Hi I’m Dawn, one of the Rule29 interns. I was asked to share a bit about myself.

I am an angler — by definition, a professional bass fisherman. As a young child I fished for catfish in the mighty Dupage with my uncle, and in the quarries behind his cabin for blue gill. It wasn’t until a couple years back that I got involved in tournament fishing. I now participate in two tournaments a year — in July for bass, and in October for crappie. I always seem to have greater success with the latter because, honestly, it is quite a bit easier.

My favorite part of the fishing day is in the wee hours of the morning, driving full-blast down the Lake Chippewa Flowage. With deer feeding on the shorelines, woodpeckers chipping away on the trees, dinosaur-size bald eagles soaring above, occasionally swooping in the water just feet away, grabbing whatever they see. Sometimes you can even spot the occasional bear either fishing or strolling through the woods.

By far the best part of the tournament is the catch — hooking the big one. This July I finally got “on the board” in the bass tournament. Learn more about my catch after the jump.

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What do these three things have in common?

Rule29 just sponsored their second athlete (for the first mention, see here). Our athlete was Kona, Cheech’s mini Dachshund. Although this was a much smaller affair, the wiener races (or formally known as the Dachshund Dash) of Rochester, MN offered us the perfect opportunity to study three things: 1) corporate sponsorship, 2) uniform design, and, of course, 3) how to race a dachshund (or, maybe, how NOT to …) Read the rest of the entry >

We use the word “community” a lot. Over the past 5 years the internet and social media have taken the definition of this word to whole new lengths. Where it used to be the only communities you were a part of were ones that were in close proximity to your home, now this is no longer the case. The amount of online communities you can be a part of is literally endless. From Facebook to SecondLife and any niche that you happen to fancy, there is an online community with which you can participate (or not), and at any level you like.

All of this connecting and interacting with people you would have otherwise never known has its benefits for sure. The sharing of information and experiences has made us the most informed generation yet. With all of this information at our finger tips we are able to react to people in need faster and more efficiently than ever before. When the earthquake in Haiti hit, people all over the world were able able to mobilize and start working to raise money in an effort to help those effected. The team at R29 even threw our hat into the ring and participated in The Haiti Poster Project, which was a strictly online effort, to do our part.

Like most things, though, there are negatives that accompany these positives. When everything is just a click away sometimes making connections in the community in which you actually live becomes difficult. While participation in online communities can be beneficial, often times there are people in the home next door that could genuinely use a helping hand. Read the rest of the entry >

Lots of us have favorite hobbies, favorite foods, favorite just about anything. Have you ever wondered how much time or how often you take part in that favorite thing? Or, have you just wanted to collect information on, well, just about anything? That’s where Daytum comes in. Daytum is an extremely user friendly site that simply put, “helps you collect, categorize and communicate your everyday data.”

Now let’s say one of your favorite things is tacos. I mean who doesn’t love this tasty dish? With millions of different recipes out there in the world, this classic dish shouldn’t get dull. Our friends at Faust love tacos so much that they started keeping track on Daytum, and it turns out they aren’t the only firm in the Chicago area that loves tacos.

Take a common love of tacos, add a little competitive spirit and a great resource like Daytum, and you have yourself a Taco Challenge. Throughout the month of June, Rule29 will be competing in this epic event against Faust, Grip, and Floodlight. Winner is determined by dividing the total amount of tacos consumed by the amount of participants per office.

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