking for traffic). There's a four-way stop on Clift Street, half way up a ridiculously steep climb: frankly, if there's no car there (or if there is but they wave me through because they understand) then I'm not stopping for it because then I'd have to walk to the top.

But I don't know anyone who rides the way he describes in that article. Not really. I know plenty of riders who pretend they ride that way, who claim it in conversation, but I don't know any who do it.

In fact, I was thinking the other day that if we're going to claim to have just as much right to the road as cars do, then perhaps we should be licensed to ride on roads the same way cars are. (Admittedly, we don't pose a safety risk to others quite the way a car does, but that's not the only reason drivers are licensed.)

The reader comments after the article are all over the place, but I agree a lot more with the second commenter than I do with the author's "perfect world seen through rosey glasses" imagination. I'll quote in full:

Oh, so many things wrong with this article. First, I have the "pleasure" of driving to work through "cyclist heaven" (Lexington, Belmont, Bedford, etc) and have had on more than one occasion, seen a "law abiding" cyclist do the following: take a right turn around a car from the wrong lane; failing to stop at stop signs/stop lights, not stopping for school buses (yes, there was a near miss). I am all for cyclists getting exercise and using alternative transportation, but YOU as a cyclist should be required to be licensed. If I have to be licensed to drive my car on the streets/roads of MA, you should be too. Just two weeks ago, I thought I had inadvertantly struck a cyclist who cut me off (while he was wearing iPod headphones) on a busy road. An officer cited him for reckless "driving" and ticketed him. one word: karma.

(That reminds me that Steve once told me about a roadie wearing iPod headphones and being completely unaware that Steve was trying to get his attention. Way to die, buddy.)

Safer roads and friendlier drivers would be great, but we bear at least some of the blame for the anger and the danger.

PMC Software Donations (2008)

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:50:20 GMT

The first weekend in August, for the sixth year in a row, I'll be riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge. This year they've told us there will be 5500 riders, and we ride about 200 miles from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown (on the tip of Cape Code). The real point, though, is the money we raise: millions and millions of dollars, all for the research and treatment of cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston.

The total project goal this year is $34,000,000! (And we'll raise more than that, we surpass our goal every year.)

Last year I raised about $5,000 for the PMC by collecting donations of Mac software from the authors/publishers and then selling it in bundles on eBay or giving it to people in return for making donations to the PMC.

I'm running late this year, but the project is and running again and this time I want to raise a total of $10,000.

Right now, I need donations. If you produce mac software, please donate some! I need at least another 90 titles, with a minimum of five licenses each. Sixty-two apps titles have been donated so far.

(If you're not a software producer, I could also use some regular donations! I have had two big donors every year since I started doing this, but this year one doesn't have the money to donate anything, and the other only had $500 to donate instead of $1,000.)

Last year, an employee at Adobe sent me a copy of Flash CS3 which he purchased on his discount. This year, he came through again and got a coworker to go in on it with him so I'm also getting a copy of Illustrator CS3! However, 99.9% of the software that's donated is just a set of licenses, no physical goods or costs at all.

Those big-ticket items are nice, but that will only account for about $1,000 of the $10,000 I need to raise.

Please help out if you can.

Registration for PMC Opens January 2, 2008

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:31:32 GMT

Registration for the PMC 2008 opens next week!

Pan-Mass Challenge - Registration for Heavy Hitters

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

This registration period is for 2007 Heavy Hitters only (those who raised $6,300 and above) and GUARANTEES the route, Saturday night accommodation, and return transportation* of their choice.

On January 8th registration will open for all alumni riders and we can no longer guarantee your preferred ride options.

*we cannot guarantee fast ferry availability

I actually considered not riding in ’08, but my reaction to "next week" has changed my mind. I'm excited!

