Freebies and free stuff

Since leaving college, its interesting to have a completely different schedule… To have classes that I used to go to, to feel mentally stimulated to learn, and to be socialized with a group of individuals pursuing the same goal? There was structure and organization there.

Sure, going to work on a regular schedule gives me that same structure, but its different. And even with reading the news and the blogosphere, well, I still feel like I’m missing that educational aspect.

Maybe something like these free brain training games will help me out. Motivate me as I see myself learning more. Or maybe, I’ll just bookmark them and pretend they do. Yup, that works too…

[via the forums]

Bands that give away free music? Always a cool thing. Enter: Making April.

In the studio now recording their second album, they’re giving away their first album and various other tracks, all for free on their site. Yup, they’re so down with it that they just made a simple page and you head to it and right-click and save-as all of their songs to your hearts content.

[via the forums]

EDIT: Crap, they’re out of stock now.

Everybody talks about the missing sock in the dryer conundrum that plagues us all, but how come we don’t hear more about the vanishing bookmarks? I’ve gotten dozens of bookmarks over the years, however once this free bookmark arrives in the mail, my official Bookmark Count will be one. Where the heck do they all go?! Am I the only person who seems to be cursed with this phenomenon? Please tell me I’m not alone.

I’m sorry folks, but we’ve officially gone too far. This coupon for four free Hansen’s Organic Water literally stopped me in my tracks this morning. Organic water?! People! Come on! Have we seriously reached the point where we need to make sure our water is organic?

You know what, forget I said anything. I’ve just gone into business selling the next surefire sensation – organic oxygen! Only $20 a day for all the air you can breath. Act now, because supplies are limited and I really need the cash to buy a summer home in the Hamptons!

EDIT: Looks like they ran out of the Chex Mix!

These Betty Crocker freebies are going at record speeds, so I’d be sure to sign up for this free Chocolate Turtle Chex Mix as soon as I could. As usual, you might want to have a backup e-mail ready if you’re already signed up for other Betty Crocker freebies *wink wink nudge nudge*.

Geez, how many freebies has Betty Crocker given away in the last four months? Eight? Ten? At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before they just give away the keys to their factories. Dibs!

Walmart is giving away these free Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seals, but I’m not sure what in the world I’m going to do with a bunch of aquatic animals sent to me in the mail. Are they advanced enough to take care of themselves? Heck, is it even legal to ship livestock through the mail? Proctor and Gamble should really hire a lawyer or two to look into that.

In an effort to help make the world a better place, you can get a free Tall Starbucks coffee if you pledge to volunteer 5 hours of your time. They’re using the honor system to keep track of everything, so I’ll let you decide whether or not to get this. Luckily I can avoid the moral dilemma since I already volunteer throughout my average week. Woo hoo for stray animals! Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right…

I posted this free Quaker True Delights last week, but apparently the link I put up wasn’t supposed to be made public until yesterday. So if you previously signed up, you might want to do so again today just to make sure you get the sample. When I tried to sign up today, I used the same e-mail as last week and it said I’d already submitted a claim for the freebie. However, when I used a different e-mail, it went through. So chances are we’ll get two freebies (woo hoo!), but who knows.

It’s now dawning on me that this post has very little concrete info in it, so here’s a fact that I know is true: I love freebies. Trust me on that, I’m pretty sure there’s even a wikipedia page about it.

EDIT: The ghost of Orville needs to make these things last a bit longer, no?

I don’t think I’ve ever been more tired in my life than I was last night. The past three days have been a whirlwind for me, as I drove into D.C. three separate times, rode the metro God knows how many times, stood in multiple lines for hours, and then capped off the whole ordeal by getting up at 3am yesterday and freezing my butt off outside just to get a great spot to watch President Obama’s inauguration. Thankfully I can feel all my body parts now and can check off “be among a million fellow frozen human beings” off my bucket list! I’ve never been in the midst of so many happy people in my life. It felt like I could jump in the air and simply walk around on the thick positive aura. Politics aside, it was pretty darn awesome.

As a result, I haven’t been on the computer much. The three posts I made on Monday were done via my cell phone while wearing thick gloves and took me over an hour to type! How about we all celebrate the return of Goob to a proper keyboard by getting some free Orville Redenbacher Gourmet popcorn? I don’t know when the spirit of Orville came back to our world and ordered that his company become a leading freebie supplier, but I want to thank his ghost and buy him a ghostly beer. He probably can’t drink it though, so I’ll just have to down it for him. Hey, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it!

I like to do a little research before posting a freebie. Sure, some of the freebies we post never come, but that’s more (all) the company’s fault and not ours. The reason I bring this up is because I heard a lot of rumblings about tons of inauguration day freebies available tomorrow and you know what? Most of them were nothing more than rumor and/or only available in the most select of locations! Boo on that.

But do you know what you can get tomorrow (Tuesday, January 20, 2009) for free that has absolutely nothing to do with politics? $175 million dollars worth of free makeup! Long story short, a lawsuit was settled for something something and as a result Chanel, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal USA and others agreed to dish out certain products at various department stores, including Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom and many others – check the site out because it’s a ton of different stores and products.

So if you’re sitting around tomorrow and feeling a little blue, head to your nearby mall and get a free semi-makeover!