San Jose, CA

When I first arrived on the Amtrak in 2003, I was a nervous girl. I didn’t know the city, I didn’t know my neighborhood, and I didn’t know the people of San Jose, California.

With a few sights I did get to know some people and make a few friends. I’d like to share them with you.

Mixer Mixer
I was introduced to Mixermixer.com by my room-mate in 2003.

Mixer Mixer allows you to find out about local gatherings in your area where everyone is welcomed. If you decide to venture out on your own, you can create and organize your own mixer too.

The members at Mixer Mixer are very friendly. The events range from everyone hanging out and watching their favorite weekly show to painting the town red.
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Now that Christmas is over. There is the all-elusive question of what to do with the dying or dead Christmas tree. Sure trees meant for the holiday season are great for the eco-system while they are growing but once that tree is cut so are the eco-friendly benefits.

You definitely don’t want to put your tree in the garbage. It will only end up in a landfill to rot away. Cutting it up and burning it in the fireplace would only add more chemicals into the air.

The best thing to do is recycle. Earth 911 has listings of places where you can recycle your tree each year. San Jose, California had a Yardwaste Program that recycles Christmas trees, brush, grass, leaves, tree trimmings, and weeds.
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Sorry for dropping the ball around Veterans day. I was really looking forward to finding Veterens around San Jose, California and celebrating with words. Especially the United States Marine Corp which I hear celebrated their Birthday recently.

About San Jose
I’ll be visiting six new San Jose locations. Plus I’ll have six full days of events and fun for the whole family.

Talking About San Jose
I’ll be writing about the community, culture and society of San Jose, California. Come join me and give your 2 cents.

Movie Review
I’ll be giving my review of several movies in the box office and on DVD. I know there has to be movie lovers out there like me. This week we have Jack, Wild Hogs, Vacancy, Failure To Launch, The Seven Ups, Live Free or Die Hard, The Invisible, and Pan’s Labyrinth.

I’ll also let you know what will be coming out on DVD this week and hopefully obtain some good video feed.

30 days of stocking stuffers
It’s 30 days of interesting places around San Jose, California to get stocking stuffers for Christmas. I’ll give you suggestions for moms, dads, kids and more!

Free Friday
I’ll be opening up the contest crate to see who is giving away free stuff, having contests, and giving away prizes. It will also be time to announce what reader will be receiving a crisp $20 from us.

Chatting about The Biggest Loser
Tomorrow I’ll be catching up on NBC’s The Biggest Loser. We’ll see if all my exercise has dropped the scale a few pounds. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait until the finale and I’m crossing my fingers that someone from San Jose, California will be on next year.

Anyone have a video camera so I can apply?

Twisted Thumbs
I’ll let you know about a few online and downloadable games.

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It was a quiet day for me in San Jose, California. There is no way that I’m going close to a store with many San Jose stores continuing “Black Friday” into Saturday and Sunday.

I thought it was best to stay away from the crowds and enjoy the really cool weather we have been having lately.

Where did I go about San Jose, California today? A very large garden nestled between Taylor and Spring St. is the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. The garden wasn’t so lovely with winter coming soon but it is a great place to walk around, enjoy the weather and find a little history of San Jose.

When the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden is in bloom it’s a bouquet of Hybrid China, Tea, and other variety of roses. The Garden then leads into a orchard field. I’m not surprised, because the outskirts of San Jose, California use to be filled with orchards and farms.

It’s amazing what volunteers can do out of an eyesore of city owned land.

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After a long overdue wait, Free Fridays are back! I hope that you are as excited about it as I am. I’m hoping to have some great prizes on About San Jose, Justin Timberlake Fan Info, and Rafting Adventures.

Now on to the great contests and prizes!

David S. won a 16oz candle from Glowing Wyck! He now has 100’s of scents to choose from.
Jean L of Parenting and Religion won a set of Chili and Citrus votives from Glowing Wyck! Congrats to both!

This month about San Jose, California believes in the power of Thanks! Tell me what your thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday in the comments section. For showing thanks the winner will get a cool crisp $20.

Go! Smell the flowers are giving away flowers for a year. All you have to do is subscribe to their blog and enjoy!

Allison @ Reality on Bravo will be starting Project Blog on November 14, 2007. That is this Monday. She has some great prizes from Bravo personalities like Jonathan Kayne (Project Runway), Jackie Warner (Work Out), and Jonathan Adler (Top Design).

Erin is giving away Rockabye CDs to a winning parent. Check Parenting Our Children details

Check out Fiction Scribe, Write Anyway and The Book Stacks! Jaime is giving away a free book from the interview!