PMC Heavy Hitter Registration

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:47:08 GMT

The following is a message from Billy Starr at the PMC:

====== Forwarded Message ======
Date: 12/12/2007 2:21 PM
Received: 12/12/2007 2:21 PM -0500
From: Billy Starr [email withheld]
To: Seth Dillingham (and 1579 others)

During this period, all 2007 Heavy Hiters are guaranteed the route,
Saturday night lodging and Sunday transportation mode of choice. This
guarantee expires as soon as alumni registration opens on January 8th.
Congratulations – and thanks again - to all 1,580 heavy hitters!
====== End Forwarded Message ======

This will be my first year as a PMC Heavy Hitter Alumnus. EXCELLENT!

In a separate message a couple weeks ago, they told us about the fundraising minimums for 2008. They went up. A lot! Oy!

Fundraising minimums for 2008

All routes finishing in Provincetown: $4,000
Two-day rides finishing in Wellesley: $3,400
One-day rides to Bourne: $3,000
Sunday Wellesley - Wellesley ride: $1,300
Heavy Hitter*: $6,700

Last year the Provincetown routes were $3600, and the Heavy Hitter level was $6600. It's odd that HH only went up by $100.

This year the donation to the Jimmy Fund was $33 Million. My little contribution to that was about $7300 (that's how much I raised, not personally donated).

2008 Is Looming

I hope my software donors from this spring/summer are ready and willing to donate early this year! My plan is to start raising funds as soon as I register, and spread it out for nine months instead of overworking myself for three at the last minute.

PMC Fundraising Goal Exceeded (Yay!)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:08:27 GMT

My goal this year was $6,600. At the monent, the PMC's fundraising status page says I've raised $6,666.39. I know of another $300 that will hit the account before the month is out, so in the end I believe we'll end up very close to $7,000.

This means three things for the immediate future:

First, I get my life back. It's fun to run this project for two months, but it's very intense and time consuming. If I try to do it all in the last two months of fundraising next year, Corinne and Rich have both offered to shoot me.

Second, I can stop talking about this project here on [tw] and finally return to our normal fare (Lauren, Corinne, Mike & Shannon, programming and of course cycling).

Third, I'm going to stop accepting offers for software bundles at the end of the day today. The only reason I'm not stopping immeidately is so that anybody who was planning to make an offer can do it. You have 11 hours, people.

What a relief.

Don't Wait for the Next Auction; Build Your Own Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:34:40 GMT

Based on the traffic some of the pages get on this site, it's clear that a lot of people are watching for the next auction, still.

We've almost reached our goal for this year ($6,600, about another $1,000 to go), and we're also just a couple weeks away from the fundraising deadline (October 1).

(Yay! We're almost done! Freedom...)

There will be at least one more auction on eBay, but don't wait for it! I've put up a list of all of the software that's still available. Pick out what you want, and make me a reasonable offer! (Instructions are on that page.)

What's reasonable? Since you're picking out only the software you want, I'm encouraging people to offer at least 1/3 of the retail value. So you could pick out $600 of software, and make me an offer for $200 to $300. Seems like a good deal, no?

Once we agree on the bundle, paying for it is even easier. Just make a donation to the PMC (via the link I provide on that page), and then send me the receipt.

Cool, huh? So go make me an offer. :-)

Auction 11 (Business Bundle) Closing Soon

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:25:47 GMT

The "Business Bundle" auctionM closes in just a few hours, but hasn't yet even met its reserve price.

The reserve isn't high on that bundle. I guess if it doesn't meet the reserve, I'll just hope that all of the apps sell through the "Make me an Offer" page. Still, I'd hate to have wasted the money on eBay's fees. :-(

Make Me An Offer!

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:44:51 GMT

Hey, all, I guess I've made it clear by now that setting up all these auctions takes a HUGE amount of time. The worst of it is trying to figure out what apps "go well together" under a given theme.

