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Randsco Worldwide Visitors: Count, Country, Time & What they're reading
There are 39 visitors. Click to see their country & what they're reading.
Randsco Site Map
Site MapAgain, this is something that I've been wanting to do for some time and I believe that a site map is necessary to help those people out that have a hard time figuring out what is what on our site. I'd like to think that our menu system is easy and will work, but some people just require a site map to figure it out. So ... here you go ... a site map. (It currently sucks, which is why it's shown as display:none!)
About the Kimlers
about usThis is where visitors can find out about Randsco and the Kimler family. Who are we? How did we come to be? What motivates us on our adventures. It's kinda like the old "meet scott and rachel" section on our PCT WebPage, but this "about us" section will be a stand-alone page.
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Thank You
FEATURED DONOR: The "Red Dirt Emporium", located in the historic "Bricktown District" of Oklahoma City, made a donation toward - and is using - Photo-caption Zoom Version 3. The Red Dirt Emporium was founded in 2007 and has a goal of introducing visitors and locals to the best that Oklahoma has to offer. They specialize in Oklahoma resources, art, music and other items that celebrate Oklahoma
Since they are largely responsible for the "Thank You" section of our sidebar and this "Shout Outs" blog, it's fitting that one of the first shouts should go to Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium.
What's the story?
Simple.
The Red Dirt Emporium was one of the few companies (or people) that made an unsolicited donation for their commercial usage of the Photo-caption Zoom v3 technique.
Not only was their contribution unsolicited, but they didn't require any support to get it deployed.
One day, a donation email arrived and I thought, "Wow. Cool. I really should find a way to say 'Thank You' to them (and others who've helped Randsco) ... I know I've been meaning to ... I just need to DO IT!"
So, I made this section and (slowly) have begun populating it with some of the many people and companies that have - in some way - supported or helped Randsco. It's provides a formal way of saying "Thanks" and helps to promote their website (in a Search-Engine-friendly kind of way).
To learn how Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium is using Photo-caption Zoom and about some of their unique products, carry on ...
Kimler Adventure Pages: Journal Entries
In 12 hours Tourism Queensland picks their "Island Caretaker". The Top 16 have been on a whirlwind tour of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef for the past two days. Each were given the task of blogging about the day's adventures. Read the entries. Which do you think should be hired to be "Island Caretaker"?
12 Hours till the "Island Caretaker" is Announced
In what way are the Top 16 candidates for TBJITW like the Swine Flu?
They've both been in the press & under a microscope a lot lately.
For nearly four months, since the announcement in early January, it's all been leading up to this moment. Tourism Queensland's search for their "Island Caretaker" has captured the interest of the World. Nearly thirty five thousand applicants dedicated approximately two months of their lives to submit and support their 60-second video applications. Fifty were chosen from the lot and they labored another month, garnering media attention and furthering their application. Sixteen of those recently embarked on a trip of a lifetime - a week-long visit to Australia - the land they call "Oz" ... to an idyllic place ... the Island of the Great Barrier Reef.
For the past three days, these sixteen lucky candidates have been paraded in front of the media, as they embarked on a rigorous, fun-filled, whirlwind tour. The snorkeled, flew, swam, fed fish, held koalas, luxuriated in the spa, ate like Kings and saw some of the best of what the Whitsundays had to offer. The whole time, they were followed by media and an evaluation team. As fun as it was, they went through the experience under a microscope.
Their applications are now nearly complete. All that's left are the formal, one-on-one, sit-down interviews and then Tourism Queensland will have a tough decision: Which of the Top 16 candidates will they hire to be their "Island Caretaker"?
For links to the Top 16 candidates "Blog Task" articles, covering Day 2 and Day 3 of their Hamilton Island interview adventure ... read on ...
The Best Job in the World: The Top 16 candidates were flown to Hamilton Island today. They now have 3 days of interviews and activities. Which are doing the best job of sharing their experience with the World? Find out.
Interviews Begin for 16 Top 'Best Job' Candidates
It's been nearly a month since Tourism Queensland announced the Top 15 candidates and the wild-card. Today (Sunday May 3rd) the top 16 arrived on Hamilton island, checked in at the Reef View Hotel, participated in a "swimming task", took a tour of "The Blue Pearl" (the sea-view residence in which the hired candidate will live for 6 months) and then were treated to a "Welcome Dinner" which included - among other things - skewered BBQ crocodile meat.
For the next three days, the candidates will be under a microscope, as they participate in a number of "tasks" and adventures. Part of the official selection process will involve the candidates blogging on the main site - islandreefjob.com (announcement to come soon). Some have already established blogs and are providing a great deal of information about their experience, thus far.
For a quick run down of the interview events and to see which candidates are already taking the world with them on their Hamilton Island 'Best Job' adventure ... read on ...
Surprises continue for the applicants of "The Best Job in the World". Tourism Queensland announced their top candidates, yesterday. Surprise: there are 15, not 10. Surprise again: They went for geographic distribution over qualifications. Find out more
Presenting a quantified, sortable list of the Top 50 applicants selected by Tourism Queensland. I've ranked them based on several criteria and there are links to their videos, as well as comments on each applicant. This is currently a "work-in-progress", but I thought I'd throw it out there
A Sortable, Quantitative Evaluation of the Top 50
When I discovered that I hadn't made the Top 50 - (yeah, I know ... shocking ... take a deep breath, I've had my cry) I swore I wasn't going to follow the top 50. And I didn't. For exactly two days. Then, out of morbid curiosity, I took a peek at the current wild-card leader-board and watched the number one most-voted video.
"Whoa!" I said to myself, in shock.
It became evident that Tourism Queensland was saying one thing to the world (and 34,000+ applicants) and doing something completely different. Let's start with the fact that there are probably many less applications submitted than the 34,500+ that Tourism Queensland claims. I know my video was submitted three times, because of IslandReefJob.com server upload issues, and all three were "accepted". There are likely many others duplicated in similar fashion, inflating the final numbers and making the marketing campaign look more successful than it really is.
Rather than just throw a big pity party, I thought I'd take a quantitative look at each the fifty videos that Tourism Queensland did select. Regardless if the actual number of unique video applications added up to only 12,000 - that's still a whack-load of videos to sort through! It's a daunting task that Tourism Queensland faced, for sure. No wonder they used a strict set of criteria to cull videos!
So, without further adieu, I present to you, the top 50 candidates that Tourism Queensland picked for "The Best Job in the World" (plus one that should have been included)! Hey, it's my blog, right? 
The Tourism Queensland promotion for "The Best Job in the World" is really a glorified job application. As such, it's a chance for both the prospective employee and employer to get to know each other. Tourism Queensland has rated me and now it's my turn to rate them. Are they someone for whom I'd like to work?
Rating Tourism Queensland as an Employer
I've never lost sight of the fact that the Tourism Queensland marketing of "The Best Job in the World" is really a job application. Just as our videos provided a means for Tourism Queensland to evaluate prospective employees, so I've been evaluating them as prospective employer.
How did they do?
"Tourism Queensland definitely rates 'below average' in my book," said Scott, "Here's why."