What are the first three FUN things you would do if you won the lottery?

[grannylib]

I will assume everyone would take care of debts, give generously to causes you have yearned to support, ensure $$ for children's education, etc etc etc...
What are the first three FUN things you would do with the money?
For me, I would:
1) Buy a really good keyboard (probably an electronic baby grand with weighted key piano action, and not TOO many bells/whistles...just great sound and great action)
2) Trade in vehicles for something that will run decently and not burn TOO much fuel
3) Go get totally outfitted with Kevlar canoe, Duluth Packs, etc. so as to be TOTALLY ready to hit the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area any damn time I please! (and look for my dream lake home up north while on the way there!)

How about you? What would YOU do???

[WCGreen]

1. I'd get me a clean Cuban and some Siamese Twins....

Yes sir, that's what I would do.....

[MrScorpio]

61. Party like it's 1999

Aw, the good old days

[mdmc]

2. nice thread!

Fun things...
1) Get a home.
2) Get a car.
3) Take a trip to Amsterdam. Toot, toot!

[grannylib]

7. Oooh, I forgot all about traveling outside the country! Yeah, I'd have to

revisit some of my favorite places, and see some new ones too.
Neither my hubby nor any of my kids have been out of the country (except my middle daughter came on a mission trip with me to Mexico some years back) so yes, travel for sure!
My youngest wants to go to Paris in the worst way...I would HAVE to take her, and it would be SO fun! She is most excellent company.

[democracyindanger]

3. 1) I'd buy a building next to a major freeway

2) I'd put a huge Jumbotron on the traffic side
3) I'd start a production company whose main purpose was to create short bits for the Jumbotron that ridiculed every asinine Republican candidate and talking point that came up.

[WCGreen]

4. I like your style....

[HEyHEY]

5. 80 foot offshore schooner - nuff said

[BikeWriter]

40. An 80 foot schooner? That would be a blast to sail!

[maveric]

6. Buy my Shelby Cobra, party in Berkeley, get out my "fuck you" list.

And pay those worthy a visit.

[Justpat]

8. I love thinking about this idea.

For me, it would be the following:

1.Buy a 200 acres horse farm in the Blue Grass Valley area of
SW Virginia.

2. Go to the yearling sales in Keeneland and get some horses.

3. Open a liberal think tank and stock it with some of the
best mimds here on DU.

[BikeWriter]

9. Hmm, I would flaunt the money in front of the exes.

:)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

11. Do you mean "flaunt"?

[BikeWriter]

16. You saw it before I effed it. :-)

[GOPisEvil]

10. Wow - interesting question.

1. Buy the new Lexus Hybrid SUV and drive around the country visting DUers. :)

2. Fly to Europe and spend 30 days or so just riding the trains to whereever sounded interesting.

3. New golf clubs. :)

[grannylib]

12. Don't you wish we had decent passenger rail system in this country??

I used to LOVE the Eurail passes when I was living in Europe in the early 70s - one could go damn near anywhere, very reasonably. And the company was outstanding...lots of students from everywhere, very great sense of cameraderie...I loved it.

[GOPisEvil]

13. Oh heck yeah.

Unfortunately, this country cast its lot with the automobile, which has it's good and bad points, but the lack of intercity high speed passenger rail is one of the bad.

[Graf Orlok]

14. 1. Shop!

2. Buy!
3. Travel!

[jmm]

15. 1)ask everyone I know to borrow money

I'd make up some story about my purse being stolen and all of the money having been taken out of my bank account. As soon as I cash my lotto ticket I'd tell the truth and get all the people who helped me something cool like a new car with a glove compartment full of cash.

2)I wouldn't quit my job but trust me I would have fun getting fired.

3)Move someplace where people don't know me so I don't have to deal with my 3rd cousin twice removed's godmother's nephew's next door neighbor and everyone else who claims some weak connection to me accosting me for cash. I wouldn't want everyone knowing I had that kind of money but after plan 1 & 2 it would be obvious. I'd live "below my means" but still travel alot and anonymously give to many causes.

