Puppy as a gift in Bridesmaids

May 172012
 

As I mentioned recently, I watched the movie Bridesmaids last weekend.  I didn’t really like the movie or think it was all that funny, but I already wrote about that.  There was one scene in the movie in which puppies were given away as gifts to those who attended the bridal shower.  Now, the actual puppies were adorable.  I think they were yellow labrador retrievers, or even golden retrievers.  Yes, they were cute.  But, I hated that scene.  Giving away dogs is a terrible idea.  Well, let me be more specific.  If you know that your friend loves dogs and wants one, then by all means get your friend a dog.  Although, even then I don’t really like that idea.  The friend may want a specific type of dog, or they may only believe in getting dogs from a shelter, or they might want to meet the dog before taking it in.  But, I suppose I can see it.

However, if you are just going to give dogs away as a part of your party favors?  Hell no.  Are you kidding me?  Do you know what happens to dogs that people don’t want?  They are taken up by shelters, and often times if they are not adopted in a very short amount of time, they are put to sleep.  And what about the owners who decide its too “cruel” to just give the dog away to a shelter and decide to keep the dog.  You really think they are going to take the dog to the vet when its sick, or take the dog out for walks, play with the dog, etc.?  Yes, puppies are cute, but they don’t stay puppies forever people.

I don’t think people realize how much work, time, and even money it actually takes to care for a pet.  You don’t just bring the puppy home and then it takes care of itself.  A dog’s only fault is that it loves its owner too much.  But an owner?  Definitely can be many more faults than that.  I don’t have a dog right now, ever since getting my own place.  Not because I don’t like dogs, as I still spoil my mom’s dogs.  Because I know that it takes effort to care for one, and its not something that I was able to provide the last year and a half or so I’ve been here.  But, who knows, maybe that will change sooner or later.

So, please do not give a dog away as a gift.  It is not a good idea.  Yes, good can technically come from it, but there are so many more bad things that can come from it that it is not worth it.  If your friend wants a dog, then let your friend get their own dog.  And, although I know it’s just a scene in a movie, please do not ever copy that scene and give out puppies.

Wishlist stuff I’d do now if I had more time/money

May 162012
 

My Xbox finally got the dreaded red ring of death this past weekend.  Sucks.  As if I didn’t have any other stuff I wanted to spend money on.  Fix or buy another I suppose.  The beauty of owning your home is that you can do whatever you want to it, and presumably, you have many years to do it.  The bad thing?  All that stuff costs money.  So, here’s a little wishlist of stuff I want to do or buy for my digs, with the aforementioned Xbox recently added to it.

Finish off the sound system.  This past Christmas season, the girlfriend and I treated ourselves to a new receiver, center speaker, and front floor standing speakers.  Not exactly cheap stuff.  I am saving up now and waiting for a sale to show up for the 2 remaining surround rear speakers and the subwoofer.

Staying with that room, I also want to get a new sofa.  I currently have 2 sofas that were given to me by my grandmother.  They are noticeably old in that the cushions have given way.  I’m thinking maybe a sectional, or some type of rounded sofa as I only really want one larger sofa in the too small room.

Oh, and might as well finish off that room with a new, much bigger TV.  My 40″ TV there, which I took with me when I moved that used to be in my bedroom and seemed big at the time, seems so tiny now when I’m watching TV on the sofa.  Way too small.  Got to definitely upgrade that to finish off the home entertainment system.

Set up a home network.  I have an old windows XP desktop in the office which I had not turned on since I bought my Macbook Pro.  I finally decided to just turn it on and network the house so that I can use the hard drives I put in there years ago as I need more space than my laptop can provide.  I reformatted it with Windows 7 and connected it to my PS3 wirelessly to stream some movies.  It does non-HD stuff fine, but cannot handle the HD stuff.  Thus, I’ve decided that I want to wire it.  One of these days, maybe even the first thing I cross off this list, is to bring an ethernet cable from that office, through the attic and then to the living room.

Get a new stove, and convert it to a gas one rather than electric.  I just like gas stoves better, as does the girlfriend.  This is going to be something that we eventually do, but seeing as how we already have a working stove, probably not something that will be done soon.

Get a new dishwasher.  I admit it. I am very lazy.  I hate washing dishes, cleaning, and chores of any kind.  Our dishwasher is a good friend.  The only thing is that it is loud.  So loud that when it is on, I need to turn the volume up a lot higher when I’m watching TV.  So, eventually want to get a new one.  Although, once again, seeing as how it does a good job of washing dishes, this is also something that is a pretty low priority.

