The last couple weeks, I’ve been slow to get out of bed. I’ve been tired, tossing and turning a bit due to pain in my shoulder. It’s old pain, something something… I forget what it’s called. Between that and the foot, and now pain between my 2nd and 3rd knuckle on my right middle finger… I’m guessing there’s a bit of the arthritis going on.

And don’t get me started on my lower back. OW. That I blame on trying to carry some 100# neighbor kids on piggyback.

This morning, I actually had a dream about getting out of bed, after T got out of bed. It was as if I got up, did my morning routine, and even featured an appearance by M, who was running late. When I finally woke up, T had gotten up, but I was roughly 30 minutes behind schedule, and M was ahead of schedule.

That wasn’t the weirdest dream lately.

Did you watch the CBS Sunday Morning about prefab houses/trailer parks? Some of them were amazingly beautiful. I’m dreaming about architecture again. From the dreams about retrofitting downtown in my hometown, to living in a century-old mansion, renovated to the studs on the inside, with modern amenities and salvaged details.

Dear dreams: knock it off, unless you know something about a lottery ticket that I don’t.

I actually had the thought this morning, what I would do if I ended up winning $400M. I know everyone says “pay my debt, pay for my kids’ school, go back to school, buy a car, buy a nicer house,” etc. But what would I do, really? I know I’d leave a legacy for myself, my family, T’s family. I’d make sure my favorite university programs were funded in perpetuity. I’d campaign to change the outlook of my small Ohio hometown. I’d establish an environmental technology incubator there, associated with the university. And yeah, I’d probably work to make the city what they tried to, a few years ago: a place that future generations could be proud of, and be healthy living in. I just don’t want to see it implode. I’m sick of seeing the residents dying. I’m sick of them selling out their health for a quick buck.

They need to become something greater. Their “green zone” which was established around the city, is now in jeopardy of becoming a radioactive dump.

So, say I had $100M after all the rigamarole… I’d probably take $10M to buy up some properties. Throw $1M at fluffy student programs. Throw another $10M at wind farms to power the town, eliminating the impact of the town on the local coal-fired plants. And then comes the research arm. How’s $40-50M to establish a local environmental research/technology incubator and university program, with the ability to incentivize household conversions to distribute efficient, clean tech? $10M to endow school improvement. That’s $81M, right? $19M to spare. That should be enough to protect my entire extended family’s future for the long run.

Oh, dreams.