There are only 24 hours to go in the Kilted to Kick cancer 2012 fundraising challenge.

Right now, it looks like we've topped $20,000 in donations, still well short of our ambitious goal of $50k but still far more than last year's total of $12k, which took us several months into 2012 to achieve.

Don't take your foot off the gas now, folks. Prize package winners will be announced after midnight tomorrow.

Get kilted, and get checked!

Okay guys, we're 11 days into Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012, and I have the standings tallied through 15:30 CST on September 11. Thus far we've raised $4,220.

Keep in mind the challenge rules that stated only donations made between 00:01 September 1 CST and 23:59 September 30 CST would count toward your fundraising totals.

Some of you started raising funds prior to that, and thus your true charitable donations may be higher than what is listed here. We truly appreciate that, but in the interests of fairness, we could only count donations made within a specific time frame.

For the sake of brevity, I've combined totals between PCF and LiveStrong, and only the top 10 fundraisers are listed:

1. Jay G.                           $1325
2. Kelly Grayson             $500 (not eligible for prize packages)
3. Caleb Giddings          $375
4. Scott Coykendall        $245
5. Joseph Miller              $209
6. MotorCop                     $175
7. Jeff Brosius                 $160
8. Stingray                        $125
9. Old NFO                       $125
10. Patrick St. Jean           $45

Y'all keep beating the streets, wearing your kilts and spreading the message. Remember that the research dollars are important, but even more important is awareness. Men need to know that they need a prostate cancer screening if they're over age 40.

Readers, it'd be nice if we made a horse race of this. If you don't donate on my behalf, pick another of those guys close to the top and donate on their behalf. The closer the standings are, the more motivated they are to raise money.

Get kilted, and get checked!

Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012 is upon us, folks!

Please donate what you can on the following links.

If you blog, please pass this on to your readers. Share with your Facebook friends, Tweet it, and go accost random strangers about it.

Kilted pics to follow…

Have you signed up for the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge?

Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012 is less than 39 hours away. We've already raised $711, and the challenge hasn't even begun yet! Remember that donations between 00:01 CST on September 1 and 23:59 September 30 count towards your total for the fundraising challenge, but you're free to start donating now, and keep donating after the challenge has ended!

We've got twenty-six fundraisers signed up so far, and we'd like a few dozen more. We want to see that map blanketed in blue, people!

If you're a blogger participating in the fundraising challenge and I don't have your blog linked on the fundraising page, email me so I can pimp your fundraising efforts in September.

Folks, I get nothing out of this. I won the first place prize package last year, and this year I've declared myself ineligible for prizes. I'm donating my efforts and a considerable amount of time soliciting gear for the prize packages, organizing the fundraising challenge, and supporting the other fundraisers.

Even if you don't donate on my behalf, donate on behalf of someone. Support one of our kilted fundraisers. The only tally that really matters at the end is the cumulative total we've all raised, and our goal for 2012 is $50,000.

We can do this.

We are trying to defeat an enemy that is second only to lung cancer in mortality rate. It kills more men every single year than breast cancer kills women, yet receives only a tiny fraction of research dollars in comparison.

It affects 1 in 6 men.

It kills 1 in 36 men diagnosed with it.

It needs our research dollars to learn how to cure it.

Even if you can't afford to donate, if you're a male over age 40, get yourself checked. Urge your male relatives and loved ones to do the same.

If you can afford to donate, support one of our fundraisers, or sign on as a kilted fundraiser and started soliciting donations on your own! There's a very sweet set of prize packages for the top three fundraisers…

… like a gun in each prize package.

… and a Ka Bar Tanto knife.

… and a $200 Brownell's gift certificate.

… and a gift certificate towards one of Alt.Kilt's great custom kilts.

… and a Crimson Trace weapon light.

… plus gift certifications for ammo, a custom holster, gunsmithing and plenty more.

In all, these prize packages are worth well more than $1,000 each.

And all you gotta do to win one is convince your friends, co-workers, relative and even total strangers to make a tax-deductible donation to a very worthy cause.

So what are you waiting for? Get kilted!

Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012 is a bare two weeks away. Have you signed up?

Join Team KTKC for LiveStrong.

Join Team KTKC for Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Top three fundraisers get to choose from three prize packages, to which prizes are still being added. Thanks to a generous supporter, we now have a CCW pistol (I'll announce what model in the next few days) for Prize Package C, giving us a gun and gear in all three prize packages.

In the meantime, enjoy a little teaser pic of one of the guns in Prize Package B:

That's one of a matched pair of Queen Anne dueling pistols. They're currently under construction by a trio of talented gunsmiths. If the wood on that pistol looks unfinished, that's because it is.