So here's an idea: make me an offer! Look over the CRAZY LONG list of software that's been donated, and pick out what you think you'd like, and make me an offer. if it's reasonable and I can do it, we'll have two options:

You can make a donation directly to my fundraising account at the PMC for the agreed amount. This requires trusting me a little since it's not being overseen by somebody like eBay, but at least this way all of the money goes to the charity. (What about shipping? You can either paypal a little money to me for shipping, or I'll put a .dmg file on my server for you to download, and you can burn your own disc.)
I can put the auction up on eBay with a buy-it-now price that's exactly the price we agree to. Actually, I can't do that until I get two more feedback points, but that should happen any day now (since I've started shipping the discs out this week).

(Click here to see the full list of apps, including a count of how many are left at the time I'm writing this. The list is too long, IMO, to put on the weblog.)

Update 6: the list of available applications is current as of 4:39 PM on Friday, September 14. The goal has been reached, and I will stop accepting offers at the end of the day today.

Auction 11: Work and Play

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:26:57 GMT

I've improved (in my opinion) on the original "Deluxe Mac Software Bundle for Business". There are a couple more apps (a total of 27), with a little more varietty, one less "anti-productivity app" (game), and is slightly more focused on busines software and data security.

The winning bidder will have a choice for the 27th app: ConceptDraw Project or ConceptDraw MindMap.

Get it while it's hot...

Number 9: Adobe Flash CS3 Pro

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:25:02 GMT

One boxed copy of Flash CS3 Professional (full retail version) was donated to my charity auctions, by an employee at Adobe. It's up now, in an auction entitled, “Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (Mac) Retail FactorySealed”.

There is no reserve on this seven day auction.

None of my "no reserve" auctions have closed yet, and the current bids are all pretty low so I'm growing nervous. Greg (and others) tell me that's how no-reserve auctions work, that all of their activity happens near the end and they usually have a higher final sale price. Sigh. They're also a bit of a gamble.

The full list of auctions is over here.

PMC Fundraising Update (Multiply and Subtract)

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:18:33 GMT

So far this year I've raised $3,058.10 for the Pan-Mass Challenge. That includes the five auctions which have closed already, and the very generous donations which were made before the auctions started.

There are still at least twenty auctions left to run, so I'm pretty sure I'll meet my goal of $6,600.

It's a little frustrating to watch the money shrink on its journey from an auction buyer to the PMC (the charity). Since misery loves company, I thought I'd explain the process to anyone who cares to read about it. ;-)

One of the auctions closed at exactly $200, so let's use that for our example.

The auction contained 49 applications, having a total retail value of $1,086.12. (This was a bad move on my part, I shouldn't have included so much software, but I'll say more about that in a separate post.)

Auction sold for:	+ $200.00
eBay: Bold Listing:	- $1.00
eBay: Item Subtitle:	- $0.50
eBay: Insertion Fee:	- $2.40
eBay: Final Value Fee:	- $7.00
PayPal Funds Transfer:	- $8.96
Subtotal:	180.14

So there $180.14 is left to donate to the PMC. But we're not done.

In order to be listed as a "Charity Auction" on eBay, I have to commit to make the donation through their Giving Works program, which uses Mission Fish. They take the payments and pass them on to the charity. For a fee, of course.

What fee? $3 plus 2.9%. In this case, that's $8.22, leaving $171.92 to finally end up at the PMC.

Thankfully, the PMC raises most of their operating capital separately from their rider-raised funds (mostly through major corporate sponsorships), so over 99% of the money we (the riders) donate goes directly to Dana-Farber.

Back to my original point: of the $3,058.10 that's been raise so far this year, just under $1100 of it is from the five auctions which have already closed. We're on track.

PMC Software Auction 8: Web Developer's Paradise

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:40:46 GMT

The eighth auction is running, and is called “Mac Software Bundle: Web Developer's Paradise.”

This is the most ‘focused’ auction to date. These are tools for web (site or app) developers, and include high-end apps like BBEdit for source editing, Coda and Sandvox for designing, SQLGrinder for databases, Interarchy for FTP, and Screen Mimic for screencasts. (I do this work for a living, and seriously wish I had all of these apps!) Also included Daylite and Billings, to help on the business side of being a web developer.

