Stumbling along.

* MCR is currently having a half-price points sale on most of the stock for their current all-things-photo-printed partner, Shutterfly. (Yes, I have made pony jokes. There's a yellow pegasus out there who will never sue because she just doesn't have that kind of aggression.) As with their previous partner, you can get prints, books, your image on a mug, blanket, poster... Presumably all images must have clothing involved. Or not. The half-price sale has made them pretty popular, to where Item #1 on the charts is the 50 prints for 25 points. (Plus shipping.) Dead Freaking Last for non-regional rewards is the official Battleship movie T-shirt at 760 points. However, that one is kind of MCR's own fault, because...

* ...they've been experimenting with social media lately. The program has just about always had a Facebook presence and they've even been tweeting here and there. It's still a horrible place to go for any information other than 'call our customer service line so they can ignore you'. But they've also been posting special Social Media Only rewards -- and total freebies, redeemed at no points cost. Put up the link and it's there until it's gone. (It usually takes a certain number of Likes or retweets to trigger.) One of those complete freebies was the official Battleship movie T-shirt. 0 points. Gone within minutes. In fact, it arguably did better than the movie. There's also been posters, a McDonald's coupon (for the spicy chicken bites, now on the regular menu at 75 points -- serving size not listed) -- people are now forced to check in with those sites and hope to spot the link before the stock runs out. Or check SlickDeals and cross fingers on great timing.

So it shouldn't surprise them that the shirt isn't selling well after they gave it away for twenty minutes. And the movie's performance may also be their fault. I haven't decided.

* This link is for a miniature bean bag chair designed to hold your cell phone. It costs 350 points.

http://tinyurl.com/brxvvrv

No, really.

No, it doesn't charge the phone.

Yes, your boss is justified in firing you if she sees it on your desk.

* Another new partner: the Hilton Honors hotel rewards program. MCR is offering the chance to convert one kind of points into another, at an exchange rate of 225 MCR to 500 HH -- or 800 MCR to 1500 HH.

Think about that last one for a second.

I've been through some of the Hilton catalog. Supposedly free hotel rooms start around the 7500 level, but that's got to be Dates Available, Off-Season, and The Broom Closet Counts As A Room. I do appreciate that they really have things regionalized -- different continents get different catalogs -- but for the most part, the conversion rate is horrible. Right now, MCR's scant non-Nike gift cards are 1750 points for $25. (Nike remains 1000=$25 -- for now.) So 7000=$100. Hilton Honors offers gift cards of all types -- at 50k of their points for $100. A direct conversion across from MCR to that level would require 22,500 MCR points.

For the record: at full maximum entry per week without figuring for bonus points, that's nearly four years.

The SlickDealers are starting to discuss this. One person in the programs says HH points expire if you don't add fresh ones every so often, so this at least keeps that account active. Also that even a lousy Hampton Inn takes at least 10k for a room and 20k if it's of moderate quality. So -- pass. Once again, I'm better off selling Nike cards through Plastic Jungle and paying with the resulting cash. I'm not sure that's what they had in mind.

* Have you ever seen an AM/PM convenience store? I haven't. But that chain is putting out special codes: you can enter one a day followed by nearly any two product codes (bottles through 20-packs) and get ten bonus points. Seventy a week through July 31st if you play it right. Happily, MCR has made the codes publicly available on-site. It's no ArcticHome for bonus points, but it's better than the standard 120. And it's also given the three-point caps extra value, because you can't enter a dozen twelve-pack labels over a week and get the full bonus: you'll fall one day short. So now there's a trade market again. Huzzah.

* Supposedly if you enter a code from a special 28-pack (available at Walmart only) this month, you get access to a limited-edition Olympic catalog. I've seen exactly one of those packs. Ever. My Walmart doesn't have any and likely isn't planning to get some. I'll try to trade for one because I'm morbidly curious to see just how bad it is. (One public Olympic reward catalog sold out within hours -- pins.) I just don't have any faith in the results. Walmart's offered one exclusive catalog before this, and it was two discounted magazines and a few points off song downloads. Not encouraging.

* Speaking of which, Last Prize in a recent IW was one song download.

For one specific song prechosen by MCR.

No substitutions or changes.

* Unless something spectacular hits the catalog, I should be at 12k by the end of the season. Slow, steady progress towards -- something. It's still too early for word on program renewal or final ending.

I'm kind of rooting for final ending.