I am the non-techy half of the SweepsU.com team. I work full-time in the IT department at a major university so I do know a few things. But all my years at the IT Help Desk couldn't prepare me for the glitch the SweepsU.com team experienced last week. (Scroll down to see the photos)

The techy half of SweepsU.com is Gerald Anderson, a genius in my opinion. Gerald has written almost all of the programs on SweepsU.com from scratch which is why you will not find them on other sweepstakes websites. We are in our final month and a half of Beta Testing and anxious to add more users to really put Gerald's programs to the test. That's when it happened...the BIG glitch...let's call it Sam.

Several CBS affiliates across the country were scheduled to broadcast an interview with Robert and I. We knew it was coming, thought we were ready, but we didn't count on Sam. You see, Gerald and his wife, Erica, have been expecting a baby and last week everything happened at once.

Erica goes into labor...a few weeks early.

A CBS station airs SweepsU.com information a few days early.

Erica requires surgery to deliver the baby.

300 people sign up to be SweepsU.com Beta Testers.

Samuel Gerald Anderson (Sam) is born

Gwen has a problem & can't get the Beta Testers on - non-techy partner...remember!

Sam is moved to NICU

Other CBS affiliates air the interview.

Gerald splits his time between 3-year old Maddie (at home), Erica & Sam

1,000 more Beta Testers sign up

Gerald tries talking me through the problems

More CBS affiliates air the interview

Erica and Sam are released from the hospital

Over 2,000 beta testers have applied

Hallelujah!

It has been a mad house, but Erica and Sam are finally home and doing well. Gerald is trying his best to work SweepsU.com into a very busy schedule...2am feedings...changing diapers...playing with Maddie! This is definitely the biggest glitch we've experienced since we started Beta Testing at SweepsU.com. But what can I say, Sam just couldn't wait to join the team.

Now for the latest report on SweepsU.com from Gerald. He is almost ready to start sending out email invitations, but we need to do this cautiously. Therefore, when Gerald gives the word I will start sending out invitations in batches of 25. We will wait a few hours, possibly more, and if all goes well send out another batch. This will continue until everyone has received their invitations and logged on to SweepsU.com. The invitations will go out in the same order as the Beta Applications were received. No cutting in line allowed! It will take us several more days, but this is what Beta Testing is all about.

Please be patient and keep an eye out for an email from SweepsU.com. We should be sending one to each of you very soon! Now scroll on down to see some wonderful photos of Sam.

Gwen Beauchamp

Who is that masked man?

Sam in NICU.

Finally at home where he belongs!

In 1988 I wrote a poem that very literally changed my life. That poem resulted in my husband, Robert, and I winning a "Disney Wedding On Ice". It was a fairy tale beginning to a life filled with prizes and experiences we had never before dared to dream of. But it didn't just "happen". It was not because we were "lucky".  After our "Wedding", I didn't even enter to win anything for over a year. But my second win was another big one!

The Coca-Cola and Fox Isle of Dreams Treasure Hunt Cruise (November 5-12, 1989) was both a local and a national sweepstakes with 15 cruises being given away in my metropolitan area and 500 throughout the U.S. and Canada. It was luck that I found the promotion, filled out the forms  and mailed them in, but I soon learned that I had lucked into a winning strategy.

• Locals receive fewer entries than nationals and offer you the best chances of winning
• Mail-ins give you a better chance, because fewer people will take the time to fill out both an entry form and an envelope and pay for postage to mail it in.

Our next lesson came while sailing the Caribbean aboard Carnival Cruise Lines MS Jubilee. Five hundred winners included a lot of people who had been entering and winning repeatedly for years.  We heard story after story that week from sweepers all over the country about the incredible prizes they had won. We learned about sweepstakes newsletters and received information on every aspect of entering and winning both sweepstakes and contests. By the time our ship returned to Miami, Robert and I were both excited at the prospect of what our future might hold.

That was well over 20 years ago! Those first lessons in sweeping were put to very good use. We have now won 12 cruises, most recently the Bud Light Port Paradise cruise (October 2009). This hobby has been extremely good to us, but once again, let me stress that luck is only a small part of the winning process. In the old days you needed a good newsletter, but back then we did not have the World Wide Web. Your best tool in this new world of internet access is a good sweepstakes website that gives you a source of current promotions to enter, a forum to interact with your fellow sweepers and programs to simplify and organize the sweepstaking process. It is our goal at SweepsU.com to provide all of this and more to enable others to create their own "only in sweepstaking" adventures.

