Powerball

We did not win last Wednesday's national powerball, to my relief. J, who is a statistician and who should be immune to such things, went and bought a ticket Wednesday afternoon. We only got one number to match the winning numbers--I was hoping that if we were to win something, it would be a "matching four" number, or something that would get us some reasonable amount of money, like a couple of thousand dollars. (I was surprised to read that many people don't know that matching just some of the numbers can get you a small payoff). In New Jersey, where I would occasionally buy tickets because the proceeds go in part to education, I think I won 5 dollars that way. I have a friend in Massachusetts that has won over 70 thousand dollars (over several years) playing the Mass lottery, but she worked at a convenience store and could buy tickets when the sales were slow and the odds were slightly better. Here is a photo of my local BP gas station--on the wall they advertise that they have "Ice" and "Oil" which always makes me think of the Exxon Valdez. You can see the neon "500" (million) for the Powerball prize on the right of the door.

And here is Stripey, who I think needs to have her catnip ration cut a little.