Thrillest Bar Maddness

This was sent to me from my good friend Caitlin it's called Thrillist Bar Madness. Loosely based on March Madness, this contest asks you to vote for the "Thrillist" sports bars in America. Once you do so you're submitted for a prize sweepstakes. If you're successful in choosing the bars with highest number of votes in each given bracket you move on. Prizes begin at $100 and scale up to the Grand Prize which = $1,500. Very similar to your office basketball pool except you don't have to hound down the sweaty tech guy to collect his bracket.

see more here: http://madness.thrillist.com/

The 2010 US Air Guitar Championships

Whats better than neon spandex, teased hair, bandannas, load riffs, and strung out musicians running on nothing but chemicals and alpha male sexual energy? Correct Answer: All of the above when played with an air guitar. The US National Air Guitar Championships, in the seventh year of it's quest to create a "guitar free America" is rolling to Philadelphia on April 6. Yours truly will be there performing under the alias "Love Gun". So come out and watch, but don't to close our you might get shot... WHOA YEAH

See link for details - http://www.usairguitar.com/

The United States Tennis Association Open

Ladies and Gentleman I would like to announce that I have tentatively entered 2010 US Open. It appears that I will be playing in the Mid Atlantic Qualifying Rounds set to take place May 17th through May 21 at the College Park Tennis Center in College Park Maryland. Do I know how to play tennis? No. Have I hit a tennis ball in the past ten years? No. Do I even know how to properly score a tennis match? Absolutely not. Should be a good one. More information can be found here http://www.usopen.org/USOpen/Home/National_Playoffs/Mid_Atlantic.aspx .

The Michael Strahan Baseball bat Giveaway

Today as I was browsing through some news websites I came across this little gem of a contest. Those that enter will receive a $25 dollar voucher on purchases more than $100, and one lucky winner will win a baseball bat signed by Michael Strahan. Why all of a sudden does Michael Strahan interested in baseball bats? Who knows, may be he uses them to fend off creditors who are attempting to collect alimony payments for his crazy ex-wife. See attached link for details. http://www.sportsauthority.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3981382&cid=&002=2323666&004=1584802952&005=13092902607&006=4784319962&007=Search&008=

Tough Mudder

For several weeks now a friend of mine has had a link http://toughmudder.com/events/bear-creek/ posted on his gmail status. I never bothered to check the link out fearing it may be inappropriate site that I should not access from my work computer. But after being challenged by a mutual friend I decided to register for it. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but now it's looking a bit more daunting. For those of you that have never heard of Tough Mudder it is a race designed by the British Special Air Service (SAS) meant to challenge one's "toughness, fitness, strength, stamina and mental grit all in one place and all in one day." The seven mile course includes such fan favorites as, barbed wire, mud pits, really big flames, a high ropes course, under water tunnels, and freezing cold water. Sounds like a day grandma's house. The race itself is partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project. A non-for-profit foundation that aims to provide support for wounded American Soldiers and conquering heroes. Donations can be made to foundation at http://www.active.com/donate/toughmuddernypawwp. Please feel free to donate on my behalf. The race takes place at Bear Mountain, PA on May 2, 2010. Alright t-minus 2 months, let's do this.

Keep the recommendations coming,

Mully

(image courtesy of http://toughmudder.com/info/)

Year of Contests Is Back Baby.

Well after a brief hiatus the Year of Contests has been officially reinstated. With some new found free time and a freshly discovered desire for new experiences, I have decided to reinstate the Year of Contests. So if any of you out there come across a drawing for clock radio, sweepstakes for palate of army surplus boots, or other games of chance of that nature, please let me know.

HGTV Dreamhome 2010

The Year of Contests has offically begun!!!! Actually it really began two days ago but a vicious hangover prevented me from documenting my first entry. I entered the drawing at the request of my mother and sister who most likely saw the advertisement for HGTV Dreamhome while watching a Lifetime full length feature motion picture, that presumably dealt with a rape or a murder.