Gwen Beauchamp

To read more of Gwen's tips for entering sweepstakes and contests check out her articles in Sweeps University.

How far should a sweeper go to win a prize? For some sweepers, it doesn’t take much to redden their cheeks. For these few, just putting entries in a drop box becomes an espionage mission. Heaven forbid someone should actually see them! Yet others will boldly walk in, fill out several forms and plop them in the box without a care. Of course, it is not always the sweeper who is embarrassed. I remember walking out of a fast food restaurant with my teenage daughter and just before we got to our car I saw it. A cup…WITH THE GAME PIECES STILL ATTACHED!  I looked at my daughter, who had also seen the cup and was shaking her head as she said, “DON’T YOU DARE!” Needless to say, I bit the dust on Mother’s Day that year. SIGH!

Another mortifying situation occurred when I put a handful of entries in the drop box on a customer service desk. That particular desk was being manned by an overzealous teenager who was watching me out of the corner of his eye. I had turned and taken two steps when he shouted, “You can’t do that, that’s cheating. I’m taking all of your entries out of the box.” I couldn’t stand being called a cheater, not to mention the thought of my entries being trashed.  I turned back and said, “I want to speak to the manager”. When he arrived, I had a hard time being heard over the accusations of cheating being shouted again. As the boy quieted down, the manager informed me that I could only put one entry in the box. I then asked the manager to read the rules and pointed to the sentence that said “ENTER AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE”. I did receive an apology and learned never to put entries in a box when a teenager is present!

I have been witness to sweepers battling with bathroom plungers attached to their heads, watched adults peddle tricycles through an obstacle course and saw sweepers stand for hours with their tongue on a pole. All for the ever elusive PRIZE! I even allowed my youngest daughter to compete for the title of Silliest Kid in Dallas. She bounced up on stage with her boom box and props. Spread a plastic sheet and emptied a box of Trix on it. Sitting down, she proceeded to coat her arms, legs and face with Crisco shortening. She started the music for the song “Grease” as she laid down full length and rolled from one end of the plastic to the other coating herself in multi-colored cereal.  The next thing I knew, she was dancing fast and furiously with Trix cereal flying everywhere. Yes, its official, my daughter is the SILLIEST KID IN DALLAS!

Now, some of you are probably thinking, what kind of mother is she? To make her little girl do all of that in front of an audience no less! That poor child planned the whole thing herself with a sister’s help and wouldn’t let Mom in on half the fun! She had a blast, especially when it came to spending the $500 shopping spree that was part of her prize. But just so you’ll know that I have put myself on the line, let me tell you about the “Jeep Stick in the Mud” contest. When my name was selected to be a participant, my husband didn’t think I would do it. Okay…so he was probably right, but a dare goes a long way with me. Besides they were giving away a brand new Jeep and one of the 100 finalists was going to win it. So I showed up early at the event location wearing the lovely brown t-shirt they sent me, a pair of shorts and sandals. When my turn came to get in the mud pit along with 14 other contestants, I shed the shoes and put on my goggles. There were big sticks scattered all through the mud and each one had a different point value. The object was to find as many sticks as you could in the amount of time given. Sounds easy…right? Wrong! That mud was thick and very hard to move through, plus a short person, like me, had to immerse themselves to the shoulder to reach those sticks. They were very slippery and I ended up using the bottom half of my shirt to hold the ones I gathered. The two people with the most points would move on to the next round and the rest of us would head for the showers. I had managed to find two 100 point sticks which put me on top, but others were still being counted. I held my breath as I waited for the final count…I was third in my group. DARN! I was actually hoping to do it again! So I didn’t win the Jeep, but I am told that my skin had a beautiful glow afterward!  *

Luckily there are others in this hobby that are willing to be good sports and participate in some of the fun and unique challenges sponsors come up with. One of my favorite stories comes from Fran Perry in Florida. Several years ago she was listening to the car radio on her way home from work when she heard about a promotion. Whatever prize was being offered, it was good enough to make her take a detour and give it a shot. Still dressed nicely in her work clothes, Fran climbed the ladder and slid into a swimming pool full of whipped cream. She did not win the contest, but this picture is a prize in itself. **

So what about you? What were you willing to do to win a prize? Post your stories here or on the SweepsU.com Forums, so we can all enjoy and learn from each other’s experiences. We want to hear about your "Adventures in Sweepstaking"! I like to think that it is that daredevil attitude that makes sweepers special!

*To view more photos from the Jeep Stick in the Mud contest visit Gwen’s Community page on SweepsU.com

**Photo and story printed with full permission from Fran Perry.