If you want to see me pulling a Lucille Ball, barefoot in a tub of grapes, this is your chance. I’m stomping at noon on Saturday.

It’s a contest to make the most juice from those squished grapes (I just know this is going to be gross). But on the off chance I win, $1000 will be provided to the Freestore Food Bank. If I place second, they get $500. I have a one in twelve chance of winning.

Comment number 32 was left by Evan! Evan, I’ll be in touch shortly with the information you’ll need to acquire your new Brewbot.

As for everyone else, thank you for such a crazy successful giveaway and happy new year!

FTC Goodness Reiterated: We received the brewer and some T-discs at no cost for review (although I did run out and buy a bunch) and giveaway; all the opinions belong to me – no one paid me for them.

It was a big coffee-maker holiday for Kevin and I. The nice folks from Tassimo sent us the T20 Single Serve Brewbot to review (and keep, so thank you!). Additionally, my mom bought us a Keurig single-serve coffee maker as well. Since Mom bought the Keurig, it’s going to stay at home and the Tassimo is going to work with Kevin soon. But we like them both, for different reasons.

If you haven’t played with a single-serve coffee maker, you should. You see, I don’t drink coffee at all, but I do love tea and hot chocolate. Kevin, on the other hand, is a huge coffee drinker. We can both make our respective drinks using one single-serve machine. It’s fantastic. Even better, my tea doesn’t taste at all like his coffee, because each drink is made from one single-serve disc.

The Tassimo T20 Brewbot from Bosch has a water filtration system built right in, which is nice. On top of that, it’s small and compact, which is another reason it’s the machine heading to Kevin’s desk. The technology behind it is pretty cool at that. Each single-serve T-Disc has a bar code imprinted on the top. The machine reads the bar code and “knows” whether you’ve put in a disc for espresso, cappuccino, earl grey, or a cup of Starbucks. It then brews the right amount at the right temperature based on the information it scans in that bar code. It fits any size cup as well, which is cool. I discovered that you can remove the cup base and suddenly a travel mug fits right under the spout.

My favorite thing about the T20 is its ability to steam milk. I love chai latte, and the T20 makes a great one. I purchased a box of Twinings chai latte, which comes with discs for both chai and latte. First I pop in the chai disc and hit the Brew button. The T20 brews up a small amount of exceedingly strong chai. Next I pop in the matching latte disc and the T20 steams enough milk to fill up, and froth up, my cup. A little stirring and I have a nice chai latte that did not involve me trying to steam the milk myself or use a liquid chai – all in about a 3 minute time period.

There are a lot of options available for the Tassimo Brewbots, including Twinings and Tazo for tea, Milkka for hot chocolate, and Starbucks and Gevalia for chocolate. Boxes of 16 discs run about $20 at Bed, Bath & Beyond and on Amazon. You can also “subscribe” to boxes on Amazon and find them cheaper. Tassimo offers more than 40 beverage
and flavor varieties to satisfy everyone.

Personally, I’m in love with the convenience of a single-serve coffee maker like this. Sure, there will still be occasions when I’ll heat up the tea kettle or fire up the coffee pot, but the convenience factor is just amazing for a quick cuppa. Even at a party we hosted the other night, it was great to offer people different options – would you like Starbucks, Gevalia, or something else? We’ve got it all.

Giveaway

What you’ve all been waiting for is the giveaway – how can you get your hands on one of these nifty little items? Easy.

1. Leave a comment below saying why you want the T20.

2. For an additional entry, tweet about this giveaway and then leave a comment linking back to your tweet. (My twitter ID is @writetechnology.)

When?

Now! Well, now through 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, December 9.

Rules

You must live in the United States. The nice folks at Tassimo will only ship domestic.

You must have a valid shipping address that I can give Tassimo, not a PO Box.

You must have a valid email address at which I can contact you.

You must have a valid user name that isn’t some spammy sort of thing. If it looks or sounds spammy at all, I reserve the right to delete you.

You are allowed one comment entry and one comment entry with a Twitter link. Not TWO comment entries UNLESS one of those includes a link back to your tweet.

I will “draw” a comment number using Random.org on Monday morning, January 10, and notify the winner via email. You’ll have 48 hours to respond before I give up and try another randomly generated number.

1/10/11 Update: And the winner is …

FTC Goodness: We received the brewer and some T-discs at no cost for review (although I did run out and buy a bunch)  and giveaway; all the opinions belong to me – no one paid me for them.

Commenter #6: Kelly!

Kelly, I will be in touch ASAP … congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a DVD copy of Blood Into Wine and a book of entertaining wine-related essays.

I have one more copy of the movie to giveaway, but I’m hanging on to it until mid-January. I’ll give it away on my birthday. Additionally, I should have a coffee/tea related giveaway coming before Christmas if the PR Rep gets me the prize in time.

All you need to do is go to The Original Post and leave a comment about your favorite wine for the holiday season. Whether a type of wine (ie, cabernet sauvignon) or a specific label (ie, Chandon Sparkling Wine), tell us what it is and why you enjoy it this time of year.

Note: Comments must be made on The Original Post and not this one.

I’ve got one more giveaway coming up before Christmas, and it’s not wine or beer related. But if you like coffee or tea, you’ll like this giveaway. Stay tuned!

What do you have to do to win this time? Simple. You just need to share! In the comments section, tell us about your favorite wine for the holiday season. Whether a type of wine (ie, cabernet sauvignon) or a specific label (ie, Chandon Sparkling Wine), tell us what it is and why you enjoy it this time of year.