On the girl friend’s wish list, she wants to get 2 new chairs or recliners and a rug to put in front of our fireplace.  That room, for the most part, is pretty empty right now, so I suppose any addition to it will be nice.

Artwork or mirror to go over the fireplace.  I have no real taste so its hard for me to decide what to put here.  I went shopping with her a few times, not realizing that artwork can be pretty freaking pricy.  Some more money than my speakers!  Yikes.  I suggested artwork that we could get from ComicCon in July and was summarily veto’ed without so much as a comment or joke.

Patio furniture was recently cross off this list as the girlfriend found some she wanted and we picked up and got.  The backyard furniture is pretty set, but at some point I might have to finally replaster the pool.  Either that or get rid of it.  When I first moved in, some guy came over and gave me a quote on how much it would cost to replaster.  It was like 6k to 10k depending on the material I wanted.  Ummm, no thanks.  Maybe in the long distant future, if ever.

We have a mattress just lying on the ground in the guest bedroom, so maybe one of these days will want to get a bedframe to put that on.

Upgrade the RAM on my laptop.  This one I can do myself and its actually not that expensive.  I think I have 4 MB and when reading Apple’s website I think the max I can have is 8.  I’ll do this one soon, when I stop being lazy.  Gonna buy it on Amazon where its like 40-50 bucks.  I think Apple says it for like 200+ bucks.  Ummm, right.

There are probably some other things I’m forgetting, but that’s the not so small list for now.  I’m sure that like any spoiled American, I will want more stuff once I get the stuff I want now.

Bridesmaids movie was funny?

May 152012
 

I have had the movie Bridesmaids DVR’ed for a while now.  It was a huge blockbuster hit, made lots of money, and if I remember correctly, it was even nominated for a Best Picture academy award.  Allegedly it was like all those gross out comedies, except this one starring women.  I’ve watched many of those previous movies, some were good, some were bad.  But, all starred men.  So, finally months later, the girlfriend and I watched it over this past weekend.

I watched it for maybe 35 minutes, and I kept thinking, the good part is going to come soon.  But, after finishing the movie, I thought the entire movie was actually kind of boring.  There was a funny part here and there, but it just wasn’t a good movie for me, and rather boring actually.  Is it because it was a movie starring women and I just don’t get women?  Kind of like the whole Sex and the City phenomenon?  Well, I guess it was more than a phenomenon, but it was something that I just never understood why women liked.  It just seemed dumb to me, but I get that.  Why do I think that it’s similar?  Because, according to wikipedia, the movie made $170 million bucks, with 67% of that coming from women.  So, do I just not like it because its about stuff that I don’t understand because I’m not a woman?

I suppose it is possible.  I mean, I don’t see how anyone can not like something like Spider-Man or Batman, as they are just so cool and all.  But, I bet that if I did enough research and looked at the statistics to see what percent of the box office came from men and what came from women, it would be pretty much the same as what I just said above for Bridesmaids, only the opposite.  Summer fare seems to always be made for young men.

Which then begs the question, why are so many more movies advertised and geared for men?  Women make up half the population.  Do they just not watch as many movies as men and so it makes no sense to spend money making movies for them?  Sex and the City and Bridesmaids proves that they will come out and pay to watch material geared towards them.  Oprah’s TV show proved the same for decades.  And need I even mention Twilight.  The only real reason that I can think of is that men, especially young ones, will plunk down money to watch movies that are not very good.  Proof in point is Transformers 2, which was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, but yes I did pay to watch it.  But women?  I think they will only watch a movie, not only if it is “geared” towards them, but it has to be “good” too (though how they can think Twilight is good I can’t even begin to comprehend.  At least I somewhat get Sex and the City, as I heard that was actually well written).  The only thing I can’t really answer is what is “good” for them, as I thought Bridesmaids, while not the worst movie I have ever seen, was pretty boring and way too long.  Oh, and at least in this case I am not alone because the girlfriend thought the exact same thing.

10 Years of experience tells me…

May 142012
 

I have been working for a little more than 10 years now, since finishing up all my schooling.  I can’t even imagine going back to school and studying nowadays so for better or worse, this is how it will be until I retire or win the lottery.  I can’t believe it has been that long though.  10 years?  Dang the years went by fast.  Where did it all go?  Too bad we can’t get it back.

