Halfway to 10000 and I decided that it was time for another contest. This time I am giving away the bottle of wine which I blended at Otis' Cellar Diminishment Party back in January of this year. Only 5 bottles of this NV Chicago Wine Mafia Signature Series Cuvee were made at the Party and each of them is unique in that they all have a different blend. A description of how we blended them is at this link. The labels contain the official Chicago Wine Mafia logo designed by R2-D2.

Here is how the contest works (it is very similar to my 2000th post contest). I have picked a whole number between 1 and 5000 (including the numbers 1 and 5000). To be fair, I have made sure that the number I've chosen cannot be changed once the contest has started. The rational for using 5000 numbers is obvious. Here are the rules:

1) Every member registered on or before February 17th, 2004 may take a guess. (nobody registering on the board after that date can participate and any guesses from them will be disqualified).
2)Only 1 guess per member (those with mutiple personalities please restrain yourself).
3)No editing of posts after the contest ends (any and all edited posts after that date shall be disqualified and that member shall not be allowed an additional guess).
4)The deadline for all guesses is 5pm Eastern time on February 25, 2004 (any posts after that time shall not be considered)
5)The first member to correctly guess the winning number wins. If 2 members pick the same number, the member who picked it first will be the winner. If nobody correctly guesses the exact number, the member who comes closest wins. If 2 members are equally close (one high and one low) the lower guess wins (there will only be one winner since I only have 1 bottle).
7)The winner may visit the Vino Me cellars and pick a bottle or if they so chose I will ship it to them. In the event they chose to have it shipped, I will pay for the shipping via UPS ground transportation at my expense. However, all risk of loss passes to the winner at the point of deliver to UPS. That means that if you live in a state or country where it is illegal to receive wine and the wine is confiscated, lost, destroyed, etc., you are out of luck. If you want me to hold the bottle for you until a convenient time, I will do so.

Please do not be shy. I want everyone to participate. I want to give this bottle away and hopefully it can be shared with other members at an offline so that you can get a little taste of what fun we had at Otis' party. So take your best guess and good luck in my 5000th post contest.

VM

3219.

Happy 5000th, VM! It was great meeting you and Mrs. VM in New Orleans last year. I look forward to visiting with you guys and the rest of the Chicago Mafia in August!

3764

My guess will be 5000

1864...

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www.winebid.com

1327

J3

*************

I have no idea.

4027

1234

Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days. - W. C. Fields

4264

1423

My guess is 617

Rationale: you signed up for WS on 1017 and you hit your five thousandth post on 0217 and five thousand is "halfway" to ten thousand. So 617, or halfway between 217 and 1017.

4567

1972

1893

I got no remorse for the things I've done, watch out honey were gonna have some FUN!

Congratulations! My guess is 1966.

1729



Where do I pick it up?

68, and I owe you one!
Seriously, congratulations on a most impressive number of posts.

"...soon they'll be bleary eyed under a keg of wine, Down where the drunkards roll." Richard Thompson.

3921

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You bet your sweet #@% I'm a woman.

Damn you, MBA Vino! That would have been my first choice! Much too obvious, and yet just obvious enough when you understand how his aberrant mind works. You could be raking in all the glory in this one.

And I can't use 005895, Amos Catuli's present jersey number, because it's outside the parameters of the contest.

That leaves only 2005, the year the Cubs will go all the way, if you're a die-hard fan like Vino Me. Final answer: 2005!

VM

My guess is 2174

To celebrate your 5,000 posts I'll guess my current number of posts:

2,592


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cheers, y'all!

1954

I used no rationale whatsoever!

Anyway - congratulations; and yes, I will be more than happy to come to Chicago to pick up my prize!

1855, of course.

2905, please.

What a cool contest! It's not PC of me, but I sure hope I win!