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It’s Free Friday again! I can’t believe how fast the week has gone by! So it’s time to let you know where to get free stuff and cool prizes. If you’re like me, then you definitely like free!

This time San Jose, CA is giving away something free! For the month of October, November, and December I’ll be giving away a large two-wick candle in any scent that you want. Visit Scent Sensation and decide what scent you would like.

Then come back here and let me know through comments what your scent would be.

Second place and third person chosen will get three votives in Orange/Chili pepper. It’s a great scent that really makes the room smell clean.

My Lil Venture is giving away one set of Protect Your Sleep bed encasements.
So why do you deserve to win? I want to win My Lil Venture’s October Giveaway because I deserve a healthy good night sleep!

Don’t forget that Comcast is giving The Ultimate Shark’s Night Out! For more NHL news don’t forget to read Ponds and Pucks.

Would you like to travel to the Great Wall? Travel Channel is giving away a free trip to China!

Does your home need to get organized? Food Network is giving away free organizational products for your home in their 90 days/90 prizes contest. I really could use the bathroom organizer!

Thermacare Heatwraps is giving someone a trip for two to several cities in the U.S.! Second Prizewinner gets $1000 and Third Prize gets a year supply of Thermacare Heatwraps. I know I could use those heat wraps for my back!

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The holiday season is coming. Soon Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will be here!

How about a free Caramel Apple, Apple Pie, or Snowberry Pine candle to light up the holidays. I will be giving a reader a free jar candle in their scent of their choosing.

I have over 100 scents to choose from. Visit my site, choose your scent, email your information to me at catherine@glowingwyck.com, and one of you will be a winner each month!
Let me know if you have a blog too because I love reading other peoples work!

October is a busy month! We have Domestic Violence Awareness, Breast Cancer Awareness and Halloween! Buy any product from Glowing Wyck and I will donate my profit! That’s right any profit that I make will go to a Domestic Violence organization, Breast Cancer organization, and Enviromental organization in San Jose, California.

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The smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning! Most of us love it. How many of you love coffee and need it to deal with the kids and pets? It looks like Folgers is here to help with five new flavors. The best thing is that you can get a sample for free!

Folgers offers nine different flavors to make every morning special. Bistro Roast for those of us who love bistro style coffee.

Crème Brulee, the lovely mixture of vanilla and caramel. Lively Columbian is for those who like to grind their own coffee in the morning. Lively Columbian is also available already ground.

Folgers also offers Morning Café, which is a light roasted coffee. Caramel Drizzle is for those who want a rich finish. Hazelnut Cream offers the nutty flavor of Hazelnut to the coffee bean. Chocolate Truffle is for all the chocolate lovers out there. Vanilla Biscotti offers the simple taste of vanilla. Espresso Roast is for all the coffee drinkers who want rich and bold coffee.

My favorite is the Crème Brulee and Bistro Roast. Mike likes the Chocolate Truffle and Espresso Roast. My love comments that “The Espresso Roast will not replace a true Espresso but it makes a great cup of coffee”.

Don’t forget to try your own sample of Folgers Gourmet. Folgers offers a selection of four new roasts. You might find a favorite of your own.

Don’t forget to check back next friday when I let everyone know about more free stuff and contests that are going on around San Jose and the web.

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Everyone loves free things! Free products, free samples, free advertising, and free food are always a good thing.

The people and companies I talked about last week are still having their competitions. Here are a couple of companies and people who are giving away freebies.

Lane Bryant Woman is giving away 59 shopping sprees! The grand prize is $1000 worth of clothing! What woman doesn’t like nice clothes especially when they are free!

Wrigley’s Gum is giving away a Brand New Dodge Charger Sprt8 to 4 lucky people
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I love when the people of San Jose, California celebrate their culture and heritage.

The Obon Festival in Japantown is just the case! Here is a great Taiko group performing “Seven Lands”.

The Taiko drumming actually has a hint of mystery and were thought to be used on the battlefield. Taiko drummers would play loudly to scare the opposing side.

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I actually thought that Bowling was out of style. The days of rental shoes, clashing pins, and hand blowers had come a thing of the past. Bowling is actual an activity to do and people are doing it with style.

Bay area residents voted 300 to be the coolest play to knock the pins down. Cleverly named after a great game of Bowling, 300 claims to be strikingly different. If I were judging by décor, I would have to say that it is.

Extreme bowling fun features digital bowling lanes, full bar, pool tables, Sports Telecast, and a full grill. The grill has old time favorites with a modern twist. I had the “Team Extreme” with my fiancé Mike. The Team Extreme is a platter of Buffalo wings, Nachos, Mozzarella sticks, Garlic Fries, and Shanghai Egg Rollers.

