Powerball Is $174 Million Tonight!

Quite honestly, let's just be real here, no one really wants to have to work our entire lives for a living, and while there are a multitude of ways to get that done, for most of us the daily grind is just going to be a fact of life no matter how we slice it.

But hey, look on the bright side. The Powerball drawing is tonight! And as I always say about the lottery...

No matter how shitty the odds my friends...SOMEBODY HAS TO WIN IT!

Tonight's drawing is for a whopping $174 million. That's a lot of loot. Taking the cash option I would estimate the take away would be somewhere around $52.2 million after taxes. My math is simple calculation of roughly half of the total, and accounting for keeping about 60% of that after taxes.

Granted, that's a really rough estimate. I mean, at the end of the day, even if the math is not exactly correct, who cares? It's close enough. I can figure out the details when I win, right?

Of course, I play the lottery very frequently and have been doing so for years, and of course I have been writing about various aspects of the lottery for years. Here's something I wrote a while back which is a bit of a tongue in cheek—okay a LOT tongue in cheek. Winning The Lottery: The Dream of the Big Win.

Do you have your ticket yet for tonight's drawing? If not all I can ask is WHY? Come on, it's only $2 to play, and you never know...you might just be the lucky one who takes home the big prize.

Just for fun, here is a set of numbers you might want to try out. Now, I am not playing these numbers so of course if these numbers hit I'd be pissed. But of course, I'd also be pissed if I had to share with the millions of readers who come here...

Okay, all TEN of you. Who's counting?

22  36  51  56  59  PB:  32

A Delicious Chicken Dinner

When it comes to cooking in the kitchen, I am always experimenting around with what I can make. Some of the time I use a recipe (although I rarely will follow it to the letter). Other times I just take a look at what I have in the cupboard and just simply throw something together.

Like I did last night.

I took out a package of chicken thighs, and simply seasoned them with a little bit of pepper and some Mrs. Dash original seasoning. I am on a salt restriction, so keeping the salt down as best I can is important—especially considering the other ingredients would have some unavoidable sodium content.

I got out a bowl and chopped up some onion and an orange bell pepper. Next I added a jar of mild salsa. Then I tossed in a can of diced tomatoes.

To that mixture I threw in a packet of mild taco seasoning—you know, the kind you might add to ground beef for taco night.

I stirred the ingredients together in the bowl.

Onto preparing the seasoned chicken thighs. I just added a little oil to a skillet and browned the meat on both sides. Then tossed those into a roasting pan. The oven was set to 375 degrees and allowed to preheat.

I poured the mixture from the bowl onto the chicken and tossed it into the oven and cooked this for about an hour.

The meal was served with boiled broccoli (which we usually serve with a dollop of Miracle Whip on top), and I heated up some leftover macaroni and cheese we had from another meal.

Needless to say, our chicken suppie was delicious, and yes, I did indeed say "suppie."

What The Hell Is The Point of this Blog?

I have been blogging for a long time. While when I started this whole thing—not here on THIS blog—it was a more "serious" approach that I took. My main blog, which gets quite neglected these days, The Springboard, centers around mostly politics, money management, the stock market, and as I like to call it, "the occasional random thought."

One of the things that began to distract me a bit from this more "serious" writing were sites like Bubblews, PersonaPaper, MyLot and others. You can even go ahead and toss in an old site I used to be quite active on that was called WebAnswers.

The thing is, these were sites where you could essentially write about nothing in particular, and yet at the same time still make a fair amount of money.

I am currently on MyLot doing that sort of writing.

What is The Springboard Journal? It's an experiment of sorts. It's a quest to identify if writing about nothing in particular can be effective to attract any sort of traffic here on Blogger. It's a quest to see if a similar amount of participation on other blogs can have the same effect on traffic to any post as it did, or does currently on a site like MyLot.

The point of this blog really is simply to carry over the idea that is the basis of any of those other sites I mentioned and see whether or not it can work in a similar way as it does on those sites, but to also determine whether doing it here instead of there can be more profitable.

