If I Had A Million Dollars....

One of today's big headlines: "Single Winner in $314 Million Powerball Lottery"

Imagine. $314 million bucks now belongs to one person. Could be an old lady with a bunch of really lucky dogs. Could be a college senior who will now be drunk until February. One ticket, probably costing about two dollars, and that one person's life is changed forever.

My husband and I often talk about what we would do if we ever won the lottery, as I'm sure everybody has. Now don't get me wrong, I'll never ACTUALLY win the lottery, largely because I don't play (I don't have any luck - like I say, I wouldn't win at Bingo if I was the only person playing). Like the convenience-store-gamblers say, "You'll never win if you don't buy a ticket," so I've resigned myself to that fact, but it still doesn't stop us from daydreaming about it.

Just think about it for a minute. Let's say you're a family with a couple of kids and you win a much-needed million dollars. What would you really do with it?

The first sensible thing to do would be hire a financial planner, right? That's always been my train of thought, but maybe not with ONE million dollars. Give me a half hour and a big truck, and I could spend that much at Wal-Mart. So no financial planner for this amount. First, let's pay all our bills. The average Canadian family is over $70,000 in debt. So let's say you pay off your bills, your car, your credit cards, and your student loans, and let's say all that costs you $100,000 (which it probably doesn't...paying off every single debt would probably cost a lot more, but let's just go with a nice round number). And let's say you sold your house, getting rid of your mortgage. So you're at square one, with no debts whatsoever.

What do you do first? Plenty of people would say "build a house". As anyone who has built a house knows, this venture is very expensive, often more expensive than buying. And this new house wouldn't just be ANY house, it's your DREAM house, right? Come on, you're a millionaire!!! Can't be a millionaire and build a 1200 sqaure foot bungalow! So by the time you buy a nice piece of waterfront property, get all your permits, pay for your labor, materials, furniture, etc, etc, etc,...you're out about...hmmm...I'd say about $400,000. Possibly a bit less if your dream house is not that fancy, possibly more if it's a real palace. So half of your money is gone already.

Now of course you're going to need a new car. At least one. A millionaire can't be seen driving around town in a Kia! So let's say $50,000 on some fancy new wheels (not including the GTO you promised to buy your husband if you ever won the lottery...and not including the two old muscle cars he wants to buy and restore for your two boys for when they're older...and not including a minivan, which you kind of need anyway). On second thought, maybe I need to revise that number to $100,000. Five vehicles will be very expensive, and I can afford it now, being a millionaire and all.

Now we have our dream house and our dream cars. What about a nice vacation? St. Tropez, anyone? Let's go! Flights, hotel, meals, entertainment, insurance, souveniers, ground transportation.....hmmm...for four people, plus a friend for my son, plus someone to watch the baby so we can go out for a night or two while on vacation....I'll say this trip would cost an easy $25,000.

So now we're back from vacation, and we need to get down to business with this money. Our kids will, if they know what's good for them, be going to college someday. Considering how much it cost when I went, I'd be surprised if a million dollars would pay for it all in 2016. But let's put aside $100,000 for each of the kids, as I'm sure that will pay for tuition at least. And let's also assume our two kids are going to each have two kids of their own, so we have to put aside a few bucks for the grandkids too...let's say $25,000 each? There's another $100,000.

Hold on now, I better tally up these numbers. Hmm....I only have $175,000 left. Didn't I have a million dollars just a second ago? I didn't even go shopping yet!

Ok, now we have to make a few investments for the long term. $50,000 on the right stocks should do it, I think.

So that leaves me with $125,000. Still seems like a lot of money, but I have to give some away. And, being as their "favorite" sister/brother/aunt/neice/cousin/etc is now a millionaire, nobody is expecting $50 in a card, if you know what I mean. So let's figure in at least ten people, and give them $10,000 each. There's another $100,000.