Anyway, a few things that I realized along this continuing journey.  When I first got my master’s degree, I thought I was smart.  Since high school all the way through college, I got predominantly A’s.  I was a good student.  But, as I would soon learn, that means jack in the real world.  I looked for a job for 6 months after I graduated.  After probably a few months, I decided that I just had to get any job, so I no longer looked only for jobs in my field of study.  Finally got one, and for the most part, real life happened and I have yet to ever really get a job in that field.

After many years of working, I have found that I am not alone.  I have worked with many people who got their degrees in a completely different field, but work at the same place as me.  I’ve worked with a physics PhD, and my field is the furthest thing from physics.  I’ve worked with biological science majors, social sciences, college drop outs, etc.  I am not saying that this is the case for all jobs, but just something that I have found is not uncommon.

I have heard and known many people who have worked for a bit, and then went back to school.  I have taken some classes here and there for my work, and I also took some Chinese classes, the latter of which I actually needed to study for since we had tests and such.  What I have learned, and am thankful for, is that I cannot go back to doing homework and studying.  I went t grad school immediately after graduating college, and it was a great decision for me because the thought of staying up late or waking up early to cram for a test is just something that I don’t think I can make myself do anymore.  More power to those who can.

Looking back, if I could go back, I would of totally gone to a different college.  I went “safe” and stayed close to home.  It’s not like I went to a bad school.  It was a good one, but I could of easily gone to a great one.  I went to UCLA for graduate school, and what I have found is that in southern California, UCLA carries so much more weight than UCI does.  My boss from my first 2 jobs mentioned UCLA in my interviews, and while I guess it could of been the fact that it was more recent than college, I still think it was just more impressive to them because it was UCLA.  However, that is not the regret that I have for going to UCI for college.  Like I said, it’s not a bad school.  It has more to do with the fact that I stayed close to home.  I should of, at the very minimum, dorm’ed there.  Almost all of the people that I hung out with at UCI were the ones that I went to high school with, and after classes were done, I often just went home.  Not that my friends are bad, but its just more the college “experience” and all.

I have been at my current job for more than 5 years, and so have not gone on an interview in 5+ years.  It is still something that I hate doing, and something that I have never been good at.  I do not sell myself very well, and speaking is not one of my strengths.  Thus, interviews suck for me.  Resumes open the door for you, but apparently interviews get you though them.

Oh, and if I suck at interviews, I am almost worse when it comes to negotiating.  I hate doing it.  It feels so uncomfortable doing it.  But, always remember this.  Your opening salary is very important.  If you start your job underpaid, you will almost always be underpaid.  Most big companies give you your raises based on a percent, say 3%.  Just remember that 3% of 40k is more than 3% of 30k.  Try not to be just happy to get the job.  You’ll be happy if you stay at the place.

Some final quickies.  A good boss makes a job that much better.  A long commute is a lot more tiring and draining than you think.  A job in which you have no work to do sucks big time, and makes the day go on that much longer.  I have worked with some very stupid people, so apparently they network and interview better than I do.

Getting old sucks

May 102012
 

For the last 3 weeks, my left thigh/quad area has been in pain.  Not excruciating pain, but enough to bother me and force me not to do any cardio at the gym for the entire period.  It is fine when I sit down, but if I stand or walk for more than about 5 minutes at a time, it starts hurting above the knee along the outside and then all the way up the leg.  I thought day after day, and then week after week, it would heal since I was no longer running or doing any cardio at the gym.  But it never freaking did.  So, finally I caved at the girlfriend’s constant nagging, to go and see a doctor.  Good news?  It pretty much is only inflammation of the iliotibial band, some muscle (?) starting at the knee and up to the pelvis.  It was really tight, and needs to be softened, and that is what is supposedly causing all the pain.  I’m supposed to take advil and heat it every day, and then if I want I can go and see some physical therapist next week.  What a wuss huh?  But whatever. I was not able to run at the gym and it kind of sucks if you can’t just stand up for 5 minutes without pain.  I gave up and had to do something so if it doesn’t get better, probably will go and see that PT.

