Daily Archives: January 10, 2016

$18.00!

or, How High Will It Go!

Well, as I said in last night’s blog, I decided to wait until next week to win the PowerBall, knowing would be over $1 Billion, and now it is.

They’re saying $1.3 Billion, but I suspect by next Wednesday it will be higher.

In case you didn’t follow yesterday’s blog link called Lucky You, you should. Even if you figure you’ll never win the lottery, it’s a very interesting read. And some of the things he suggests you do are kind of radical, but he gives good reasons for them.

The two most unusual ones are to legally change you name, and completely change your appearance – before you pick up your money.

Apparently it’s pretty quick and easy to change your name in most states. In fact you can even fill out the forms yourself and turn them in at the courthouse, and in 60-90 days you’re a new person. Then after a professional extreme makeover, you’re ready to go and pick up your money.

To show the change a professional makeover can make, here’s an example.

makeover_thumb[2]

For my part, when I win I figured I’d go completely anonymous with some off-the-wall name like . . . I don’t know . . .  maybe . . . Nick Russell.

Nicks Red Lobster Birthday_thumb[10]And as far as the makeover, I wonder if they can make me look like this.

I know it would be a really radical makeover, and obviously very expensive, but for $1.3 Billion, I guess it would be worth it to hide my identify so completely.

In yesterday’s blog when I was talking about EZ Tags, a blog reader reminded me that I didn’t tell you where to get your tag.
There are six locations around the city, all right along different toll roads.

EZ Tag locations

I really like the way Houston handles their tags. Other states are more expensive and not so convenient, especially ones the north and northeast.

We’ve spent a lot of time in Elkhart, IN, and would regularly drive over to the nearest big city, Mishawaka, a suburb of South Bend. And the quickest way to get there from Elkhart is to take I-80, which is also a toll road. So to make it more convenient for our traveling back and forth, I looked into getting a toll pass there.

But, first off, the tag itself costs about $15.00, and then there was a $1 a month fee whether you use the tag or not. We had hoped to get one and just use every year or so when we’re in the area. But the $1 a month fee would eat up any money left in the account, unlike our EZ Tag in Houston which we only use for a few months year with no monthly charges.


Recently I finally got around to updating and posting an About Us page here on the blog, so you can find out more about Jan and I, where we came from, and how we got here. You can find it on the menu at the top of the page, or use the link above. Check it out.

Jan was still under the weather from her migraine this morning, so we didn’t walk today either. It also didn’t help that it was 46° and windy outside. Maybe tomorrow, so we’ll see.

By the afternoon however, she was feeling a little better, so about 1:15 we decided to head into Columbus to try out the Sunday lunch buffet. I guess it says something that at 1:30, the parking lot was still full, but we did get seated immediately, and then headed over to  the very long buffet table.

We had previously only had breakfast at Schobel’s and always enjoyed it a lot, but this was our first time for lunch. And it turned out to be a really good choice. I know we’ve had friends say that they didn’t like Schobel’s, but our experience has been very different.

Everything was delicious, from the homemade salad dressing and croutons, to the many fresh vegetables. And the meats, ham, sausage, fried chicken and roast beef, were just as good. We’ll certainly go back for the buffet again.

Coming home, we stopped off at Brookshire Bros. for a few things, and while we were there I checked my four PowerBall tickets to see if I had one anything. And I did.

I won on 3 of my 4 tickets, with a $2 win, a $4 win, and a $12 win, for a total of  $18, which means I got back most of my $20 that I paid for the tickets.

So now I’m all set for my big win on Wednesday.

Let’s see, where did I leave that name-change paperwork?


Thought for the Day:

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long letter instead.” – Mark Twain

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