Now I have $25,000 left, plus whatever I got for selling my house. I haven't given any money to charity yet, I haven't paid for the upkeep, maintenence, and operating costs of my fleet of vehicles and my huge, electricity-consuming house. I haven't paid my taxes. I haven't even bought groceries yet.

Suddenly one million dollars doesn't seem like very much, does it?

Winning $1,000,000 in the 6/49 isn't the same today as it would have been twenty years ago. Many of us have spent a million dollars and more in our lifetime, and certainly aren't rich. It makes you wonder if winning that much would really be enough. Surely, if I won a million dollars, I wouldn't be building a house worth five-hundred grand, but when you hear that someone won the lottery, they're automatically "The Rich People", and they're expected to live a certain lifestyle. I have a feeling that a millionaire's only brother would be a little bitter getting $10,000. And $50,000 doesn't seem like very much to invest on your future. So these numbers I have used as examples might be skewed somewhat, but we can all agree on one thing - it doesn't take long for money to disappear. If not on houses and cars and vacations, it would go somewhere else, and fast. To live the life of a celebrity, to have every material possession we want, would one million dollars be enough? Probably not.

Still, if anyone has a spare million they're willing to part with, I would be happy to take it off their hands.

Response to "Not So Merry"

In the past few days, my blog post about the murder of Paula Gallant has received quite a bit of attention. In acknowledgement of these viewers, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this blog, as well as for the kind comments that have been posted. My intention was to vent about the anger and frustration I feel about the status of the investigation, as well as keep Ms. Gallant's name circulating in conversation, and I think I have accomplished that in some small measure. I encourage everyone to pass the word around, keep asking questions, and keep demanding answers. Though I can't speak for them, I would imagine that her family finds comfort in knowing that so many people, neighbors and complete strangers alike, support the fight for justice. I did not know Ms. Gallant, but based on the response to my blog, I have to assume that was my loss. Thanks again, for reading and for joining me in prayers and well wishes for her daughter and family.

-Gina MacDonald

Facebook

In about January, I started getting email invitations to join "Facebook". I had no idea what Facebook was, but when I had been invited by about three-quarters of my email contacts, I decided to find out. A "social networking" site, designed to help people stay in touch with co-workers, classmates, and friends, had become instantly popular with people of all ages. At first I declined the invitations, but soon all conversations started or ended with "on Facebook". "Oh did you see the picture of so-and-so on Facebook?" "Did you add so-and-so on Facebook?" "I read on Facebook that so-and-so got married last year." So I did it - I joined Facebook.

I doubt that there are any readers here who AREN'T on Facebook, but just in case, let me sum in up for the two or three people in Canada who don't know how it works.

You accept an invitation to join via email (or just create a Facebook account). Facebook asks which of your email contacts you'd like to add as "Facebook friends", and you check their names accordingly. Those contacts who aren't yet registered on Facebook are sent an invitation. Those who are registered are automatically sent a "friend request", and once that request has been accepted, you have access to their personal profile. From this profile, you can look at THEIR friends, and request any of those people to be YOUR friends, and on and on it goes. Pretty soon you have a million people on your friends list, some you've requested, and some who have requested you.

But I'll assume most of you are registered on Facebook. Maybe you even have a Facebook window open as we speak. Probably.

I loved Facebook at first. I reconnected with so many people who I haven't seen in years and years, and brushed up on the lives of those who I'm well acquainted with. I got to see who got married, who got fat, who had kids, who moved to Korea, and who peaked in high school. I got to see pictures of their kids, their wedding, their summer vacations, their cats, their cars, and their memorable moments. I got to see who they were friends with, and (sometimes more interestingly) who they weren't friends with. I could send them a message, post a "hello" on their wall, or even poke them to get their attention. Most people's profiles were a comprehensive overview of their lives, with no detail spared. It would take a person days and weeks to read every wall post, see every picture, scroll through every friends list. Which is precisely why I quit.

