A while back I heard about a lady who won all kinds of things from “contesting”, and she entered sweepstakes for about an hour every night while her husband watched television. Well, I didn’t realize there was a whole new avenue of contests that I should be pursuing. So, I took an hour here and there and filled out bunches of contest entries on the web. What I got was a whole bunch of mail from chambers of commerce. “Thanks for your interest in visiting…Houston, Denver, ” and the like. hmmm. I just threw those into the trash and didn’t think much of it.

This week I got a letter from Merrell Footwear. When I opened it, it said “Congratulations! Merrell Footwear and Hooked on the OUtdoors Magazine, thank you for your participation in the American Airlines Sweepstakes!. yada yada yada….something about a GIFT CERTIFICATE!

Well, this could be some interesting sort of spam or trickery, so I went to their website, and yes, indeed, there are shoes. Expensive shoes. Hiking shoes. And I have a gift certificate for $110! I could buy one pair of shoes or boots for me (starting at $70) or a couple of pairs of shoes for the kids (they start at around $20). More shoes for your buck if you stay in the kids sizes, obviously, but where’s the fun in that? I think I’ll be doing a little online shoe shopping!

(Oh, and on a side note, they just mentioned on the radio that today is National Chocolate Day–so, let’s not let a good holiday go to waste! Bring on the chocolate!)