Luckily for me, my mother and sister we able to pull themselves away from the gripping tale long enough to inform me of the HGTV Dreamhome 2010 Giveaway. Wow, my first Giveaway. Located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, the 2010 HGTV Dreamhome sports "360 degree views from the gorgeous hilltop lot, an open kitchen with an entire wall made from mosaic tile, a cozy home theater, adorable child's room, plenty of space for guests, and high ceilings throughout the home."

In addition to a "Dreamhome", the winner of the Giveaway will also receive $500,000 in cold hard Washingtons. Enough to fully appoint your new home, or buy off the local Mexican drug cartel that will be cooking meth and growing pot within miles of your residence.

To learn more about the HGTV Dreamhome; click here HGTV Dreamhome 2010

My Mission

Monday January 4th, 2010 - Since I am rather new to the blogging world and my current blog site is somewhat sparse, I thought I should take a moment to formally introduce myself and my blog aspirations. As you may have already noticed, I am a 23 year old dashingly handsome male currently employed as a management analyst at the United States Bankruptcy Court District of New Jersey. I enjoy fishing, swimming, bull baiting, paddle tennis, monster trucks, calico cats, Chinese egg rolls, hockey, quail hunting, Venetian blinds, George Washington, Great Lakes States, and Adirondack chairs.

Aside from the nine months I spent playing rugby league in Australia, my life since graduating from college in 2008 has been somewhat dull. Whether myself, the Credit Crunch, global warming, post-industrialization, or the general decline of the American family, explains my post-collegiate listlessness remains to be seen. Personally, I have a feeling that hanging out in my basement in a bath robe watching re runs of Dexter for days at a time hasn't helped much, but that's just conjecture.

So in an effort to bring some much needed excitement to my life I decided to embark on the tremendous personal undertaking, otherwise known at the the "Year of Contests". Beginning January 1st 2010 and ending December 31st 2010, the "Year of Contests" requires me to enter every sweepstakes, lottery, promotional drawing, or other game of chance that I encounter at least once. I have established some guidelines to provide structure to the undertaking and limit some of the potential situations that would make such an undertaking unfeasible.

This blog will help me document my contest endeavours and hopefully enable others to provide me with leads to interesting contest opportunities. Throughout this process I hope to discover and enter some of the interesting, funny, and most importantly absurd contest opportunities (as long as they are not professionally embarrassing and conform to rules set forth in my previous blog). I encourage anyone who may stumble across this blog to inform me of contest opportunities and any other leads to interesting games of chance that they may know of.

At the end of the year I will donate my (after tax and out of pocket expense) winnings to a charity voted on by my readers, friends, and anyone else interested enough to vote. Hopefully on January 1st 2011 I will be able to write a nice fat check to worthy cause. Thank you for viewing my blog please check back for details, and don't hesitate to send me contest ideas.

Hugs and Kisses,
Mully

Rules of the Game

My New Year's resolution is to enter every contest I come across in 2010 (on television, radio, print media, Internet, commercial advertisements, etc) and detail my wins (hopefully...) and losses here.

Merriam Webster defines "contest" as:

Main Entry: ²con·test
Pronunciation: \ˈkän-ˌtest\
Function: noun
Date: 1630
1 : a struggle for superiority or victory
2 : a competition in which each contestant performs without direct contact with or interference from his competitors.

Here are the rules of the game:

1. Each contest must have set rules and regulations (spur of the moment challenges i.e. "you have to eat 10 hot dogs right now" do not count)

2. Contests must be reasonably safe, e.g. Ultra Marathons, races across the Sahara Desert that require a great deal of "know how" and alligator wrestling are out of the picture.

3. I will not enter a contest that asks for my social security number or other personal information or will jeopardize my career

4. I must enter the lottery at least once a week

5. Just to clarify, I cannot simply just google contests and enter them. I must either stumble across them in my day to day life, or they must be recommended to me by a friend, family member, or blog follower.

6. I must have reasonable means and be within a reasonable distance of the contest. Since I am based in the New York Metropolitan Area lets try to keep it limited to Northeast, with reasonable exceptions in the Mid Atlantic, Southeast, and Midwest. Think something I could feasibly do in a weekend or during my off hours from work. I work a standard 40 hour week.

7. The entrance fee for all contests must be under $150. Contests that have other prohibitively expensive fees may also be excluded on those grounds.