If you've come to Genome Alberta's blog pages there is a good chance you have more than a passing interest in bio.
I could be an interest in biotechnology, biology, biochemistry, biodiversity, bioinformatics, or any number of the other avenues, alleys, and side paths in the bio landscape. You may be a researcher, grad student, post doc, or involved with sales, marketing, or PR for a bio company, university, or government organization.

Wherever you fit however, you may well have had a defining moment that drew you in.
For me it was at the University of Calgary when I was taking a course in athletic injuries. We spent some time in the 'cadaver lab' observing how bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments could be damaged during athletic competition. It was an eye opening experience to say the least, and yes at times a little unnerving but definitely got my attention. Though I eventually ended up in a career as a journalist and media manager, that interest always drew me to medical stories, articles related to many of the bio fields, and to encourage stories around emerging bio fields whenever they came up in story meetings.

So when I came across a twitter account called "@wherebiobegins" my old journalist curiosity kicked in because the site turned out to be a simple countdown clock with a long list of bio-related technologies and areas of research. I started to do a little 'net sleuthing, posted a few guesses on who it might be, and now have @wherebiobegins following me on Twitter.
I also found them on Youtube posting videos from people talking about where bio began for them which gave me an idea.
Genome Albefrta is going to answer the question of where did bio begin for you with a contest.  You can win one of two iPOD shuffles if you want to be part of wherebiobegins. Brand new, teeny, tiny Shuffles that will hold 4 gigs of music and talk to back to you.

As an organization involved in the field of ‘omics’ we often wonder what brought people to their career choices and because we liked what WhereBioBegins.com was doing, we decided to ask you how or when you became involved in Bio. You can see what the wherebiobegins team has found out so far by checking their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/WhereBioBegins or visit them on Facebook.
Then you can have a chance at one of the 2 Shuffles if you upload a short video of yourself or your friends telling us when and where you became interested in biology.

The rules are simple:

• You must upload your video before midnight February 27^th, 2010
• Your video must be less than 2 minutes in length
• You must upload the video to either the Genome Alberta YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/GenomeAlberta ) or enter through the ‘Ideas’ section of Facebook GenOmics at http://facebook.genomealberta.ca 
• Only YouTube or Facebook videos will be accepted. All videos should be tagged with bio,wherebiobegins, and “genome alberta” plus whatever specific tags you are appropriate
• You must agree to have your video displayed on Genome Alberta’s YouTube channel and on the Genome Alberta GenOmics site on Facebook
• You must be 16 years of age or older
• The winning names will be drawn at random from all the entries uploaded. You can only win once.
• Genome Alberta reserves the right to remove any video not complying with the rules or that we consider offensive

Here's a sample to help get you started: