The "I Can't Believe I Forgot To Do This Giveaway" Giveaway

So, there's this FedEx box that I find in my office that's been sitting there for a few weeks. I don't know why I haven't opened it until now, but maybe it's because nobody told me it was urgent...

Letter from some marketing firm about some giveaway that I "allegedly" agreed to participate in for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. Lot of happy-crappy mumbo-jumbo. I haven't got time to be reading letters...

"We hope you will join us for a great evening of eating, Tweeting and sharing grilling tips. The Taste & Tweet will take place on Monday, July 26th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm CST. Your first tweet including our hashtag for the event, #ICBINotButterBBQ, will automatically be entered in our sweepstakes to win... blah blah blah." Better go ahead and blog this out; the deadline's coming fast...


I thought TCBY just made frozen yogurt... hmmmm, well you learn something new every day.

Grilling tips? Don't these dummies know summer's about over?


Let's check out the goodie box... hmmmm, a corn-shaped ash tray. Might have to reconsider my decision not to smoke now that I own this bad boy...


And what have we here...?

Okay, I'm pretty sure I don't own one of these already...

How do you turn this thing on?

Whoa! This could poke someone's eyes out if you poked them in the eye with it!


This is the nicest one of these things I've ever received...

What? I can't hear you...

Definitely handy in MY office.

Oh yeah... that's the spot!

I've got absolutely no use for this because I shoplift all my groceries, so I'm going to forward it to one lucky reader in my I Can't Believe It's Not Butter "I Can't Believe I Forgot To Do This Giveaway" Giveaway. I'm a little busy today, so please make up your own rules, and then be sure to follow them! All entries must be postmarked by midnight tonight.

The I Can't Believe It's Not Butter people did want me to follow strict FDC guidelines by clearly stating blah blah blah blah yada yada blah blah blah. Damn lawyers!

Giveaway Winners ... And This Time I Mean It!

I knew from the very first comment that I might have screwed the pooch on this one.

After five comments I knew if was going to be a horribly difficult task.

After twenty comments, I thought it might be impossible…

People need good food. They need new running shoes. Entries to 5K races and half-marathons. Spouses have been laid off and medical bills are billing up.

There’s a sea of need and I’ve only got one $100 life preserver.

Except when Anne at Carb Tripper leapt into the fray and offered up her matching C-note. That touched me so much that I matched her match (but I called no re-matching after that!).

Plus, I’ve got a nice $50 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift certificate to chunk on the pile as well. I can’t do everything I’d like, but something’s better than nothing, right?

At the end of the day, this weight-loss journey we’re on isn’t about money. However, I was looking for some way to make a tangible impact on somebody else’s trek. I truly wish I could lay some greenbacks on everyone who needs it, but I did the best I could…

The first winner…

Zaababy said...

Since I just discovered that I can now ride a bike I would do just that--buy a bike. Raising 8 kids leaves very little cashola to spend on the Mother of the clan. And if I don't win I'll just keep borrowing bikes and running. Because I CAN!

I love this! I wanted to do something that would have a lasting effect and a bicycle for somebody that can’t really afford to buy one for herself is exactly the kind of thing that appeals to me in this situation. Here’s to the wind in your hair, Zaababy!

For the second winner, I decided to go with one that exemplified the idea of using the cash as a motivation to reach a goal, and I thought this one was outstanding…

Stages of Change said...

My 10 year high school reunion is later this spring, in a little over 100 days.

I would break the hundred dollar bill into one hundred individual dollar bills.

I would give them all to my sister's family, with one caveat: I would start a goal to workout every day for one hundred days, not killing myself, just doing it...every day. And at the end of every workout, I would go see my sister and she would pay me one dollar. I would post pictures and updates.

After 100 days, (and hopefully, having lost enough weight to go back to Washington and see friends and family at less than 100 pounds higher than I was at 18 years old), all the dollars I had earned would be passed on to another weight loss blogger to do something cool and worthwhile with via this exact type of giveaway.

Okay, I actually just had an idea to make my previous idea better. So, the plan would naturally be to workout all one hundred days, and thus pass on the entire $100 to someone new at the end. But, I think if I'm able to do it for all one hundred days, than I would double the amount. So if I workout all one hundred days, and thus earn back all $100, then I will add one hundred of my own, and pass on $200 to some other WL blogger.

Third and last, I wanted to help instigate a change for someone. Maybe help provide the spark that ignites a life-changing course of events. There were several that fit in this category, but this is the one that stood out to me…

Allison @ I heart Change said...

Well, Jack. Since you're sharing cold hard cash I'll share a cold hard fact.

I am afraid of gyms.

I've never been to one. I'm afraid to go. Right now I weigh 220 pounds. I've lost 38. And it's getting harder. So clearly, I need to go. But...

I'm a stay at home mom. I have a hard time spending money on myself even though I'm supposed to consider it 'our' money. When I spend money on myself it feels like I am taking away from my family.

