If you're a person who likes stuff, and by stuff I mean MacBook Pros, iPads, Neil Young tickets and more, and you're attending Cloudstock this coming Monday – you might ask yourself why you haven't registered for the Hackathon yet.

If the problem is that you aren't sure where to start, let me offer some quick steps to get up and running and knock out one at least of out two partners you need to mix up for the contest.

Step 1: Sign up for the Hackathon

You can't win if you don't enter.  You can register as an individual or a team.  Deadline is 1:15 on Monday, December 6th.

Step 2: Get a Developer Edition environment

If you don't already have one, register for a Developer Edition org. It's a fast, free and easy way to get access to the Force.com platform.  You'll be able to access the API right away. have test data up and running for your application, and access our new REST API as well.  You can also login developer forums for additional help.  Also, if that stuff thing is your cup of tea, we're giving away Mac Minis for the best Force.com implementation.  They're so small, they'll fit right in your swag bag.

Step 3: Choose your toolkit

Check out our tools. Maybe Apex is your thing, maybe it isn't. We've got toolkits for REST, Ruby,  Flex, PHP, Java, or .Net to help you out. If you want to build native apps for iPhone and iPad, we'll get you started.   We've even got code to help you run on Google Apps, Amazon Web Services or PayPal.  Which means it's step two and you could already be using two Cloudstock partner services together.  See the iPad … be the iPad …

The Hackathon is an amazing event and will prove an exciting time. Register, browse the partners to see who you want to mash up, and then impress the judges.  Bragging rights alone should be a rich reward, but so would a shiny new MacBook Pro.  I'll be there, and hope to see you too.