So, here are the rules for this go-round:

Enter a comment sharing your favorite wine for the holidays and why you enjoy it this time of year.

I’ll leave the comments section open through 11:55 pm EST, Saturday, Dec 4. Any comments entered after that point (in case I’m not awake to close the comments) will not be entered in the contest. On Monday, Dec 6, I’ll use Random.org to select the number of the winning comment. It will be totally random and is only valid if the winner meets the following conditions:

1. You leave an actual comment on this post and do NOT email me. I’m literally buried in email I haven’t answered from months ago. That’s how many emails I get. I know you folks prefer to email rather than comment, but I need you to use the comments section, okay?

2. When you fill out the comment form, please leave a valid name in the correct field, not a user name. Please don’t make me send an email to wineloverboy2506 or some such thing. I won’t do it. I’d much rather email Dear Emily, You won!

3. When you fill out the comment form, you must include a valid email address that you actually check. I’ll post the name and comment number of the winner on Sunday, but I still need to contact you to negotiate a way to get this DVD to you.

4. You only enter one time, one comment per person.

5. Just a reminder about our Comments policy – in particular, the part about being excellent to each other. If I think you’re being rude to another commenter, I will delete you.

Commenter #5: Holly!

Holly, I will be in touch ASAP … congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a DVD copy of Blood Into Wine and a lovely cookbook by John Sarich.

My huge thanks to everyone. I got some great ideas from what you’ve given me, with programs like Kroger’s and eFundraising that I didn’t even know existed.

I still have a couple more copies of the movie to give away, plus some books. The next giveaway will be posted on Cyber-Monday, Nov 29. In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving!



What do you have to do to win this time? Well, I need some ideas.

My sister passed away in 2007 from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. You can read all about it at the web site for the scholarship fund we’re trying to establish in her name. We have until the end of January 2011 to pull in $2500.00 more dollars, or all the money we’ve raised so far just goes into the general scholarship fund. We don’t want that – we want a memorial scholarship fund in Krystal’s memory. So, we’re $2500 short, we’re quickly running out of time, and the initial committee has burnt out and fallen apart. Assume that I’ll be trying to organize this on my own.

I’m panicking. I need ideas on how to raise that $2500 by the end of January. I can’t just have a fundraising event or silent auction. Having done that, I can tell you I would need a several months to pull that together. But if you have any other ideas on how to quickly raise this money so that all of our previous work isn’t for naught, I need you to put that into the comments section.

So, here are the rules for this go-round:

Enter a comment with an idea (a serious idea, not a joke) of how we can quickly raise $2500 for the scholarship fund.

I’ll leave the comments section open through 11:55 pm EST, Saturday, Nov 20. Any comments entered after that point (in case I’m not awake to close the comments) will not be entered in the contest. On Sunday, Nov 21, I’ll use Random.org to select the number of the winning comment. It will be totally random and is only valid if the winner meets the following conditions:

1. You leave an actual comment on this post and do NOT email me. I’m literally buried in email I haven’t answered from months ago. That’s how many emails I get. I know you folks prefer to email rather than comment, but I need you to use the comments section, okay?

2. When you fill out the comment form, please leave a valid name in the correct field, not a user name. Please don’t make me send an email to wineloverboy2506 or some such thing. I won’t do it. I’d much rather email Dear Emily, You won!

3. When you fill out the comment form, you must include a valid email address that you actually check. I’ll post the name and comment number of the winner on Sunday, but I still need to contact you to negotiate a way to get this DVD to you.

4. Just a reminder about our Comments policy – in particular, the part about being excellent to each other. If I think you’re being rude to another commenter, I will delete you.

Commenter #3: Rhonda D.

Rhonda, I will be in touch ASAP … congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a DVD copy of Blood Into Wine.

For every one else, don’t despair. I still have a couple more copies of the movie to give away, plus some books. The next giveaway will be posted tomorrow (Monday).

I can help you with that. I have several copies to give away over the course of the next month. We’re going to start this week.  Please note that this is a regular DVD and not a Blu-Ray, in case your electronics fall into the “fancy” category.

Just post in the comments section below the reason WHY you want to own this movie. Try to give me something interesting, such as why you like MJK, or why you want to learn about his wine. “I like movies about wine!” or “MJK is so hot!” are not acceptable answers. Try to think of something astute and/or interesting, okay?

I’ll leave the comments section open through 11:55 pm EST, Saturday, Nov 13. Any comments entered after that point (in case I’m not awake to close the comments) will not be entered in the contest. On Sunday, Nov 14, I’ll use a randomizer to select the number of the winning comment. It will be totally random and is only valid if the winner meets the following conditions:

1. You leave an actual comment on this post and do NOT email me instead. Emailing won’t work for this. I know you folks prefer to email rather than comment, but just this one time I need you to use the comments section, okay?

2. When you fill out the comment form, please leave a valid name in the correct field, not a user name. Please don’t make me send an email to wineloverboy2506 or some such thing. I won’t do it. I’d much rather email Dear Emily, You won!

3. When you fill out the comment form, you must include a valid email address that you actually check. I’ll post the name and comment number of the winner on Sunday, but I still need to contact you to negotiate a way to get this DVD to you.

4. Just a reminder about our Comments policy – in particular, the part about being excellent to each other.

Start commenting!