I found myself spending far too much time on Facebook. I would have to check it every five minutes, just to see if anyone had sent me a message, or posted on my wall, or sent me a friend request. And I can admit this because I know I'm not alone. There are groups called "Facebook Anonymous" and "Crackbook", simply because people can't seem to stay away from this thing. Add to that the fact that, suddenly, I had almost three hundred people on my friends list....I wasn't aware that I even KNEW three hundred people, let alone LIKED those three hundred people. And I can almost guarantee that "friends lists" are often populated just to get an edge in the apparent "who has the most friends" competition taking place. Suddenly I was very aware that people I had added simply through vague recognition (aka, she was two years ahead of me in high school), were able to see pictures of my kids. And my life. I found that to be unsettling, so I quit.

And now I'm faced with a far worse dilemma - I feel completely cut off from the outside world. Since getting rid of my Facebook account, the majority of people who know me have asked "where I went." Huh? Where did I go? I haven't gone anywhere. "No, I mean on Facebook. I don't see you on my list anymore." Imagine! Almost as if I didn't exist before Facebook came along! And it doesn't stop there. Since becoming absent from Facebook, I have missed out on plenty. Several friends have had babies over the last month or so, and I haven't seen a single picture. They're on Facebook. Several more friends have gotten married, and, again, I haven't seen a single picture. Only on Facebook. One friend sent his wedding invitations via Facebook, and I missed out on that too. It seems as though, if you're not on Facebook, you snooze you lose.

So I've come up with my own social networking plan. I'll gather the relevant information from my close circle of friends, and through the miracles of modern technology, I'll be able to talk to them and leave them messages whenever I want. It's a plan to enable friends to keep in touch, without relying on Facebook to keep our lives relevant to each other.

It's called a phone.

"Mr. Miguel, please report to the office....immediately"

How would you feel if you knew one of your child's teachers was a convicted murderer?
That's what some Quebec parents are facing these days.

After a heated argument with his wife, a man from Montreal suffered a psychotic break and killed her in their home. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served seven years in prison, regaining his freedom in 1998. He was hired to teach at a trade school in Montreal, stating on his application that he had never been convicted of a criminal offence. His criminal record was discovered in 2004 and he was terminated by his employer, but he has since been rehired....his union challenged the dismissal, saying that under the Quebec charter of rights, he cannot be fired for a crime not related to his job.

A spokesperson for the Quebec Human Rights Commission has stated, "If you're a convicted pedophile, you can't get a job in a daycare. If you're an arsonist, you can't get a job as a fireman. But if the crime is not related to the job, you can't be discriminated against."

So I guess if he had the qualifications, he could work at my son's elementary school. Or at your daughter's daycare. After all, he kills grown ups, not children, so it's not at all related in any way. And he doesn't pose a threat anymore because he served his time in prison. It's a well known fact that criminals aren't repeat offenders, so we can rest assured we're all safe. He has paid his debt to society, since intentionally taking a human life is deemed forgivable after seven years of free meals and limited television priviledges. And he has a right to earn a living, don't forget, in any work environment not related to his crime. So ruling out slaughterhouses and the snuff film industry, he can work just about anywhere. Geez, give the guy a break! He has rights you know. Many more than his wife...who's dead...because he killed her....anyway, I digress.

What would the world be without human rights? They serve us well at times, but at other times, they defeat the purpose for which they were intended. This is another case of the rights of victims and potential victims are coming second to the rights of criminals.

I don't believe in the death penalty (I see it as too humane, a quick exit from a long and miserable existance), but I do believe that a person who intentionally takes a human life should be forced to live out the rest of THEIR life being punished for their crime. Prison systems these days are a joke (I can tell you with experience having worked in one), and sentencing has become so hollow, political, and lenient, that there is no deterrent. To make matters worse, cases like these prove that, no matter what the crime, your rights as a criminal will be protected moreso than the rights of the innocent people around you....all in the name of Human Rights - which translates into "good politics". How sad.

