Winner, winner...pants on fire?

I retired from my, a real job 10 years ago. I, then, decided that I would write novels and something I found interesting, at the time, taking surveys and entering contests, sweepstakes, so on and so forth. I can’t say that, in all that time, it has been lucrative, but I have won and received quite a lot of prizes.

During those years, I have received at least, if not close to $1000 in music, movie, and gasoline gift cards. Usually $10 at a time. Recently I saved enough $10 Amazon gift cards to purchase a backpack and a camping cook set. However, the two biggest things and most wanted things I have received were a 23in, all-in-one computer and a 55in TV, both in 2009. Nothing but Amazon and iTunes gift cards since. Of course, nothing in the lottery, or for that matter, all of those sweepstakes that offer million dollar homes and cars and stuff. Not a biggie though.

For the last year or so I have been watching a daytime TV show called Right This Minute, RTM. I got into it because they showed a ton of internet videos and I enjoyed most of them. Sometime last year they started offering iPad Mini’s and once a week a bonus prize, usually a LED TV, if you watched and sent, on the internet, your information and the “Word of the day” to their web site. That got me hooked.

I figured that if I play long enough I might win; then again, I might not win a thing. This sweepstakes usually lasted about 30 days, 3 times a year. This year I finally won that iPad Mini2. I always thought that if I won I would sell the iPad on EBay; I would rather have gotten the cash then the iPad, considering I already have a tablet and it does what I want rather well.

I received the iPad Mini2 this past Friday and, for all intent and purposes, it was a nice looking tablet. I, for whatever reason, decided to keep it. Then, I said to myself, WHY am I going to keep this tablet? I took all of the plastic off of the tablet fired it up and then started to add apps that I think I needed.

At that very moment I realized that having a second tablet was just a little bit much, overkill. I already have a laptop, a desktop, two smartphones and now two tablets. Both tablets doing much of the same thing. Moreover, an Apple device is a hard cookie to crack. There are a lot of little things my Nexus 7 does that the iPad doesn’t do and to me that it a distraction.

So now what do I do with it? Keep it in my bedroom and use it as an alarm clock? I can’t do that because my old and I mean old second smartphone does that. I don’t use it for anything else but wake me in the morning. It looks like I may end up selling it anyway, that is if I don’t find something for it to do.

Other than that, I guess I will just keep playing those online contests and sweepstakes. Now, if I can just win the lottery!

Survey says...?

I've been doing surveys and playing games that have big prizes for the last, well, since I retired, about 10 years now. During that time I have won a computer, the one I am typing this post on, a Big screen HDTV, tons of movie passes and Google music and movies and Apple Itunes music.

Nothing big, real big, so far, like a house or $50K, stuff like that. The last thing, kind of big thing, was about 6 years ago, the HDTV. Anyway, I just got a notice, today, that I just won another "mini" computer. I am still waiting on that $100K, or for that matter, anything more than $10 in the Michigan Lottery,

though.

Dreaming...

Dreaming…

My father, many, many years ago, labeled me a “Dreamer”. I made the mistake of sitting around and dreamt about everything that popped into my mind; usually my dreams were of science fiction. I watched as many SF movies as I could, considering; going to a movie, in those days was only 25 cents. Those dreams, though, got me to write science fiction stories. I don’t regret those dreams.

In recent years, I still dreamt bad and good, more on the bad later. However, for instant, I have always had that dream I would win 10 million dollars, still hasn’t happen, but I keep that dream in the back corner of my mind. I do remember seeing a computer, at Best Buy, and told myself, that was the computer I wanted! I had never seen a one piece computer before and it was the...one.

Nearly 10 years ago, I started doing surveys’ online and for a long time I never won anything. I would just accumulate points in order to get gift cards, and that was fine, ten bucks here, ten bucks there…I purchased a ton of Apple gift cards and music. Six years ago, I got an email from an unknown person; the note read that I had won a computer. I kind of ignored the note for a couple of days, then, I got another email from the same person.

So, the note said, call this person to verify who I am. I did one better and Googled the company and asked for that person. She told me that I indeed won a computer, the one I had seen at Best Buy, the year before. She mentioned to me that she wished that more people would call.

Anyway, in the years following, I have won more gift cards and a 55-inch Sony flat screen Boob tube, and more gift cards. However, as of today, I have not won anything in the Lottery, still dreaming about that though. And, I am still dreaming about my perfect, dream woman – not really, but it pops up every now and then.

The Bad, well, not all that bad. I remember dreaming about having a crash while I was driving and it had happened a few times in my adult life. Years ago, I remember dreaming about my brother and I heard him screaming, “Freddy, Help me, Help me!” A few days later, I heard he was in New York; he had been attacked and was in the hospital. I also remember a friend, who lives in Boston told me she was flying to Chicago the next day. That night, for whatever reason, I dreamt about a plane crashing. The next day was 9/11.

Not all of my dreams have been that bad or devastating. One thing, or dream I have, more often than not, as I am washing the dishes, (yes, I still wash my dishes by hand, even though I have a dishwasher), I always, as I am washing one particular knife, a large butcher knife, think that I might drop that thing on my foot. That has been going on as long as I have had that butcher knife and or have been washing the dishes.

Today it happened. I dropped a knife onto my foot. Now I won’t have to think about that anymore, because it happened and it’s over. I am just thankful that it was a butter knife!