The War has begun – please cast your vote

ClearAdmit recently announced a list of contestants for this years BoB (for the uninitiated, it is Best of Blogging Awards). It included many of the very popular names, and some wild card entries. Around the time this list was announced (and more so after the announcement), a sudden surge in blog posts can be observed. Now we all have a Mr Hyde in us who wants to win all those awards, but you absolutely should see the innovative methods in use to win that mere ClearAdmit logo for their blog.
[edit : as i progressed writing this post, i came to know that the stakes were much higher]

Let’s start with the old timers.

I have admired Mave almost everytime he wrote something. He was pretty regular in his postings last year, but probably got distracted towards things more important. He even went on to acknowledge that he doesn’t find enough motivation these days. But was that acknowledgement fake? I strongly believe so, and you tell me if I was a wrong judge. After slowly slipping in his subtle apology to his voters, he goes to pull a Crash worthy of the big golden knight in the very same post. I completely understand the sensitivity of the post (and the situation), but I wonder why he doesnt revenge the injustice by drinking the Germans' share of lager? Man, I knew that the iPod can do things to you, and bring out the best in you.

Now Mave’s not alone. The champion of the reapplicant community, His Honor the Redwolf is doing all he can to get his hands on that Business Week subscription, since he wants to show off to his mom that he is going to School No 1 . Now if you have read all his posts dating back to Friday, December 17, 2004, you will know that those dings in 2005 did bring out the best in him. So he sat down on the weekend of March 25th, and thought what he could do take his first stab at the BWeek Subscription [now, please don’t misunderstand me here, I know he is worthy of the iPod as well, but you see, he wants that BWeek real bad], and conjures up a post where he tries to be innovative, and as Simon would say, he manages to successfully pull off that stunt. But he didn’t just want to be a one-time wonder, so intentionally, he discontinues his post only to continue it later. As if that wasn’t enough, he then accumulates all energy he can to write the longest post of his career, just to make sure you don’t forget him when you cast your vote.

The nice and lovable Pupstar is not far behind. He had already laid the ground for people to like him by showing us Dr Jekyll side of his character, and then won many hearts at the bay area drunkards meet. When all had fallen in love with this guy, he decides to vanish for a while (citing some weird reasons), and comes back with demonstration of more character – just in time before people decide whom to vote for. Now we all know that he had his iPod stolen sometime back and he cant go to the gym without one, so I urge you to revisit your list of favourite bloggers and see if you have can fit in a vote for him.
[edit 1 – pupstar has put his vote for sale, note the words – I accept cash, check and barter. He probably wants two votes in return for his one vote ?]

The holy man was there when BoB happened last year, and I guess he is still sad about missing out the fun last time. So since then, he has churned out one interesting post after another. He also let the female community know that he has mastered the holy hug - the attraction of which inevitably captures the female vote bank for him. After doing all this strong ground work, he has done the Houdini act – probably giving us a hint that unless he gets that iPod, he ain’t coming back.

Do you guys remember Axechick? You most certainly do. Do you remember that the she was the first person to get an admit for the class of 2008 ? Probably you do. Do you remember her admissions strategy? The answer again, is Yes. So what was her strategy - Start early, do your research very very thoroughly, and strike one hard blow. So you see, since she always knew that BoB was coming, and true to what she is so well-known for, she made a compendium of Axechick mantras for all future applicants. We had already admired her for her 100% bschool strike-rate (so what she applied to only one school), and now this compendium was like a bag full of chocolates. And you all know how much Forrest loves chocolates – so Forrest urges you to vote for her.

As much as I would like, I cant quite ignore that Jackass; oops - mbaJackass. He began his campaign early, by telling us how much he loves blogging, and how he blogs only for himself. He then started a Kellogg Consulting Services – where he demonstrated extensive knowledge about the school. This invariably lured the future applicants, and even some WLers liked reading those insightful posts. To top it all of – he made anonymous comments on his own blog, then started off this debate that how least bothered he is about those comments – as a result grabbing a lot of media attention. Now do you realize or are you still wondering, this my friends, is a perfect example of something I call 'complete mastery of the win-the-vote-bank-game-rule-book' – looks to me that Kellogg hired a future senator in their ranks. Way to go, bud!

While mbajackass was playing the popularity game, Miss K tried another technique. She decided to concentrate on the right side. She had already put in enormous amount of effort writing her essays, so she finally realised that she should take it easy, and found solace in just updating the information on the right bar of her blog, and made sure she maintained homegeneity there by a range of decisions. Surprisingly, even after this lazy effort, she still managed to attract the crowd. I knew that she had a handle on the essays, but I guess she has a handle on a lot of other stuff.

The lovely Miss Marina has long graduated from the smiley face, to the dancing jpeg, finally to a real face(set amongst the amazing Costa Rican background). And before I forget, please be reminded that this is not one of her best photographs (in her own words). Whenever she finds time between her Beer Challenges, she makes it a point to write a post, and if I am not wrong, is one of the most prolific writers of our time. She has extensive access to the internet, so her replies to your emails, or comments are almost instantaneous – a demonstration for her passion for blogging. She surely deserves a prize for this, but I have often observed that such passionate souls least care about materialistic stuff, so why waste a vote, and the iPod – hunhh ?

On the other side of the globe, Resolute is all pumped with pride about the HBS grad visiting his to be new home. Since you all were so sympathetic and supporting for the HBS grad, wont you take care of people who have found a new association with him? Think hard, please!

I recently met the bschool champion of the east – Sghama. We also had the company of Dei. As much I tried to accomplish my primary objective of maintaining the serious and boring mood, these guys completely changed the atmosphere by their sheer presence and energy. We discussed all things we had on our Microsoft Outlook Meeting agenda, didn’t indulge in any crap-talk, didn’t discuss spicy stuff, and didn't gulp down more than one glass of beer – so I was kinda successful in my original objective – but not completely. SgHama gave us a dosage of Tuck Tales, and Dei enlightened us about his future plans – and both parts of the conversation were pretty interesting. I got a feeling that SgHama’s pretty much keen on Tuck, and coming from his current geographical location – he would rather avoid the iPod in the freezing temperatures of Hanover, due to a risk of blocked eustacian tube. So think before you vote for him – it’s better to vote for individuals who would atleast use the BoB award and not fall ill. I after all am sincerely concerned about Mr SgHama's health.

(…… might be continued)
(if i find some more dope)

[Footer Note 1 a.k.a DISCLAIMER: Please be reminded that it is entirely your (and your family’s) responsibility if you get worked up by any statements made above. But in a spirit of good competition, and more evidence of whom you should vote for – the author provides psychiatric counseling services, free of charge – just feel free to email him at forrestgump47@gmail.com ]

[Footer Note 2: As is made customary, the author would like to thank the ClearAdmit team for responding to all the occasional efforts of promoting their brand by showering him a place in the list of 25 elite people.]