I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m a procrastinator and I don’t know that I’ll ever change. At one point I managed to convince myself that procrastinating is a good thing – that I somehow “work better under pressure”. What a load of bull – it’s amazing what you can get yourself to justify within your own mind. Back when I was in college, on a few occasions I actually bothered to start working on a project long before it was due. Not only did I produce better work, but I didn’t feel nearly as stressed while I tried to get it done.

Despite my occasional foray into the world of the prepared, most of the time I would wait till the last minute to get started. In one case I began working on a twenty-page paper at 1am on the day it was due (in which I inarticulately argued some b.s. about China’s move to democracy being slower than anticipated because undercurrents of legalist doctrine still exist in their society – yeah, it was about as interesting as it sounds). My work was most certainly not better when I waited till the last minute to start it.

Fast-forward to today. I’m supposed to wrap up my promotion of Sam’s Club’s “Cyber Week”. It may have been good to, you know, get this done before the last day of the event – but what can you do? Even though the event ends today, there are still some great deals to be found on their website. I went and found some of the best ones for you.
You can find a 32″ LG 1080p LCD TV for $524

LG
You can also find this 37″ Magnavox LCD with a built-in DVD player for $548

Magnavox

How about a TomTom One 140 S GPS navigation system for $129

TomTom

You could also try out this Sony PRS-300 EBook Reader for $189.98. I’ll admit it – I was reluctant about these things at first, I love my collection of books, but I honestly think that my Kindle is a great product. I know a few people who have these Sony readers as well and they seem to think very highly of them. They seem a bit expensive, but the books themselves are quite a bit cheaper, so you’ll end up saving money in the long-run.

Sony Ebook Reader

Finally, if you happen to be one of the lucky folks who have some extra disposable income this year, you could go for one of these awesome “driving experiences”.

AndrettiTake a 180MPH ride in a full size Indy-style race-car during the Mario Andretti Driving Experience. First you’ll ride along with an instructor, then you’ll get behind the wheel on your own for a few driving sessions.

You can choose to drive at these locations: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

NascarIf you happen to prefer NASCAR over Indy racing, you don’t have to feel left out. You can participate in the Nascar Driving Experience. The routine is the same as the Indy experience. A ride-along with an instructor followed by a couple sessions behind the wheel. The real difference is the car – this time you’re driving an official NASCAR vehicle.

You can choose to drive at any of these locations: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Both driving experiences go for $925.

Giveaway!
One winner will receive a $50 Sam’s Club gift card. I’m sticking with the gift theme for this contest, but I’m starting to run out of ideas – so I’m keeping this one a bit general. So this time, you can enter the contest by leaving a comment on this post and in your comment answer the following question: If money were no object and you could have anything you want for Christmas this year, what would you ask for? (I’m talking about real, over-the-top, outlandish, material luxuries here. I’m thinking Gulfstream jets and vacations to Tahiti – if I see a bunch of entries that say “peace on earth and goodwill towards men”, I will know you are full of it).

Official Rules:
1. You must already be, or become a subscriber to this site in order to participate in this contest.
2.  To enter, leave a comment on this post and indicate what you would like to receive for Christmas if money were no object and you could have anything that you want. You need to include this information in order for your entry to count. If you just say something like “I want to enter.”  I’ll delete your comment.
3. One winner will receive $50 worth of Sam’s Club gift cards.
4. The winner will be selected using random.org, based on the number of your comment.
6. This contest will end at 10pm on Sunday, December 13th 2009.
7. Winners will be notified by email and posted to this site. Winners will have 48 hours from the time of notification to claim their prize. If the prize is not claimed within that time, another winner will be chosen.
8. Each comment represents a single entry. Those entitled to multiple entries for performing “extra credit” must add a comment for each entry.

Extra Credit:
1. Follow me using the Google Friend Connect widget – 1 extra entry
2. Follow on Twitter and Tweet about this contest – 1 extra entry per day (include link to Tweet in your comment)
3. Blog about this contest – 3 extra entries (include a link to the post in your comment)
4. Enter any of the giveaways in progress on www.theartofbeingmom.com – 3 extra entries (include name of contest and your comment # )
5. Post a comment on any of the other posts on this site (from the past month) – 1 extra entry per post (leave post name and comment #)

6. Visit the Sam’s Club “Holiday Helper” page and leave a comment on any of the posts. Include a link to this post in your comment. – 2 extra entries for each Holiday Helper post that you comment on (you can do this for any number of the posts on that website but only one comment for each post counts. You can’t just go and add 5 comments to one post and then claim 10 entries, but if you post a comment on five separate posts you can get 10 entries).

(remember, you have to leave a comment for EACH ENTRY when you do extra credit. We pick winners based on a drawing using the comment number. If you put 5 entries into a single comment, you defeat the whole purpose of the extra credit, since you aren’t increasing your chances of winning. No, I am not going to go through each entry and make sure that you’ve entered correctly, that is up to you.)

FTC Disclosures:
This post is part of the Sam’s Club – Sharing the Savings Blogger Program. I have received compensation from Sam’s Club in the form of a complimentary Sam’s Club membership. I have also been provided with membership gift/cards to giveaway to our readers. Regardless of compensation, all views and opinions expressed are my own.