Hello! This is where you find out who won the aforementioned Xbox packages. I hope it is you. Random.org selected:

Nichole, who was commenter 184, and
Lisa Bickmore, who was commenter 450

Congratulations, Nichole and Lisa! Once you’ve been verified by ePrize, you’ll get the goods in the mail. Hooray for you!

Hello. Would you like a free Xbox? Yes, I thought you might.

I’m partnering with Xbox to do a giveaway around the theme of “staycations.” The idea is that we should stop waiting for some distant day when we have the time and money to “get away,” and start having fun now, right where we are. By playing video games, for example. Up for grabs is two packages for two winners. It’s $500 worth of good stuff:

-An Xbox console
-Three Family Fun Games
-A Gold Subscription to Xbox for a year

For more about the rules, read the italicized bits at the bottom of this post, but the gist is this: Leave a comment about your plan for your perfect day at home, and you’ll be entered to win. Here’s mine:

Snacks and Chick Flicks that Don’t Suck

The best days are days that don’t require pants. This is why I became a writer.

My perfect day at home is all about pajamas, movies, and snacks. As a woman, I prefer movies with women in them, and I particularly enjoy it when those women have speaking roles. (Hollywood, take note! Female audiences are fickle.) If you have a free day, allow me to lay out your gluttonous movie fest:

Breakfast with a plucky Reese Witherspoon. It’s hard to resist a smart movie about high school politics where Ferris Bueller plays the teacher. This movie pairs well with bite-sized waffles.

Bacon and He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. It’s in French, so get to it early while your synapses are still firing. Amelie aside, this is my favorite Audrey Tatou movie. I would prefer you not know anything else about it before you watch it. Please obtain a copy. And some bacon.

Make some hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows and settle in for a play. I’ll watch anything with Julianne Moore; the woman has excellent taste in scripts. (We’re all just going to pretend Safe never happened.) The Vanya on 42nd St. plot synopsis explains it all: “New York actors rehearse Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in a rundown theater.” It is arty.

Speaking of arty, have a little olive oil popcorn with your Parker Posey. I love House of Yes for its stilted, whip-smart dialogue. Plus, Tori Spelling in surprising turn as “not bad at playing that guy’s girlfriend.”

Olive oil popcorn and Maggie Gyllenhaal in heat. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to ruin it — though the movie poster pretty much says it all. Let’s just say Secretary is about power dynamics.

Sundae bar with fresh whipped cream, spicy hot caramel sauce, and slivered almonds, plus Kicking and Screaming. We’ve talked about this before. Noah Baumbach? Call me.

That’s my ultimate day at home. I’m beginning to wonder why I haven’t made this happen yet. Now your turn! Outline your day in comments, or tell me what would make your movie-day lineup if you were plotting a day like mine.

But wait! This is the contest fine print. Here’s how the giveaway works: You must be 18 or over to enter and live in the U.S. I’ll pick two commenters as potential winners (to be verified by ePrize). Please include your perfect day at home in your comment, and multiple entries will be disqualified. Comments will be open until tomorrow December 9, 2009 at 9 p.m. Eastern. Winners will be chosen randomly using Random.org, and announced on Friday, December 11. Good luck! Read the official rules here

Holy crap. You must nominate someone for this. Only 131 people have entered so far, which means the odds of winning $5,000 of Intel equipment are currently 1 in 43. Let me put that another way. Say you’re standing in a room with only 43 people? One of you gets $5,000. Can my math possibly be correct on this? Let me know, I was an English major.

As I mentioned before, I’m amongst the judges, so I invite you to play on my heart strings. Stuff to remember:

-Deadline is October 6.
-Nominating yourself is just fine.
-Photos and video are good.
-Community votes are a factor.

I think that’s it. Now go win this, please.

Some of you may not care about free stuff, and for you, I have four photos of people interacting with wildlife in inadvisable ways:

1. Seals
2. Rhino
3. Sharks
4. Crocodile

Now.

I know, from that survey a while back, that lots of you are teachers, librarians, students, and parents. I’ve never done a sponsor giveaway before but holy crap, some of you are going to need this.

Intel is giving away $5,000 in brand new tech equipment to three people who post over here about why they need it (photos and/or video encouraged). They’ll also send over the guys from Hot Hardware to install everything and teach you how to use it. Nice.

Selection is based mostly on how compelling your story is — and you can nominate other people (!). The odds are pretty effing good, and you will be excellent at this. You will make the judges, laugh, cry, and bend to your will.

So what do you need that Intel has? They could make a tech station for your class. They could give you the ability to write and print term papers without fear of losing a month of work to a hard drive malfunction. They could provide a functional workstation so you could run a business from home and see your kids more.

Here’s more info, and here are the rules. I’m one of the judges, but please limit your persuading to the Intel site.

Do some good for yourself, your team, or someone who needs your help. I’m rooting for you, and I’ll tell you who wins.