I was listening to the radio at work, and they were talking about a prize they were giving away. The idea was that if you were caller number 20 after a certain song, you would get $1000 worth of lottery scratch tickets for the $10,000,000 state prize. Finally they got the guy who won on the air. The conversation went something like this:

DJ: Hey man! You just won a thousand dollars worth of lottery tickets!

Jo Shmo: Cool! That’s awesome!!!!!

DJ: What are you doing right now?

Jo Shmo: Ummmm, I’m working at Mass General, I’m a neurosurgeon

DJ: Yeah, we get a lot of neurosurgeons listening to this station

Jo Shmo: Wow! I can’t believe it! I’m shaking all over!

DJ: Be sure to rest your ticket scratching arm tonight, you might want ice for it

Jo Shmo: Yeah!

DJ: And remember, if you win, who’s your buddy?

Jo Shmo: You guys!!!

I smiled at the thought of scratching that many lottery tickets. All that grey stuff coming off in sheets….. making your fingernails hurt, straining your eyes. Then I started thinking about it a little more. I calculated the odds of one of those tickets being a winner and found them to be very slim. I then calculated his odds of dying the next day and found them to be slightly better. Yep, I would be shaking all over too. What a great day to look forward to!