Writing for Metblogs has the potential to be the most rewarding experience in your entire life. It’ll make you rich, famous, good looking, will help you lose weight, make your clothes fit better, and get you a super good deal on a new car. It will make you the most well known person on the entire planet. Yes, each and every one of you. Really.

OK maybe not. Actually those are all lies, but it’s fun at least. The truth is Metblogs is the largest network of locally focused blogs on the web, covering almost 60 cities around the world and we’re looking to add a few new bloggers/writters/authors to this fine site. If you wanna know more about us check out this wikipedia entry but it’s kinda boring so I won’t waste time repeating it all here again. If you wanna write for us, here’s the scoop:

• All author positions are volunteer. That means you don’t get paid.
• You must live in (or very near) the city you plan to write about.
• Anything you post must relate to the city somehow. That means you shouldn’t post a movie review, but talking about going to see a movie at a local theater is fine.
• There’s no requirement for how much you can or should write, but we ask that if we set you up as an author you make about 3 posts a week.
• You can post about things you love, you can post about things you hate. It’s entirely up to you

Additionally, because of our global network, there’s plenty of options for things you write to be read by people all over the world. Interested? Want more details? Post a comment and we’ll be in touch!

Having been away for a while, I’m going to post some random things I’ve been doing/finding out about/hoping to do. I’ve found some more free movies, at the World Cafe Live. Maybe this will take me to the West. I never get over there!

I ran the Midnight Madness run for Back on My Feet, two weekends ago, already. The three races of the day were a huge success, raising $90,000.

I’m excited to see that local guy G. Love will be performing at the Festival Pier on August 16. I’m going!

Speaking of the Delaware riverfront, Philly Skyline has dubbed this season as “Summer of the Delaware.” Check out his fancy articles and terrific information. I’m psyched about the bike trail!

End of the summer will bring a visit from my sister. We’ll be lolling about in the city. What to do? What to do? Eastern State, Fairmount Park (does anyone know of any tours over there?), Kelly Drive, historic things, ice cream, Italian Market. Any suggestions?

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

My first post today, the storming of the ‘Bastille’ (Eastern State Penitentiary) is reflected in this costume contest winner’s sunglasses.  Much merriment, Tastykake throwing, and watermelon beheading…

Yesterday I discovered they’re filming Transformers 2 right next door to my workplace. In fact, I can see bits of the set from one of the windows down the hall. It definitely adds excitement to the average workday, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. 

I walked to work from the train yesterday and saw a large truck parked outside my workplace with Paramount Pictures Los Angeles, CA on it. After a few seconds of googling, I concluded it must be Transformers 2 and proceeded to e-mail all of my fellow geek friends. 

They didn’t seem to do a whole lot yesterday, I suspect due to the horrific heat wave. Today, however, the set is much more active. They covered much of the building with long black shrouds, re-landscaped the front yard, and now have security guards hanging around as well. 

From the looks of it, the earliest they’d start any actual filming would be tomorrow or the next day. I have yet to see any recognizable celebrities. The two most interesting sights thus far:  

A group of men dressed alike laying on the grass opposite the building, pointing, discussing and making notes. The fashion theme was sweaty tan t-shirt and long greenish brown shorts.

Gigantic and numerous electrical cables, boxes and generators. Yes, I am nerdy enough to find that fascinating. 

I’ll continue to post updates here as the action continues next door. 

If you’d like to stop by to check it out for yourself, you’ll have to come on foot as it’s not accessible by car. It’s on 36th Street between Walnut and Spruce, which is a pedestrian pathway on the University of Pennsylvania campus. They’re filming about a block north of Spruce Street. 

Throughout the past year, I have been searching the internet, doing some research, and trying my best to find a four-legged friend to become the latest edition to my household. I searched Craigslist, google, rescue groups - anything and everything, I searched it.

I came across numerous faux ads (mostly on Craigslist) offering highly desirable pooch breeds for a nominal fee. The ad goes up - not stating a thing about where the dog is located. The picture is cute - so you write to this anonymous person. A day or so goes by and you receive a reply. Let me tell you - these scammers are getting awfully creative all the while their English is getting worse. One person said they are in the Peace Corps and they aren’t home enough to take care of their dog. Another said they travel a lot for business. I never knew so many worldly deceivers congregated in this tiny coutry in West Africa.

I went back on Craigslist - like so many upset pet lovers do - and posted a warning. That lasted all of one hour. These creeps patrol the site - flagging any post that brings light to their scam.

No matter how many warnings are posted on the internet, people keep falling for the same tricks - losing money and hope that they will ever find the right pet for them. The Cameroon puppy scammers are continuing to operate their “businesses” and cheat people out of their money.

Mayor Michael Nutter is encouraging all Philadelphia residents to join him in a city-wide cleanup. Tomorrow, Saturday April 5th, between 9am and 2pm, thousands of people will be out and about showing their dedication to beautifying the city. Post cleanup, Mayor Nutter will be hosting a BBQ at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia. Volunteers ride SEPTA for FREE to the BBQ and back home. Check out this link for details on how to help: http://www.phillycleanup.com/pages/Home.asp?Section=Home

The LA Metblog has a great idea that we are totally stealing, because it’s just that awesome:

A drop-down drag-out no-holds-barred fight to the finish to come up with the defining thing that is the worst in Philadelphia.

We’ll start with the top 64 things that we hate about the city, and in tournament style, narrow it down until we come up with number one. The comments are open to anything and everything you want to propose, from the smell at the 11th Street El station to the South Street onramp to the Schuylkill Expressway. The metblog authors will weed through the entries and come up the 64 best worst things to include in the tourney.

So what is it, Philadelphia? What do you hate about the city?

(Please remember that with the new Metblogs you need to register to post comments!)

Hello readers! Welcome welcome welcome. The new system launched sitewide this weekend and we are pleased as punch at the switch.

With this new system, users must register and login to post comments to posts. You don’t need to use your real name, but you do need to have a valid email address.

If you notice anything weird or out of place, post a comment to this post! We realize some posts may need some cleanup, some pages and posts throw errors, and some other things are being worked on my the awesome crew at metblog HQ, but anything you notice? Pass it along!

Center city Wawas seem to be a dying breed. The most recent of several locations to go is the all-important 20th and Locust Wawa. Not only is it essential for the locals, it’s an incredibly popular post-bar spot for snacks and re-hydration. Inebriated masses congregate, consume and leave sated after long nights of drinking. Where will they go now?

Another good question would be, why are all the Wawas closing? According to their PR Department: “The closing of this particular store is not unlike others we have made throughout our 5-state operating area from Chadds Ford, PA to College.” This doesn’t explain a whole lot, and I’m still curious as to why those locations were targeted. The 20th and Locust, in particular, must have brought in quite a bit of revenue.

One of the drawbacks to my current neighborhood is, indeed, the fact that the local Wawa closed last year. The next closest one is over a mile away. It looks like that is to be the case for much of center city as well.