What If You Won the Mega Millions Lottery?

What if you picked the next winning MegaMillions numbers? That is exactly what one of my friends asked me at dinner tonight. We were out celebrating a birthday, and the topic turned to "What if" types of questions. Since the Mega Millions Lottery jackpot is estimated at 540 million and it draws tomorrow, she wanted to know what we would do.

I thought it would be great to tour Europe's great museums looking at Impressionist paintings, awe-inspiring cathedrals, quiet local markets, and spend a great deal of time on a sun drenched Mediterranean island. Then I said I might move to Costa Rica and live near the beach.

Everybody else gave similar answers, but with slightly different destinations. My friend had the opportunity to briefly visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburgh, Russia years ago and she would like a closer look. Then she wanted to tour Jerusalem before moving to the British Virgin Islands.

Even though this 540 million dollar prize is a record, I've seen this frantic build up before. The higher the jackpot goes, the more people that buy tickets, which pushes the prize up even farther. Eventually someone wins and it is a huge relief, at least to me, that it is over. I think some people get obsessed over it. I guess it is understandable since so many people have lives they hate and they need to hope for a good change.

It is intoxicating to think of having that much money. I actually think it would be quite frightening. I would rather win a smaller prize, maybe only 1 million! Not that I actually play the lottery. Dreaming is fun though!

Bells Palsy and Stress For Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey

I don't follow basketball very closely, but when I saw that Baylor coach Kim Mulkey had been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, I stopped to check it out. She described a weird feeling in her tongue, a drooping eyelid, crooked smile, and strange hollowness in her ears. She feared she was having a stroke, but that was ruled out with an MRI.

I know exactly how she feels. I woke up with a crooked smile and droopy eye about 12 years ago and I was afraid I was having a stroke. I went to the ER and they diagnosed Bell's Palsy. It took a long time to recover and my eye still droops a bit. It is mostly noticeable on photographs.

Mulkey was prescribed steroids, like I was, and is expected to not have significant long term damage. The article I read said her symptoms were mild. That must be such a huge relief to her. I wonder if she has to put goop in her eye at night. I had to so that there would not be a problem of my eye drying out while I slept.

Doctors think a virus causes Bell's Palsy. I think that is probably right, but I also know that Bells palsy and stress go hand in hand. Everyone I personally know that has had it has been under a lot of stress when it manifested. As for Mulkey, with her team, the Baylor Lady Bears about to play Stanford in the NCAA semi-finals, she is certainly under a lot of stress. I wish her good health and speedy recovery. Oh, and to win, of course!

Nascar Race In Fontana Rained Out

I am a big fan of NASCAR. Today the race was held in Fontana, California. As the race was about to start some bad weather started moving in. What a depressing sight for fans, drivers, and teams! So much effort goes into preparing everything for the race, a certain kind of track, etc. When unexpected weather hits, none of that preparation counts anymore. The drivers and crew chiefs just have to "punt" and do their best.

For those of you that don't know, the race starts as usual as long as there is no bad weather at the moment. The weather is watched closely and if it starts to rain the race is halted while they wait for it to stop. If it does stop they dry the track off and restart it. It is kind of amazing they can even do that.

Sometimes, like today, the rain shows up and doesn't leave. If the race is already at the half way point then whoever was in the lead automatically wins the race. If it is rained out before the half way point then the race is rescheduled. No one likes a rescheduled race, especially if it has to be scheduled out. It costs time and money and play havoc with practice time for the next race.

Today in Fontana the weather came on strong right after the half way mark so Tony Stewart was declared the winner. Not a great day for NASCAR fans, unless you are a Tony Stewart fan. It is his second win of the season and we are only five races in. He was the Sprint Cup champion last year, narrowly edging out Carl Edwards.

James Cameron Successfully Dives the Mariana Trench

I have always been fascinated by the ocean. I remember seeing a film a few years ago of the one and only exploration of the Mariana Trench by explorers Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard in 1960. It took them five hours in their submersible the Trieste to descend the seven miles down to the trench. Unmanned submersibles have gone down since then, but no people. Until today.

James Cameron, the famous movie director of Titanic, The Abyss, and Avatar, just completed the first manned dive in over 50 years. It was an amazingly successful dive and scientists are already working on the data. The dive down to almost three hours and the ascent took a little more than seven. Cameron was able to spend hours in a cramped torpedo shaped sub and operate the machines, take photos, etc.

Cameron, in the submersible Deepsea Challenge that he helped design, was able to go to one of the most hostile places on the earth. The sub was fitted all the state of the art technology necessary to gather sediment, small animals, gauges to measure all kinds of things, as well as high tech 3D cameras.

I can’t imagine what it looks like down there. Cameron is doing a film about the experience for National Geographic. I am so excited about it. It is almost certain that more than one new species of fish, worm, or other life form will be identified.

This expedition is the first of several that are planned. Entrepreneur/adventurer Richard Branson has one planned, and Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO also plan to go down.

Geraldo Rivera Is Kind Of Right

For those of you following the Trayvon Martin shooting, you've probably heard what Geraldo Rivera said recently regarding the shooting:

“I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin‘s death as much as George Zimmerman was..."

I think there is some merit to that statement, as much as I hate to admit I am agreeing with Geraldo.

It shouldn't be that way, but people look at certain kinds of clothing and they make assumptions. If you don't want someone to assume something about you, then maybe you should avoid that type of clothing. It sucks, to be sure, but if it helps to keep kids safe…

We are a society that judges people by their clothing. When we look at someone, we make assessments about who they are, where they come from, whether they are successful, or wealthy, etc. Knowing this helps us manipulate other people’s perceptions of us and we can use it to our advantage. Or how we dress can be a disadvantage to us.

Of course it isn’t right to judge people by their clothing, we all know that. I bet we all do it to one extent or another, though. Obviously, not in a “grab your gun” type of way, at least not for most people.

I guess if my kids were African-American or Latino, I would consider throwing their hoodies away. It would tick me off, but I would probably still do it. At the end of the day, I would want my babies to be safe.

Hunger Games Did It Right

The Hunger Games movie is hot right now – for good reason. I read the Hunger Games series last year, so I’ve been salivating for the release of the movie. It was amazing!

As an avid book lover, I applaud when a book is turned into a movie without being slaughtered. In fact, it was done quite elegantly. As a woman, I am all for any book or movie with strong female characters.

There is always a danger that a movie studio will take a perfectly good strong female lead and make her simper and flash her boobs. That didn’t happen. They also didn’t make her masculine, either. She managed to be pretty and strong, compassionate and lethal, vulnerable and intelligent.

Why is that so important? It is one thing to go swimsuit shopping for yourself and discover that almost every single suit is cut too high in the leg and too low in the front, but it is vastly more depressing when the same thing happens when you go swimsuit shopping for your toddler girl. Females are blasted, almost from birth, with the idea that the way they look is more important than who they are.Any time a woman is portrayed in film as a real person, I want to cheer.

I won’t be able to let my daughter see the Hunger Games for about 10 years, but I hope there will be many other movies before then with strong female characters, heroines even, that can be looked up to and idolized, for good reasons, not for their cleavage, sense of style, or how they do their hair.