At the end of the day it is true that many of us write blogs at all because we like to write. And because we like to write, writing about anything—or in this case nothing—is just an excuse to put words down and play around a bit with the whole process of it. But we also like to make a little bit of money too. Getting paid to do something you enjoy is always a worthwhile venture.

So what really is the point of this blog? Just to see what happens. To write about anything and nothing and just see where it lands.

While writing about nothing, I will do my best to at least try and keep it somewhat interesting.

Snap TWO!

It's winter time, so it does not surprise me one bit that we are getting a few mice into the house. I COULD revert back to my days in pest control and take some time to try and find out how they are getting in. There could be a MILLION different places where there may be a hole for them to escape the cold outside into my house.

But it is just as easy, especially now that the cats we had are gone, to simply lay out of a few snap traps and dispose of their presence that way.

Best bait by the way? Peanut butter. Works like a charm every single time. I used to get a kick out of it when someone would ask me what the secret ingredient was to catch a mouse that we exterminators kept in our bag of tricks...

And it always surprised my clients that it was indeed PEANUT BUTTER. 

Incidentally, it was the same golden bait to use in my traps to catch squirrels. But luckily I do not have any squirrels getting into the house.

So far I have snapped two mice. I actually need to run out and get a few more snap traps. I thought I had more in my "pest box" as I call it. And I never throw away a used trap (so I am not sure what happened to them all). Once a trap is "seasoned" it will kill time and time again.

We Are Suckers For Chinese Food

I will be the first to admit it. Despite my salt restriction, and the fact that Chinese food is LOADED WITH SALT, my wife and I just absolutely LOVE Chinese food.

And every time we order it we just go way overboard.

Usually I will get the two combo meals. I like the beef with broccoli or beef pepper steak, and usually go back and forth on those two. I get the pork fried rice and egg rolls with the meal. My wife likes General Tso's chicken, and that never wavers. So, we get that and the pork fried rice and egg rolls.

Why the egg rolls?

The place we go to for the Chinese food usually has a coupon for 8 free crab Rangoon with the purchase, and even though the combo meals offer crab Rangoon with the meals, we figure we have enough crab Rangoon to satisfy our craving.

Usually with the meal we will also get two orders of chicken teriyaki on a stick, and a quart of shrimp fried rice.

Can you ever have too many leftovers when it comes to Chinese food?

I can make other stuff with it, have snacks with it, and of course take some of it to work with me for lunch.

Those Chinese make out like a bandit. Every time my wife and I order Chinese food we typically spend about $60 when all is said and done. Plus, our delivery driver usually fares pretty well as well. I generally tip about 20% to the driver, so that's about $12 in  HIS pocket.

We get a great meal that we eat off for days and the restaurant makes a sale, and the driver gets to take home a little something nice as well.

Win, win.


 

How To Make A Million Dollars

This is it. Right here, folks. Step right up. Take notice and DO take notes. THIS is how you make your mark on the world. THIS is how you make a million dollars. A MILLION DOLLARS! Yes, you heard me right. 

You CAN make a million dollars with absolutely nothing. Think about it. One of the greatest shows in the history of television made all of its cast MILLIONS of dollars. And the show was about absolutely nothing.

Of course, I am referring to Seinfeld. And Jerry Seinfeld was the mater at making millions out of nothing.

When you think about it one step further, take a look at YouTube. Take a look at Facebook. Hell, throw Twitter into the mix. Throw in any of those other social media sites that have not just made millions but BILLIONS of dollars like Instagram and Snapchat.

Are we sharing anything of value on any of these places? No. Not really. But yet, despite all that, people come in droves. People will come here in droves as well, rest assured. They will come here and drop umpteen thousands of comments. They will click on ads and they will buy stuff, and both Google and I will make millions of dollars.

Something is BOUND to go viral folks. It is all a numbers game. It is all a game of the odds.

And of course there is the sheer entertainment value of what I post here to consider as well. I mean, people want to be a fly on the wall. They want to know what goes on in the lives of otherwise ordinary people. 

