...feel proud of yourself?

I was just looking back on old blog posts (which is what I do when I should be going to sleep since my alarm clock is set for 6 am due to seminar catching up.) I'm pretty happy with myself for keeping up the Did you ever... scheme for labeling blog entries.

ON a side note, the lottery thing is kind of wearing off. Though, now that I've started it, I feel like it's hard not to continue. I also learned that you can write off lottery tickets if you save them. At least I get a small tax break. The feeling of excitement noted in a previous post has turned into a feeling of the unliklihood of winning anything. Not so much with the glamorous. Maybe things would get better if I left a waitress one of my lottery tickets as a tip.

Where's a hot waitress when you need one? Oh yeah...Cilantro!

...say a weird sentence?

Tonight I had to say the sentence "...not that I'm trying to equate having cancer with being gay."

Is anyone surprised?

...feel haughty?

I picked something up at the Hyde Park Kroger today. It made me feel pretty fancy. I mean, I don't have a lot of money (still no lottery luck) but the people there don't know that. In the morning, there are 3 types of people at the Hyde Park Kroger:

1. Old people.

2. Moms with kids. (I didn't see any dads with kids)

3. Super fit wives in workout gear.

I was wearing a tie so I think I was going for "young business guy coming into work late."

THe thing about the HPK is the little things. There's an olive bar, for instance; also, there's a liquor store. Can you see the Kroghetto having a liquor store? Probably not. At the deli counter, they had samples of ham cubes but instead of toothpicks, they had stick pretzels! How cool is that? In the real world, we use toothpicks for free samples, but here at HPK, you can even eat the toothpicks!

Edible toothpicks...the rich have everything! All that tax break money going to good use!

...protest?

So, it's October and still over 80 degrees outside. This is not ok. I know Jason and Breighan are all about it, but October is for: butternut squash, light jackets, Vince Guaraldi music, apples, apple cider, girls dressing inappropriately on the final day.

I'm going on weather strike until I get some of those things. I'm not really sure what that means, but I wouldn't say it if I weren't serious.

Also, I am still not a millionaire. Go ahead and assume that if I do become one, I'll post something about it on my blog using my new solid gold computer while being fanned by the UC dance team and listening to Breighan explain why I'm, in general, always right.

...feel a new rush?

At 10:43, I have an overwhelming feeling that everything could change in 17 minutes. Of course, the odds of me winning any money are insurmountable, but the feeling is unique. At the blackjack table in Vegas, you win or lose a little at a time. Although the potential for overall gain fuels continuous play, you must gradually overcome a slim mathematical advantage over an extended amount of time(in many games, the house only retains a 1% advantage, which is sufficient over a long duration. A concept John refuses to apply to poker, yet has kept casinos in business for literally centuries).

I don't mind not winning. Two dollars is a small price to pay for the feeling of possibility once a week.

...try to 30 million-uple your money?

Today is day 1 in trying to turn $2 into $60,000,000. I feel that it's important to write out all the zeros to give the ammount of my potential future bank account (pre-taxes) its proper respect. Wish me luck.

...pick numbers?

So, I believe I've picked my numbers. 3 of the numbers are the month/date/year of my late grandfather's birthday. He also played the lottery every week. He never really won much. But perhaps he's in more of a power position now. The other 2 numbers are my late maternal grandmother's birthday. Sadly, I never met her since she died when my mom was 12. The powerball number is my family's lucky number.

Here's the concern: All of the number are lower than 25. Also, three of the numbers are consecutive. The logic side of my brain tells me that it's just as probable for the number to come out 1-2-3-4-5-6 as they are to come 3-56-25-17-32-9. But, checking with my gut as John always tells me is the way to make a correct poker play, those kinds of things make me nervous. I looked into the recent winning numbers and there have been days both with 3 consecutive numbers and with all numbers within a certain range. I suppose, since I used all birthdays, I wasn't really giving myself a chance to have numbers higher than 30 and increasing the likelyhood of consecutive numbers. Of course, now if I change it, I'll have to check my old numbers...and then likely do bodily harm if my "old" numbers hit. Maybe I should play 2 sets of numbers. The ones I picked and some new, spread out numbers. What do people think? (and by "people," I mean Brian and Emily...and occasionally Breighan)

...feel lucky?

I don't, necesserily. But after watching It Could Happen to You I decided that it would be fun and not terrib;y cost-preventitive to buy a lottery ticket once a week. I did a little research and I've decided to play the Mega-Millions lotto which is a 12-state lotto. I figure if I'm going to do this, I might as well have very long odds (1 in 175,711,536 according to megamillions.com)with a large payout. Also, the long odds will give me a chance to think about what I'd do if I won. Although, I'm pretty sure I'd at least consider giving some money to people who post on my blog regularly. ... just some incentive.

Another interesting thing I'm finding is that although the big prize is won very seldomly, each week there are somewhere between 3 and 10 $250,000 winners and anywhere from 10-60 $10,000 winners.

Well, wish me luck! Shuffle up and deal! Wait, what do you say for lotto? "Hey kinda hot, but not quite real model potential lady, read those ping pong balls!"

First ticket will be purchased on Friday. Tomorrow I think I'll do a numbers picking post.

...realize how beautiful Breighan is?

Yeah, me either. :cP

...create controversy?

I mixed a packet of Meijer apple/cinnamon instant oatmeal with a packet of Kroger apple/cinnamon instant oatmeal and ate it. Now I'm experiencing a lot of inner turmoil for no reason.