Last night I received a call telling me I was a guaranteed winner.  That was followed up by a question.  Do you have an annual income of $50,000 or greater.  That seemed odd.  If I won something what difference does it make how much I make?  Well there is a catch.  Why is there always a catch?  In order to claim my prize I have to make at least $50,000 and I have to attend a 90 minute presentation for some time share.  They also need two forms of identification which can be a drivers license or some other picture ID and a major credit card or my check book.  I am not an expert on this but I don’t think credit cards and check books are forms of identification.  If that were the case I should be able to use them at airports and I am pretty sure TSA is not going to accept my credit card or check book as an acceptable form of identification.  The grand finale of the presentation is the award drawing where I am guaranteed to win one of the following:

• A new 2008 Lincoln Navigator or $50,000 cash (recipient’s choice)
• 3 day, 2 night trip to Cancun which includes airfare, hotel, meals and alcohol.  At least it includes alcohol.
• $2,500
• 32″ stereo flat -screen color television

I was told that everyone at the presentation will get to pick a number and that number corresponds to one of the prizes.   We will also get to see what everyone wins.  Here are my thoughts on that.

1.  It is unlikely that anyone is going to win the car or 50k.  If someone does win the grand prize I will be suspicous that the winner is a ringer working for the resort.  The ringer wins the big prize and gets everyone excited that they too could be a big winner.  When in actuality you…

2.  Win a trip to Cancun to a resort that the time share owns with so many restrictions attached to it that you can never redeem it.  Then there is option 3.

3.  You win some crappy off brand 32″ TV (which is not an LCD or plasma HDTV just a TV with a flat screen) that is not 2009 compliant so you have to buy a converter for it.

I think I will give myself the gift of time and I will put that 90 minutes to good use doing something else.