It's Kern County Fair time (ah, caramel corn and some kind of fried dessert awaits), and The Californian will be posting a bunch of useful fair-related content in the appropriately named Kern County Fair blog. The blog includes a map of the fairgrounds, complete schedule and ongoing coverage. And, of course, room for you to share comments on the fair.

If you do hit the fair, be sure to take your digital or cell phone camera, capture the chaos and joy -- then post those snapshots or videos on our community photo site. It's free (500 other photos have been posted so far), and a great place to park your memories for others to enjoy. Here's a sample of cute kids from last year's fair;  perhaps you'd prefer to  to capture a snapshot of  Krusty the Klown chowing down on a Frito boat or woozy kids exiting those gravity-defying, brain rattling rides. Whatever your capture, we wanna see it too.

"Survivor" and "Amazing Race" kicked off new seasons this month, and we're having a little fun with our reality-TV addictions here at bakersfield.com. And we'd like you to join us in testing wits with a panel of local experts in the two shows.

Visit our Beat the Experts page each week (it's free) and click on either the "Survivor" or "Amazing Race" links (or both, if you're a true addict). Submit your choices before each week's show and see if you can beat our so-called experts. If you do, we'll toss a prize your way.

We're kinda in beta mode on the page design, and we'll be dressing up the presentation and adding a few more experts in the coming week. But the voting system works just fine, so dive in and Beat the Experts.

And if you want to discuss the shows, join us in our Amazing Race blog,  this local thread on "Survivor" or the Kat's Corner blog, which is loaded with reality TV topics.
 
And if you haven't joined in on our Beat the Experts football contest, be sure to take a shot at that weekly contest too.

As we roll out new features on bakersfield.com (and we've got a bunch this year), it's important that we get honest feedback from real people during the development process so that when we do launch, we've minimized the bugs and improved usability (how's that for a $10 word?) for a diverse group of users.

So, if you're interested in helping us with product testing now and then, drop me a line at lmolen@bakersfield.com and I'll include you in the mix.

Some of this testing can be done from home while other assignments might require that you come into our offices. Either way, it won't be much of a time commitment or hassle. And we'll make sure to reward you with a small gift of some kind (trust me, we're talking small, not trips to Australia). But I think those that want to help us will find the process rewarding as they share in the ongoing development of our site.

Again, the email address is lmolen@bakersfield.com. Just give me your name, phone number and, if you've created a profile on bakersfield.com, what your user name is.

Thanks.

Think you know football? Ready to back up your smack talk?

Join our weekly Beat the Experts contest where you can pit your football smarts against a panel of local "experts" (we use the term loosely; you'll see why when you see whose on the panel). So, really, no knowledge of football is necessary. All you need to do is pick winners in high school, college and pro games.

It's free to enter, fun to play, and there are prizes! The weekly winners get a spiffy limited-edition "I Beat the Experts" T-shirt. Runners-up get a "I Beat the Experts" bumper sticker. The year-end winner gets a $1,000 gift card good toward the purchase of an HDTV from Urner's. Sweet deal there, and the contest will end just in time for you to have that giant TV set up for bowl season.

And while you're checking out Beat the Experts, check out our revamped Bakersfield Preps section, which is loaded with stories, stats, blogs -- even a spot to sign up for SMS text alerts for your favorite local schools. It's all information you won't get anywhere else online, print, TV or otherwise.

I'll use this blog as a guide to Bakersfield.com (also known as B-dot-com) and let you know about new and upcoming features, as well as listen to your feedback as the site gets bigger and better. I'd also love to hear ideas on what features you'd like to see added.

Constructive criticism is cool and welcome; drive-by attacks without merit or detail not so much.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.


Logan Molen
VP / Interactive Media
bakersfield.com / The Bakersfield Californian