If I won your giveaway I'd spend the money on a gym membership. It would be perfect because not only would I be providing the money myself (sorta) but I'd have to answer to YOU that I did was I was supposed to do with the money.

As for the $50 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift certificate, I went with a fellow blogger who is dealing with MS and has recently started incorporating regular exercise into her life.

~Oct said...

I would use it to buy a very nice pair of tennis shoes to replace the $14.99 dime-store specials that kill my feet while I'm doing those now hour-long cardio sessions on the recumbent bike multiple times a week.

I'd also send you a very sweet thankyou card for the shoes along with all of the motivation I've gotten from your posts and comments this past year.

You are one of the bloggers who inspired me to exercise despite my MS. Because of our blogger community I now go to the gym at least 5 times a week (sometimes more) and have a personal trainer even though I wouldn't have believed in a trillion (lots, right?) years that I'd ever spend so much money on such things when the economy (and my bank account) is experiencing major suckage.

Because of you–among the other bloggers who regularly read and leave little fires under my ass ... um I mean brilliant words of firm "you-can-do-it-ness"–I'm encouraged with every step. I now understand that sacrifices can be made in the name of a bigger goal.

Money for a trainer rather than for a new outfit.
Time for a morning workout rather than sleeping in.
Lunch at my desk rather than eating out with the guys every day.
And a few minutes to say thanks rather than updating my farmville while I de-stress a minute from all these crazy projects!

All worth it. Thanks Jack. :)


That’s it for the cash prizes, but I’ve also got some concilation prizes made up of (a) healthy treats companies have sent me for me to review that I forgot to and (b) assorted doodads laying about my office.

My runner-up list includes:

Fab Kate
wildfluffysheep (who says you never win anything?)
cmoursler
TJ (only because there's something in my office I wanted to send her anyway)
Kim
ugly girl with a beautiful heart
Steve (get a kitty at the pound, dumbass)
Mary (not Merry Life Mary... y'know, cuz of her mom)
Vb Violet


If the winners and runners-up will email me their shipping information, I’ll get your prizes out to you lickety-split.

Thanks one and all for your participation.

Giveaway Winners

Well, it was difficult to decide, but I finally made up my mind on the First Ever Jack Sh*t, Gettin’ Fit Giveaaway. If you missed it, I pledged $100 of my own hard-earned moola to the person who convinced me they would best use it on their weight-loss journey. The responses were stirring and inspiring, heart-breaking and gut-wrenching, but I finally decided.

Polergirl said... Hey Jack, I'd give the money straight back to you and say 'Well done mate, we're so damned proud of you - go treat yourself.'

Okay, that’s a wrap. Thanks everyone for playing. Run along now…












Hmmmmm… didn’t think I’d be able to get away with that.

Like I said, I got some inspiring entries, and a few that took me by complete surprise.

How about this one from Tony at The Anti-Jared?

I have a good life. I make a good living and so does my wife.

But I have something we can do. Why don't you take that $100 bill and I will do the same.

With $200 why don't we start a website to promote other weight loss blogs.

See, mamavation is for moms. Blogher is for women. Fatbloggers.net is for guys. What about a community that takes everyone? You and I are unique. We know how to promote blogs. We see so many great blogs out there and wonder why they are not as popular as they should be. We have enough people who would love to join. Anyone could do it, weight loss, fitness, whatever.

We can come up with a creative name and use hashmarks on twitter

@Jacksht have you read @antijared's post #bloggerbaby

With $200 and our talent, we can find other talent as well. I am sure that the Mizfits and Dietgirls would support it as well.

But it would go farther. Because everyone would make it that way.

We both know $100 is a great giveaway, but the 45 minutes of joy or inspiration you give in the morning is priceless (I am a slow reader).

I kind of feel the same way about what I write. There are so many more great bloggers out there. So many who have a great story, yet never get recognized. Yet, when you comment on someone's blog, do you realize it is like a superstar saw them?

I do not know. I was going to write somethiing snarky, but I already have a Wii Fit.

I’ve already emailed Tony about this, because really…how can you say “no” to a proposal like this? I told him I’m in, but as far as I’m concerned, this is above and beyond this little giveaway of mine.

Then there was Sean from The Daily Diary of a Winning Loser’s entry:

I would use the $100.00 to apply for a dba and then use the remaining to open a business checking account. This currently unnamed company would start from that 100 dollars---with a mission to travel and spread weight loss motivation and inspiration throughout the world via low cost weight loss seminars, books, and a comprehensive website full of useful tools and resources. This company would be unlike any other in the weight loss industry---focused more on the transformation of it's members, than the bottom line on a profit report.

I dream of founding this company---and spending the rest of my life sharing not only my story---but sharing the wonderful stories of so many people like you that have the power to inspire change.

It's gonna be magical. You read it here first, my friend.

Hard to say “no” to that, too. Except for the fact that I think Sean will do this with or without my cash infusion. It’s a great idea, Sean, and I hope you’ll persue it with the same gusto that you used to attack those nachos in the bad ol’ days.

