When I was a child, I was fascinated with all of the prizes, special offers, and giveaways that the cereal companies offered. I ended up getting a number of cereal themed frisbees, drawstring bags and similar items.
One giveaway stands out in my mind, and if you have ever read one of my bios from a musical program, you know what it is - A Winnebago Camper!
Yep, there was a point, I'm not even certain what age I was, that I was convinced that if I just sent in my required number of boxtops and an entry form, that I was certain to win the Winnebago! Boy, the things I could DO with that camper! It didn't even matter that I couldn't drive, I would let my parents drive it, of course.
I was shocked when I didn't win.
Fast forward to today. I need a new car. Seriously. My car is functional, but it is at that point (at around 200,000 miles) where every day there is a new noise and it feels "not quite right" in a whole new way. There are few things that I really want, other than peace on earth and a really good margarita (with chips and salsa), but I actually know what new car I want. In fact, it's an obsession.
I want a 2010 Camaro in the worst way.
Many Sundays, I pull into the dealer (so the sales guys won't hassle me) and admire the cars. I've wanted a Camaro since I was a teen. Of course, I wanted (and still do) a '68 Camaro - Z28 if possible - but that is completely out of reach. The new Camaro seems just about perfect to me, and even the base model could be considered a performance car!
Well, recently, it seemed like the stars aligned for me. My favorite drink, Dr. Pepper, launched a campaign to give away 23 Camaros! Certainly, one of those cars had my name on it!
Every bottle, and every box of Dr. Pepper had an entry code that you typed into their website to tell if you have won.
With an eager anticipation that I haven't experienced since Mario Kart Wii came out, I entered in my first set of numbers with shaky hands, KNOWING that I would have a positive outcome.
I didn't.
That was OK, though, there was still time. As summer progressed I entered more and more numbers, all failing to provide me with my dream car. I was still confident, though. Time was on my side.
I consumed a larger and larger amount of Dr. Pepper, entering all those codes in the website.
I began to make plans of what I'd do when I won. The version of the car they were giving away had an automatic transmission. That seemed wrong to me. I wondered if the deal would let me get a car with a manual transmission instead? If not, I'd still accept the car, of course, but sell it immediately and get the manual version. Sure, on paper I'd take a bit of a loss, but it would be worth it.
OH, OH, OH! As long as I was selling, I could trade up to the 420 H.P. SS version! SWEET!!!! There is no way my budget for a car (which approaches zero, as we are already paying for a new used car for Dianne) could support an SS by any stretch of my imagination, but if I had a brand new LT to trade...IT WAS POSSIBLE! I planned to get an all black SS, then changed to a blue one with white stripes. Man was this going to be awesome!
Life is good!
The problem is, I wasn't winning. Something must be wrong with the boxes of Dr. Pepper I had purchased. Something just wasn't right. Time was also running out. I was getting agitated. The stores were running out of the boxes, too. The contest was being replaced by some dumb football contest.
I started digging behind the stacks of Dr. Pepper in the store, successfully finding more Camaro promotion boxes on several occasions. Then, my daughter and I hit the mother-load. The Walgreens by our house had about 12 cases of the stuff! We loaded up the cart with eight of them less than a week before the deadline. Why I didn't get all 12, I'll never know, but other people bought them. Two days before the deadline, I found another load of cases and bought another 4 or 6 (can't remember). I now had a stack of full Dr. Pepper cases filling a shelf in our basement.
I opened all the boxes, carefully removing the cans and entering the codes. Each one came up short.
I couldn't believe it. I'm sure by this point YOU can't believe it, either. You were positive there was a happy ending. So far, there is not. I read the rules to find out how they were going to handle any Camaros that were not being given away. Basically, it is up to their discretion. I'm hoping they randomly draw from the entries on hand. If so, I have a great chance!
Wish me luck!
In the meantime, McDonald's has launched another round of the Monopoly game. I'm going to be a millionaire!
That is some serious soda!
Posted by: Kathy G | October 08, 2009 at 06:30 PM
I hope Melanie reads this soon and has spare counseling time for you. (Typed on my iPhone)
Posted by: Larry Jost | October 08, 2009 at 08:34 PM
Umm, have you been talking with Emily?? She noticed the display of Dr.Pepper and the glossy picture of the Camaro you could win. She commented she liked that car and said "Mommy that is the kind of soda you drink, so we could just get that soda and then we could get that car!" If only it were so easy!!
Posted by: Kimberly | October 12, 2009 at 01:29 PM
Larry, you joined the iPhone revolution. WTG! What was really funny was seeing Rebecca's and Caleb's reaction to Gregg's description of his "issues." Caleb told me afterward, "I was partly relating and partly disgusted." ROTFL
Gregg, have you ever had one of my homemade margaritas?? I'm not licensed to do your therapy anymore, but I can certainly give you some alcohol. lol
Posted by: Mel | October 12, 2009 at 05:26 PM
that is a prodigious amount of soda ... at least it's *Diet* Dr. Pepper. I did a very similar thing back in '87 when Twix had a contest to give away a Mustang GT ...
Posted by: LisaS | October 20, 2009 at 09:18 AM