Yeah, ok, that last sentence sounded like a lame attempt at marketing, but it wasn't. I'm serious. I don't have Coda, Sandvox, SQLGrinder, or Screen Mimic, and could certainly use them. (So maybe it's not a good idea for me to sell a sweet bundle like this to my competition!)

Two last details: there's no reserve this time, and it's a seven day auction instead of five.

Auction 7: A Better Kitchen Sink Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:07:39 GMT

New auction is up, called Mac Software Bundle: Everything but the Kitchen Sink. This one is a lot like the previous "kitchen sink" auction (which a number of people said they liked), but I think it's a little better.

Just like last time, though, it includes a "twist": in addition to the thirty-nine apps (!) in the bundle, the winner gets to choose one app (or app combo) from a list of the most valuable ($$) that were donated: BBEdit, ConceptDraw, ConceptDraw Mindmap, ConceptDraw Project, Daylite and Daylite AB Menu, DEVON Agent and DEVON Think Pro, ANY TWO apps from the Omni Group (that's so cool, I wish I could bid...), or Page Sender and PDF Pen Pro.

That's quite a list!

Adobe Donates to the PMC Software Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:17:39 GMT

A reader of Daring Fireball wrote to find out if he could talk me into accepting one more donation for the auctions.

He works at Adobe, and is sending (I have the FedEx tracking information already) a brand-new box of Flash CS3 Professional. He bought it himself, at employee discount. (He required only two things: don't use his name, and don't tell anybody what it cost him.)

MSRP (a.k.a. "List Price") on Flash CS3 Pro is $699. It sells on eBay for $400 -$500. (If you check that, make sure you watch for the educational versions. They can't be upgraded, and sell for a lot less.)

I stopped accepting software for the auctions back in late June, but this was too good to pass up. Since I was already making exceptions, I also accepted ten licenses each of Trampoline, Lazy Mouse, and Painter's Picker from their author.

Fifth PMC Software Auction: Business-Like, But All Work is Dull

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:58:59 GMT

The fifth PMC Software Auction is up and running, with 25 apps and a retail value of $1041.84. I've listed it as another bundle of business software, but it has a little more variety than the first auction did (which was also business-related).

The auction is here.

Not that it matters what I'm hoping for, but I'll be happy if this sells for at least $250 (but as always, the reserve is set at the minimum I'll live with, not what I'm hoping for).

Go bid! :-)

Where's the Next Auction?

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:27:06 GMT

The fifth auction has been delayed a little, but will go up sometime on Thursday. It's almost ready.

The first two auctions have already closed. They sold for $297 and $200.

I was a little disappointed with the second one, but not badly. I would have been satisfied with $250.

I'm learning by trail and error, but it looks like I'm better off going with slightly smaller bundles. Also, I'm surprised by the comments I've had from a few people. Many seem to prefer lots of little apps, games and utilities over a few big ones. (Where by "big" and "little" I mean relatively cheap and expensive.)

The Best and the Worst Part of this Job...

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:48:40 GMT

The best part of managing this project is all the cool software I get to play with. The Mac really does have a lot of excellent stuff written for it.

The worst part of managing the project is that I can only play (I mean work) with all this cool software for a few minutes.

The first auction is about to close, and a friend is finally looking it over and saying, "Ooh! I didn't know that was in there! Ooh, I want that. And that!"

Yeah. Me too. Down, Seth, down.

(Years ago, my brand new eBay account was suspended because I bid on something Corinne was auctioning. I wanted it for the business, and if I could get it for a good price the business would have bought it from her. I didn't know that you couldn't do that. As soon as I clicked the "bid" button, both of our accounts were disabled. Oops.)

Fourth PMC Software Auction: The Kitchen Sink

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:55:03 GMT

The fourth PMC Software auction is up and running, with 37 +1 apps. I called it “the kitchen sink” for two reasons:

a few of the apps are kitchen related (and I snuck one in there as sort of a joke... I'm such a funny guy)
there's a bit of everything, "and the kitchen sink"

Perhaps "smorgasbord" would have been a better title. Too late now. :-)

This was the hardest collection to assemble, by far. Too much thinking, trying to figure out how to put things together.

