The lottery never seems as popular as when it breaks some incredible mark. The California state lottery is up to around $85 million now, and people are buying tickets left and right. I went down to the little convenience store in the building I work in so I could buy some gum, and I had to wait like 5 minutes in line because so many people were buying tickets. People were picking up $20, $50, even $75 worth of lottery tickets.

It's not the chances that matter to people. It's the dream. It doesn't matter that the chances of any ticketholder winning are about the same as getting hit by lightning while having a penny that was dropped from the top of the Empire State Building slice through your arm at the same moment as you're contracting leprosy and getting humped by a chihuahua. People will still see themselves up there on TV, accepting that oversized check, buying that big luxury home and yacht and retiring.

Me, I'm planning on going into work tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that. I didn't buy any tickets, and I didn't think of going in on the office pool until it was too late. So that dollar that I didn't spend on the lottery can buy me a pack of gum again in a few days.

But there are days when I do dream about that oversized check and what I'd do with it.