WTF?  This has never happened to me before.  It’s not like I’m a runner or anything.  I jog on the treadmill or use the stationary bike or some stair climber after work, but nothing intense.  And still this happens?  I hurt my shoulder the other day, and it’s still pretty stiff.  My knee hurts bad every time I go on vacation and then walk a lot every day.  My lower back starts to hurt if I have to stand or walk for over an hour.  WTH!!  Aging sucks.  That is what I am going to blame this all on.  There is nothing really all that much different in my routine.  In fact, I would say that I’ve been getting much lazier than I should be and that my workouts at the gym are a lot less intense and actually pretty pathetic now when compared to a few years back.  But, I still get these wimpy injuries?  I’ve sprained ankles before, and and strained muscles before, but they always healed.  If not in a day or so, then for sure in a week.  But, 3 weeks and still nothing?  That is really annoying and worrisome.  Is this what I can look forward to in the future?  I’m not even that old yet!  Is it going to get worse or did I just suffer some bad luck this one time?  Am I going to have to stock up on advil?

I guess I really do have to start taking more precautions, like stretching and crap like that before exercising.  Well, either that or just stop exercising period. :)

Laws to prevent obesity are…?

May 092012
 

There was a study released the other day by the Institute of Medicine that urged the United States to make major policy changes to prevent and/or stop the growing epidemic of obesity.  This is really nothing new.  For years we have heard of policies or laws that prevented schools from serving “unhealthy” food or banning soda in vending machines or requiring schools to have X number of minutes of exercise a day or lawmakers proposing taxes on things like soda or fast food, similar to the sin taxes that come along with cigarettes.

I personally would not care if there was a soda tax or a fast food tax because I don’t drink soda ever and do not eat fast food very often.  This would not affect me.  But, speaking on a personal level, I hate the idea.  I hate all taxes.  If I want to eat fast food or drink a Coke, the who the heck is the government or any other entity to tell me that I have to pay more money than I need to in order to do so?  If I want to be fat and unhealthy, then I want to.  Why don’t you make a law that says everyone is required to run 1 mile every day?  Where does it stop?

However, that being said, as a government or for public policy, I can see these laws as almost necessary.  The critics, mostly those on the right, would make their typical accusations of the government being a nanny state, blah blah blah.  If someone wants to be fat and lazy, then let them be fat and lazy.  Why should the government have any say whatsoever?  To that, I turn it around and use the same argument I have when smokers complain that they should be able to smoke wherever they want.  I could care less if you want to smoke in your own home, but the second that you light up near me, you affect my health and so laws preventing public smoking should be completely legal.  Obese people, on the other hand, don’t really affect me directly.  Where they affect me is in the pocketbook.  Everyone knows that health care costs have been rising astronomically for years.    With one or two people being obese, then that doesn’t affect me so if you want to be fat then more power to you.  But if 40% of the population is obese?  That means higher costs for me, such as in health insurance premiums.  Then, well, I’m all for a tax of some sort because in the end, it costs me less money to pay that tax.  I hate taxes yes, and I hate laws that tell us what we can or can’t do, but in this case, its the lesser of two evils.  I hate losing/spending money.

Yes, I hate having laws or policies created about anything that affects what I can do.  Why can’t I drink soda whenever I want to?  But, I have also stated on more times than I can remember that people are stupid.  The fact that the majority of the population is fat shows that we are not capable as a society to prevent it ourselves.  I myself admit that I am really lazy and hate working out and eat way too much.  Despite forcing myself to go to the gym after work and to eat less, I know that I would be so much more happy if I could just go home after work, eat whatever I want, and then watch TV or surf or do something that probably does not burn a lot of calories.   And despite that, I weigh more today than I ever have in my life.  Granted I was way too skinny in school, but still, gaining weight regularly each year.  I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep it up.  Will I then fall into that “stupid people” category then?  In my case, not sure any type of soda tax or fast food tax would help me, but if it saves me money indirectly, I’m all for it in this case.

How many people does it take to create bad apples?

May 082012
 

I think generally speaking, people are good natured.  But, as evidenced by all of the crime, theft, violence, etc. that we hear about everyday, its not true of everyone.  However, violent, evil and serious crimes aside, there are still small and petty things that people do daily that aren’t exactly considered good either.  My question is the following.  How many people does it take before bad seeds/apples start popping up?

Why do I ask?  Well, if there were only 2 people living in a particular area and they knew each other, you can be pretty sure that both would be well behaved.  They would not cheat one another, steal, etc. (that is unless resources were scarce and they were more competing against one another rather than living with one another).  If you make that 3 people living together, I still think that it would be a well behaved civilization and you could probably live at home without having to lock your doors or worry that you will get sued or get tricked out of losing money.  But, what is that number before cheating or theft or vandalism or lawsuits start popping up?  Looking at all the stupid stories you hear everyday of people suing one another, taking advantage of others, hacking computers, scams rip people off, we are obviously well past that number.

