Drink Your Ovaltine!

Before I begin, let me wish each of my loyal readers a happy Thanksgiving!

The holidays are upon us. That excites me for several reasons. One of which is an anticipation that I'll be watching the classic film 'A Christmas Story.' If you haven't seen it, you really should check it out (and on a side note--do you live under a rock?).

The central character anxiously awaits the day when he'll receive his secret decoder ring by mail. With glee, he opens the mailbox one day to find his package has arrived. The secret message is given over the radio later, and he sits down to decipher the code. His joy is quickly squashed when he realizes the message received was nothing more than an admonition to drink his Ovaltine!

Oh, how I can relate. I sat down with a half dozen Dr. Pepper caps a couple of days ago. After 15 'bad caps' in a row...3 of the 6 I entered were winners! Guess what I won? A ringtone and 2 codes for Dr. Pepper wallpaper. So much for great prizes.

At this point, I just hope I get my Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas.

The Perils of Parking

My good friend Scott replied to the post titled 'Rules of the Sidewalk.' He brought up the subject of people using handicap parking spaces. Now I'm not going to touch on that specifically, but it did remind me of a trend that I find disturbing.

A local mall that I've visited has put in parking places for expectant moms. Now this seems like a good idea, but the question that must be asked---how is this going to be enforced?! Many times I might think a lady is expecting, but I'm sure not going to bring this up to her unless I know with absolute certainty that she's with child. And now, women everywhere (at least ones within driving distance of this mall) have got great parking spaces lined up for them. Do you think I'm going to be brave enough to challenge any of them..."Ma'am, I don't really think you're expecting..."

It does make me chuckle to think of the mall security guys approaching a lady getting out of her car. Instead of 'license and registration, please' it'll be 'license and ultrasound pictures, please.' And of course, there's no more sobriety tests, instead a pregnancy test could be administered. I'll bet you'd eventually find someone who's stuffed a pillow under the shirt...especially with the holiday coming up. Those parking spots are valuable!

And if it seems like I'm bitter about it, I probably am...

Oh, and by the way....a few more Dr. Pepper caps collected....still no prize.

I Think I've Been Had!

Some of you know that I have collected close to a kazillion Coke caps over the last 2 years, redeeming them for lots of fabulous prizes in the mycokerewards promotion. Well, over the last 2 months I've also kept my eye open for Dr. Pepper caps. They have some kind of promotion that involves entering codes in online...their caps and bottles proudly display in big lettes '1 in 6 WINS'

Well, I just want my loyal readers and the higher-ups at Dr. Pepper to know that I've entered at least 12 of those codes and I haven't won once! That's right--a big, fat goose-egg. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

I want to complain. I want to protest. I should boycott the product....but there's this part of me that tells me I'm due. I might go on a little winning streak soon. I might see 3 or 4 winners in a row. So I continue to consume. I want to be a winner! I long for the moment when I enter my code and hum the tune to that great Queen anthem..."We are the champions, my friend..."