I'm looking for a going-away gift for a friend and colleague who is moving from Austin to China (!). I do not travel myself and really have no idea what kind of gift would be helpful or appropriate. Thoughts?

The weekend is upon us, and budgets are tight. What is the best, cheapest way to spend your weekend?

The words "design", "idea", "lab" and "creative" are what we've been using for inspiration, so maybe that will help. Favorites phrases include "style lab" and the word evolution. Also: the demographic will generally be corporate clients, mostly women.

The BountyStorms Team is looking for some new recipes to try out in our office kitchen. We are very partial to healthy fare, Mediterranean dishes, and vegetarian cuisine in particular... Tell us your favorite recipe along with the basic steps, and we'll actually make the top three most popular suggestions! (P.S. Check out the snazzy new BountyStorms logo while you're at it.)

We are working on a plan to launch the site to a broader audience, but in the meantime, we've heard from many BountyStormers that they wish there were more brainstorms and bounties on the site. Us too! So this is the challenge: go out and do something to promote BountyStorms. Be creative and help us go viral! Then come back here and let everyone know what you did. Bet we'll get some great ideas and more people using the site...

We all know times are hard these days. What special money saving tip are you using to ease the pain?

Creative.gd is a design crowdsourcing site which we are currently launching. We are looking for out of the ordinary low budget ideas to promote this site. So please do not mention traditional things like forum advertising, directory submission or banner advertising. We want fresh ideas. Please have a look at our site how it works: www.creative.gd

In our previous post, we started a crowdsourced story: http://bountystorms.com/brainstorm/show/385?so=2. We left off here... The woman sat in silence as the robot's last question lingered in the air. Old Father sat still as always staring into a darkness that no one saw. The simulated conversation was going nowhere. What was missing? What didn't she remember? This robot, this clear new mind, was bringing her nothing. Old answers! Still unanswered questions! Why wasn't it asking the question?

It's bold and blue, and sits right between the page header and the brainstorm list. We want your feedback... And also want to know: what else would you change or improve in the BountyStorms UI (user interface)?

We've all had to look for jobs at one time or another, but it's especially daunting these days... Other than the usual "update the resume and monitor the job boards" thing, what creative techniques can you use to help execute a more successful job search?