It's freakin' hot, yo. The thermometer in my car said it was 93 degrees while I was driving today. And the air thick like syrup with humidity. Summer's here!
When I walked out of my office this afternoon the air clung to my skin like oil it was so thick. Only one bird was singing, sounded like a cowbird to me. Personally? The heat and humidity makes me dizzy. Vanessa's air conditioning needs to be fixed, so right now trips in the car are very hot indeed.
Over on “The Big Dump Truck” Jody suggests popsicles, watergun fights and getting someone to fan you. Little chance of the latter happening here, but I did stop at Cumby's and pick up a delicious 32 oz grape slurpee… drinking a slurpee will definitely help knock your temperature down… maybe even faster than a popsicle! Watch out for ice cream headaches though.
Another thing that helps is fans and air conditioners of course, and we had a little stroke of luck a few years back with air conditioners. See, Patty works for a little 2-3 person company which originally was in an office that got very hot in the summer. So the company purchased 4 window mounted air conditioners to keep the place cool. When the company moved to a new office that had central air, they had no reason or place to keep them.
“Where are we going to store these things?” Patty's boss said.
“I've got a lot of space in my barn, I'll store them for you.” Patty said.
And so we store them in our barn, except in summer, when we store them in 4 different windows in our house and run them occasionally. Just to make sure they don't atrophy of course! 
Another thing that is nice to do on a lazy summer afternoon is buy a lottery ticket and fantasize about what you would do if you won. Megamillions is expected to be around $52 million by the 6/28 drawing.
$52 million is definitely into my worth-it-to-bet range. Here's the way I figure it:
How much money do you need to live comfortably but not exorbitantly (and not have to work) for one year after taxes are collected. Personally? I'd put that number at about $100 grand. I'd love to have a hundred grand left over after taxes. That would be sweet. But I figure if I could guarantee myself $100 grand a year for life, we'd be set basically.
Well I'm 37. Assuming I live to 77 (unlikely) that's 40 years at $100 grand each or $4 million. By that time my daughter will be 48 years old and probably have another 30 years left to her, so it would be nice if I could cover her lifespan too which requires an additional $3 million. Likewise, her offspring if any will probably have another 30 years left to them, so an additional $3 million (each) would cover their lives too. That's $10 million total, assuming my daughter has one child.
Now granted, by the time my grandkids are retiring, $100K probably won't be worth anywhere near what it is worth now, but even if the grandkids or great grandkids have to work, that extra money should help substantially.
I've always believed one should take the instant payout. That way if the lottery comission disappears or the lottery coffers get raided, the prizewinners don't have anything to worry about. Generally the instant payout cuts the prize in half. Then the government comes along and wants their cut, which cuts the prize in half again.
In the end, if you take an instant payout you're left with about 25% of the winnings. Therefore, if $10 million is what you're shooting for, it doesn't make sense to bet until the jackpot goes over $40 million. (Unless you want to count interest income. Althought the bank kills me with fees at my current savings level, I have to believe ten million bucks would earn serious interest.) After that, everything else is gravy.
Pat and I fantasize mostly about just selling our house and buying something newer of modest value closer to friends and family. And of course, we fantasize about not working. The other part of our lottery-winning-fantasy is sharing our winnings with our families and friends. We think about parents, brothers and sisters, and our dear friends and try to imagine what we would give them. It's a nice fantasy.
It's never going to happen of course, but it's still fun to think about. I bought my lottery ticket, did you?
Definitely the instant payout. You're right on the money with that. Who knows if you're even going to live long enough to see all of the payments if you take the other option. I don't think you can will it to your heirs — it just stops when you die. On the other hand, once you have the instant payout there is a lot you can do to make sure the money goes to your child when you shuffle off this mortal coil.
I have often fantasized what I would do if I were independently wealthy.
It's good to think about that and then think about how much of it you can still do without being independently wealthy. And then motivate yourself to try to do some of it.
As for the sweltering heat…I cherish every moment in my air conditioned truck, as virtually every customer I visit has their air compressor in a scorching hot, filthy, rotten room with very poor or no ventilation and shitty lighting. So, for the past week or so, I've been drenched in sweat by 8:30am, and today, I spent 7 hours working on a unit while another unit blew 140 degree air all over me, fun stuff!
As for the lottery, bring on the money and let me prove it won't change me, I'll always be a dick.
Tom