In fact, that wood isn't even going to be on the pistol – it was put on there so the pic would look like something more than a collection of parts. The actual stocks are being custom-carved from walnut blanks. Final fitting and assembly will be completed within the next week or so, to be followed by the detailed woodwork and metal finishing. These guns are going to be a gorgeous set of fully-functioning conversation pieces by the time they're done.

That's an example of but one of the cool prizes you'll win if you're one of the top three fundraisers for Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012.

So what are you waiting for?

Get kilted, and get checked!

Okay, so Caleb has overtaken me in the fundraising challenge in less than a week of soliciting donations, Jay G. is nipping at my heels, and Divermedic looks to perhaps overtake us both by contest's end.

The good news is, by meeting his $1000 fundraising goal, Caleb is going to compete in the 2012 Bianchi Cup while kilted, and he's going to auction off whatever prize package he wins, and donate the proceeds to LiveStrong on behalf of Kilted to Kick Cancer. Moreover, he's going to kick in $2 for every X he shoots in the match, which translates to another $200 or so towards testicular cancer research. Altogether, the EMS and gun bloggers who have participated in this challenge have raised well over $4,000, and we hope to hit the $5k mark by October 3rd, the end of the challenge.

So at this point, unless AD's Army gets a sudden attack of pride and kicks in more donations to win back the lead from Gun Nuts Nation, I'm gunning for Second Place (or actually, as sweet as these prizes are, 1a). But I definitely don't wanna suffer the humiliation of wearing a MArooned or Divemedic tee shirt in public if I lose to either of those guys. So I'm pulling out all the stops. I'm going to use the secret weapon that helped me beat Lt. Michael Morse for the Black Diamond EMS Blog of the Year:

KatyBeth.

I wore a kilt to my uncle's memorial service in Oklahoma City last weekend, people.

In front of my family.

That's how dedicated I am to the cause, and KatyBeth explained to most of my relatives that I was wearing a kilt for prostate cancer awareness Well, that and the fact that I know that somewhere my uncle was giggling his ass off watching me deliver his eulogy while wearing a kilt.

So without further ado, I give you the gratuitous Cute Kid Pictures. Donate generously, people, or you'll disappoint my lovely daughter.

"I let my Daddy embarrass me in front of my classmates so he can raise money for cancer research. Won't you give generously?"

"If you tell me you can't donate at least $20 to prostate or testicular cancer research, you might as well tell me there is no Santa Claus."

"If your blog readers help you beat Caleb, you'll buy me a real puppy?" That's awesome! Your blog readers are the best, Daddy!"

And if that isn't enough to convince you to give, I'll throw in this extra incentive: For every donation of $40 or more between now and the end of the contest, I'll throw in a free, signed copy of my book. Simply hit the donation links under my profile picture in the left sidebar of my blog, and then leave me a comment here with your name, donation amount and confirmation number. I'll send you an email to get your shipping address, and I'll send the books out after contest's end.

Just donate,folks. And men, get yourself checked.

Okay folks, with little more than a week to go, we've raised $3512 in donations to Prostate Cancer Foundation and LiveStrong through the trackable donation links, with untold more dollars made directly to those organizations. I couldn't be happier with the way this is turning out, and I'd like to thank everyone who has donated and all the bloggers who accepted the challenge. This is the last update I'm going to post before the final standings on October 3rd, so here they are, as of September 23rd:

• A Day In The Life Of An Ambulance Driver: $875
• Gun Nuts Media: $855
• MArooned: $370
• New Life Changes: $325
• A Look At EMS From 120 Feet Below: $302
• Atomic Nerds: $150
• Nobody Asked Me: $145
• Reactuate: $100
• Husband In Law: $90
• Snarkybytes: $80
• I Am McThag: $45
• I Aim To Misbehave: $45
• Evyl Robot Soapbox: $35
• Better and Better: $20

As you can see, I'm hanging onto the top spot by the skin of my teeth, and am likely to get spanked by Gun Nuts Media by the time all this is over. Caleb has managed to nearly match my 23 day total in a little over 72 hours, and he has made a pretty darned generous offer if his readers put him over the top. If he wins, and wins big, Kilted to Kick Cancer may even double its fundraising total by the time he finishes his 2012 match season.

So if you haven't picked a blogger to support yet, pick one. Pick me, pick Caleb, pick anybody.

Just donate.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but Caleb Giddings has managed to raise $290 for Kilted to Kick Cancer in just 48 hours.

Forty. Eight. Hours.

