It’s the moment we’ve all been reading for. The moment that How2Blogger announces the winner to his Super Sexy Holiday ‘How To’ Contest.

Don’t worry - I’m not going to type “Drum roll, please…” before I announce the winner.

But, seeing as this contest was by my own words, super sexy, I wanted to announce it in a big way. I looked into a few options to announce the winner (which was drawn by assigning each of the 810 entries on my ’super duper master contest entry list’ a number between 1 and 810 and then generating a ‘random integer’ between 1 and 810 from the Random Integer Generator over at Random.org which describes the Random Integer Generator like this:

The randomness comes from atmospheric noise, which for many purposes is better than the pseudo-random number algorithms typically used in computer programs.

which I’ll be the first to admit I’m not exactly sure what they mean by generating numbers out of atmospheric noise, but it sounds really freaking cool and makes me feel a lot better than knowing the ‘random’ number came from some complex math algorithm. This is what they gave me:

which means that the entry assigned number 342 is the winner - congrats! Now, luckily I had the ’super duper master contest entry list’ to go from, which led me to the owner of entry number 342, who is now $100 dollars richer at my expense.) and I thought that I could announce the winner in one of the typical blog contest winner announcement ways (Was that parenthetical phrase too long?). You know:

• An ad in USA Today
• Skywriter
• Carrier Pigeon

But I ultimately decided against these because they were (in no particular order):

• Too expensive for my now $100 dollars poorer ass
• It’s dark out right now, duh!
• Would take too long to train seeing as I don’t own any of those things right at this moment

So, I thought I would announce the winner in a few more practical and logical ways.

• A random John Chow Comment (we’ll see if it makes it through moderation)

• Gotta try Problogger as well

• Can’t leave the Cow out of the fun.

• One on Gorilla Sushi for good measure.

• I also decided it might be wise to post it on Craigslist. So I posted in Las Vegas (my home town), British Columbia (the winner’s home province), and Kalamazoo, MI (because there really is a Kalamazoo, MI(I went to school there)).
• Since so many told their moms about the contest - I thought I should call my mom. She now knows who the winner is. She said, “Congrats.”
• Just for fun, a little scavenger hunt. I went into an old post and edited a random comment on this blog. Anybody that can find it and then be the first to leave it’s location in a comment on this post will win 150 EntreCard Credits.
• And finally - I wanted to link to the winner: Sweet Mummy!!! Congratulations (It’s there in the white space -you have to highlight or click - visit and congratulate them!)

Thanks everybody who entered! And I’m sorry I didn’t have $100 bucks to give each and every one of you. Though if I did, I would. I promise!

Generally, thank you notes should be written on cards and sent with a lick and a stamp, rather than a click and ‘publish.’ But - today we’re making an exception. So in the future, try to do as I say, not as I do.

When should you send a ‘Thank You’ note?

• You receive a gift
• You win an awesome brand new Nintendo Wii
• After a job interview
• You are on the receiving end of a random or unexpected act of kindness
  • Your neighbor shovels your drive
  • A friend offers to babysit for free
  • The girl at the Jack In The Box drive thru hooks you up with a free Christmas Jack Antenna Ball! (Yup, it’s okay to be jealous)

What are the seven elements of a Thank You Note?

1. The Salutation - Dear TrueBlueTitan,
2. The Thank You - Thank you so much for randomly drawing my name as the winner of your super duper contest featuring the Nintendo Wii.
3. Highlight the appropriateness of the gift or favor - I don’t know if you know this, but my mother is Korean, and Japan (where Nintendo is from) is not very far from Korea. In fact I looked on a map today and it’s like half an inch away. How perfect!
4. Tie the appropriateness of the gift with the gift giver -Your internet entrepreneurship blog is really rad, just like the Wii.
5. If the gift was money, talk about how you will spend it. Or write about how you are going to use the gift - Hopefully my blog won’t suffer too much as I plan on spending many hours this holiday season at the Wii bowling lanes.
6. Write a line to update the gift giver on your life - Timmy got his leg out of the cast and I’m no longer suffering from that nasty head cold so things are looking better.
7. Sign the Thank You Note - With Thanks, How2Blogger.

Don’t be sad if you didn’t win a Wii yourself. Not all of us can be winners. Well, actually you still can be, lucky for you. If you want a Wii - you could still win a Wii over at Contest Beat or if you’d rather just have some stinking cash, say $100 bucks, well I’m giving that away in my own little contest!