Then there were a few entries that pushed for the money to go to charitable endeavors. The most compelling of this group was this one:

Lainey from Shrink said...

Well, Jack, what I would do with your $100 is ask you to donate it to my current cause: a 5K (3.1 miles) walk for cancer research known as the Underwear Affair! The purpose of the Underwear Affair is to find cures for cancers below the belt. On top of that, I'll have to get busy exercising and get in shape so that I don't have to take a nap every kilometre. Your $100 would help with that. There is a button on the sidebar of my blog for donations if you pick me! :-D

Come on, Jack, I even converted kms to miles for you, lol! If you don't want to donate (although Dawn from Fixing Myself Thinner did, and I know that you want to be cool like Dawn), I would be thrilled if you mentioned it on your blog, since you have approximately 7 gazillion readers.

Am I asking too much? :-D

I’m going to make a donation to Lainey’s Underwear Affair today and I hope you will too if you can. But again… this is outside of the scope of what I wanted to do with this giveaway.

The most surprising? How about this:

anne h from Carb Tripper said...

Jack - I would give it back to you, and match it $100 and let you pick TWO winners!

Apparently, Anne was serious (well, not serious, but you know what I mean…). I was so touched by Anne’s generosity that I decided to match her contribution.

So now I’ve got three $100 winners to pick, plus someone to give a $50 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift certificate and a few others to give some odds and ends from my office, including healthy stuff companies have sent me to review that I was entirely too lazy to review.

So check back this afternoon and let’s lay some cash on some worthy folks…

Another Chance to Cash In

I had to quit reading the comments on my First Ever Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit Giveaway. I was ready to cash in my 401(k) and declare three $100 winners instead of just one. Then I considered just busting up the dough and splitting it up with everyone, but after postage, that left everyone owing me money. Not cool...

If you're coming to the party late (like I always seem to do), I'm giving away $100 to the commenter that can convince me he or she will use it to best make an impact on his or her weight-loss journey. Click here for details.

I'm definitely struggling just trying to narrow the field down to a manageable group of worthy recipients, but the good news is that I got my hands on a Dick’s Sporting Goods $50 gift certificate that I'm going to throw into the prize mix (it's just a coincidence that my wife Anita's maiden name is "Dick", by the way).

Anyway, come Monday I'll be awarding my original $100 cash prize as well as a secondary prize of the $50 Dick's Sporting Goods gift certificate. Go leave a comment here to enter.

And while you're in a contest-enterin' mood...

The Starting Lineup Giveaway

Dick’s Sporting Goods is conducting a Twitter-based contest called The Starting Lineup. The Starting Lineup will be comprised of 10 individuals who will test out products for Dick’s, chosen based on the total number of votes on Twitter.

Want a shot to be in The Starting Lineup?

• Follow http://twitter.com/dickssportcmo, if you’re not doing so already.
• Tweet the following message, with the blanks filled in: “@dickssportcmo, @XXXX should be in the #startinglineup because XXX.” For example, if you feel so inclined to vote for me, you can tweet, “@dickssportcmo, @JackSht should be in the #startinglineup so he'll quit shoplifting from your store.”
• You can vote for anyone, including yourself! You can only vote for the same person once per day, but you can vote for multiple people in the same day.
  

The First Ever Jack Sh*t, Gettin’ Fit Giveaway

I have a $100 bill in my pocket, but it’s not mine.

It’s yours.

All you have to do is leave me a comment and tell me how you’d use it to help yourself take another big step on your weight-loss journey.

Would you use it to join the Y?

Purchase a kettlebell? (I was gonna buy one of those bad boys, but I had a crystal-clear vision of my daughter Pisa playing with it, swinging it around and whacking me in my oh-so-delicate man-parts).

Rejoin Weight Watchers or put it towards a Wii Fit?

Buy organic candy corn instead of the unhealthy regular kind?

I’m serious: convince me that you’ll use it to try and make a difference in this losing-weight business and I’ll send you the cold hard cash (just one of you, mind you… not everyone).

The individual that makes the most compelling case for the do-re-mi walks away with the C-note. It’s a simple as that.

I should make you tweet about it, and Facebook it and provide a link on your blog, but I’m too lazy to follow up and make sure you actually do any of that, and besides… I’m not pulling names out of a hat on this one.

You’ve just got to leave a comment and sway me.

Nine runners-up will receive consolation prizes made up of (a) health-inspired swag companies have sent me to review that I’ve never actually reviewed and/or (b) odd things lying around my office.

I know you think I’m joking, but I’m serious, and to show just how serious I am, I’m going to post a picture of me holding the $100 bill and looking serious.



Tell me what $100 would do for your weight-loss journey. Be convincing because this is my hard-earned cash we’re talking about.

Comments left on this post between now and midnight on Friday, March 12, 2010, will be considered. Decision of the judge (me) is final, though I reserve the right to bring in additional judges if needed (I’m thinking maybe Judge Judy and that Simon guy from American Idol).

Good luck… and may God have mercy on your souls (I heard that in a movie one time and I just love the way it sounds).