He's only been fundraising for 48 hours, and he's done almost as much as the rest of us have done for the past 20 days. Guys, at this pace, Gun Nuts Nation stands to raise $1500 for the cause by October 3rd. There is no way – no way – I'm not gonna try to match that.

Sh*t fixin' to get real up in here, boyeee…

So it's time to unleash AD's Army. Y'all go hit the links on my left sidebar, and donate. Spread the word and tell others to hit the blog here as well. Every little bit helps.

It's AD's Army vs. Gun Nuts Nation in the no-holds-barred, steel-cage fundraising death match. Time to show 'em what we're made of.

These guys donated. Will you?

If you're one of those contrary types who just insists on rooting for the underdog, fine. Don't support me. Go find one of these guys who hasn't raised much money, and donate on their links.

Just. Donate.

We're halfway through Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and the standings in the fundraising blog challenge are as follows:

1. A Day In the Life Of An Ambulance Driver: $510 to Prostate Cancer Foundation and $70 to LiveStrong = $580
2. MArooned: $90 to Prostate Cancer Foundation and $250 to LiveStrong = $340
3. A Look at EMS From 120 Feet Below: $75 to Prostate Cancer Foundation and $220 to LiveStrong = $295
4. New Life Changes: $280 to Prostate Cancer Foundation
5. Nobody Asked Me: $120 to LiveStrong
6. Atomic Nerds: $95 to Prostate Cancer Foundation, and $20 to LiveStrong = $115
7. Reactuate: $100 to LiveStrong
8. Husband In Law: $45 to Prostate Cancer Foundation, and $45 to LiveStrong = $90
9. SnarkyBytes: $80 to LiveStrong
10. Former Action Guy: $45 to Prostate Cancer Foundation and $20 to LiveStrong = $65
11. I Am McThag: $45 to Prostate Cancer Foundation
12. Evyl Robot Soapbox: $35 to Prostate Cancer Foundation
13. Better and Better: $20 to Prostate Cancer Foundation

That's $2165 raised in just the first half of the challenge folks. I'm proud of you guys for participating in Kilted to Kick Cancer, and I'd really like to thank those who have donated.

I'd also like to announce that I'm extending the donation deadline to 23:59 on October 3rd, to give Divermedic's employer time to match all employee contributions. Now, this may well vault Divermedic to first place in the standings, but the point isn't who wins, but how much money we collectively raise. Of course, that also gives the rest of us an extra three days to raise more money, and perhaps get our employers to match our totals!

So get cracking, people! Links are just under the profile photo of me on my left sidebar. Or, donate on behalf of the blogger of your choice.

Just donate. And get yourself checked.

Oh, it's ON now, baby.

NJ Dive Medic has joined the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge, and hatched a devious plot to have his employer match any contributions made in his name.

Brilliant!

Jay G. has pledged to wear a skirt – not a kilt, but a girly skirt – if he gets enough donations to win the challenge.

It has become clear to me that there is no limit to how low some people will stoop to win a blog challenge to raise money for charity. And I'm pretty okay with that, actually, because when it comes to reaching new lows of personal debasement for a good cause, I am the king, baby.

So I'm going to do them one better:

If you guys put me over the top in fundraising for Prostate Cancer Foundation and/or LiveStrong, I'll post a picture of myself…

… in drag.

Not just a dress, mind you, but makeup, heels, bra, fake boobs… the works. I'll either have The Ex drag up my old photo of me in the Womanless Beauty Pageant, or I'll do an entirely new photo. I'll put up a big photo here on my blog, and keep a smaller one of it as my profile pic for the entire month of October – which is, incidentally, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

And I'll throw down an additional challenge to these two guys:

Jay, if you top me in donations, I will have a tee shirt made that says, "Everything I know about guns, I learned from reading MArooned." I'll wear it at Blogorado, and post a picture of me wearing it as my profile pic for the rest of 2011.

If I top you, you have a similar tee shirt made that says, "The best I can shoot is Minute-Of-Berm," and you post it as your profile pic for the rest of 2011.

And to NJ Dive Medic, I will offer this: If you top me in donations, I will wear a shirt at EMS Today that says, "When I grow up, I want to be like NJ Divemedic," and I'll wear it on our live EMS Newbie podcasts from the Promed Podcast Studio. If I top you, all you have to do is just buy the first few beers at whatever blogger meetup they have.

So whaddaya say, fellas? Are we on?

The KIlted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge is ON, baby!

Click either the Prostate Cancer Foundation logo or the LiveStrong logo on my sidebar to make your donations. Or, you know, either one of those links in the previous sentence. I'm making it easy for you, because I'm nice that way.

Thanks for your donations, and be sure to tell your friends!