With more people comes more anonymity.  While scams have been happening for centuries, I think the internet has only accelerated the number.  What defines anonymity better than hiding behind a monitor where no one can see you?  If you can’t get seen doing something “wrong” then you can’t get caught right?  But, internet aside, is it solely a numbers game?  While I think increased populations give way to more crime and such (especially in societies with vast inequalities like ours), I don’t think it’s the only reason.  After all, how many stories have you heard of families taking from one another?  Then again, who is to say that these families aren’t big enough to be above that magic number?  Perhaps if the family was smaller it would not exist?

Human psychology is just too complicated to be simplified into a numbers game.  There are so many things that contribute.  Some people are just more mischievous and evil than others, widespread inequality exists, “news” programs that exist which are anything but objective.  So many things are factors into why we have so much mistrust, swindling, and trickery.  Even if every person in the country had the same amount of money, there would always be people who wanted more.  Even if every one in this country grew up with great parents, there would still be thefts, scams, and violence.  Even if this country had the best leaders you could have, there would still be corruption and partisanship.

Murder and violent crime aside, as that often has more to do with evilness and crimes of passion among people who know each other, I do think that a not insignificant portion of the things that we are ashamed of in our society has a lot to do with numbers and the protection that provides in staying hidden.  Are you really going to hack into someone’s computer and steal there credit card information if there are only 2 people in society?  Write a virus to mess up another’s computer?  I suppose that you could, but I find it less likely.

The Avengers

May 072012
 

Many years and something like 5 films later, Marvel’s The Avengers was finally created and released as a major movie blockbuster.  All the lead up, all the hype, and we finally get the movie filled with tons of Marvel’s top superheros all in one film.  The threat to the planet is so large this time around that all of these normally solo fighting heros must put their differences aside, work together, and stop the force that is threatening the entire planet.  This was the reason why Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. assembled this team, to fight off threats that were so massive and unstoppable for anyone else.  This threat comes primarily from Loki, Thor’s brother as we learned in this solo film, and the alliance he formed with other beings not of the Earth.  Can the newly assembled, hot headed team defeat the threat?  Well, it is a Hollywood blockbuster dying for a sequel, so not much suspense there.  But, does the movie work?

In short, I’d say yes it did.  Often times I will go to watch a film that has been massively hyped and then after watching it think that I waited all that long for that?  I definitely did not have that feeling of disappointment after watching the film.  That being said, its not the greatest film you will ever see.  Not even the best comic book hero movie you will have seen in the past few years.  I liked it better than the solo films for Thor and Captain America and the second Iron Man.  This film just knows what it is good at, and focuses it there.  Namely, it’s cast of superheros, fight scenes, and explosions.  It has nowhere near the heart or emotion that the first two Spider-Man movies did (and it would appear the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man movie) or the story or deep character development the Christian Bale Batman movies have.  But, there is no way you have enough time (despite the almost 2.5 hour movie length) to delve to deeply into any one character when you have a cast/team this large.

I think that Iron Man is the heart of the film, who despite his arrogant playboy attitude, is the one who ultimately pulls the team together.  Hulk, on the other hand, definitely is a scene stealer, causing the entire theater to burst out laughing in at least 2 scenes.  The rest of the cast, for the most part, were just eye candy in my opinion, heros who could have been exchanged for other heros in Marvel’s library and no one really would have noticed a difference in the quality of the film.  However, all that being said, this was still a fun movie to watch and one that I was not disappointed in.  I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming comic book movies, even the reboot once again of Spider-Man after so little time, just because that is my favorite comic book hero of all time.  If you want a good fun, typical effects laden summer popcorn movie, then you will not go wrong with The Avengers.

Modern Warfare 3….7 months later

May 032012
 

I finally bought the game Modern Warfare 3 for my Xbox.  I owned and sold Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I still have Modern Warfare 2, and now I have the 3rd one.  Why did I finally get it?  Well, I did like the first one, enjoyed the 2nd, and so finally got the 3rd.  Why 7 months later?  I don’t play games as much as I used to for one thing.  In fact, I actually got the game a couple weeks ago, yet I still have not opened it.  I will probably open it soon, just because.  But, its not the only game I have that I have not yet opened.  I got a couple from Black Friday 2010 that are still sealed.  I don’t even know why I buy games anymore sometimes.  Anyway, I never, ever pay $60 bucks for a game (unless I’m getting it for a gift for someone else and I know they want it).  The most I will ever pay for a game, because I’m cheap, is $40.  I saw the game on sale at Best Buy, waited a few days because I knew that Amazon would eventually match it, then bought it on Amazon for $30.  Like anything for those who are willing to wait, it was much cheaper.

