Win a $100 Amazon card for Black Friday 2011.

Yesterday I went into a drugstore and found several aisles completely stocked for Christmas: lights, ornaments, wrapping paper, toys, candy and, of course, traditional sacred images such as Mickey Mouse wearing a Santa hat. Sigh.

While too-early Christmas marketing and commercialism in general both bug me, I am also practical enough to acknowledge they exist — and to help a reader stretch his/her dollars to the utmost. That’s why I’m happy to announce a giveaway sponsored by the Consumerism Commentary blog: a $100 Amazon gift card, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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Getting out of town.

I got back from BlogHer 2011 late in the evening on July 9. Since then I’ve been hitting MSN Money and Get Rich Slowly deadlines pretty hard, and spending time (including a day in Vancouver, B.C.) with an old friend who’s here in town.

Just before midnight tonight I get on a plane for the East Coast, where I’ll be spending just over a month:

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Join Swagbucks. I’ll make it worth your while.

I love Swagbucks. There. I said it. I love Swagbucks because it helps me earn Amazon gift cards for doing what I’d do anyway, i.e., online searches.

I’d like for you to join Swagbucks using the widget here on the site. That’s because I’ll get bonus points if you do.

Yes, the Internet is a giant Ponzi scheme and I just want my piece of it. So I’m proposing a little incentive.

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