March 15, 2000
You May Already Be A Winner!
How cool is the dotcom company I work for? This cool:
Guess who's seeing The Boss again? For free? On an all expense paid trip to Austin?
All week long I kept getting announcements via corporate e-mail about in-house employees winning Springsteen tickets by writing essays about why they should win free tickets, and I felt kinda left out because I'm all the way out here in L.A. Then my boss won a pair of tickets herself, and when I congratulated her she told me that if I entered and won they'd fly me out. I started writing. Immediately. And what do you know -- I won! Holy patooties!
So now Beth and I are planning a trip to Austin in April to see Bruce & Co. for our 3rd show on their reunion tour. Ya gotta love it.
***
Continuing the contest theme, Steve and I may already be winners and we're talking about picking up the prize in person. The prize in question is the Wacky Cool Site Of The Year award, which is being handed out, along with other Cool Sites Of The Year, at a ceremony in New York on April 27.
Steve and I have consulted and feel that, yes, we should be there if -- when -- we win. Because of course we will win. I mean, come on, look at the competition. We're up against song lyrics, the "seen it already" Darwin Awards, a gravesite search engine, and a guy with terrible gas. Surely a sojourn into the desert to help the world reach out and touch Mojave is worthy of reward. At least as much as an essay on why one should win Springsteen tickets, right?
By the way, you can play a role in the awarding of that reward in the form of an... uh, award. Just follow the link at the bottom of the page and go vote for us. And remember to "Vote early, vote often," because you CAN vote more than once. In fact, right there on the voting page they encourage you to come back and vote every day. So... why don't you?
Cool as it would be to win, though, I have to admit that I'm having doubts about going. Which is probably going to be news to Steve, since I haven't shared these thoughts with him yet. Although, come to think of it, he's been damned quiet since we talked to travel agent extraordinare Lucy and got the grim financial travel picture. Maybe I'm not alone in these doubts. Hmm...
Anyway, the doubts go a little something like this: Sure, it would be cool to fly to New York and pick up an award and take pictures and see the sights and kick in the door of that camera store that tried to rip me off and hang with Steve for several days and pretend we're a gay couple and generally goof off and be off the wifely leash for awhile... But, damn, it'll be expensive!
Airfair is going to run us in the neighborhood of $300 each. Bad as that is, the lodging is the worst of it -- we're looking at something like $150 a night for fleabag hotels, for 5 nights. I don't mind fleabags all that much, but I do mind paying $350 for the privilege of being on roach patrol and sharing a room with Steve, even if he is pretending to be my gay lover.
OUCH!!! That's almost $700 each before we've even eaten a single slice of pizza or been cursed at by a cabbie or paid the cover at a Times Square strip joint. This trip is going to be freakin' exPENsive and, frankly, I'm not sure I can foot the bill right now. Especially for an award that may well go to a farting Englishman.
Or maybe I'm just a cheap bastard.
***
In
Zoe news, her party was a huge success. She's the talk of the school now
and all the little kids want to come over and play after school and on
the weekends. I'd like to think it's because they all love Zoe so much,
but I have to think the new twisty slide addition to the backyard swingset
style entertainment extravaganza is playing a part in her new-found popularity.
Zoe loved her party. A backyard full of all her friends, the thrill of being the center of attention, and a giant pile of birthday presents. What more could a little girl want?
Not Barbies, that's for sure. At least not any more of them. Seven of them -- and a horse that neighs, no less. That's plenty. Isn't it?
Well... Yes. And no. That might be enough Barbies, but not enough Barbie paraphernalia. The big hit of the day was this, the Barbie Bike.
It doesn't get much better than this when you're four. Especially with a pink helmet.
