Cross-Posted from a blog entry I made about five engines ago. Original Date: 4/12/2006.

In March 2006, I saw some promotional stunt online whereas anyone who watched three of their ASP screencasts would receive a free copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition and a copy for $400 off the Pro edition. I expected it to be a load of BS, but I went ahead and watched the screencasts anyway. Much to my suprise, it arrived in the mail today along with a freakin’ BOOK entitled “Moving to Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0?. The book is labeled ‘not for resale’ so I’d have to guess it would sell for around $40-50 based on the industry-standard price-to-thickness ratio. Additionally, I got a coupon for 50% off my next Microsoft Certified Professional exam. This wasn’t in my list of exams to take (it is now!), but it expired on May 31, 2006. Damn.