Got an ad from a car dealership in the mail, nearly threw it away, then scratched at the little game piece on it. Four slot machines, huh. The paper said " $2000!* " Asterisks scare me. I puzzled over the thing for a while, thinking of several types of scam involving the net transfer of money from me to someone else, and saw the prize was in an "online shopping spree." I resolved to investigate it today, the last day it was usable. Woke up around 1600 to discover that this dealership was about two hours away, closing at 1800. Called the place and they told me a bit about the company running the contest. The dealer said that they sit you down at a computer and get you to pick out things like "TVs and fishing gear," neither of which interest me. You get only one chance to "spend" the prize, the "prices" are inflated, and you end up paying several hundred dollars in shipping. "Want my advice?" said the dealer. "Don't come."

So, I turned down a possibly lucrative prize, and I'm still not sure to what extent it would have been worth doing. There really isn't much I want right now in terms of stuff: some car maintenance I don't have to pay for anyway, a computer capable of running Spore and Oblivion, a couple of books... that's about it**, and the second one would be a distraction anyway. Not being able to think of much stuff to buy is probably a good state of mind.

**One more: many pairs of identical socks, followed by a Sock Jihad against the rest.