For anyone who may be opposed to my point of view, and who may think that this man indeed does deserve to earn a living, I have two things to say: one, you wouldn't be so morally high-falutin' if this guy was your son's Grade One teacher. And two, he gave up all the rights of common people when he killed his wife.

Makes you want to think twice about the people around us. Unless we know them well, do we really know them at all?

"IF I did it, which I didn't, this is how I WOULD have done it"

I was watching "The Today Show" this morning, and they had an interview with the new publisher of the O.J. Simpson book "If I Did It". Apparently the book, who's publication had been cancelled, has found a new promoter and is set for release in the coming months.

I had briefly heard about this book before, but only today did I look it up online. After it's original printing, copies were leaked online and those interested could read it, download it, or print it. I skimmed through it, paying most of my attention to the "damning" Chapter 6, called "The Night in Question". The book, an account of Simpson's relationship with his wife Nicole, as well as a description of how he would have committed the murders (which his disclaimer states he did not), reads like a confession.

My question is: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Is this guy for real? He swears up and down that he did not kill anyone. He has been running around to media outlets for years proclaiming his innocence. So then he writes a book describing how he WOULD have committed the murders? Are you serious?

So let's say my neighbor's house burned to the ground and I had been accused. After screaming for years that I didn't do it, is it wise of me to further damage my reputation and tell everyone, in the first person, how I would have done it? Let's see, "I sneaked across their yard with a can of kerosene, lit a match, and ran. I knew I would never be caught, so I laughed as I fled the scene." Would that be smart for me to put on paper?

Words escape me as I try to describe the logic behind the writing of this book. In my opinion, most people think that O.J Simpson got away with murder; that he killed those two people, got great lawyers who played on the prosecution's mistakes, got lucky with a bunch of technicalities, and strutted out of the courtroom a free man. So the majority of readers will be shaking their heads, wondering how he could so obviously rub his guilt in the faces of the victim's families, the courts, and the general public....that's what I was doing as I read it, shaking my head.

What would have possessed him to write this? Is it mental illness? Cockiness? Stupidity? Attention-seeking? You would think a guy like O.J. would want to live out the rest of his life fading into the background, but apparently not. If you get a chance to skim through it, ask yourself if it's a book of fiction, as it claims to be, or the boasting of a murderer, eager to embrace his undeserved freedom but still craving the glory and acknnowledgement of having gotten away with two brutal, highly-publicized killings.

I really don't know what to think, except that O.J. Simpson has clearly lost it. Ridiculous book.

The Home of Our Hearts (if not our careers)

It probably seems like I'm harping, but I love Cape Breton. In my opinion, there is no greater place to be from, and no better place to live.

This ideology is great in theory, but sometimes it isn't very practical.

It's no secret that Cape Breton isn't where you go when you're looking for a good job. Just the opposite - so many locals unwillingly relocate in order to find one. My brother loves Cape Breton, and yet he toils in Alberta, like so many others, making money, living, and missing home. Look at all the working parents who have to leave their families in Cape Breton to make a living out West for months at a time, sometimes longer, just because there isn't enough opportunity at home to sustain themselves.

During my workforce days years ago in Cape Breton, I never really had a problem getting a job because, for awhile at least, I was in the food service industry. Lowly waitress to some, but I defy you to find me a more profitable minimum wage job. I counted on tips as part of my take-home pay, and without them I would have been on welfare, like so many other people I knew. As I got older and moved to the city, I began to look for a job which utilized my (very expensive) education. In the Metro Halifax area, those jobs are a bit easier to come by, but in Cape Breton, they're almost non-existant. This is what leads me to my latest rant, as I completely understand where all the displaced Cape Bretoners are coming from, now more than ever.