Who is this Jim Bauer? What is this foolish but catchy little album Jim Bauer has created called Pink Flamingoes all about, and why is it making so much money when it never receives airplay on the radio and people are going to in droves?

What is this book, edited by Jim Bauer under the penname Ivan S. Graves called Dark Whispers, and why does it attract such a large audience?

Jim Bauer is making MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from nothing. And so will this blog make MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from nothing.

I just have a knack, folks. But so can you. YOU TOO CAN MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS FROM DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is the world we live in today. The world of the Internet. And people WILL and DO come in droves to see what you have to say. To dive into the meat of what you had for dinner, what you did yesterday, today, and what you will do tomorrow. They want to know about you. They want to know about me.

I cannot tell you how many times I have cashed a check and thought to myself, how in the hell did I get this money? What in the world did I offer that was worth a dime?

But here we are talking about it, and here I am cashing in those checks.

At the rate I am going I suspect any minute Forbes is going to be knocking on my door wanting to know more. They are going to wanting to know how in the world I have managed to amass such massive wealth from nothing at all? How it is that I have created completely shit music and actually was able to give massive bands like Green Day a run for their money? How I have capitalized on the Seinfeld genius of making money from nothing?

I mean, think about it. This POST is about nothing, but isn't it interesting? Are you still reading? Why are you still reading? Are you inclined now to click on an ad just because you are thinking, man this guy needs to KEEP ON POSTING?

If you want to make a million dollars in this world, all you need to do is come up with something about nothing and people will follow you, want to know more about you, and will come to you in droves. Because again, people want to be flies on the wall. They want to know about your happy and your sad. They want to know about your trials and tribulations, and they want to know about your successes. They want to know your hopes and aspirations, and some just want to know THAT so they can knock you down. They want to know about how much of an idiot you are when you post absolutely stupid shit no one cares about to YouTube like this video.

THIS, my friends, please DO take note, is a MILLION DOLLAR BLOG. In fact, I am writing this post from my yacht as we (the wife and I) are sailing off the shore of the Bahamas. A frequent stop for us.

I'd share a picture of myself standing at the bow of said yacht, but my phone died and it is the only camera I own. But do take my word for it. This is a million dollar blog and if you copy what I do here you too can make a million dollars. 

Now, if you are really interested in my million dollar secret, I would be more than happy to send you my PayPal address. Just send me $5 and I will send you a printed copy of exactly what I have posted here, just so you have a hard copy of this secret.

I want everyone to make a million dollars. I want everyone to be successful. I want everyone to make a million dollars from nothing at all.

It is simply a matter of time before no one ever has to work the daily grind anymore and work for some unruly, asshole of a boss. We can just post nothing and live the good life. We can look out at the rest of the dumb world from the high towers of our multi-room mansions...

Well one of the rooms in MY MANSION is of course a recording studio where I am busy at work writing a follow up to my Pink Flamingoes (misspelled on purpose) album. Onward and upward to my second million dollars.

Was this article helpful? Has it caused you to find your pathway to a million dollars of your own? Do you feel enlightened? Have you fallen for any of this? Are you still reading?

Ooh, That Makes Me Mad

Look, I love playing the lottery. Hell, I never win anything to write home about. It's just the chance at millions of dollars that keeps me playing, even if I know that realistically I have no chance in hell of winning a dime.

So, I get a dollar here, and two dollars there. Sometimes I MIGHT get lucky enough to win $5 or sometimes a bit more. It's never enough to write home about, none of it is life changing, and when I consider how much I play I have never come close to getting my money back.

Not hardly.

Well, the other day I went to check some tickets. You know, they have those scanners you can run your tickets under to check to see if they are winners or not. I scanned 15 of my tickets and came up with two that each won a dollar.

Woohoo! $2. 

I also had one winning scratch off ticket worth $2, and another one worth $5. So, all said I was going to cash in a whopping $9 worth of winnings.

I stepped up to the counter and told the cashier, "I'd like to cash these in and I will be getting a couple more."

Fair and well, nuff said.

