Ausie Gods Giveth and Taketh Away.. and then giveth something similar if you're polite

For anyone that's interested, MHz a local station out of Falls Church, VA shows Aussie Rules Football (AFL) on Monday nights during the season. Before the games would start they would always show a commercial asking people to fill out an online survey about the coverage. Filling it out would also enter you into contest to win gear.

I filled it out the first day I saw it. The quality of the broadcast looks like it could be out of my parents basement so the viewership couldn't be that high and the amount of people that would fill out a survey would be even lower. I was guaranteed to win it, and I did!!

Unfortunately I signed up using my second email address (you know, in case they tried to spam me. Pretty smart I would say) Anyhoo, I totally forgot to check it. When I finally remembered to check it about a month later I had 3 emails from the network asking me for my favorite team. The final email said I had until 5PM that day to respond. Egad!!!

Distraught, that I had missed out on this awesome prize, my mind instantly jumped into action. I responded with a sob story about my email. I told the woman over at MHz that my gmail account had been hacked but dubious hackers who intended to steal my personal information and when I looked to google for assistance, the evil computer geniuses would not assist poor, innocent me. How awful!! If not for a friend savvy in the ways of the computer I would have never gotten back into my account. I ended the email asking if any of the prize(s) were still available. I then thanked her for the wonderful coverage of the sport I love. The final piece of genius on my part was to send this email from my work account. My signature has all my architecture and LEED information. People love architects. Plus, who wouldn't be sympathetic to an environmentally conscious architect who has been wronged??? I know, she never stood a chance. My attack was flawless.

She responded minutes later asking from my address. She said she would send me whatever they had left. Ok, so in hindsight I think my story was a bit of overkill, but it worked! Later that week my prizes came in the mail. I received two pens that had roll out schedules from the past season. I know, how useful. I broke the first one trying to find out what was inside. Oops.

I also got a baseball hat for the Hawthorne Hawks. I'm sure my dad will love this one. He loves random stuff like that.

The coolest part of the package was the mini aussie rules football. I think it has already bounced off every surface in my apartment.

So, the moral of this story is that you should always check your fake email addresses, and if you don't, be an architect and have good stories.