The Big Winner!

AKA the person you're all going to hate now.

I tried to think of some of the most novel ways to pick who shall recieve my little ipod shuffle.

First I thought, what if I put the names behind a bunch of balloons and then try to pop the winner with darts.

After picking darts out of the wall for three hours and admiring what almost looks like the Virgin Mary on a piece of Salami thanks to my random groupings I decided to try something a bit less destructive.

The Ouiji board was no help, it just keep telling me I had to keep construction going on my house or the spirits would kill me. Something about a rifle and the old west. I think I got a wrong number.

I flirted with the idea of trying Tarot but I kept getting the Death and Happy Squirrel Card.

Finally I just went back to the good old fashioned completely fair method. I compiled a list of names without looking (okay I looked a few times) and then let Mr. Random Number Generator decide (he's the one to blame, kill him!).

And the winning number is:

Which of course means nothing without my master sheet (in fact it's really a bit of a tease to show off the number and not the winner.)

So without further ado (or any other Shakespeare plays) I present the winner's name I then wrote on a scrap of paper and photographed because I'm insane:

I already sent an e-mail off to you with details yada yada yada.

Now I want to talk about the unpleasantness and then hilariousness of what happened to my little contest.

As some of you may have seen on the original post my giveaway got picked up by a blog devoted to just giveaways.

Naturally, I was spitting fire and flames were shooting from my eyes when I saw this (which wasn't too hard to figure out when I got 30 comments in an hours span in the morning), once I put down the brimstone and charcoal I started to notice a funny pattern.

Aside from all those other entries not really bothering to read my post there was a strange pattern to everyones comments.

Either their ipod was for a child/grandparent/military friend or disabled clown about to go into space.

Or they somehow managed to break theirs courtesy of dropping it, leaving it at the gym, getting it wet somehow (I really don't want to know) or upon finding my giveaway going out and driving over theirs repeatedly just so they'd win a new one.

It also blew my mind how many people assumed they had already won just by entering, I don't know if it's that Secret crap of pretending and wishing you get something without doing anything but it certainly didn't work in their favor.

If I had chosen the winner based on comments alone I certainly would never pick someone that already acts like they deserve it.

But there's the crux of the situation, I never said I would pick the winner myself. It was going to be a heartless computer (at least I hope it's heartless unless somehow the Matrix is real). A computer doesn't care that your stepson stepped on your ipod on the way to night school and has been begging you for another.

What compels us to share way too much information with a blog you've never visited before and never will again?

Why do people have to keep telling me they want to use it to get into shape, they could fill an audiobook on it or probably the creepiest of all that she's waiting to go into labor and killing time (I really don't need to hear that, thanks random person I'll never see again).

If you've got time I'd suggest reading through the 140! comments. It's an interesting look into the human psyche when free stuff is involved and what anyone will say or do to win.

Next contest I have though, I'm thinking it'll have to be the funniest comment or you can't say anything about what I'm giving away just in case this mess happens again. Have you ever had one of your contests picked up by one of those blogs before?