Congratulations! You Have Won...

I don't know how many different ways I've been 'told' that I've won something. Typically it's from some company that I've never heard from that says I've won some prize that they can't come right out and tell you. Even more devious are the ones that say you need to fill out this form and submit some money for shipping, etc. I'm getting to be very skeptical of all mail (and email).

When people watch me sort email, I think they get offended. If the sender or subject doesn't ring a bell... DELETE. I just don't have time to sort through all of the junk, and the vast majority of it is junk. Still a shocking number of emails start out by saying, "You have won...".

Grand Knight

This month I took over as Grand Knight for the local Knights of Columbus council 1386. Since I assumed that duty, I've been getting loads of mail from the main office, "Fill out these forms." "Submit this no later than August 15." "Pass these packets out the other officers." It's a lot of mail, but I am the guy in charge for the next two years, so I expected it.

Monday, I received three letters from the KC's. The first two were of the same nature. The third one started out with, "Congratulations! You have won...". I stopped. My immediate reaction was to throw it away. All mail that starts out like that has turned out (for me) to be bogus. My mind however, was thinking, "Wait, this is the KC's." So I read further.

You and your immediate family are one of three national winners to an all expense paid trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.

The Loot

In the letter was the instruction to call Karen at the Supreme Office for details and questions on the trip. I talked to her twice yesterday. For inviting new members to join the KC's, your name as a recruiter gets thrown into the hat. They draw three names every six months and those people get a trip. Now that she talked to me about it, I recall reading that before. I just ignored it though.

The trip covers the following for Nekole, the boys, and myself:

• Airline tickets
• Car rental
• Hotel
• Universal Studio's tickets
• & meal allowance

We have to submit some forms back to the KC office and choose three departure dates sometime in the next year!

So far I think that Nekole and I would like to be out of the Wisconsin winter about February and go visit Florida. We haven't picked dates yet, but I'm sure we'll get it done yet this week.

Oh, yea. The boys are super excited!