In the song Mr. November by The National, Matt Berninger sings:

I wish that I believed in fate. I wish I didn’t sleep so late.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.

While the song is ostensibly about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, I love the imagery it creates of the down-on-his luck middle-aged ex-jock reminiscing about his glory days of old (something I would never do, especially not in a blog post for all to read.) It might be hard times now, but you should have seen me back in high school. I was something then! I was somebody! I just need another chance!

Today is the start of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored once again by Talem Health. Whether you’re an ex-athlete looking to reclaim glory or a couch potato looking for a good reason to get out of the house, all our welcome to join and participate. Here are all the details you need to know.

• The challenge begins today (Monday, October 13) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday, October 19
• The challenge is to record at least 10,000 steps in one day. For each day during the challenge period that you record 10,000 steps, please send in a screenshot of your step-counting device with the number of recorded steps, either by email (thecmeguy@gmail.com) or text (267-666-0CME [0263]). Please include the following information:
  • Screenshot of number of steps
  • Date of steps
  • Name
  • Email
  • Physical mailing address (we need this to send you merch)
• For each day you achieve 10,000 steps and send in a screenshot, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card (there are five gift cards; you cannot win more than one.) Winners will be drawn during the week of CMEpalooza Fall. You can send in each day individually, or you can send them all in at once at the end. It doesn’t matter to me.
• The person who records and submits the most steps in one day wins a $250 Amazon gift card
• Everyone who enters even one day will receive this sweet YETI water bottle, courtesy of Talem Health.
  

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by:

No fanciful story or flowery intro today. Just a brief reminder that your entries for CMEpalooza Multiplicity are due today (Friday, Oct. 10) at 5 pm ET. We have a lavish event with pigs in a blanket and warm beer right afterward where we’ll choose the five winners of $100 Amazon gift cards.

Two other short announcements:

1. It’s a good time to try on your walking/running shoes in preparation for another round of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored by Talem Health, that begins on Monday. More details forthcoming shortly. The swag for all participants is pretty awesome this year.
2. One of our CMEpalooza Fall sessions (CE Bill of Rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fair Balance) is asking for input from the CME/CE community in advance of our live broadcast date of Wednesday, Oct. 22. They created a very short, open-ended survey that you hopefully can take a few minutes to complete. The survey is available by clicking here.

Cheer up, sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen?

OK, I don’t have the faintest idea what the lyrics to Daydream Believer are all about, but I do know that there is an entire industry devoted to chronicling the lives of those who are fulfilling the daydreams of everyone who has ever bought a Powerball ticket.

My Lottery Dream Home. The Lottery Changed My Life. I was personally a big fan of a very hokey and short-lived 1983 series called Lottery! about two lottery officials who crisscrossed the country letting people know they had won a big prize. There was always some sort of dramatic hijinks to spice up the journey, like the winner who was in the hospital with a heart condition and would die if he got too excited about anything. If anyone else remembers Lottery! (besides Derek, who no doubt also caught every episode) (note from Derek: I am embarrassed to admit that this is accurate. There wasn’t a lot to do in the 80’s.), please go out immediately, but a lottery ticket with the winning numbers of 04, 14, 21, 29, and 45, and share 25% of your proceeds with me.

I am actually a bit of a lottery curmudgeon. Many moons ago, I worked for a company where nearly everyone in my department would pool money together to buy lottery tickets when the jackpot got really big. I deferred every time, although I did get in the spirit by telling people as I left the office, “I truly hope I never see you ever again.” Needless to say, I was extremely popular around the office, especially the next morning when all of the “losers” had to show up again a little bit poorer.

But while I am not a fan of actually playing the lottery, I appreciate how it can be fun to daydream about all of the ways that your life would change — presumably for the better — if you suddenly found yourself with a whole pile of money. Would you buy a big house on the beach? Take off on a whirlwind, 3-month vacation? Buddy up to your new best friend, Jeff Bezos? There are lots of options.

But what about if things were tamped down a little bit, and you were given a lesser windfall of, oh let’s say, a $100 Amazon gift card? Maybe that wouldn’t change your life, but you could get a little something totally frivolous to fulfill a much, much smaller daydream.

If only there was a way to fulfill that daydream….

Would it surprise you to know that you are in luck, my friend? Would it shock you to know that this entire prelude has been a dastardly scheme to get you to play our Fall Sponsor Event, CMEpalooza Multiplicity, where we are giving away five of those precious $100 Amazon gift cards?

It’s true – this week is your first chance to get your first financial windfall from our shallow coffers. In case you missed it on Monday morning, CMEpalooza Multiplicity features a series of three quizzes focused on our Fall sponsors. For the first time, you can complete them all online. I did warn people in our earlier post that blindly guessing at the answers to our multiple-choice questions probably wouldn’t earn you enough points to qualify for our prize drawing, but a few people have already tried, nonetheless. They all failed rather spectacularly. So, if you want to play CMEpalooza Multiplicity, please do a modicum of research into our Sponsors — not a lot, but at least a little.

Here, once again, are the links to our three quizzes:

• Gold sponsor quiz
• Silver sponsor quiz
• Bronze (and other) sponsor quiz

Good luck. May all your daydreams come true.