...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.

...listen to dangerous car music?

I don't normally talk about music nerd stuff, but I think this is kinda funny. There are two pieces that are very dangerous to listen to in the car. One I've known about for a while and one I just learned tonight.

First, the transition from the Lullabye to the Infernal Danse in th Firebird Suite. The entire lullabye is very soft and ends with soft, high strings. While in the car, you're forced to tuen your speakers way up to hear it. There you are, driving along, lulled by this lullabye...then BAM! that opening chord of the danse hits and I jump every time. Very dangerous.

The second such occurence is in Haydn's Creation. There's an opening ritornello and then the solists come in with sparse accompaniment. Once again, the volume is turned way up in order to hear everything clearly. Then when you get to the big ff C major chord at the word "licht" (as in - let there be...), I jump again.

So, beware of these pieces.

...realize how hard they make it to recycle?

So, I'm cleaning out my closet and found my old broken Epson printer. Although I am far from "green" I figured it would probably be best if I recycle it instead of throwing in in the garbage bin. I did a bit of googling and found this on the Epson website:

Together with customers like you, we can reduce the burden on our environment through recycling. The fee for this service is only $10 per item which includes shipping and recycling costs. And, by participating in this program with Epson, you'll not only be helping to improve the environment, but you'll also receive a $5 coupon per item returned, good on your next purchase at the Epson Store!

So, it would cost me money to recycle and then I'm given further incentive to buy the same kind of printer that just broke. Now, I understand recycling isn't free and I'd hope to think that the $10 barely if at all covers the cost of recycling. But, come on! Anyway, unless someone has a better alternative (or is in need of a free, bulky scanner), it's going in the garbage tomorrow!

...shut off your phone after a football game?

I'm sure people are expecting me to comment on the "game" this past Saturday. Apart from everything else, I think having 2 field goals blocked is inexcusable and a blatant coaching error. I also think that the media is ignoring the fact that App State is a two time reigning div-II champ. Making it sound like they are lower
than the worst MAC-10 team or something is an exaggeration. A championship team is a championship team. A top 5 team should not lose to anyone, let alone a div-II team, but I think losing to Eastern Michigan would be more embarrassing.

As for the rest of the season, here's the way I see it: obviously if this is indicative of the entire season, we won't get past oregon, Penn State, Wisconsin, or Ohio State and it doesn't really matter if we won or lost this game. However, if this was a fluke, all this loss cost us was the championship game. To be honest, we're not a chamionship team this year. We're not beating USC or LSU. We can still win the big 10 and go the rose bowl. In the position Michigan is in after the past few years, we're better off winning the Rose Bowl than losing the BCS championship game. But, as Michigan and Pistons fans know, we always have a very good team that finds new ways to disappoint.

...witness an incredible feat of driving?

This kind of thing happens a lot in Cincinnati, but today I was in awe. I was about to get into the turn lane for my interstate exit. As I turned my blinker on, I noticed the car behind me turned his/her on at the same time. I was going about 65 and was a quarter mile from the exit. The car actually went about 72 mph to go around me to my left so he/she could get off the exit first. Like most exits, we both ended up at a light.

I can understand trying to get in front of a car in traffic or something, but to get off an exit? I'd love to hear some of your Cincinnati driving stories!