Okay, first, the Wall Street Journal reports that 85% of the commercial slots on the Super Bowl had already been sold by mid-September, when normally around half the spots would still be up for grabs.

Then, the stock market has its worst week ever, with people seeing their investments shrink by about forty percent compared to a year ago.

Could I have picked a less perfect time to be scrambling to raise three million dollars for my Super Bowl personal ad?

Hoping the economy would stage some miraculous turnaround, I put off launching the PayPal link on my site, but since it doesn’t look like things will be bouncing back any time soon, I’ve decided to add two new options for people who’d like to support my cause.

Along with the usual Platinum, Gold and Silver levels of giving, I’ve added a Copper level; I did the math, and with approximately 300 million people in the U.S., if every American sends in just a penny, I’ll have exactly enough to buy my spot! If springing for a stamp would be a hardship, you can always be a proud Scrap Metal level supporter, which basically just requires that you send some encouraging thoughts my way and maybe pass around a link to SuperBowlSingleGirl.com.

After all, this whole thing is about looking for love and happiness — the last thing I’d want is anyone having to explain to their kids, ‘Mommy gave her last ten bucks to help some girl named Amila* find a husband — that’s why we’re eating ketchup.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * (“Amila”, AY-muh-luh, is what my mother used to call me, and it kind of stuck as a nickname.)