How do I request a free pocket protector?

This question came as a response to the "Accuracy vs. Precision" posting of Sept. 29, 2008. The full text of the question is:
"How do I accurately request a free pocket protector as a gift for my husband when I cannot even understand what he does for a living with any precision, much less understand your articles?
To be precise, I am a classical musician who loves my engineer husband dearly and think he would get a kick out of having one of your pocket protectors. ;-)"

Obviously, you already have asked. Requesting is easy, getting is another matter. As my wife has been known to say: "It"s good to want things. It builds character!"

The pocket protectors aren’t free. A longtime friend of mine, pundit, cookbook publisher, sausage maker, and writer of articles about high technology, Dan Romanchik designed the “ENGINEER… and proud of it” pocket protector a horrifyingly long time ago. I believe it had something to do with a “Dilbert” comic strip that set him off. You never know what will set Dan off, or what interesting results will be forthcoming. He had 1.3 kazillion of them made, and now sells them for (the last time I checked) $2.50 each. I expect he still has a few hundred milli-kazillion left.

About ten years ago, when I was chief editor of R&D Magazine’s Data Acquisition Newsletter, I purchased about 50 of them to use as prizes in a contest. I still use those left over for promotions as needed.

Currently, the only way to get a free “ENGINEER…and proud of it” pocket protector is to submit a question to Ask Charlie that I use on-Web. Since you have done that, there’s one in the mail to you, now.

Have fun! If you can’t have fun, don’t do it.