Writing Contests & a Phonetics Lesson

So, hello.
I just want to take this opportunity to point a few things out.
First,


In case you have no idea what this is, it is a close-up of the buttons on my local drive-through ATM.

Let's play a game shall we?
How about, "What's wrong with this picture?"

If you guessed "Braille letters" you were absolutely correct!

I cannot, for the life of me, fathom why braille would be needed on a drive-up anything. Blind people can't drive. Therefore blind people do not need to be able to read the drive up screen.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against blind people. I know some pretty awesome people that are blind.
I'm pretty sure they won't be offended if we don't put braille on drive-up things. Seriously.


Moving on.

A common problem I seem to encounter is the pronunciation of my name.
My name is Deena. How excruciatingly difficult is that to pronounce?
Apparently extremely.

My name is Deena. Sound it out. Dee-na.
Dee.
Na.

Put them together, Deena.
Simple, right?
Hardly.

People call me DeAnna. All. The. Time.
This is a serious question here, WHERE, IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS GOOD, DO YOU GET THE EXTRA A?

Did everyone skip kindergarten the day we learned about phonetics?


Here's a refresher course for you:
Double E's make an EEEEEEEE sound, not an A sound.


OK, now for something serious and writing-related!
yay.

http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Novel-Award-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=332264011

All you writers that have decently edited and re-written novels should take a look at this. I don't say decent to offend anyone, but I mean, let's face the facts here, you can't submit a draft. Don't submit a book that you aren't ready to query.
If anyone is entering then good luck! Let me know if you're entering. I'll cheer for you.