I don’t really know what to expect from this game.  I heard it was fun so I’m sure it will be.  But, I have found that with each subsequent Call of Duty game that I have gotten, I have played it less than the one previously.  When I first got COD4, I loved it and played for hours and hours.  I sucked and still suck as I always died twice as much as I killed in all multi player games, but whatever.  It was fun.  I then got MW2 and played that for a lot, but just not quite as much.  Black Ops was next for me and I played that mostly with friends and the girlfriend because we loved the zombie mode.  But, overall, I definitely played that less hours than the previous 2.  To be fair, all these games are pretty much the same.  Its basically just different maps.  And now we have MW3, a game that I have not even opened yet.  I can almost guarantee not only that I will open it eventually, but that I probably will not do much more than pass the single player mode, play a few of the Special Ops games, play some multi player, and then that’s about it.  I don’t know why, and I’ve probably blogged about this in the past, but the older I get, the less time I find that I have.  Time just goes by so fast and I find that there is just always so much that I want to do that I never can do all of it.  Plus, it sucks that whenever you play online against other people and I get 3 kills and die 20 times, it just isn’t as much fun.  Maybe when I first played it, it didn’t matter as much that I sucked so bad.  But, the thought of getting your butt kicked for hours on end just isn’t as appealing when you have so many other options at your disposal.  I saw the trailer for Black Ops 2 during the Laker game the other night.  I do not know whether or not I will get the game.  For sure not at $60 bucks.  If there is a zombie mode then that might be enough to convince me since I know the girlfriend likes that and we play games together, with the latest being Rayman Origins.  But, we haven’t zombie’d in a long time so having new maps in Black Ops 2 might not be enough to convince me to get it.  We shall see.  But, no point in thinking about that.  I should instead just try and open up the game that I do have.

Lottery “winner” must return the winnings?

May 022012
 

I always complain that stupid people make things worse for everyone else.  It sucks when the actions of others make things worse for you.  And now what do we have?  We have a lawsuit that can potentially even make it rewarding to be stupid.  A woman who found a winning lottery ticket in the trash may have to give up her winnings to the lady who actually bought the ticket.   This woman “allegedly” threw away her winning ticket because the scanner told her she did not win and so she tossed it.  Now, firstly, I don’t buy a whole lot of lottery tickets.  But, on the rare times that I do, when the winning numbers are announced, I look at those numbers and then I look at my ticket.  I still work at my job full time so obviously I haven’t won yet.  But, its only after I check that ticket myself before I toss it.  I don’t rely on a machine.  If anything, I’d check the ticket myself and then not toss it until I have a machine scan it afterward just to confirm.  But, I do check it.  I suppose if you are a serial lottery ticket buyer, you might not want to bother checking every single number of every ticket that you buy?

Anyway, this lady tossed her ticket in the trash.  In the trash!  I don’t know what this judge is ruling on, but where I live, if you literally and purposefully throw something away in the trash and someone else finds it, it is not yours.  I MIGHT think that you have an argument if you, by accident, throw something in the trash.  Like, for example, you have a broken clasp on your bracelet and it drops in the trash when you toss your drink in the trash.  Yeah, okay.  I get that.  But this woman admits that she threw away her ticket on purpose!  She did not by accident leave the ticket in a book and then purposely throw away her book.  She threw the ticket away!  Sorry, but she has no rights to it.  I don’t know all the details, so I don’t even know how they can prove that she was the actual one who bought the ticket or how this all came about in the first place.

Now, I’d like to say that I would not do the same.  That if I was ever this stupid and this happened to me, I’d just kick myself and whine for a bit.  I really think that I would.  But, I suppose its just one of those things that you never know how you will act unless it happens to you.  If a lawyer told me he could get me a million dollars despite me being stupid, then what the heck do I have to lose right?  It is a lot of money.  And we all know that money makes us do stupid things.  Imagine how much stupider it makes stupid people act.  In our country, it apparently rewards you for it.

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