It is 2 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes and 3 seconds until Sunday, January 4, 2009

At least it was a few seconds ago! And you thought the countdown to New Years Eve was exciting! :) We know the time remaining thanks to www.timeanddate.com. The clock posted in the upper left hand corner of the blog is from the same source. So why do we have this information posted here? Good question.

Many of you already know the answer, right? :) OK. Let's all say it together (for those that still haven't read the rules!) ADSR4's official time zone is Eastern Standard Time (EST) US, and that's where you will find New York. Also, that is where you will find Cucuta, Columbia, which I did not know until I nosed around on timeandate.com. So why is the time in New York important? Well... a couple of reasons, actually.

The race officially kicks off at 00:00:01 on Sunday morning, January 4th, 2009 in New York. But... that doesn't mean that the first challenge will be posted then. (Speaking of the first challenge, where is it going to be? More on that later.) What that means is that it will be posted sometime during the 24 hour period that starts then. Our challenge sponsors are in varying time zones and all of them know the rules too! (Right challenge hosts! :) )

"OK... fine... but where do I find it?" I hear you saying. Officially, the challenge is posted here on the blog. But... see all those great blinkies, blinking at you in the right hand column? The ones under the label that says "Host Sites"? Some racers have been known to stalk those sites, looking for the challenge before it is officially posted here. And many friendly racers have then gone on to post in the NDISB ADSR4 forum that a new challenge is up, and where to find it! All that we ask is that if you do find it, and wish to share your new found knowledge with your fellow racers, please do not cut and paste the challenge into our forum. The whole idea is to visit places that you have (possibly) never been before. So it is okay to link to the challenge from our forum, but it is not okay to publish the challenge in our forum, or anywhere else please. So why do we even have to say this? Past experience!

Alright! So... what was the other reason? Oh yes. Uploading your challenge layouts to your official NDISB ADSR4 Gallery (which you all have already created, yes? :) ) It seems there is always some confusion about when the challenges are due. "I live in Dublin, Ireland, and I don't know what time it is in New York!" Now we can say "Yes, you do!". And the deadline is Sunday, midnight EST. Which is why we have the link to the countdown clock under the EST clock, so you will know how much time you have left. Both weekly challenges are due on Sunday! I'm going to say that again - Both weekly challenges are due on Sunday! If you want to make sure that you upload your layout to the proper place, just click on the link above to the ADSR4 Gallery (you may want to bookmark that page in your browser), then select the proper challenge (Challenge Number One, Challenge Number Two, etc), then click on the "Upload Photos" link. This will pre-populate the proper category for you. This will ensure that it is in the right place, and it will automatically show up in your personal gallery too! (By the way, you can also find a link in the left hand column of the blog under the label "Race Links" called ADSR4 Galleries. Yes... we do want to make sure you can find them!)

Oh, and thank you all for your continuing comments on the December 27th post, and for all of the feedback on the Celiac post! You can see that this disease affects many people in just this small community of racers. That is why I thought this information so important to pass along. And thanks for all of the great sites that you are pointing out to us. They've already proved helpful!

And I had almost forgotten already that this is New Year's Eve! (And for some, it is already the New Year.) We lost our daughter to friends this evening for a sleepover, so she'll be home (sleep deprived!) tomorrow. But we just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy new year this evening.