[tigereye]

36. those are very interesting answers

[jmowreader]

17. What I would do

1. Move out west--somewhere in the Northwest, but where?
2. Buy some new drums
3. Learn how to cook commercially and open a restaurant of some sort

[A HERETIC I AM]

55. Jmow...seriously....check out the panhandle of Idaho......

GORGEOUS country. North of Coeur-d-alene. Deep lakes, high mountains and old growth forest. I-90 is near as well as Spokane, so you have a large airport pretty close, but remote as you want it. I just traveled through there 3 days ago. I'd buy land there in a heartbeat.

http://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/directions/dirGetMap.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2050605724.1128309678@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfaddflejhhjjcefecggfdffhdghk.0&cmty=0

[jmowreader]

Jmow is FROM the panhandle of Idaho

Man, I grew up in St. Maries, which is south of Coeur d'Alene. You get to St. Maries from Coeur d'Alene in one of three ways--down US 95 to Plummer then east to St. Maries; east on I-90 to the Harrison exit then down into St. Maries (my favorite way--that road is the most fun); or east on I-90 to the Rose Lake exit then down into St. Maries. I also lived for a couple of years in Hope, which is near Sandpoint. Yes, it is beautiful country.

Unfortunately, I can't move to the Idaho panhandle. I lived in Berlin for six years, which was enough to prove to me that I simply must live in a heavily populated area. However, Spokane is populated enough to keep me happy. Coeur d'Alene is kinda sparse. We'd need some acreage so my wife can have her greenhouse and I can have my workshop, and I'm thinking something in the Valleyford area, which feeds you into Spokane up on the South Hill out by the television stations, or off the Dishman-Mica Road, which brings you into the Spokane Valley down where the Farmers and Merchants Bank and the porno theatre are.

My wife thinks Seattle is the place she wants to move to. I like Seattle, but she loves huge old houses and you can get far more house for your money in Eastern Washington.

[A HERETIC I AM]

59. DOH! Well....um...er...sorry...just goes to show, you cant trust

a heretic, can ya?
Damn....talk about bad advice!!! OK...lets see...I've been all over the west...plenty more to choose from...

Never mind....I'll just sit over.............:yoiks:

.....................here:hide:

[jmowreader]

62. Actually, there are only a couple places in the northwest....

that I absolutely refuse to live in.

One is anywhere in the Palouse--the wheat-growing belt that runs north-south along the WA-ID line between Rockford and Lewiston. The wind only hits about a thousand miles an hour in there.

One is in the middle part of Washington State--lotsa desert.

Not crazy about the potato belt in South Idaho, either--your kitchen table isn't that flat.

Anything from Medical Lake in the West to Wallace in the East in eastern Washington/north Idaho is nice, and anything along the coast is good too.

[philosophie_en_rose]

84. Aren't there a ton of white supremacists up there?

By all means, infiltrate -- but you'd have to be very careful.

[jmowreader]

86. There's a white supremacist belt

Hayden Lake appears to be where all the white supremacists live.

If you live in eastern Washington/north Idaho, you can attend the party of the year: Adolf Hitler's Birthday Bash on the Coeur d'Alene city beach. They do this every year, apparently: thousands of protesters and hundreds of cops surround the beach and watch a couple dozen nazis have a little cookout. If someone was of the proper entrepreneureal bent, he could start selling food and drinks to the protesters. You know, make it into a REAL party...the I Hate Hitler With A Passion Fest.

I will NEVER understand why the nazis, the Klan and every other goddam white supremacist group in the world hangs out in North Idaho. Didn't they notice that there are no black people there?

This one's pretty humorous. My mom tells me that a handful of white supremacists moved to St. Maries for a little while. They were going to Save St. Maries from Black People. All well and good until you know that exactly one black man has ever lived in St. Maries since the town was founded in the 1870s, and he holds the Medal of Honor. (He earned it in World War II and received it from the Big Dawg.) The decent, law-abiding citizens of St. Maries ran the white supremacists out of town after the first little skinhead rally they tried to hold.

[hickman1937]

18. Spend a week on Mackinac Island first.

The best damn tourist trap I've ever been too. Second, Lost Wages. Had a blast there the one and only time I ever went. Third, take my Dad and entire family to DC to the WW2 memorial. He landed at Omaha Beach, and fought in the Bulge.

[Left_Winger]

19. Here's what I'd do

1. Take a trip to Amsterdam
2. Uh... I forgot the question man
3. Oh yeah, I'd take a trip to Amsterdam

:smoke: :smoke: :silly:

[marigold20]

20. Quitting my job would be the most fun ever, but that's a given, so

1. Buy a big old house with several staircases - in Montana somewhere.

2. Spend an entire summer at Glacier Park, then head to New Zealand for the winter.

3. I like the idea posted above re traveling around Europe by train - maybe when I get back from New Zealand!

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

21. buy an island

and a plane or boat to get there
buy an apartment in Manhattan and Tel Aviv.
and Enjoy (c:

[intheflow]

24. Hmmm... is it wise to buy an island

in this age of melting ice caps and increasingly violent ocean storms?

