You Can't Win if You Don't Play

I hardly ever buy lottery tickets, but a historically large jackpot is worth throwing a couple of bucks at. I had the kids pick a couple of numbers and did quick picks for the rest. Total cost $5 - potential winnings at this point $640,000,000 or $462,000,000 after taxes.

We've all heard sad stories of people who win large jackpots and squander it away quickly due to shady investments or bad financial sense. This is so much money I think it would be hard to squander.

So what would I do with it? First pay off ALL debt. Then set up a fully funded college fund for each kid. Help out immediate family with financial needs (second cousins twice removed need not apply). Take care of the long list of things we plan to do to our house when we have the money.

A decent chunk should go to charity. There are a ton of worthy causes in the world, but off hand I would give money to fund MS research, and something to help hungry people in the US. I'm always appalled when I hear that there are millions of people going hungry in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. And in this economy, those numbers have increased dramatically.

Then for the fun stuff.

Travel. My bucket list is long, but the African safari with Micato has been top of the list for ages. Then Australia/New Zealand. All first class of course.

I've always loved the Cartier tank watches, not sure which specific model I would get, but that's a decision I wouldn't mind having to make.

Right now I drive a Highlander which is great for 3 kids, but I'd love a fun little sporty car for those rare times I don't have to have the kids with me.

That's all off the top of my head. I know my chances of winning are infinitesimally small, but it's fun to dream. If I did win I would never publicize it, and would only tell the people who I can trust. So if I do win, don't expect a post about it, although my posts may become a little more interesting as I spend my winnings traveling the world :)

The Talk

As I've mentioned, my oldest daughter recently turned 8 and after overhearing a couple of her comments about procreation that were inaccurate I figured it was time to set the record straight.  Her comments were totally innocent and actually pretty sweet - like when she told her sister that lions have to get married to have cubs.  Now I know Simba and Nala fell in love, but I don't think Rafiki ever actually conducted a wedding :)

Then today in the car her sister was reading one of the Puppy Place books and asked what a dog breeder is.  Anyway so after dinner tonight, while her younger brother and sister were cleaning up I asked her what if anything she knew about how babies were made.  She looked at me all confused, because up until now we used the "when two people love each other very much their love makes a baby", and focused on how the baby grows once in Mom's belly and how it comes out.

Having a little brother in the house, she knows about the basic difference of boys and girls. Rather than going into all the details of intercourse, I decided to make this a big picture of how mammals reproduce. At bit wimpy I know, but not inaccurate. She already knew about women having eggs inside them as we've talked a little bit about menstruation, but knew nothing about sperm. 

After explaining that the males put their penises into the female's vagina, and the sperm meets the egg, she had the expected response
- Eewww, I don't want anyone doing that to me.
- You'll change your mind about that when you get older.
A couple of minutes later she asked if her Dad had done that to me? 
- Yes. 
- When? 
- About 9 months before each of you were born. 

We'll deal with the discussion of sex for fun later, but at this age while she's still grossed out, it's fine for her to assume it's an occasional thing. I also used this as a chance to try to explain the word "sexy" and why I think it is inappropriate for kids to sing songs like, "I'm sexy and I know it".  I realize it's a catchy tune, but not something a grade schooler should be singing.

Overall it was pretty painless, but I'm sure the follow-up questions will be coming, which is part of the reason I timed this talk for this week (while she's on spring break).  Hopefully we'll have everything covered before she goes back to school. I also told her that some parents may not have had this talk with their kids (especially younger ones), so no need to talk about it too much at school either.  

The Litigators

It's been a while since I read a John Grisham book. Usually they are entertaining but not much different from one to another. My Dad had bought this one while he was staying with us over the holidays, finished it and left it here, so I figured it was worth a read.

This is the story of a couple of "street lawyers" aka "ambulance chasers" who are struggling to make ends meet. Oscar is eager to retire but can't afford to, the Wally is younger and is always on the lookout of hitching on to a mass tort case that will make them rich. They are joined by David, a former corporate lawyer, who fled the grind one day, and ended up at Finley & Figg with no plan, but ends up joining their practice.

Wally finally does find his potential gold mine case in a drug called Krayoxx, which is believed to cause heart disease and death. He is quickly over his head and despite connecting with a big wealthy firm that specializes in mass tort, as usual anything that seems too easy to be true, usually is. Overall it was a quick read, and pretty entertaining.

Mass tort lawyers and street lawyers are probably among the specialties with the worst reputation in the legal profession. In this book, you definitely sympathize with Finley & Figg, and get even more disgusted with mass tort lawyers. Grisham shows how many of these lawyers and their paid experts make fortunes and the people they are representing get next to nothing.

Personally I think most of the class actions that take place in this country are unfounded, and in most cases they are driven by lawyers looking to line their pockets even further by preying on the emotions of families of sick people. I do like to learn something from any book I read, and while I'm sure the sleaze factor was ramped up to make it easier to side with Finley & Figg, it was interesting to learn more about how these class actions work. As with any Grisham book, in the end everything is wrapped up pretty quickly and favorably for the main characters but not necessarily in the way you would expect. Overall I enjoyed it, but it's not a book I would proactively recommend.

Next up: 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  It's also been a while since I've read anything by King, but this one seemed interesting.  It'll probably take me a while as I have the hardcover which in King's usual style is over 800 pages so not real easy to bring around with me.