Taco, taco, taco!

Hey, if you run into Tampa Bay Ray Jason Bartlett anytime soon, make sure to say 'gracias' -- Thanks to the speedy shortstop, we've all got a free taco coming to us!

On Oct. 28 (Tuesday) between 2 and 6 p.m., you can head out to your local Taco Bell and request one free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco ala the fast food chain's "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion.

Jason Bartlett stole second off the Philadelphia Phillies' Carlos Ruiz in the fifth inning of tonight's Game One World Series game. Yum!

Taco Bell ran the same promotion during last year's World Series. Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury stole a base in Game Two.

RELATED LINKS
World Series set to go
Boston wins World Snoozefest
Speedy Gonzalez
Yo quiero free taco

Mmm, free fatty food...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love free things. You probably do, too. And really, is there anyone on the face of Earth (dieting or not) who doesn't love ice cream? That's why you should probably check out your local Cold Stone Creamery tonight.


The ice cream shoppe is holding it's 7th annual "World's Largest Ice Cream Social" to support the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Throughout September, Cold Stone has and will continue to sell M-A-W wall stars to raise money.

Tonight, from 5-8 p.m., guests will receive a free, 3-ounce serving of either of the store's two new sundaes: Jack's Creation or Emily's Creation, created by two Wish children.

Jack's flavor is marshmallow-based with Oreos, chocolate chips and fudge. Emily's is Nutter Butter-based ice cream with white chocolate chips, KIT KAT bars and yellow cake bits. Sounds good to me!

Click here to find a Cold Stone Creamery near you. You might as well check it out - it's not every day you get the chance to get delicious, overpriced ice cream for free!

Love of Labor

Happy Labor Day
from The Jerc Store!

I imagine everyone's BBQ-ing it up this weekend, but if you've got a hankering for some un-barbecue (or pre-party) food today, check out Chick-fil-A's Labor Day Giveaway. Just wear your favorite professional, college or local sports team's attire and receive a free 3-piece chicken strips.

And you can enjoy your chicken while you read all about the history of Labor Day here.

Orrrr just gorge yourself with burgers and beer... and enjoy that day off from work, whoo-hoo!

Everyone's Favre-ite topic

Breaking news: Brett Favre has finally found a home. The Green Bay Packers officially traded the record-setting, retired-unretired quarterback to the New York Jets in an overnight deal.

The trade is extremely conditional, i.e. if Brett takes 50 percent of snaps this season, the Packers get a fourth-round draft pick. The conditions grow increasingly favorable for the Packers the better Brett does: If Brett takes 80 percent of snaps and the Jets make it to the Super Bowl, the pick becomes a first-round pick.

New York Jets # 4 Brett Favre jerseys are already available.

I'd like to think that now that this trade has gone down, all of the FAVRE lines on the bottom of ESPN will go away, but we all know that's not going to happen.

RELATED LINKS:
The week in sports, kind of...
Favre saying goodbye to Green Bay
SI honors Fav-ra

Afternoon delight at Starbs

Speaking of tanking economy (see below), Starbucks is trying to take itself off life support by offering a new promotion to help save company loyalists a few bucks.

The "Treat Receipt" program allows Starbucks customers to bring in their receipt from a purchase earlier in the day to receive any grande iced drink for $2 (beginning at 2 p.m.). The deal is good til Sept. 2

This is excellent news for people who are addicted to Starbucks enough to regularly purchase its overpriced drinks twice a day, but for the rest of us... Is this really going to push you to spend $4 on a small--sorry, "tall"--coffee at 8 a.m. just to get the reduced price Mocha Choca Latta Ya Ya in the afternoon? Mm, probably not. You'd essentially be paying $6 to get the latter.

Still, the company says it is responding to customer requests for nationwide promotions, and Starbucks fiends who can overlook the backward logic in this program will be happy to know that their morning receipt could save them $2.15 off a Mint Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino. Okay, well that one kind of sounds good enough to go for broke...

RELATED LINKS
Your barista today is: Ronald McDonald?

Betrayed by the 'Bell'

Isn't it the best feeling when you're getting ready for work at 7 a.m., all the while knowing that you can put on TBS and see your friends from Bayside up to their old antics?

"Saved By the Bell" is probably one of the greatest shows of my adolescent life. There is not one episode I have not seen, one backstory I cannot describe in detail or one super corny line that I cannot recite.

But there were some things about the show -
particularly the real lives of its teen-now-adult stars - that I never really knew too much about... And thanks to Dustin "Screech" Diamond, that might soon be changing.