Everything was great! Mike loved the Garlic Fries and went for the Egg Rollers. The Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce is an interesting mixture with the fried Egg Rollers.

300 San Jose is located at:
5420 Thornwood Dr. San Jose, CA 95123
Call (408) 578-8500

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It’s Friday! Time to relax and check out all these contests and giveaways! Don’t forget to check out all the other free stuff and contests at The Prize Blog! If your store, company, or site is having a contest send the 411! I’ll be happy to put you up on Friday!

Garry Conn is offering free traffic for one month! Your RSS will be on Garry Conn site for a complete month allowing you to receive more traffic. Keeping the readers is up to you!
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Anime Fans Online is giving away 2 DVDs and 1 CD.

The big prize is a copy of the special edition of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, Conqueror of Shambala. Second place gets the regular version DVD of the same movie. The music CD goes to a contestant picked at random.

All three prizes are autographed by the voice actor who plays Edward Elric in the English version of the show.

To win you just need to write about your favorite episode or character from Fullmetal Alchemist.

The contest will be announced Monday. It will run until Friday Sept 28th.

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Have I told you how much I love The Prize Blog. So far it is the greatest place I’ve found to win money, prizes, and blog traffic. I also have some links for those of you who love to travel!

Garry Conn is offering free traffic for one month! Your RSS will be on Garry Conn site for a complete month allowing you to receive more traffic. Keeping the readers is up to you!

Stay at Home Dad is giving away a 20″ Apple iMac. Along with giving away great prizes through the Stay At Home Dad iMac Give-Away Dev. Dad gives away good advice. Don’t most Dads?

“Stay At Home Dad, Geek Style” is the place to go for website help, SEO help, and more. All that wisdom from a man in his early 20’s.

What if you need some little R&R from the kids and pets after a long day of Blogging. That’s where Sittercity comes in! Sittercity offers child care and pet care for busy Mom’s and Dad’s.

I like the fact that everyone who has a profile as a sitter has had a complete background check. Security is always important in my family. Sittercity offers sitters around the nation with easy to use profiles that include reviews of past parents. Last but not least the application to post a Sitter job is easy to do.

Don’t forget to check the rest of Prize Blog. I hear that John Chow is giving away a Wii!

I haven’t forgotten about the Non-Bloggers! The Travel Channel is giving away a trip to Iceland! What a wonderful way to spend holiday time! Take time to tour Iceland, enjoy the food, and the natural wonders.

Allison at Reality on Bravo is giving away great prizes for Bloggers and Blog readers! A little birdie told me that some of the great prizes could be hand made soaps, candles, personal classes, and even cold cash!

Do you like books? Is your special time with a good read? Nine different authors are giving away free Ebooks. All you have to do is comment on their pages to enter! To find out more check out Fiction Scribe!

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We all love to get free things! There is nothing like getting a new product, sample or present in the mail for free. So I thought it would cool to direct you to different places where you can get free samples, win prizes, win cash, and more.

Tide, Downey, and bounce want to give away three grand prizes of $5,000. With your choice of getting “Clean” in Sedona, AZ, being on “Soft” snow in Park City, UT or smelling the “Fresh” Air in Hawaii. 9 lucky winners will get $500 plus a year supply of Tide, Downy and Bounce products.

Don’t forget to purchase a t-shirt to help build homes in New Orleans.

If I had $300 dollars I would buy _______.

What would you buy with $300? Or even $200 or $100? Now is your chance to find out! Comment on any 451 Press site during the month of August and you could win! Three comments will be chosen at random to win a cash prize of $300, $200 or $100. The more you comment the more chances you have to win. So start reading and let those fingers fly.

I know I could use the cash! How about you?

Are you into Christian Literature? Has Beth Moore helped you? Life as a Christian Woman is giving away a copy of Breaking Free: Making Liberty in Christ a Reality in Life.

Has Pennysaver helped you find your job, car or home? Just tell them about your success story and you could have two tickets to Great America or Gilroy Gardens! Include your name and mailing address to Penny Saver Success Story, 2025 Gateway Place, Suite 118, San Jose, CA 95110. Or you can email bpotter@pennysaverusa.com

Does your blog need attention? Do you know nothing about SEO like I do? The daily moolah is giving away The SEO Book by Aaron Wall. John Chow has used the tips and tools in this book to receive over 400% increase in readership!

Stop by Daily Moolah to earn more daily moolah! Daily Moolah takes steps to teach you everythig from why contests work to hiding affiliate links. Along with Problogger, this is going to be one blog that I will be visiting daily.

That’s it for this week but I promise to return next week bigger and better with more prizes to win! If your a blogger and have prizes to give away on your blog, please let me know. I would love to send you some blog love and have a chance to win too.

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