Well thanks to redwaterlily I now have another $25 to spend at Amazon! She was logged into Blingo when she made a winning search, so we both got a gift certificate! I have actually won a few hundred dollars through Blingo, with a total of 15 prizes since I joined in April 2005. If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so here - make sure you’re logged in when you search! You’ll get the trustworthy Google results you’re used to, but with a chance at winning prizes and cash too…why not give it a try!

Now I’m off to analyze my choices for iPod accessories again, and I’m going to browse over my wishlist too, and try to figure out what to get…

• I have been watching The Lost Room on Sci-Fi. It is ultra-good, but I am going to miss tonight’s CSI:NY because of it, which makes me sad because tonight’s episode is heavily deaf-themed. But The Lost Room is just that good.
• My new addiction is Sugar Free Chocolate & Caramel Creme Savers, by the people who make Life Savers. Just 9 calories each and SO good…they taste like chocolate pudding! I think I am eating more than I should be in a day, though.
• I no longer want to win Blingo movie tickets. I used to get a bunch of them, but I hadn’t in a while until yesterday. I was given the choice of a movie ticket or a $10 iTunes card, and I chose the former; I should have chosen the latter. They don’t send movie vouchers in the mail anymore - you have to pick what movie you want to see, and what showing, and then you put in a code and print out the ticket. I pretty much never know what movie I’m going to see in advance; the old way was much more convenient. I sent the code to an unemployed friend in NYC, who will get more bang for the buck than I would have.
• Nobody has tagged me on 43 People. Tag me? I need to be classified! (And if you want to meet me, put that down too.)

Did I eat a four-leaf clover sometime this year? Has somebody tucked a rabbit’s foot in my purse? Because I have bizarre luck with Blingo. In early June, I won a $250 Visa gift card (instead of a PSP) from them, thanks to my friend Fellow Eskimo. Since then, I’ve won four or five movie tickets, all through other people. And tonight, just now, I won a $100 Visa gift card (instead of an iPod Shuffle) through somebody I don’t even recognize. Shira, if you’re reading this, could you please get in touch with me so I can thank you?! I have yet to actually win anything directly myself - sorry Kymberlie! - everything has been through other people. Thank goodness they’re all logged in while they’re winning big!

Folks, Blingo is legitimate. I got computer games and a dress with my first card, and I have seen a movie or two with the tickets. I have won hundreds of dollars from Blingo. If you want to sign up, feel free to do so. Blingo rocks.

What a cosmic surprise - I’ve won at Blingo. I couldn’t sleep because I kept feeling anxious about the situation with my co-worker, so I got up and got the computer out again. I intended to just slink around on Second Life for a while, but I watched the Gmail Notifier cycle through my new e-mails. I saw there was one that said I’d won at Blingo! Talk about perking up from a funk!

I opened the e-mail immediately, and it turned out that Fellow Eskimo, who had signed up through me, won a Sony Playstation Portable while logged in at Blingo! According to the tiered structure, that meant I won the same prize. I just about fell down with excitement as I ran to tell my wife about it before running back downstairs so she could try to fall asleep again. When I pulled up the prize claim page, it gave me the option of the PSP or $249 cash. I logged onto LambdaMOO to consult with friends there, and most of them encouraged me to take the PSP. I thought about it and realized that even if I had a PSP, it was unlikely I would actually play with it very often - better to spend the cash on something I’d really use. So I filled in the form, and *poof* I’d won the cash! (sorry firesign3000) I have no idea what I’ll spend it on - all of the things I was considering recently are still possibilities.