Congratulations to R on the first winning!

Now that we clarified the rule that the contests we enter must be for prizes we want for ourselves or to give away to people we know would appreciate them, I almost wish I could retract some of the contests I entered.  Hence, from now on, I will only enter for contests that will enrich my life.  Thus:

Friday January 21:

• Entered a contest at my alma mater for an autumn cruise from Athens to Istanbul this fall – inspired by Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days perhaps, by fall I am pretty certain I will need a vacation.  Before any vacation, I plunge into a schedule of reading up on the place.  Istanbul (and Constantinople) have been places about which I have been collecting book titles for my to-read list, so a vacation there would also cure a self-education itch.

Sunday January 23:

• Entered to win $5000 cash from Reader’s Digest because who doesn’t need more money?  (And, yes, I would give some away to my favourite charity lest you think I am consumed with greed.)
• Entered to win a BirdWatch Cam.  Birds coming to a feeder or bath trigger the camera to take time stamped photos.  I was inspired by Rurality’s game cam, her last post with pictures from it had a beaver, a bobcat and a very plump opossum.
• Entered the Elle Canada February contest for beauty products and clothes.  Because, um, I could use some beautification.
• And another Elle Canada contest, this time for a four-day trip to the West Indies, which my parents could sure use.
• Finally, also entered to win a one-year supply of toilet paper, because I do not have an unlimited supply of moss or whatever Paleolithic people used.

Tuesday January 25:

• Entered a Warner Bros contest for a Blu-Ray.  I think Matt said something about wanting this.  
• Entered the Ferrero Rocher contest for Valentine’s trips to Paris, Santorini or Tuscany.  The contest entry field for sex was defaulted to female (even though it was the second choice).  Guess they know their target market, but not sure why they didn’t have the sexes in alphabetical order.  I guess because men always come first.  Yeah.
• I also entered the Hictoric England contest for a trip to London, having answered the question “When will the Olympics be held in London?” right next to the clue-ful London Olympics logo.

Saturday January 29:

• Entered to win a $250 gift certificate at Urban Fare.

As for winnings, so far I have nothing to report except frequent calls from a persistent automated telemarketing answering machine.