Raising more money for Wellchild and helping me stop wasting money on gadgets

For those of you who don't know me and are new to this blog here's some background.

I'm running the London Marathon for the first time on April 25th and I'm raising money for Wellchild Sick Children's Charity. At the time of writing this post I've raised £1320.22 so far. Today I was blown away by a single donation from the Company I work for for £250. I work for an outdoor advertising company called Primesight in London. I've also had loads of donations from my Twitter buddies, family and friends over the last few months and the amount keeps going up. I'm humbled at the generosity of everyone who has sponsored me.

Last week, I noticed on my British Gas bill that I had been refunded £250 because I had been overpaying a direct debit for 12 months. The money had been credited to my 'Bills Account'. My first reaction was to start looking around for a new 'gadget' to waste the money on! Those who follow me on Twitter will remember the tweets about buying an iPad, iPhone projector, Sony eReader, New headphones, blah blah blah. All stuff that I don't actually need really.

I've decided to donate the money to my charity but to make it more fun I've had an idea that involves all of you reading this.

I've decided to take my iPhone with me during my run and will try to tweet, post a few tweetpics and also try and upload a couple of audioboos too. All of these will be seen on my twitter timeline.

What I want you to do is to help me get as many followers as possible. I'll set a minimum follower count target of 5000 by 9pm April 24th. I have over 1800 at the moment. If this target is achieved I will not hand my iPhone over to TNT in my secure kit bag on the morning of the Marathon. I'll take it with me and tweet my run. I've tweeted before when I've been running and I know it can be done. I've also used audioboo when I've been drunk so how hard can it be when I'm running?

You don't have to donate any money, all you have to do is retweet the link to this page and get your friends to follow me. ( If you want to donate you can too at www.justgiving.com/jayman888 )

My twitter name is jayman888 and the short link to this page is http://bit.ly/dxdH8Z

I'll tweet this link a few times everyday in the build up so you can retweet. You can always contact me via twitter where I'll be giving regular updates.

I'll follow everyone back who follows me. It'll be a really awesome experience on Marathon Day and I want to share it with you all and raise some money for my charity too. I'm nervous but really looking forward to it.

Look forward to your support.

Jay also known as jayman888

#Mugshot from my mate Ianb74

Ianb74 and I used to hang about in the same group in the 90's going drinking and clubbing. We lost touch as everyone grew up and grew apart but we ended up 'bumping' into each other on Twitter. How random.

He tweeted me a #mugshot today, here it is. Cheers Ian!

Fresh Set of Mugs from my Twitter Friends Friday

Merry Christmas from @janedebond

First one from @tad40

2nd one from @tad40

3rd one!

4th one!

5th one!

Tweeted by new dad @sozuk (come on you IRONS!)

Hand Painted in USA Westie Mug from @lyndakelly

#mugshots from today Tuesday 24th November 2009

Thanks to everyone who tweeted me pictures of their favorite mugs. This all started last weekend when I was having a rummage through my Mum's cupboards looking for something to eat during a visit and I found a load of old mugs, some of which I remember using daily as a child. Then I got thinking that I'm quite particular about what mug I drink tea from in the morning and wondered whether other people had the same 'affliction' . I work mostly from home and would put my mug usage up there with my Macbook, internet access and being on the telephone.

The first thing I do in the morning in the kitchen is put the kettle on and look for my big Titan Double sized Mug! Keep those pictures coming in!

The other #mugshot here is from @mummabear

Hello and please leave a message

I'm sitting here wondering whether anyone actually reads this blog. If you have been here please leave a message here or @jayman888 me on Twitter. Cheers

I'm playing the Random word follow with the word SAVALOY!

When I started on Twitter I soon realised that sometimes when I tweeted a certain word I got a follow from someone. I remember tweeting the word 'Python at Colchester Zoo' and got a follow from the 'Python Society'

Now I 'get' twitter and know exactly who to follow and what to avoid I feel I can play with Twitters randomness even more.

I have put 'Savaloy' in my Tweetdeck search column and whenever someone tweets this word I'm going to tweet them and say hello. For those who know me 'Oi oi savaloy' is a favorite silly phrase of mine.

I wonder how many times starting today the phrase or word gets tweeted. Come back for full update in 7 days

#bigfanfriday and why

I started #bigfanfriday a few months ago when I was still fairly new to twitter and found the whole #followfriday thing on Fridays far too spammy and impersonal. Some of the tweets I read from my feed also indicated to me that others felt the same. I just started to just give #bigfanfriday shouts out to just 2 or 3 of my favorite tweeters from that week. It's been a slow starter but is still being used every Friday. Sure, it isn't as big as #followfriday however the if everyone who gets a shout also gives a shout it would slowly gain popularity.

Here's how I see my little #bigfanfriday shout outs working.

Type the hash #bigfanfriday and write a few words in the tweet about why they are worthy of your follow. Just do as many as you feel deserve a #bigfanfriday shout out.

Example.

#bigfanfriday shout out to @essexgourmet. She produced my GOLD profile pic and I love it!! I am the C3P0 of twitter. She's worth your follow

or

@YvetteObeney #bigfanfriday shout to Yvette. Always there and happy as larry. Great fun and always replies. I am a big fan

#bigfanfriday is not about quantity, it's about QUALITY.

WHO ARE YOU A BIG FAN OF AND WHY?