The Thursday Threesome :: Health, Wealth and Happiness ::

Onesome: Health - A loved one dies unexpectedly. You're the next of kin. Do you donate whatever organs are useful, or does the idea freak you out? Should someone have planned ahead?

Donate, then cremate the rest. (But, yes, it would have been better had they expressed their wishes in advance.)

Twosome: Wealth - Your beloved Great Aunt Fern dies and leaves you two million dollars (after taxes!). But there's a catch. You have to spend it all in 24 hours. Buying stocks and bonds doesn't count and there's a $500,000 limit on a new home. You may give some of the money to charity, but don't use it as a cheat to make it work out. How would you spend the money?

You know how to take all the fun out of spending money.
And $500k doesn't buy as much house as it used to. :)
Okay. Max out on the house. Do furnishings count? Not much point in spending half a million dollars for an empty house.
Past that, I'd buy things that appreciate in value... or at least don't depreciate much. You haven't ruled out a beach house, nor real estate other than primary dwelling. Then essentially upgrade everything I own. New cars, new wardrobe, the works. Home theater, computer workstation in every room of the house, T1 line, all that. Feather the nest.
If you're going to be picky and say that all that counts in the home limit, then frankly, there isn't a lot else to do with it. Can't set up a trust fund: You've specified I have to SPEND it. Maybe I could just arrange a private show at the Fox Theater.

Threesome: Happiness - John F. Kennedy defined happiness as "The full use of your powers along lines of excellence." What is your definition of happiness? Have you attained it?

I can't define it. It's not an equation, it's a state of mind. In general, yeah, I'm happy.

EXTRA: The topic of the week at the Back Porch:
Let's talk about your blog/journal. Over the weekend I updated mine and added skins and since then I've been having issues with the site. If you had the time, the technology and the know how (that helps a lot!) - what would you do different to your journal? What would you add? Delete? Invent? Change to your blog/journal? What do you like best about it? What don't you like? It's "20 Questions" day about your blog/journal!

This viewer-selectable skins thing is pretty cool. I might set up several alternate color schemes.
I'd like to write more and longer essays, but I find I no longer have the concentration to do that. One of the reasons I answer these weekly meme questions is to force myself to stretch.