breathing easy - GIVEAWAY CLOSED

edited to add:  winner of the oreck air purifier posted here. 

okay, so when people do reviews on stuff they get for free, it always seems like they're just being nice because - well, they got free shit.  right?

and that's my way of telling you that i'm about to dazzle you with a review on a product that i was given at no cost to me.  full disclosure here, people.  and yes, i do feel kind of obligated to be super nice about it because, well, i got something for free.  but at the same time, i don't wanna be a sellout like that.

except that in this case, i really don't have anything bad to say.  when the social media rep at oreck contacted me about testing out one of their newest products in exchange for a review on the bloggy-blog, i was all like "hell yes, i'm in!"  because, as i've said before, i love me a freebie.  but i'll admit it:  i wasn't all that stoked when i found out that what i'd be getting wasn't one of their world-famous vacuum cleaners...i was going to be reviewing an air purifier.

you're thinking, wah waaaaaah.  right?  so was i, but then i realized that hey! who cares, i get to try something out and keep it - and give one away to one of you guys (more on that later) - plus, this thing has a retail value of $499.99.  sah-weet!

so i was excited when UPS dropped this off late one evening:

"what the hell is that?" the hub wanted to know.  and as i went about my business, getting dinner ready, he took on the task of unpacking the thing and figuring out how to get it set up.

i thought it was pretty cool, actually.  kind of space-y looking, and very sleek.

we set it up right next to the dining room and turned it on.  it came to life immediately, and the light inside the round opening went from a light blue to a deep purple.  i wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

the hub, having skimmed through the quickstart guide, said that the color of the light is an indicator of how bad the air is that it's sucking in and filtering through.  and since i'd been cooking in the not-too-far-away kitchen, it made sense that it was working a little extra hard.

we've had it for quite a while now (actually, this review is quite a bit overdue - sorry, chelsea!), and i actually have noticed a difference.  before, when i was at work in the kitchen, the aroma of whatever i was cooking or baking would waft throughout the entire house.  it's actually made to work in a room up to 248 square feet, but it seems to keep the smells to a minimum.  it doesn't make a whole lot of noise, and although an air purifier wasn't necessarily something high on my list of priorities, i'm glad we have it.  the bean doesn't sneeze as much inside the house as she used to, and that's a good thing.

the hub accused me of standing in front of it and ripping one when the light turned an angry red once:

i will neither admit nor deny.  heh.  but i can tell you that if there were any suspicious odors that caused the angry red light to come on, you sure couldn't tell after a few seconds.  you know, IF anything had happened in that instance. 

and now, for the fun part - you, too, can be the proud owner of an oreck air purifier of your very own!  first, here's some boring information that i'm required to provide: 

• you must be a resident of the 48 contiguous states in the U.S.  sorry, alaska, hawaii and oh, the rest of the world.  these aren't my rules.  i got mad love for all of you.
• again, i was given my airinstinct air purifier by oreck corporation at no cost to me.
• oreck corporation is providing the prize for this giveaway, but is not the sponsor.  that would be me.
• you have from right this minute until next friday, february 10th at 11:59 pm PST to enter.  i'll announce the winner on monday, february 13th.
• winner will be drawn via my friend random.org.

cool?  we good?  okay.  now there's one thing that you have to, must absolutely, positively do in order to be eligible to win:

• i need you to visit oreck.com and tell me (in a comment below) one thing you learned about the airinstinct.  kind of like homework, but not really.  but this is the one thing you really have to do in order to be entered in this giveaway.  plus, make sure you leave me a way to get ahold of you.  your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose of contacting you in regards to this giveaway.  if random.org picks you, i send you an e-mail, and i don't hear back from you by friday, february 17th at 5:00 pm PST, i'll pick a new winner.  don't let that happen to you.  that would be sad.

and after that's done, here's a few different ways that you can sneak in bonus entries to better your chances of purifying your own gassy odors with your very own oreck airinstinct:

• follow @oreck on twitter.
• tweet a link to this blog post.  be sure to mention me (@luvbabyb) and @oreck in the tweet.
• "like" oreck on facebook.
• share a link to this blog post via facebook.
• sign up for oreck's e-mail list by clicking on "sign up for e-mail" in the top navigation bar and entering your e-mail address.
• with each of these extra chances, make sure you leave me another comment here to let me know you did [insert bonus entry method here].

simple, right?  now, off with you.  go on, learn about the airinstinct and then earn those bonus entries!  spread the word!  whee!