By now almost all of you might already have gmail accounts, but yesterday I created two accounts without any invitation through a site ( http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php). How it works is that people with spare invitations send the links to its database, and it sends them back to willing people. If you want one, go to the above site, if there are invitations remaining, enter your email address (I don't know about its privacy policy) and press ENTER (there is no SUBMIT button). You should immediately receive one invitation!