We here at CMEpalooza HQ are big fans of walking. Scott leads walking tours of Philadelphia. I love going on hikes and exploring new cities on foot. Whenever I go for a run, I find myself thinking “Why am I doing this? I should be walking.” In fact, we love walking so much, we put together a Top 5 list of songs with “walk” in the title (OK, maybe we didn’t put together the list. I put together the list and didn’t consult Scott. I’m sure he disagrees. Too bad. My post, my list.)

5. Walk On the Wild Side – Lou Reed
4. Walking On Sunshine – Katrina & The Waves
3. Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles
2. Walking in Memphis – Marc Cohn
1. Walk This Way – Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith

Honorable Mention: Walk of Life – Dire Straits, Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth, I Walk the Line – Johnny Cash, Walking on Broken Glass – Annie Lennox

(Side note: I just realized that Walking in Memphis is the most recent song on the Top 5 list and it was released in 1991. As always, we are on the cutting edge of pop culture.)

In honor of our love of walking, we are proud to announce the third iteration of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge starting today! What is the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, you ask? Allow me to explain.

• The challenge begins today (October 9) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday (October 15)
• The challenge is to record at least 10,000 steps in one day. For each day during the challenge period that you record 10,000 steps, please send in a screenshot of your step-counting device with the number of recorded steps, either by email (thecmeguy@gmail.com) or text (267-666-0CME [0263]). Please include the following information:
  • Screenshot of number of steps
  • Date of steps
  • Name
  • Email
  • Physical mailing address
  • T-shirt size (please remember to include this!)
• For each day you achieve 10,000 steps and send in a screenshot, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card (there are five gift cards; you cannot win more than one.) Winners will be drawn during the week of CMEpalooza Fall.
• The person who records and submits the most steps in one day wins a $250 Amazon gift card. This time around we are implementing a new rule that I have dubbed The Jamro Rule in honor of two-time CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge winner Amanda Jamrogiewicz: the winner of the Challenge is ineligible to compete in the next round of the Challenge. That means Amanda is ineligible to compete in this round, and now the rest of you finally have a chance to win (no offense, but she beat y’all by a lot the past two times. I mean, a lot.)
• Everyone who enters will receive a CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge performance T-shirt from Talem Health. They’re pretty great, see? (note: color may be different.)
  
• In lieu of an entrance fee, we are asking everyone to please consider joining CMEpalooza and Talem Health in making a donation to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The recommended amount is $25, or whatever you are comfortable giving. Please follow this link to make a donation.

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by:

We launched our latest sponsor event, cleverly entitled “CMEpalooza Meets the Golden Bachelor” on Monday morning. As usual, we got an initial flood of entrants that has now slowed to a trickle as everyone, in the usual “I have a 2-minute attention span” approach to life, has moved on.

Maybe this little tête-à-tête with Derek will get your attention back to what is important: namely, entering our little contest so you can win some mad guap to pay for a fancy new pair of kicks (translation: money for shoes).

DEREK: OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!

SCOTT: You all right there, chief?

DEREK: I just saw Susan at the Acme!

SCOTT: Who is Susan? Is that the woman you hit with your car last year?

DEREK: No, not that Susan! Susan from the Golden Bachelor! She was in the checkout line in front of me. You’ll never guess what kind of apples she buys!

SCOTT: You are right, I won’t.

DEREK: McIntosh! McIntosh apples! Isn’t that amazing?

SCOTT: Fascinating. Truly.

DEREK: I think I’m going to write her a haiku to tell her how much I am rooting for her to win Gerry’s heart. Maybe something like this:

Susan, you are sweet
Like a McIntosh apple
XO from Derek

SCOTT: Amazing. Truly amazing.

DEREK: I know, right?

SCOTT: Don’t you have some work to do? Didn’t I ask you to score some of our entries?

DEREK: Like I have time for that. Can’t you just do it like you always do? I’m too busy on the Golden Bachelor message forums.

SCOTT: (Sighs) Fine.

Whether or not you are totally engrossed like Derek in the Golden Bachelor show, I know you are all able to multitask (note from Derek: you can tell this is a fake conversation because I would never write a haiku that terrible.) So please, for the love of Susan, go ahead and complete our special sponsor event before Friday at 5 pm ET. If nothing else, it’ll give you a chance to explore some of the innovative work our sponsors are doing right now. There is some pretty cool stuff going on.

One more thing: This isn’t your only chance to win money prior to CMEpalooza Fall. On Monday, we’ll kick off the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored by Talem Health. Maybe you can get some steps in while going apple picking. Full rules coming shortly.

Last weekend, Derek couldn’t stop texting me.

HIM: “I am sooo excited about this week’s premiere of the Golden Bachelor. Aren’t you?”

ME: “No.”

HIM: “Come on, don’t be a sour puss. You can still find love in your 70s. I think it’s an incredibly romantic reality show premise. Don’t you?”

ME: “No.”

HIM: “Well OK, Mr. Negative Nancy. Just don’t expect me to get any work done this week. I am going to be spending all of my time on Golden Bachelor message forums scrutinizing and analyzing all of the contestants. There are so many interesting women.”

ME: “Believe me, I wasn’t expecting you to get any work done this week.”

HIM: “Hey, I’ve got an idea. The CMEpalooza Fall sponsor event is coming up this week. Can’t we at least tie in the Golden Bachelor to this year’s theme?”

ME: (Thinking that I don’t have any better idea) “OK, fine, you win.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how incredible ideas are born.

Welcome to CMEpalooza Meets the Golden Bachelor, our Fall sponsor event where we’ll give you the chance to win some money by doing nothing more than answering some questions about our glorious sponsors who all deserve a rose of their own.

Here is how this event works.

1. Click here to download the forms you will need. CMEpalooza Meets the Golden Bachelor is pretty simple. We have divided our sponsors into four categories – Gold Diggers, Silver Foxes, Bronzed Babes, and Special Stylists. In each category, you have to answer questions about one or more of our sponsors. Each question is very loosely themed on the Golden Bachelor. I asked Derek to help create some questions since he knows so much about the show, but you did read where he said he wasn’t doing any work this week, right? So you get what you get.
2. So where do you find the answers? Well, by visiting the websites of our CMEpalooza Fall sponsors (we have links for you on our Sponsor tab). I promise that you won’t have to hunt too much to find anything in case, like Derek, you are spending hours on the Golden Bachelor message forums this week.
3. You can use the answer sheet in the downloaded forms to complete your responses. You get up to three entries, but for each entry you must answer clues about different sponsors.
4. Within each entry, you must get every answer correct to qualify for our prize drawing. If I’m in a less ornery than usual mood, maybe I’ll let you get one wrong (note from Derek: that’s doubtful.). We’ll see.
5. Completed answer forms can be sent to me at scott@excaliburmeded.com. Make sure to include your name and professional affiliation in your email so that when we announce that you’ve won, everyone can be sufficiently jealous.

We’ll have five prize winners who will each receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Derek bought dozens of these already but apparently there are a few still left.

This event will be open until Friday, October 6, at 5 pm ET, so get cracking!