I bought a new Illinois Lotto ticket, and my wife picked out 2 one dollar scratch offs. She likes playing the scratch offs. I am really only interested in the Lucky Day, the Lotto, the Powerball, and the Megamillions.

I'm in it for the big dough!

So, I had $9 to play with. I spent three. The cashier handed me my tickets and $3 cash. I folded up my money and my ticket and put those into my pocket and my wife and I set off to do our errands we had planned.

And then it dawned on me...

I only got $3 in cash back after I accounted for my $3 worth of new tickets. I was shorted $3 of winnings.

I could have went back. But to what end I figured. Was it really all that worth it to go back for my money? I mean, most of the time I am all about the pennies, so $3 is $3 and that still has value...

But I thought it just wasn't worth it and so I simply sucked it up.

Still, it makes me mad. I don't like to lose money—despite my playing the lottery in the first place. I keep thinking somewhere in the back of my mind, maybe that was my little contribution for the millions I am about to take command of.

We shall see.

Can You Believe These Gas Prices?

Remember just a short time ago when you looked at your fuel gauge with a little bit of panic? First thought...oh shit. This is going to hurt like hell to fill this tank. AND lucky if I can afford to go anywhere with this gas once I put it into the tank.

But here we are, and gas prices are under $2 a gallon! Granted, like anything, it is probably a short-lived thing. Enjoy it while we can is what I say. It is nice, though, to be able to fill up and not worry whether or not you'll need to mortgage your house to fill the tank—and hell, think of all the extra useless crap we buy with the money we're not spending on gas.

Ah, the wheels of the economy will churn much like the wheels on my car. And I have two of them to fill mind you. An F-150 and an Edge.

What with the lowered taxes and jobs a plenty, raises galore and bonuses galore, things are finally looking quite dandy when all is said and done on the economic front. Let's just hope that for whatever any of this is worth it can last a little bit.

I'd like to see gas stay at under $2 a gallon for as long as it possibly can.

Is This Thing On?

Blogs are a dime a dozen on the Internet. Anyone who has dabbled in blogs for even just a short time knows this little fact all too well.

And then there's this stuff. Blogs containing total useless garbage and horrible writing. I make no bones about it. This blog is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE BRILLIANT, and it is not supposed to give James Patterson or Stephen King a run for their money.

It is simply a place to write something and share it.

When I first started writing anything, and honing my craft, one of the very first things I learned is that in order to find your voice, and hone your "craft," is to simply keep the proverbial pen moving. Write something. Write anything. Who the fuck cares what it is you write about? Who the fuck cares if it is any good? And frankly, who the fuck cares if anyone actually reads any of it?

I just started back on THIS blog. A journal I call it. It's a blog really about nothing at all. Will anyone find it? Will anyone read it? Will anyone leave any interesting comments?

I have no freaking clue!

I do think, however, that one way for something like this to get a bit more notice and attention around the Internet is to post often and frequently. Somehow I swear I read somewhere that updating a blog quite regularly helps it to get better placements in search, even if it is about nothing at all like this one is.

We will see how it goes. It is a work in progress. It will probably fall on deaf ears or blind eyes, if it gets found at all. If nothing else I suppose I can just have fun clacking away at the keys here hoping maybe one day it can find a place in this vast world wide web.




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A Walk Around the Flea Market

SO, THE WIFEY WANT TO TAKE A WALK AROUND THE LOCAL FLEA MARKET THIS AFTERNOON. Well, by the time you see this post that would have been yesterday afternoon. Not something I am looking terribly forward to, but she's the wife. She wants to go. I just need to make my best effort to show her that I am having so much fun walking around looking at a bunch of junk and garbage I really have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.

Oh well. Sometimes that's what life is all about. Making someone else happy. I suppose if I look on the bright side and keep in check with that old adage that if mama is happy, so is everyone else maybe there will be a silver lining to the little excursion.

More likely that not I think the real answer we will simply add to a useless pile of garbage that will eventually wind up in a future garage sale which are about as much fun putting on as it is going to these fucking flea markets!

