Timing and Deadlines for Tomorrow's Drawing

For all the newbies this month (and everyone else), here's a reminder about deadlines and how the lotto works.

The deadline for posting blocks to earn chances in the drawing is NOON (US East Coast time) tomorrow.

After the deadline has passed, I'll put together the numbered list of names–one for each block entered, with the donated chances given to newbies and others who haven't yet won (or haven't won in a while)–and send it to the person randomly picking the winners.  The winner-picker is usually a past winner and someone not entered in the drawing.  If there is no one available, then I'll do it.   This month it will be Ginny.

Ginny will use a random number web site to generate 5 numbers within the limits of our list.  She'll match the numbers to the list and, after checking to make sure all of the winners are unique, ost the results on the Blog.   FYI, for tomorrow, Ginny is going to the theater and so will be posting the results later in the day.  (You can see an interview with her friend's mother–who is making her Broadway debut at 81, on the MSNBC site here ... it's a very nice interview).

After the winners have been picked, I will first contact all the winners, to:

1. Confirm their name and mailing address is correct on my list.
2. Ask how many of their own blocks they want to keep.

AFTER I have heard from them–and sometimes it takes a couple days–I'll mail EVERYONE with the information you need to mail your blocks to the winners.  Because we will have 5 winners,  it will be important to check how many of your blocks you'll be sending to which winners. There's no hard and fast rule, but, GENERALLY, if you make 4 or more blocks, you'll be splitting them up and sending them to 2 or 3 winners.

And while all that mailing is going on, the new Block will be posted early on the 1st of next month.

Good luck to everyone.