I am Eric, Conquistador of the Apple iTunes/Pepsi Giveaway

I’m driving down a familiar route in my hometown, and I confess, I’m a danger to other drivers. I’m watching the road mostly with my peripheral vision. My prey is too important and I can’t afford to let it by. Afterall, this prey is quite diminutive. It’s less than one cubic inch, yellow, and usually attached to a 20 oz. Pepsi bottle. Fortunately for me, empty beverage containers are a plenty along most of my jaunts. I scour the roadside, not for recyclables, God Save the Earth, but for the elusive Pepsi cap with a winning iTunes Code. My wife has enjoyed me “bagging” my prey, a successful hunter, tossing a cap a day or so in her lap to redeem at the iTunes music store via her iBook. I’m admittedly addicted. I’m obsessed with finding more.Granted, I enjoyed following the lead of the well-published “hack” and even tried the old bottle-tilt for one purchase of a diet Pepsi last week, but there’s MUCH more fun in finding treasure that most folks deem to be trash. I bet I’ve picked up more than a half-dozen in the past 10 days or so. I’ve found plenty along the road, but also in the shopping cart corral at the grocery store…I pilfered 2 off of the gal who takes my order at the pharmacy, and of course others have brought them to me after downing a week’s worth of sugar water.The best is finding them discarded in full-public view. I can’t wait for a friend or family member to see me off the road, with my hazard lights on, doubling back on foot to pick up a bottle I passed.I love the irony of the whole situation. Let me paint an exaggerated, and somewhat snooty picture to illustrated said irony: Average Joe finishes a long shift working the assembly line, then treats himself to a fizzy Pepsi. He opens it, sees the cryptic 10-digit code inside the cap, and doesn’t know how that will grant him herein promised “ONE FREE SONG.” After finishing the bottle, he screws the cap back on the bottle, and tosses it out the passenger window since he’s not eco-conscious (like me). He MIGHT have a computer at home….might even be aware that iTunes is available as a Windows download. Regardless, it’s still Greek to him. After a couple of days, I venture down the same road and have the ultimate “I Spy” moment when that little dot of yellow catches my eye. A quick check of the rear-view and I’m on the brakes, and digging into the shoulder. the hazard lights come on, and I’m out as fast as traffic allows. I pounce. A quick twist of the cap, and my prey is rendered lifeless. Inside, I have found the code and I know I have enough credits that I can now download an ENTIRE album of my choice. I must be an excellent hunter….every cap I’ve severed from the bottle has been a winner.I was dropping off the recycling with my wife this afternoon and it dawned on me…Oh. There may be PLENTY of those yellow caps in the dumpster!!! My wife shall shake her head and roll her eyes.