Huat Ah!

This is probably the first time that I had won something useful in a lucky draw.

I signed up for a 24 month broadband contract with Starhub at the IT Show 2008 (ended on 9 Mar 08) and was entitled to a lucky dip. I was commenting to Sunshine just minutes before that we will probably win some crap that has no value, such as the fridge magnet or lanyard, those that did not even have their value printed in yellow and bold fonts on the promotional brochure. Imagine my surprise when I opened the folded piece of paper and saw "HP" and "printer" staring back at me!

I had to record down my initials on a sheet of paper (with less than 20 names on it) and one of the starhub guys was supposed to give us an instant photo of us holding up the prize and smiling. But he could not get the instant camera to work. So I told him to forget it and just let us go back since we had queued for over an hour to sign up, collect my modem and do my lucky dip. And I'm expecting a long queue at the taxi stand since the walk to either the bus stop or MRT station will be very very long with this heavy box to lug along.

The prize was a HP C5180 Photosmart printer with scan and print capabilities. And I suppose it can print photos nicely on 4R paper. The brochure says that it is worth $476. I had never been so happy paying for a taxi ride home, even with the $3 surcharge for boarding the cab in the city area.

I had never been a gambler and never been lucky in lucky draws either. The only time I ever bought Toto, I donated the money to Singapore Pools and hope the money made its way to paying for the staff at Singapore Community Chest. To win something at the IT Show when the lucky draw is not even the thing that draws me, is totally unexpected. Not that I'm complaining.