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2003-05-04 - 11:18 p.m.

These people are giving away their successful bed & breakfast in an essay contest.

Since its always been a dream of mine to run a B&B, and as I do love to write I had to check it out. Its a cute enough little place in Colorado and I have always wanted to move out west but I can�t help thinking, Are they crazy...the answer is yes, like a fox.

The contest rules are as follows: Essays are a maximum of 150 words. That�s MAXIMUM. I�ve already used 83 here already. Clearly they are not exactly avid readers. They want it short and to the point. Why do you want our inn?

Then there�s the entry fee of $230, non-refundable. Unless a minimum of 2500 entries are received, in which case they might refund your money, minus a $30 handling fee, but they reserve the right to accept less than 2500 entries. Okay so 2499 entries time $230 is $574,770. Going onto local real estate sites that seems highly inflated as compared to the going rate for houses of that size.

Ingenious idea I must admit, by �giving� it away for a mere $230 dollars they are doubling or possibly tripling what they could get by selling it.

Yet, their plan doesn�t appear to be working as well as it should seeing as they�ve extended the deadline from December 31, 2002 to May 30, 2003.

Hmmmm�.I wonder how many entries they have received thus far. Are they getting so few that they needed to extend the contest just to make it worthwhile or are they getting so many that greed is rearing its ugly head. I suspect its the former but wouldn�t be surprised by the latter.

So will I enter? Nah. For one thing, I�m not much of a gambler so I don�t intend to throw away $230 bucks on a chance at a business that I have no idea of how to run, and which may not even be a viable one at that. Heck, I didn�t even bet on the Kentucky Derby and at least my odds there were considerably better.

But I will drink a Mint Julep in honor of the occasion.

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