My husband has a good job, and I've been on indefinite maternity leave for a few years. I decided recently that I would like to go out into the workforce again, and we prepared ourselves for the ramifications of that decision. This is what we discovered: for me to put my baby in day care (which we would have to be put on a waiting list to acquire), and to have my older son receive after school care, would cost a minimum of $45 per day. Per day. That equals $225 per week, and that's money I have to make just to justify leaving the house. It would cost even more on days where my oldest son has no school.

Then figure into that the money I would need to spend on clothes for work, the extra expense of packing four different lunches, transportation to and from the sitter, and then to and from work. The stress of getting two kids up and fed and packed and dressed and ready at the crack of dawn, and finding the time to make myself look presentable as well. I also have to take into account the loss of stability we now get to enjoy, since my youngest spends all day at home with his mom, and his brother gets to come home every day after school.

I ask you, is all of that worth $7.50 per hour?

Imagine that daily ritual, figure in the expense, and ask yourself if making $56.00 per day, before deductions, is worth it. That's $281.25 per week, again, before deductions. After deductions, it would likely cost me more to go to work than it does to stay home.

Sadly, there are plenty of you who don't have to imagine it at all, you live it every day. When I look on the JobBank today, there are 33 available jobs listed, which I can tell you is the most I've seen in a long time. Of these jobs, the majority are in the Port Hawkesbury area, making it even costlier for those in rural surrounding communities to get work. A full 23 jobs are either part time, seasonal, or term positions, and 28 of the 33 posted jobs are either minimum wage or just above. Only 2 jobs are significantly more, both term positions, and both in the $10 per hour range. The wild card is a job with the local Regional Development Agency, which requires 3-5 years of experience as a General Manager of a Transit System. I'm assuming, since it says the wage is to be negotiated, that the person they hire will be paid quite a bit more than $10 per hour. That's great for the person from Sydney or Halifax who will apply and transfer here to take the job. The online offerings this week are comparable to the normal selection, though there are usually fewer jobs available in the off-season. Welcome to the Strait Area.

And so how are we expected to live, to raise our kids, to get ahead in life, as the cashier at Dollarama? I mean no disrespect to those people toiling away at their jobs, just making ends meet, or maybe not making ends meet at all. On the contrary, I have the utmost respect for people who are ambitous enough to get out of bed every morning and go to work every day at a job that they despise, underpaid, overworked, disrespected, and discouraged. To have paid the Nova Scotia Community College lots of money for a diploma in Office Administration, and to be cleaning rooms at a hotel in town for $8.00 per hour. To be on your feet as a retail sales clerk for eight and nine hours a day, and to not be able to afford to send your kid camping with his friends because you're broke after you pay your babysitter. I feel for all these people, because I've been there before. I'm fortunate now that I'm in a position where I have a choice, but so many other working parents don't have a choice at all, they have a responsibility to take care of their families, and they do it, like it or not.

So after searching and debating and pondering, I've decided to stay home with my kids instead of getting a job. A second income would have been nice, required maybe, but not at the necessary cost.

To all of you who are working hard, I admire your resolve and determination.

To the government of Nova Scotia, take notice. People who are residents of a region with high unemployment are often thought of as lazy, but really that is probably not the case. We need jobs that pay us for the work we do, that allow us to support ourselves and our families. There isn't much point in discouraging people from moving to Alberta and staying in Cape Breton - you're not leaving us much choice. A power bill, a litre of gas, and a carton of milk costs just as much for someone making $15,000 per year as it does for the guys at the mill who make $80,000. Giving us a break on the cost of day care would be nice, but even that doesn't help the people with no children. We need the government to raise the minimum wage, give tax break incentives to companies for paying higher salaries, and create jobs for qualified individuals. The time is now, so that all people living in the Strait Area, and in Cape Breton, can prosper and stay where they belong - HOME.

WTC7

Not exactly light reading, as it gets very complicated, but I thought I'd post this link since it tells the story much better than I could myself.

Again, no accusations exactly, rather asking everyone to open your mind.

http://www.wtc7.net/articles/FEMA/WTC_ch5.htm