"Behind the Bell," Diamond's planned tell-all book, promises to detail "sexual escapades among cast members, drug use, and hardcore partying" during the SBTB days, according to New York Magazine.

And while this is probably the greatest idea ever --it's enough to make me sing, "I'm so exciiiited, I'm so exciiiited"-- a part of me wants to forever preserve the innocent images of Zack, Kelly, Jessie, Lisa, Slater and Screech hanging out by their lockers and sharing fries at The Max. I don't want to hear if Mark Paul Gosselaar was actually taking drugs; that would be way too Johnny Dakota of him.

...Plus, I really hate Dustin Diamond and think he's a huge douchebag that doesn't deserve to make money like he'll make off of this. Who knows if he'll even be telling the truth. The guy's got serious "angry typecast" syndrome and probably resents the rest of his castmates that went on to do something else with their lives, like not starring in 67 episodes of "Saved By the Bell: The New Class."

Free this time, I swear!

Okay, no joke this time: Tomorrow (May 15) is Dunkin Donuts Free Iced Coffee Day!


For some reason, the chain set the first day of spring as its annual giveaway day, but backed out at the last minute, leaving freebie-seekers feeling stupid at the counter and awkwardly paying for a drink they were only ordering because they thought it was free.

But tomorrow we will all be given the opportunity to imbibe some delicious and free iced coffee--regular or flavored! [click here to find a D&D location near you]. Enjoy!

UPDATE: After the original entry was posted, I saw a commercial for a free McDonalds giveaway today (May 15), as well.

Between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., McDonalds will be giving away a free Southern Style Chicken Biscuit--new this month--with purchase of any medium or large drink. Nothing like fried chicken between two buttery (and fatty) biscuits to start your day!

From 10:30 a.m. til 7 p.m., the chain will give away free Southern Style Chicken Sandwich (I think it's got pickles on it or something) with purchase of medium or large beverages.

RELATED LINKS
Paying for your free iced coffee
Forgiveness, please

Forgiveness, please

To any loyal readers--

My deepest apologies for not providing you with inane news stories, reality television updates and the like for the last, what, week? My job is generally taxing, but in an effort to have off this Friday to imbibe with friends and relish in NCAA basketball (which I really don't even care about) at the most dominant sports bar in Philadelphia (which I certainly do care about), I have been working insane hours and sitting at droning meetings deep into the night.

Wow, that sentence was really long.

Anyway, it could be another few days before I'm able to form some semblance of an entertaining post, but I will leave you with two reminders to close out the week:

Tomorrow...I guess now it's really today...well, whatever--MARCH 20th is the first day of spring, which means it is Free Rita's Water Ice Day! In honor of the seasonal change, Rita's is rolling out a new cream ice flavor: Birthday Cake. Not sure how I feel about it, but at least I won't be wasting any money to try it.


And secondly, Friday is Free Iced Coffee Day at Dunkin Donuts--and no, that is not the imbibing I was referring to above (this is), but I will certainly take part in this free festivity as well. God, that picture is gorgeous.

Enjoy the next however many days, and please come back. I promise I'll stop sucking in a few days.

Let the writers return!

Good news, rerun and reality television haters! The three-month long writer's strike is very close to an end, with writers potentially returning to work this Wednesday.

Writers Guild of America leaders voted today to let its members decide Tuesday if they'd like to ratify a new contract and allow a flood of ink slingers and all other necessary employees to return to work.

According to the guild's summary, the deal provides union jurisdiction over projects created for the Internet based on certain guidelines, sets compensation for streamed, ad-supported programs and increases residuals for downloaded movies and TV programs.

Under the contract, writers would get a maximum $1,200 flat fee for streamed programs in the deal's first two years and then get a percentage of a distributor's gross in year three -- the last point an improvement on the directors deal, which remains at the flat payment rate.

Any projections on which television shows are gonna get the can once the writers return?

Mother I'd like to FLY

A new ad campaign from Spirit Airlines has peaked the interest of bargain flight shoppers...and potentially hormone-crazed teenage boys.

The M.I.L.F. campaign, or "Many Islands, Low Fares" offers flights as low as $9. And whether you plan on jet setting this holiday season or not, it's quite entertaining to watch the hot, naked woman semblance in the island graphic on their Web site (but watch closely--it zooms out!)

No one's come out and said this was intentional, but how could it not?? Maybe if the acronym was accidental, but if you click the link above, it's plastered across the screen!

Maybe they're just trying to take your attention away from the fact that you'll never actually get a $9 flight on their site because that's absurd.