OK, I'll just shut up now. After all, it's your fantasy. I should just let you enjoy it! :)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

26. no, thats wise thinking....

maybe just a piece of land on a pretty island then.....with huge high cliffs ;)

[intheflow]

31. You can come to Colorado with me:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=4090639&mesg_id=4090819

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

46. sounds fucking great to me

:party:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

22. Buy three Hummers

NOT!!
NOT!!
NOT!!

[jmowreader]

85. If you're single, buy all the hummers you want

In fact, you should go to Seoul and visit the Flower Shop in Itaewon, which is one of the world's premier hummer dealers.

Oh...wrong kind of hummer. My bad. :evilgrin:

[intheflow]

23. 1) Buy the most top-of-the-line digital camera there is.

2) Build a modest cabin on 100 acres abutting a National Park in the Rockies. Part of the joy of building my own place would be to make it completely off the grid & energy efficient.

3) Buy a very large, high-end printer and picture framing equipment and supplies and finally have that nature photography business I've always wanted!

My real photos:







If I was able to list 4 things, I'd also mentioned how my lottery dream is to go to my corporate fuckwad bank, show the bank president the check in the lobby, and then yell out, "I won the lottery! But since you were such assholes to me when I was poor I'm closing all my acocunts here as of NOW!" Bwaaahaaahaaaaaa!!!!

[Gregorian]

25. I already did, and I already have.

Next.

[skygazer]

27. I would travel to Italy

I would buy a house in Vermont with about 150 acres of land.

I'd buy three horses, two for me, one for hubby.

[Catchawave]

28. How much did "we win" :)

It might not be enough...lol. Here's my dream list:

1) Condo in Manhattan
2) Condo in South Beach, Miami

3) pay off house in Va

...give the rest to my kids :)

[intheflow]

32. I think we can assume it's not a $5 scratch ticket.

And it's your fantasy, so win as much as you want!

[Draill]

29. Buy everything in my amazon.com wishlist. n/t

[Guy Fawkes]

30. Buy a motorcycle and start book store.

I don't care about number three.

[intheflow]

33. #3 Find a competent bookstore manager.

That way you'll have the freedom to ride your motorcycle whenever you want. :)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. Here are my three:

1) Take a nice, long trip to Europe, maybe three months or so. Why not? Come to think of it, why not get an around-the-world ticket (at least business class, of course) and come home through Japan?

2) Buy a 2-BR downtown or near-downtown condo with hardwood floors, a fireplace, and a terrace, and furnish it in a combination of family heirloons and new furniture compatible with those heirlooms, including turning one of the bedrooms into an office full of great and useful equipment.

3) Subscribe to all the performing arts series in town (theater, symphony, opera, dance) something I can't afford to do this year. :-(

[SOteric]

35. Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy

1) Take a long, relaxing vacation
2) With someone fun, smart and generally wonderful
3) Buy a little place, strategically located and start a bed and breakfast.

[Left Is Write]

37. Three fun things...

1. Go to New York for some girl time with my daughter
2. Go to Europe with my husband
3. Treat my little kids to Disneyland or other theme park

[tigereye]

38. nice!

1. Trip around the world for a year - either alone part of the time, and then with the menfolk - England, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Tibet, India, Australia, the works.

2. Build a new house on a lake with a great garden and terrace and a really cool music room and studio.

3. Summer place at the ocean, or even a summer at the ocean.

nice - actually they wouldn't be bad things to consider without winning the lottery... ;)

[notadmblnd]

39. I've always wanted to throw money out the window

and just hand it out to people I see. I don't know what else i'd like to do.

[Gatchaman]

41. Two chicks at the same time, man.

Name that movie :)

[ofrfxsk]

42. Office Space?

[ofrfxsk]

43. Travel and buy property

1. Spend a month or two in Italy

2. Move on to France and buy a house and winery

3. Buy hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the US so dipshits can't build strip malls and McMansions on it.

[SarahB]

44. A nice long vacation...

with my sweetie, our kiddos, and a couple of extra nannies (not the Jude Law kind :P).

[Pale Blue Dot]

67. Sweetheart, I hired us a nanny.

Her name's Jennifer. Be nice. :P

[SarahB]

72. Hey!

:spank:

I said a couple of nannies. x(

How about this guy as well? (You know, another male role model for the boys and all that stuff.)


