Love Talks

Lottery winner wasn’t supposed to gamble

The winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket may not be so lucky after all: He’s a convicted bank robber who isn’t supposed to gamble. Timothy Elliott faces a Dec. 7 court hearing over whether he violated his probation when he bought the $10 ticket for the $800 Million Spectacular game at a supermarket in Hyannis.

Elliott was placed on five years’ probation after pleading guilty in October 2006 to unarmed robbery for a January 2006 heist at a bank on Cape Cod. Under terms of his probation, he “may not gamble, purchase lottery tickets or visit an establishment where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played.”

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He tried his luck and he won, but the thing is he is not allowed to do it. I don’t know if the amount he won will be given to him or will vanish in the air..

32 Questions: Tuned out

I’m not one to get overly worked up about suit-on-suit standoffs like the one between the NFL Network and the big cable companies, most notably Time/Warner and Comcast. It’s rich people battling over fat stacks of cash, and eventually they’ll come to a business arrangement that stops shafting the consumer and entices him/her to pay more for the product.

Until then, if people like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones want to talk smack and tell people to gobble up satellite dishes, well, bless him, it’s a free country.

But there is one thing that bugs me about the notion that cable-wired households in large parts of America – and, specifically, in significant portions of Texas and Wisconsin – won’t be receiving the feed of Thursday’s compelling clash for NFC supremacy between the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys and the 10-1 Green Bay Packers.

To put it bluntly, it’s a capital crime.

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I watched this show this evening and I really thought that Mel B will win (actually she’s the winner for me) but well, people voted for Helio Castroneves and Mel C. lost. But anyway, she is really a great dancer…a total performer.

Helio Castroneves voted `Dancing’ champ

Race-car driver Helio Castroneves upset Spice Girl Melanie Brown to capture the “Dancing With the Stars” mirrorball trophy on Tuesday night.

“It will look so good between my two Indy 500 trophies,” Castroneves said.

He and his partner, Julianne Hough, came into the finals in second place, one point behind Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Both couples received perfect scores of 30 from the judges in their final dances Tuesday.

Overall, Brown was by far the more polished performer, consistently wowing the judges with her versatility and flair. But Castroneves’ personality and enthusiasm, plus an effortless quickstep on his final performance, earned enough viewer votes to carry the day. His partner, Hough, also had won last season’s competition, with speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno.

Afterward, Castroneves said that he was “shocked” by the victory: “I was not expecting it. Mel, she’s an incredible dancer.”

Brown admitted that losing “was a horrible feeling. I’m not going to deny it.”

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Report: Foreclosures to hit metro areas

Rising foreclosures will lead to billions of dollars in lost economic activity next year in the nation’s major metropolitan areas, but homeowners and financial institutions have the ability to work together to contain the effects, according to a report compiled for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The report was released Tuesday ahead of a meeting of mayors from across the country in Detroit, where they hope to create policy recommendations to help address the nation’s housing crisis.

Prepared by forecasting and consulting firm Global Insight, the report said weak residential investment, lower spending and income in the construction industry and curtailed consumer spending because of falling home values will combine to hold back the nation’s economic activity.

“The wave of foreclosures that has rippled across the U.S. has already battered some of our largest financial institutions, created ghost towns of once vibrant neighborhoods — and it’s not over yet,” the report said.

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A must read for anybody who’s in a relationship..

While exceedingly and commonly used, “should” and “ought” could easily be eliminated from our vocabulary. At the very least, we would all feel a lot better. Should and ought are guilt-producing words: “I should spend more time with my mother,” “I really ought to lose some weight.” The sayer doesn’t really intend to do what he is shoulding or oughting. If so, he’d say, “I will spend more time with Mom,” or “I’m going to start dieting today.”

Shoulding and oughting are like giving yourself a lash on the back: You are punishing yourself with your “I should” or “I ought” statements. Your guilt is eased with your punishment, making it possible to go on with your life, while never following through with what you said you should or ought to do.

In the case of love, shoulds and oughts give us a way out when we need it, just like being picky. Looking for love is loaded with anxiety: “What if it doesn’t work?” “What if I find out I don’t really love her?” “What if he finds out about (you fill in the blank)?” When your anxiety screams for relief, pulling out a good old should or ought can provide your escape hatch.

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