Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Winning the lottery - the first post

For years I've kept a running list in my head of what I would do if I won the lottery.  This is beyond the regular pay off debts, set up college funds, update cars/house, etc.  I've probably had a dozen ideas over the years, but have not written them down any place so have promptly forgotten all but two.  Seemed like an excellent topic for a blog post that I could add to as new ideas developed so.....

17/365 yes, i'm bad with math
By Robert Couse-Baker on Flikr
1. Start my own political party.  At least that was my plan when I first came up with this idea probably a decade ago.  However the legal climate has changed so I may look into a SuperPAC instead.  Not sure exactly how I would define all major issues at this point, but I do know it would libertarian on all social issues.  The paternalism of both major political parties is a source of annoyance and occasionally fear for me.

2. Launch a breastfeeding marketing campaign.  I know exactly what I want it to look like. I want to juxtapose images of the inconvenience of long-term formula feeding with the ease of breastfeeding (once you get past the learning curve).  So I picture something like a parent waking to a fussing baby in the middle of the night who stumbles downstairs to make-up the formula then back up to feed a now almost hysterical baby and the next scene is a fussing baby whose mom reaches over to pick him up from the co-sleeper and then snuggles into a nursing session without hardly moving.  Another might be a family stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire - crying baby empty bottle and then the same scene with a baby happily nursing.  I'm sure that you all could come up with a number of other ideas.  All of these would be followed with a tagline that was something to the effect "Breastfeeding... mom deserves it" following up by one of the abysmal stats on the education that the standard HCP get with regards to breastfeeding and urging mothers to insist that they get proper lactation support.

3.  This is one I came up with a couple of weeks ago.  I would set aside a fund that I would use twice a year during my local NPR station pledge drive.  On opening day I would call them and ask how much it would take to finish this thing off right now and then give them the money.  I'm really looking forward to putting that into action!

Of course all of these will be a bit difficult seeing that I don't really buy lottery tickets.  As a family we pass them around during the winter holidays buying them for each other, but usually only the scratch kind that wouldn't offer the kinds of funds needed for my plans.  Looks like I may have to consider some future investments.... ;-)

What would you do with your winnings?

No comments: