$300 million USD? Hmm...

[bjarvis]

The Powerball lottery jackpot is now up to $300 million USD. I've got a few places I could put that kinda change... paying off the mortgage, learning to fly, perhaps some travel to Canada and Britain, remodelling of our basement and the main floor bathroom...

EDIT: That's about $346 million CDN. I only mention this because surely my mother has probably already done the calculation in her head and would be preparing to spend $347 million. :-^

Comments

[bigfundrew.livejournal.com]

dude...Dude...DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

win it and I will be your full time butler/maid/masseuse/poolboy/chauffeur/cook, K?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Hon, if I win, you're at the top of the list for a new car, a larger apartment and some mad money to blow on your kids... you deserve a break.

[bigfundrew.livejournal.com]

I'd still work for it

work being the term to define...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I so love an open-ended contract!

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Hell, if you win, I will be your personal Canadian-wannabe house boy.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

It's a wee bit premature for me to start composing a job description for a houseboy, but the idea has a certain fantasy appeal... :-)

[faghatesgods.livejournal.com]

Pick me! I'll swallow!

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I was hoping Brian would suffer a 401K malfunction so he and Kent would be forced to move in with us a live-in slaves, but you can come, too...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Um, OK, that'll be Plan B. :-)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Does the arrangement include mondragon too, or does he cost extra? :-)

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I know all the words to O Canada.
And God Save the Queen.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

I know all the words to O Canada

in both official languages?

and God Save the Queen

even the third verse,
O Lord our God arise / scatter her enemies / and make them fall
(dee da dee dah)
Confound their politics / frustrate their knavish tricks /
on thee our hopes we fix / god save us all
???

I had to learn verses 1 & 2 (God save our gracious Queen, and Thy choicest gifts in store) to get my second star when a Wolf Cub (4th East Barnet pack); but the knavish tricks verse came as a happy surprise years later.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I'll take Aguidor as my role model.

And I don't do windows.
;-)

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

complete with the bare feet?

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Yep. I prefer being barefoot. I wear Birkenstocks because they are the closest I can get to bare feet and still have shoes on. Though today I have on my big butch boots. Lotta snow out there.

I probably won't wear the wicked small cut offs, because I'm built more like a classic teddy bear than a Guatemalan twinkie.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

I prefer Birkies too! Although for some reason I grabbed my sneakers this morning.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I used to call myself a discalced Unitarian. In mediaeval times (and even today), certain orders of monks and nuns take a vow of shoelessness, and go barefoot (thus discalced, without shoes). In the modern world, they wear sandals. Birkenstocks are often the sandal of choice. So, I when I was ordained, I became a discalced Unitarian.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, most of the Unitarians and American Buddhists I know wear Birkies. Considering I have or I still consider myself one of each of the above, I guess that makes me discalced too.

But I am not an unwashed heathen -- I took a shower this morning!

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

If you're struck by lightning, which is slightly more likely, you won't need the money!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I figure someone has to win it some day and since Mother Theresa is dead, I'm as deserving as anyone else.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Keely is still hoping for a plasma screen tv...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

And a house to store it in that isn't located in Portales. You're all on the short list too, sweetie. :-)

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

thank you dear :) I'll tell her that once we move she can have the TV and her pony. Wanna spring for that, too?

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Hm. If I won that kind of money, what would I do? Probably ...

- pay off all debt for all persons in the household
- build our dream house in the Bay Area
- build a second (retirement) dream house in Vancouver
- pay off my mother's mortgage in Chicago
- take a couple of long vacations
- buy Randy a Subaru just for rallying
- make some strategic contributions to specific charitable organizations
- a few shares of Berkshire Hathaway, just 'cause it's $5K a share
- put everything else into a trust to provide for Randy & Larry and I in our old age

Yeah, that about covers it.

Live in slaves? Hm. That has a certain appeal, but I prefer the term "houseboy", "housebear", or "housecub". (Or perhaps "housebubba".)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Maxing out our annual 401(k) and Roth IRA allotments, then paying off immediate debt & my parents' debt would be my top priorities. I'm not sure how much or even how to appropriately distribute it around my siblings but since the odds of winning are trivial at best, it's not occupying a great deal of thought.

I don't think I'd want a dream house per se, but a small condo in a number of cities ready for convenient use by myself on a whim (or friends when they travel). Candidate cities would be Toronto, Vancouver, SF, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Halifax and DC. I might add others to the list as I think about it. These would also double as real estate investments for a future retirement. I'm not too proud to be an upscale slum lord. :-)

A charitable trust --possibly configured to offer challenge grants-- to help fund LGBT-centered charities would be a good thing too.

I'm not sure I'd change my car, but I'd spend a lot more on tailored clothing and all future flights would be first class rather than economy. And I'd get a new leather harness... my current one is showing its age.

Ah, such a fun fantasy...

[allanh.livejournal.com]

My class measure of "How rich would I want to be ...?" has alwahys been, "Wealthy enough to be able to fly first-class anywhere and any time that I want."

With $300M, you could buy an entire leather store. ;)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

My class measure of "How rich would I want to be ...?" has alwahys been, "Wealthy enough to be able to fly first-class anywhere and any time that I want."

Wow. Mine too. (Well, I don't know about "always", but that's certainly what it is now.)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I've never flown first class before but I'd like to before I die and/or every airline declares bankruptcy, whichever comes first.

[jss]

It, like many many other things, isn't what it used to be.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Danny will buy his one ticket and be happy.

As for me, I just sign up daily for the HGTV dream home...I think I have an astronomically better chance of winning that! ;-)

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

No you don't, because I sign up for that, too :)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll take the Powerball winnings and you can have the dream home. Isn't it sweet when we all agree? :-)

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

just remember, my lottery-ticket-purchasing friend, lotteries are a tax on people who can't do statistics.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I know it well. I consider the occasional purchase of lottery tickets to be little more than cheap entertainment, like the momentary pleasure of eating a chocolate bar or watching a monster SUV doing 55 mph in a 30 mph zone being nabbed by a speed trap.

Winning the lottery jackpot is merely a pleasant fantasy, a hopeful daydream not unlike having pro wrestler Steve Austin declare his eternal lust for me & whisking us both off to a long weekend of carnal passion. I know my odds are probably better with Steve, which is to say ferociously close to nil. But it is a nice dream.