Jenn and I will be sipping martinis together beachside by the way. If you're nice, we'll let you and Colin rub lotion on our toes while the kids are playing. :evilgrin:

[KitchenWitch]

45. Me?

1. I would go on a cruise.
2. Two new cars.
3. Take the kids to Walt Disney World.

[grannylib]

47. Love your pic and sig line...there is a Wellstone political action

training session coming up at the university my youngest attends; she is SO hot to sign up...they are only taking 75 students, so she is hoping to be one of them.
My real hope is in the young'uns like my lovely girl...they will change the world for the better!

[KitchenWitch]

48. My 14 year old is very aware and is coming up in the liberal tradition

:7

I hope your daughter is able to go to the Wellstone thing.

[grannylib]

50. Great to hear! Very important that we raise our kids left! Sarahbellum

will be old enough to vote in 2006 and she's really jazzed about it...was SO bummed when she could not vote yet in 2004.
I hope she gets in, too...thanks!

[UrbScotty]

49. New computer, new cell phone, and of course a vacation (nt)

[Initech]

51. My ideas:

1. Buy a house in Santa Monica

2. Take a year off and travel the globe

3. Buy a suite at Angel Stadium

[seemunkee]

52. Buy a classic AC Cobra, Take a trip to St Johns and Virgin Gorda,

and take a climbing trip to Hueco TX

[Dude_CalmDown]

53. NSX/Cessna/CBR1000RR

Not the order most would pick but I just love the NSX so much that I'd want it first. Then if I could afford my own single engine plane it would make me happy enough to determine that I've done everything I want to do in life at which point I'd be OK with dying at any point on so then it would be finally OK to get the bike. I could get the bike now but I can't yet afford the other things I need to do in my life before I'll allow myself to get that bike.

[NV Whino]

54. 1. Move to New Zealand

2. Paint (and not worry about selling)
3. Always have the latest and greatest comuter equipment

[A HERETIC I AM]

56. Lease a houseboat on Lake Powell and GO GET LOST!!!

for about a month!

Then, go to Eugene, OR. to Marathon Coach and start on spec'ing out my new custom Motorcoach complete with trailer to carry the Ferrari F-355 Spyder.
{the coach takes about 6-8 months to complete, but when it's done, take off for British Columbia and tour western Canada}
(Ok...thats more than one thing, but anyway)

World Cruise on the QEII 1st class, baby! (About a half mill, if i am not mistaken)

[colinmom71]

57. Hmm... A nice long family vacation....

1) The family vacation, inviting along my mom and brother, and cutting a path through a whole lot of amusement parks! Lots of roller coasters I haven't been able to get to... And I'd love to do a nice long DisneyWorld stay too. (Heck, I'd likely wind up trying to get together investors - inluding myself - to create a thrill park that specializes in recreating classic and defunct rides and coasters, like Traver's Cyclone triplet coasters, Rye Aeroplane coaster, and such.)

2) Buy a nicely appointed house with a "blank slate" for a backyard so we can build a great summer hangout. A pool, spa, therapy pool and custom playplace for the kid, an outdoor summer kitchen with a testosterone approved grilling center... Make a great place to host family and friends for weekend getaways. :toast:

3) Buy a convertible. Always wanted one but the parents wouldn't allow it (even when I found a fully restored vintage VW Karman Ghia that I could afford back in the college days). Now my husband has a Miata, and I want one too! :D

[CanuckAmok]

58. 1) Smote my enemies. 2) Make the rest of my mom's life comfortable.

3) Tour Russia and Asia.

But smoting first. No sense putting off until tomorrow what you can smote today.

[LaraMN]

60. That's a toughie...

1.) I'd finish my education.

2.) buy a home

3.) landscape and garden like a madwoman.

[orleans]

63. buy a farm in canada

buy a farm in vermont

[dogfacedboy]

64. Retire my Mom; Retire my Close Friends; Retire ME!!!!!

[serryjw]

65. My 3 Dreams

1) Meet with the Democratic Progressive Caucus and contribute any amount they need to their PACS to take back this country.

2) Commission a world class sculptor to create a statue of Paul Wellstone to be placed in front of the Senate bldg to remind THEM what a true American leader is.

3) Set up a living trust for each BIG Cat sanctuary so they would never have to worry about money to care for our furrbabies.

.....4) Then get on a world class cruise ship and travel the world and never get off!

[Wapsie B]

66. Take a long vacation to Europe.

There's so many places in the US I've not been to that I'd have to have other outings for that; seeing NYC for the first time, the Statue of Liberty, seeing Boston and the Eastern seaboard for just a start.


