Some of my friends in the atheist blogosphere have convinced me that it is time to migrate away from xanga.  It has been an excellent time.  A lot of you have watched me grow from a snarky, flippant young student into a snarky, flippant leader in the atheist movement.  You have shared my victories and my struggles with mental illness.  I am grateful you have been there for both.

The new site will be set up in wordpress, I'm thinking.  This seems to be what all the hip kids are using nowadays.  The blog will also need a cool, concise, and catchy name (alliteration optional).  I'm awful at naming things.  So far the top of my list is 'I Have Pewp In My Butt'.  So, if any of you have tips for working in wordpress or suggestions for a cool, edgy name, let me know.

UPDATE: IF OUR SIDE WINS, PZ HAS TO SHAVE HIS BEARD!!!!*

While the children of deeply religious parents are off being indoctrinated into the useless (and often maladaptive) dogmas and traditions of their various religions, Camp Quest gives kids the chance to learn actual applicable skills.  It's an endeavor and a group I completely support (to the extent that I am writing up a music program for them this Summer and will be a volunteer counselor at Camp Quest Ohio this Summer teaching kids how to do magic). 

Amanda Metskas, their executive director, is a tireless and amazing worker.  She is also clever, and has devised a little contest to raise money for Camp Quest.

Five awesome atheist bloggers are competing to see who can raise the most money to support Camp Quest!

Since one of those bloggers is the indomitable PZ Myers of Pharyngula, we have made two teams in order to make this competition more fair.

Team 1: Greta Christina of Greta Christina's Blog, Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag, and JT Eberhard of Zerowing21.

Team 2: PZ Myers of Pharyngula.

The first team to raise $5,000 for Camp Quest, or the team that has raised the most by June 1, 2011 will win!

What will the winning team receive? Bragging rights. Pure and simple.

You can help your favorite team win by donating through ChipIn to support the team of your choice. Early reports think PZ has this sewn up, so if you like underdogs, give to this ChipIn and help his competition. Or you can make help make the pharyngulation complete by supporting PZ's ChipIn.

All contestants and contributors receive: the knowledge that they have supported a fantastic program for freethinking families and their children.

I will, of course, be ganking the support of all the Atheism Resource readers.  Atheists have no morals, so I'm not above cheating and using two blog outlets. 

PZ already has a post up pissing and moaning about how unfair it is, so he has a head start.  I also hear he's extremely cuddly in person and that he, in fact, does not breath fire and have blood perpetually dripping from his fangs.  If you want to help an affable nancy like that, be my guest.  However, if you have an affinity people who think we should go after religion without reservation, you can (and should) contribute through a real firebrand! 

Those who attended the American Atheists Convention in Des Moines this last weekend are fully aware that I was more livid than PZ Myers.  In fact, I recently emailed him after the conference and tagged my email with 'I'm angrier than you', a fact palpable to anybody who saw our talks.  He responded with...

That makes me FUCKING FURIOUS.

PZ is clearly not furious enough, says I!  I say we drive him into a frothing rage by helping me, Greta, Hemant, and Jen to lord over him in triumph!

* PZ has not agreed to this, but I'm not above cheating. Besides, if the rumor spreads like wildfire, PZ will have to do it!

Ok, PZ is handing us our asses out of the gate.  It's ok - we just need a super big donor to come in and save us.

Also, PZ is taunting all of us via email.  Nobody likes a bully!

What an experience!  I'm seriously living the life I dreamed about yesterday.  I've already told you the things of which I was most proud about the convention, so now I'm gonna dive into everything else.

Thursday morning at 6am, August (the Secular Student Alliance's Executive Director), Jesse (the SSA's Communications Director), Ashley (our Development Director), Amanda (the Executive Director of Camp Quest), and myself hopped in a van and set off for the distant land of Des Moines.

Whole story, with oodles of pictures, below the fold...