Week 2 Elimination: Who will be leaving us?

Hi all.  The Spaghetti Westerner, here.  You know, when I first found out I'd be hosting these elimination "ceremonies," I was super excited.  Then I found out that the host doesn't even get their own trailer.  Or hair and makeup people.  Or free bagel and donut buffet. Ah, well, we can't all live the rich life, right?

And yet, I keep coming back because there's nowhere else I'd rather be.  Except maybe on a Caribbean cruise.  Or winning the Miss America pageant.  Or being pampered from head to toe at a lavish day spa.  But we won't count any of those options.

So, first off today, I want to give a shout out to Michelle, who blogs over at Thoughts in a Dry Season, for responding to my distress about the single-space-instead-of-double-space-after-sentences debate.  When I read your comment on last week's elimination post, I was overjoyed to discover that someone - anyone - had even read the text that comes before the long-awaited elimination video.  And thanks to your vote of confidence, I've embraced my antiquated but consistent double-spacing ways.  I owe you.

Next, I need to thank our play-at-home contestants.  You guys are doing a great job, and it's really interesting to see the way you approach these topics.  Next week, I will be commenting on and critiquing play-at-home entries number 5, 12, and 18.  I know you'll all be aiming for those spots since I'm sure my comments are highly coveted and sought-after. 

And finally, I'm happy to announce that we've seen the resolution of the technical issues that we experienced last week.  Comments are up and running on the assignment posts, and I really enjoy the dialogue from the voters. 

Oh, one more thing (and really finally this time), I want to say a heartfelt thank you and farewell to Edward Hotspur and Forever 51.  I hate when anyone gets eliminated (though I know that's the fate of roughly 92% of our contestants), but I'm hoping you won't go far.  The blogosphere isn't that big after all.  I look forward to seeing you around.

Here it is: The Week 2 Elimination!

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Week 2 Voting Starts NOW!

This week we had a little role reversal. The contestants had to write about a day in their life... but as if they were the opposite sex. The contestants probably would have thrown hard things at my head if they were near me when I gave them the assignment.

The first contestant to turn in their assignment each week, gets immunity. Usually, within hours, I have the first post. Not this week. This week they were so stumped, that it took almost a full day for the first assignment to be turned in. I found it rather amusing that this week, almost all of the ladies had their assignments in before the guys.

What really matters, though, is who wrote their assignment the best. So check out the links below, and then come back here and vote!

Crazed in the Kitchen: How To Make Sure Your Mommy Is The Best She Can Be
My Rad Dad: Bird-Women, Unicorn Horns and Are These Boobs?
Manderstanding: Luck Be A Lady
Pile of Babies: I love it when you call me Big Poppa
Ice Scream Mama: I'll Worry About It Later
Crazy Dumbsaint of the Mind: I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
Martinis and Minivans: Penis Power
The Real Matt Daddy: "A Woman's Work is #^%&*ING Peanuts!"
The Mother Freakin' Princess (The MFP): Hey, I'm the MFD - The Mother Freakin' Dude
Dad and Buried: Who's That Girl?
Random Thoughts 'n Lotsa Coffee: Gypsy Wisdom: From Each Other's Eyes

Goodbye... from Forever 51 and Edward Hotspur

Following in the tradition started by the contestants last year, here are the farewell speeches from those that have been eliminated:

I LOVED this experience!

Thank you to Paula – for crying at my foibles and hugging me during elimination. Also, Paula, thank you for the Lithium. I really appreciate that.

Thank you to Randy – I am going to put ‘Yo Dawg’ on my license plate. I knew I was a bit pitchy in the first round and you went easy on my and I appreciate that. Now, if I can get the name of the internist that did your lap band surgery….

And, Simon – You are snarky as ever – I knew you thought I was too old for this competition but hey-you have a crappy haircut and how come I can always see your nips thru those tshirts all the time. Ewwwww!

This was so much fun and I was so happy to be able to meet all of these wonderful bloggers. They all have an insane sense of humor which is right up my alley. These things force you to go outside of your comfort zone – and you learn a lot about yourself as well. Even though I was only in for a few short weeks-these folks are my friends and mentors! And Heather-thank you-what an incredible job and I love your twisted sense of humor best of all!

Mary Anne
Forever 51

Kudos to Heather for her contest. It is a lot of work, and I can appreciate that. A lot of people, judges and sponsors had to be coordinated, and a few glitches happened but otherwise it was a good idea and a good contest. Thank you.

I was happy to have been included in the 13, and all my friends congratulated me, and I was happy, and geared up the campaign and everything. But then I read the names of most of the blogs, and read all the blogs, and I thought 'I must be the wildcard. I'm not anything like the other people.'

And I'm not! My blog looks different from all of the others. I post on a wide variety of topics, and I know everyone thinks they do, but they don't. I also post quite frequently - twice as many posts as all the judges combined over the past year. While I am a parent, with 4 kids, I've mentioned my family in maybe 1% of the posts on my blog.

Where does all that fit into this contest? It doesn't. So I thank all the judges who thought it would be a good idea to toss me in the mix. But to be honest, I feel bad because I took the spot of someone who may have been more suited to this contest. I have a lot of friends who entered and would have gotten further than the first round, surely.

I write exactly the way I want to. And it's a good thing, too, because the judges' comments on my post would literally be impossible to follow. They said originality was good - and bad. They said headings were good - and bad. They said a conversational tone was good - and bad.

Commenting was disabled at the time of voting. I and several of my friends, and probably readers in general, had a few lulz over this comment:
Daddy's In Charge?: "I had to read this three times before I could actually figure out who the players were..."
Literally appearing in Hotspur's post: "The Hotspur Players in this story are: fraternal twins Lawyer and James Dean (both 9), Wife (forget it), me (82), and our niece Chrissie (12)."

I just don't see how I had a chance. Good luck, everyone else! You all have lovely blogs, and I'll see you on the Twitters and the Facebooks and the interwebs.

Finally, as I've said a few times on Twitter, I was never as concerned with beating you all in this contest as I was with John Taylor beating cancer. Get well, John! I'm pulling for you.

Edward Hotspur

NOTE: If you'd like to help John Taylor with his fund for medical expenses, please check out the right sidebar!