On the upside, the Monopoly game is back at McDonald's!!!

This means, I will be frequenting this establishment between now and November 14th. The good news it, I have recently discovered my love of the Fruit and Walnut salad (which they made smaller and changed to a snack...oh well) and so now when I stop off for a lovely dessert of apples, grapes, walnuts, and yogurt, I can get a Diet Coke and 2 Monopoly pieces.

Better yet, however, is the ultimate "bang-for-your-buck" breakfast of 2 hash browns (2/$1) and a medium Diet Coke. For $2.66, I get 6 Monopoly pieces!

But wait! There's more! In addition to the "collect stamps on a game board and win" game...they have added an online element, which is sweet. Every piece you get has a code on it, and when entered online, provides you a roll on a Monopoly board. Your token moves around the board, landing on spaces and claiming them. If you roll a double, you get a free turn. And there are prizes on Chance, Community Chest, Free Parking, and Go spaces. I have already won 50 free picture prints from Snapfish.com. Sadly, your online game and the real-life stamps game aren't interchangeable (if you land on Boardwalk on the online board and you have Park Place in stamp form, you do not win $1,000,000). However, if you land on both on the internet game (easier than actually getting the pieces), you win $10,000...which is still cool. Mostly, I want to land on Go ($200 American Express gift card) and Free Parking (currently: a PSP; in a couple weeks: $300 Best Buy gift card).

I'm more hooked to the online game than the stamp one. So I will be having McDonald's breakfasts a lot in the coming month. (The good news is that 2 hash browns aren't that unhealthy. Not as good as a bowl of cereal, but certainly better than other breakfast foods (omelette, pancakes, bagel with cream cheese, or Egg McMuffin).

Certainly, I must win something if I play enough...