Giving It To MyLot

I TEND TO SPEND QUITE A LOT OF TIME OVER AT A LITTLE PLACE CALLED MYLOT, and I have to say that for the most part is indeed a site that, unlike many others before it—we'll just toss out the Bubblews name here for these purposes—it seems to have its act together when it comes to policing the site and making regular cash payouts to its members there.

I have not missed a payment to date.

While MyLot does not pay anywhere near a site like BUBBLEWS did, I think that is actually a good thing. The fact is that anyone who did not fully come to the realization at the massive payouts Bubblews offered that the entire thing was one giant scam just waiting to come to its very dead end, you just simply could not have been operating with even half of a brain in your head.

It was too good to be true. We all knew it. But so long as the cash register continued to ring, however unrealistic it all was that it could keep on going, YOU kept on going until the cash register stopped ringing.

And it did. Quite abruptly actually.

But I am not here really to talk about the good side of MyLot. I am here to talk about something that bothers me a bit about MyLot.

I said that MyLot polices the site quite well. And that's true. They keep out the riff-raff, and they delete posts quite rapidly when they break a policy. You want that and need that on a site like this, as things can get ugly right quick, and before you know it, advertisers start wanting to pull their ads.

And that's bad because that's the bread and butter of a site like MyLot, and of course what allows the content providers to get paid.

But I do think the site sometimes goes a little bit far on that policing...especially as it applies to what some might call spam. In one way or another, being that we are content providers, and that we are attracted to sites like MyLot at all, we all generally have something to sell outside of just the content we provide on those sites.

Like me, for example. I have an album out there on iTunes and other places. I have a book out there on Amazon which is also sold in a few places. I have this blog and other blogs. I have articles I have written on HubPages.

There's stuff out there that I want to share. Both for the purpose of sharing. But also for the purpose of increasing my opportunities for revenue if I can as well.

Other members of the site write books. Some have little side businesses making designer art, greeting cards, and even lotions and detergents. Not a single one of us expects to get rich doing any of this stuff.

Yet the site seems to warrant anything that even mentions indirectly about our "side gigs" is a post that should quickly and rightly be deleted.

I tend to disagree with this.

Look, if I post a direct link to my album on iTunes, for example (It's Pink Flamingoes by Jim Bauer if you had any desire to look it up) in a MyLot post. Yeah. That's undeniable spam. But if I simply mention, such as I did here, that the album is available on iTunes without providing a link directly to it, and use the post to also share for free a song from the album, to my mind that is not spam at all. It is simply saying to anyone reading the post, here's a song I want to share from my album called X, if you want to take a look at it here is where you can find it...

That is simple sharing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not outwardly complaining, nor am I calling on the site to change its policies. It's their site, they can do what they want with it, and they can make whatever rules they want to make inside of it. If I want to participate there I have to simply abide by their rules and live with it if I want to get paid anything at all.

But there's part of the thing. I don't need the money that bad. It's not enough money to get my panties all in a bunch over. So, to that end, I do have the ability to cite my disdain for an action they take by taking something from them that they need more than I do.

Money from advertising.

And so that is what I did after they pulled my last post that mentioned my album and where it could be found. I stopped participating. I stopped posting. I made my presence there very nominal.

It has probably not so much as made a slight dent in their revenue, and they probably haven't even noticed my lack of participating over there. Either way.

But it also reminded me of THIS blog I started which was a way of doing exactly the same thing (or something very similar to it) HERE and being in FULL CONTROL of what I post, how it promotes things, and HOW MUCH I can earn overall.

I am at my payout level at MyLot. So, that means that when "checks" are handed out in February for the month of January, I will get one. It will not bother me to continue to boycott the site (mostly) for the rest of this month, and simply focus on this blog to see if there is any opportunity for it to grow and find a place on the Internet where there can be some great discussions about anything and nothing in general, and keep a healthy dialogue of comments and responses.

I will keep anyone interested on how it goes, although I must admit to feeling a little bit like old Jonny Fever at WKRP in Cincinnati.