Note: this is also the first auction with a twist. When the auction is completed, the winning bidder can choose one additional app (or a complementary pair of apps, as described) from a short list of the most valuable donations. That makes for a total of 38 (or 39) apps, and a retail value of at least $1200.

So, uh... go bid. :-)

GarageSale and the PMC Software Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 02:25:30 GMT

I'm taking a minute to post a big "Thank You" to the folks at iwascoding, the makers of GarageSale.

They didn't "just" donate five licenses of GarageSale to the auction. They also gave me a license of my own to use for the auctions, AND... no, wait, this deserves it's own paragraph.

AND... they added a feature to GarageSale specifically because I needed it!

Here's the deal: if you're doing charity auctions on eBay, you need to have an account with MissionFish, who guarantees that the charity receives the money. When you create the auction, you need to provide your Mission Fish info, choose your charity (out of a list of thousands), and specify what percentage of the final sale will go to the charity.

It's a serious pain in the neck, just like everything else related to setting up an auction on eBay (IMO).

With GarageSale, though, it's easy. They remember my MissionFish account in the prefs. They remember my choice of charities. I can create new auctions almost instantly, based on previous auction templates. Plus, the software has this practically endless list of aucton styles!

This project will always be a huge amount of work, but I'm whittling away at the process and it's growing easier all the time. GarageSale and it's charity-friendliness is my number-one biggest time saver, though. (Next year, my Rails app for managing all the data for this project will be the number one time-saver. I'm already using it this year, and it's saving me time, but I also wrote it this year so the real savings won't start until next year.)

Um... "P.S." Last time I did this, I got free copies of Knox, VoodooPad, FlySketch and FlyGesture, but I forgot to thank Marko and Gus. Thanks guys!

Outta Here

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:35:31 GMT

With three auctions up and running, and a total of 99 different applications (some utilities are duplicated in all three auctions, and I haven't done a firm count, but it's close to 99), I still have at least 25 apps which haven't appeared in any auctions. This is crazy. And fun.

Anyway, the weather is totally amazing this morning, so I'm not wasting any more time inside. Cleaning the bike, picking up some new cleats, and then hitting the road for a few hours.

Third PMC Software Auction: 33 Apps for those Creative Types

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 12:53:52 GMT

The third auction is up! This one is called The Ultimate Mac Software Bundle for Those Creative Types.

This one's full of software for editing music, printing pictures, creating web sites, organizing photo libraries, and doing all that stuff the Mac is so well known for. :-)

Thirty-three apps in this one. I wanted to put in a few more, but the retail value of this bundle was already higher than the other two (almost $1,400).

This auction will close Thursday, August 23 at 8:41am EDT.

PMC Software Auction: 49 Apps (Games, Audio/Video, and Utilities)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:57:39 GMT

The second auction is up and running!

This one is called, Huge Mac Apps Bundle: Games, Audio/Video, Utilities.

It includes the following warning, right near the top:

Warning: this bundle may be too much fun for some people. If you have any serious medical conditions, or have a strong affinity for the PC guy in Apple's "Mac vs. PC" commercials, then this bundle is probably not for you. Otherwise, read on!

Yeah, maybe I'm tired.

See here for more info on these charity auctions.

New "Main Page" for the Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:56:51 GMT

I was told — nay, warned — that my post about the first auction was too obviously written for the regulars here at [tw]. New people coming here from links on other sites wouldn't "get it."

OK, I can see that.

So now, if you're linking to the software auctions, please consider changing it. Link Here Instead.

That page tells you what it's all about, how you can help, where to get more info, and finally lists the auction(s). I hope you'll find it succinct, and it even has John Gruber's, Rich Siegel's, Kerri Hicks's and Jim Correia's blessings. ;-)