Buy a nice place somewhere warm, away from the cold winters. Set myself up in business.

[Skittles]

68. quit my job, get a dog, and a house to put the dog in

yes INDEED

[BreweryYardRat]

69. Simple priorities...

Get a big house with lots of land out in Washington State, Oregon, or Montana. Off the grid and clean.
Have an electric car custom-designed. If possible, start an ad campaign so more people will demand electric cars.
Buy enough medieval and modern weaponry and armor to require several rooms in my house.

The rest gets invested or goes to charity.

[hyphenate]

70. Adopt more furbabies!

I'd get a nice house that bordered on suburban and rural, and had a little land with it, and I'd put up a decent barrier around it all so that my animals could go out without fear of something coming in and hurting them. It would also prevent them from going too far, either. I'd get older cats from the shelters, and let them live out the rest of their lives with love and care, and even a few dogs, perhaps as well.

I would go to a couple of antique furniture auctions and not be afraid to bid on things that I really like! I love old furniture, and have eclectic taste, so it would definitely be fun for me.

I would make a list of all the places around the world I want to see, and plan at last a 5-7 day trip to each of them, perhaps one as often as every other month. The list is endless, so I would always have something to do!

[NewJeffCT]

71. good question... my answers

1) buy a villa some place in China, probably near Shanghai.

2) have built as green friendly house as I can have built.

3) open up my own gaming/hobby store.

[China_cat]

73. There's this castle in Scotland that's for sale.

[Orsino]

74. Buy full-page magazine ads...

...quoting liberally (of course) from DU's greatest posts debunking the myth of * "leadership." and otherwise documenting the crimes of the Administration.

[Callalily]

75. Travel

and the first place I'd go to would be Italy and do some rowing there.
2. Buy several homes, warm climate, cool climate, and city condo
3. Play, play, play the rest of my life!!!

[Politically_Wrong]

78. Interesting...

Travel huh? I would stay indoors until winter, when I would buy a raspberry barret and some ice skates...the last couple of days I felt like ice skating...I don't know why...Then i would travel to Sweden and get professional yodeling lessons (I think Sweden is the place they yoodle...but I could be wrong)...And lastly I would get some rowing lessons...yep...nothing like yodeling while I'm ice skating or rowing...;-)

[Callalily]

83. At first I was

taken aback by your urge to learn how to yodel, but then I remembered your passion for polka, so learning to yodel would certainly add to your repertoire. I’m picturing you in your raspberry beret ice skating on a cool, crisp day. Hmmm, and yodeling while you row? You know Jor, there’s no talking in the boat, much less singing!

[tjwmason]

76. First - a shopping trip to London (mainly for clothes)

Secondly, a long week-end to Florence.

Thirdly, buy a farm and turn it organic and free-range (run by a farm-manager methinks).

[livetohike]

77. First, take everyone I know on a trip to Queensland, Australia

(one of the most beautiful places on Earth).

Second, canoe every swamp in the world.

Third, chip away at my list of "some day" hikes :-).

[Dastard Stepchild]

79. ooohhhhh......

1. Take an extended vacation. A couple of months bumming around and seeing a variety of sights.
2. Open up a vegan deli and name it after my cat. I've wanted to do this forever.
3. Get a personal trainer, a masseuse and a personal chef.

:thumbsup:

[MN ChimpH8R]

80. If it were big, Powerball kind of cash

First, move to New Zealand (probably Auckland or Wellington, on the waterfront) but maintain places in France and Australia.

Second, buy an Aston Martin Vanquish for fun and something responsible for everyday transportation.

Third, hire myself a gentleman's gentleman to run my household(s).

After sorting through my investments, donate big to lefty organizations of all sorts.

[jane_pippin]

81. I'd pack up and move to San Francisco, invest my winnings wisely

so I can work on what I want to instead of what I have to, and I'd probably get a new, good computer too.

That would be fun for me.

[CBHagman]

82. It took a while to decide this.

After dealing with practical issues, as grannylib mentioned, I would...

*have a big feast at a D.C. restaurant with friends in the area. Maybe we would go to Mama Ayesha's or some other homey place, but not any place snooty.

*weekend in New York with a couple of dear friends -- plush hotel, meals out, trips to all the museums and landmarks, maybe a concert or play, and definitely some time at the Cloisters.

*taking the chance to travel to Europe again, probably to Ireland, the U.K., and Germany, or maybe Switzerland for the first time.