Geofftech - 50 pence - Contributors 151 to 175

It's still Monday 5th January, and it's time to hit my inbox. But before that I just remembered that I found the following on my fridge yesterday (right). Someone has been round my place recently and formed the words 'ipod cha11enge', out of the magnetic letters that I have - and I have no idea who did it, or how long it's been there! But it is funny.

First out of the bag in my email though is William O'Neal (154) from Virginia who says that "I've had four of them" (I assume he's talking about iPods) and wishes me good luck. No nominated tune though William!

He did however have the best email signature that I've seen for ages that read:

"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words." - I love it!

Ole-Martin Baekkeli (155) is from Norway (thank you!), and thinks that "Everyone should have an iPod!". And I couldn't agree more. Thanks again for your contribution.

Contributor Jonathan (#131) mails me again, as he's now spoken to his wife, who after much deliberation is contributing as well. She was very happy to, but she wanted to think of the right tune to nominate first, and now she's got one. She wants "What's so funny about peace, loving and understanding" and there are two versions one by Nick Lowe and one by Elvis Costello. More than happy to do that for you .. er .. er .. Oh - I've just realised that Jonathan does not tell me her name! So all I can say is thank you Mrs. Peterson (156)

I'm particularly amused by the next one. I get an email from Mischa McLachlan (157), except I then notice that he's sent me £2.00 - ie. £1.50 too much.

And I'm just about to PayPal him back some change, when I notice he's emailed me again a couple up in my inbox, and says - "Oops, didn't read the whole page first!" i.e. he's realised I only want 50p, but then gets round it nicely by saying "The other three 50p's can therefore be from my cat and two hamsters".

So I email him back, and he sends me a picture of his cat Neko, and he tells me that his hamsters are called Spock and Kirk. I like it! He also nominates "Ride a black swan" by Zwan. Oh, and that's (158), (159) and (160) as well then.

A quick and simple one next follows from Morgan Jones (161) who just says "Good luck". No idea where he is, or anything - but thanks Morgan!

Ah .. he later mails me back telling me that he's in Northern Virginia, and also he was happy to contribute because he loved the link I've got elsewhere on these webpages to the site Things Me And My Girlfriend Have Argued About. (If are a bloke, and you have a woman in your life, you will be able to relate to this). And I've probably just alienated any more women who read this from contributing. Oops!

Next is Jason Myers (162) contribution (thank you!) which also says "Good luck". He's from Manchester, Tennessee - and I have to admit that he wrote in his email: "Manchester. TN" and my lack of knowledge of American states meant that I had to go and look up 'TN' on this website before I knew what it was short for - sorry Jason! But the good thing is that my American geography is improving no end since I've started this.

Philip Underdown (163) from Gardiner, New York (but he was born in the UK!) is next up, and he makes an excellent observation - "How are you going pay for all the songs that people nominate - You are going to pay for them aren't you?". Uh, uh, uh, uuuuh - good point!

Tell you what - I'll let you know once (if?) I get the iPod! Anyway, he nominates "The Raven" from the Stranglers album of the same name. Now you see I know I've got an old scratchy vinyl copy of the Stranglers 'Best of' kicking around somewhere, but I bet you 50p that that track isn't on it!

Chris Holland (164) from Basingstoke in the UK got a third generation 20Gb iPod for christmas, and he wrote "I'm keen to share the joy - so keep blagging". Cheers Chris, and blag I will. Thanks!

He works with one of the members of the band Threshold from whence I must take any tune as his nominated track.

Nick Clive (165) is from LLanarth here in Wales, and it occurs to me that in the same way that I didn't know where some American states were, I have no idea where Llanarth is, so I go and look it up and find it nestling just slightly inland on the west coast of Wales.

Nick's happy to give me 50p, but I think is just amused by the whole thing as he's "Not that really into the music thing to be honest", but is happy to contribute. Nice one - thanks Nick!

Michael Beno (166) from Chicago, wades in next on PayPal, wishes me luck and notes that "It's a smart move getting this up on iPodlounge" Well, it wasn't me that posted there! Someone did it, but it wasn't me - honest.

