HikeArizona.COM

With the Mega Millions drawing tonight estimated at $355M :GB: ($224M cash option: pay Uncle Sam and end up with about $130M to spend)...

First of all, I would NOT quit my job. I might ask to introduce some flexibility to my schedule, but I enjoy working.

I'd also donate a bunch of cash to a variety of causes I care for. And if I wasn't able to keep working with my new flex schedule, I would set up a variety of gigs to volunteer for.

Then I'd start getting selfish. Pay off the house. Maybe make some minor improvements (new floors, some furniture, etc.), though nothing absurd (I do not need a $50k home theatre/media room or an indoor bowling alley).

I'd like to do some traveling, and that would probably constitute the bulk of my future spending. Kilimanjaro, check. Definitely New Zealand. Skiing in Argentina and Chile. Need to get to Phuket sometime. And Seychelles. Eastern Europe.

I better get back to work. This could keep me distracted all afternoon. How about you?

Where do you start? First off, my kids schooling paid for. My parents would be set, just for putting up with all my feces growing up. QUIT MY JOB! Backpack England, Scottland, and New Zealand. Maybe even Switzerland. Buy a crap load of land in N. AZ just to hike, hunt and fish in. Maybe open some sort of program for kids to introduce them into all of that sort of stuff. Horses, camping (without Kate G.), mountain biking the list goes on. Then donate some. Who knows? Thats a crap load of money.

i would buy sharks with lasers on their heads, duh!

Personally I'd donate a large portion to the HAZ Foundation

What are the chances on Mega Millions?
something like a better chance of getting hit by lightning three times in the same spot a year apart each?

joe bartels wrote:What are the chances on Mega Millions?
something like a better chance of getting hit by lightning three times in the same spot a year apart each?

That's still better odds than if you don't buy a ticket. SOMEBODY'S gotta win at some point, and until someone does, the pot only gets bigger.

joe bartels wrote:Personally I'd donate a large portion to the HAZ Foundation

What are the chances on Mega Millions?
something like a better chance of getting hit by lightning three times in the same spot a year apart each?

Someone on the radio mentioned you'd statistically have a better chance at getting elected president

I'd finally get a chance to buy those Slim Jims I've been eyeing at the Quickie Mart.

I believe it's approximately 1:175,000,000 to win the jackpot. 1:40 to win any prize.

chumley wrote:I'd also donate a bunch of cash to a variety of causes I care for.

joe bartels wrote:Personally I'd donate a large portion to the HAZ Foundation

It's safe to say that the HAZ server farm would make Sergey Brin jealous.

I'd never work again and never worry about it. As for the rest, who cares?

@chumley I do hope you win!

@Jim_H I'd be willing to bet you'd start fluctuating the temps and humidity in Flagstaff

@Alston Neal you're talking about the three footer right? Stiller eats those as part of his regular diet

@azpride ya but and winning a Nobel Prize would be impossible, right?
BTW... I can see you riding the world largest SLR complete with a seat, knobby tires and a boom leaf blower

Are you saying I'm full of hot air?

joe bartels wrote:@Jim_H I'd be willing to bet you'd start fluctuating the temps and humidity in Flagstaff

That would be impressive since I'd figure Jim to be about as far from Flagstaff as the map allows.

Your odds of winning any lottery improve greatly if everyone else has the wrong numbers and you have the right ones. But, when it's all said and done, you actually only have 2 odds of being a winner...either 0% or 100%.

it's interesting... the big lottery always catch everyones attention, yet even the base 20 million available twice weekly would give an annual annuity of over $600,000... way beyond what anyone needs to totally indulge. Given that the old adage of it being easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the gates of heaven, has some interesting inner meanings, it might be better to simply play to see if you could win, then if you do... give it all away.

I rode over and bought a ticket... if I win, HAZ gets $100,000 per year dedication!

I have a little list....
*24U worth of blade servers in a liquid-cooled enclosure w/ a backup UPS system to bridge the load transfer to a generator for HikeArizona.COM so it NEVER goes down. And an annuity to pay the electricity bill....
*Hair for Bruce. Hair coloring for me (not a fan of the ever-increasing gray hairs). Bribe Stillernator to grow a mullet because no Steelers fan should be without one. Bribe Kyle to grow a ZZ Top-style beard.
*A new vehicle. Probably a Suburban.
*NetJets partial ownership.
*Bribing politicians to keep the Rosemont Mine from opening up.
*New hiking shoes for Joe B.
*A crack search-and-rescue team to look for gpsjoe until he's brought home.
*Certainly no job. I'd do not much more than hike, travel, and pass out "business" cards that read "Jim Lyding: Professional Hedonist."

I want one of those miniature giraffes.

Apparently nothing, since I didn't win.

Me neither. No word on the rollover yet though ... there's still a chance it'll be up over $400M on Friday... (and as somebody pointed out earlier in the thread, I wouldn't hate winning a paltry $12M either!)

joe bartels wrote:BTW... I can see you riding the world largest SLR complete with a seat, knobby tires and a boom leaf blower

I was just thinking new tripod, but I'll take it! ;)