Happy Thursday! As I write this column on Tuesday, I am busy making plans for my life after Wednesday night's Powerball drawing. Even though as I write this I have yet to purchase a ticket, I am confident that this will be the time that I will win.

How do I know? Gambler's intuition? False hope? Active fantasy life?

I'm not sure, but it could be all of the above. I pitch in a buck when we have an office pool, as we have had for the past few drawings. We usually get an office pool going when the jackpot gets over $100 million.

Of course, I usually buy my own ticket as well. Nothing against my co-workers, but why share when you can have it all? The estimated jackpot for Wednesday night's drawing was $173 million (yes, six zeros). The cash option was $85.7 million.

Let's see, where's my calculator. Thirty equal payments amounts to $5,766,666 a year for 30 years. Yes, I know there will be taxes, I'm getting there. I haven't researched this because, like with most things that the government is involved with, it's best to plan on the worst and hope for the best. Let's say between the state and federal government, I end up with half of the amount, a measly $2,883,333. Measly....riiiiight.

So, what will I do with this money? Pay off every person I owe. After these checks have been written and mailed, I would simply sit down and bask in the glow of being, for a brief, shining moment, debt-free.

Think about that for a moment. It's OK if you'd like to sigh.

After that, how about some travelling? I think I could find a way to live on $2.8 million for the next 29 years. It would be hard, but I think I could find a way to struggle through.

Did you see the people from Georgia who won a $250 million lottery last week? When they were being interviewed on television, it looked like they had a death in the family. When asked to show the winning ticket, the husband raised the ticket in front of him very slowly. When asked what they were going to do with the money, the husband responded that his wife wanted a Lexus and he was going to buy a new pickup. Before he finished, his wife corrected him that she wanted a Mercedes.

Great stuff.

OK, I realize that I probably will be working today. I'm not that delusional, after all. The odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 146,107,962. The odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 576,000. The odds of being killed by a lightning strike are 1 in 2,320,000.

Heck, I'd have better luck trying to get away with murder. The odds are 1 in 2 that you can murder someone and get away with it.

Somehow this column has taken a very strange turn.

There's a website that lists your odds of various events occurring. Chances are better than winning the lottery for the following: Spotting a UFO today - 1 in 3,000,000; Becoming a saint - 1 in 20,000,000; Dying in a fireworks accident 1 in 1,000,000; Chance of a catastrophic collision with an asteroid within the next 100 years - 1 in 5,000; Chance of dying from such a collision 1 in 20,000. My personal favorite is the odds of a meteor landing on your house are 1 in 182,138,880,000,000.

You get the drift. Winning the lottery isn't necessarily as easy as it looks.

When I throw my dollar to the wind and purchase my ticket and the sales clerk asks if I want to give them a second dollar for the power play option, I use my pat reply: "I pay my voluntary taxes a dollar at a time, thank you very much."

I get a laugh sometimes.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.