Michael actually gives me slightly less than 50p, but he promises to send me the rest just as soon as he's sold some of his unwanted christmas gifts on eBay!

My most elusive contributor yet comes in the form of John McGuire (167) who reveals no details about himself, no comments, and the PayPal email is marked with a note that says "Please do not reply to this email". Ok, I won't! All I can do is say thanks to you here John. A shame, because I have made the time to email back absolutely everyone so far that had sent me a contribution by PayPal, but not in this instance.

Kevin Hayden (168) tells me that "You're the man!" with his contribution - thanks Kevin! He's from New Jersey, but he's currently living in Hawaii.

Whilst Mike Wilkes (169) from Salem, OR, was extremely generous in Paypal'ing me $5.00 USD, so I'm about to send him back some change. Hang on .. OR, that's gonna be Oregon, right? [ checks ] .. it is! Y'see - I'm learning.

And, ah ... here we go. Here's the one I've been quietly dreading. Annette Lacey (170) has eventually sent me her contribution, and in return (as promised) for her, I'm having to put up a picture relating to Arsenal Football Club, as she is a fan of them. I've been dreading it, because they're the local rivals to my own football team that I support Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs).

So, as provided by her, here's a picture of their most famous French forward player Thierry Henry. She also nominates Oasis "Acquiesce" as her song to eventually go on the iPod. Thanks Annette!

And that finally gets all the emails in my inbox done! I've just remembered though that whilst playing football tonight, one of the chaps there was happy to donate, because he also found the link to Things Me And My Girlfriend Have Argued About, and he laughed his pants off.

Well that's what he said, but I bet his pants didn't actually physically move when he laughed. Who knows? He didn't want his photo taken though, in fact he wanted to remain anonymous! So you'll just have to trust me that he's real, when I just use his initials and say thank you to 'JA' (171) for your contribution.

And welcome to Tuesday 6th January, on the day when at the Mac Expo the new iPod Minis were launched upon us! What do you mean you haven't seen them yet? They're new! They're cute & small! And they come in five different colours. But I'm still holding out for a proper one though.

Some 50p's arrive in the snail mail today from people who've posted them over the past few days. Firstly George Pilkington (172) who re-used a christmas card he had (!), crossed out the names, and stuck inside a piece of paper with four different coloured 'Mac Silhoutte' freeze frames from the iPod adverts, along with a poem - well rhyme, really - which read:

Geoff:
For you Santa may be late,
So here's another 50p.
iPod?
Well worth the wait!

So big big thanks George, who also nominates Billy Idol "White Wedding" as his tune, as he wrote in one of his original emails to me "As you will soon(!?) be married to this gorgous, sleek, curvacious, smooth and loving lady (or man whatever you prefer!!) whom is dressed in white!!" Excellent! Also included inside is a rare 2002 dated 50 pence piece.

Which does reminds me .. I'm going to take this opportunity now to say that I do have a girlfriend, and she has already 'booked' herself in to be the last contributor - e.g. number 500 and so she can officially be the last person to hand over fifty pence.

Next in the post is Michael Atkins (173) who is from Tunbridge Wells , Kent and writes me a nice long letter, in which he nominates the tune Weird Al Yankovich "The Saga Begins", which apparantly is the story of Star Wars sung to the theme of "American Pie" ... ok!! Thank you Michael, I'll include it.

Best of all though, the 50p which he's taped down inside is an ultra-rare 2003 dated one, which I think now is only my second one. When I get to 200 people, I'll update the statistics page, and have a count up again.

So back home, it's time to delve into my mailbox again, and there still some PayPal contributions coming in.

How's this for a cool name - Ilja Nieuwland (174) PayPal's me 50pence, and he's from Groningen in the Netherlands.

He says that I can write about him whatever I like about him, and spice things up a bit... perhaps say that he's an evil dictator of his country or something!

Well, Ilja, I would, but it's late, I'm tired and the creative juices aren't flowing either, sorry - All these updates take flippin' ages to do!

But hey, look, I did find a nice map to show people where you are in the world!

Finally, to end this segment of 25, I will type the name of Rick Richardson (175) the name of my contributor here, but it's actually such a totally cool story, that it deserves to be told fresh from the top of the next new page.