Saturday, November 13

Simple question, just for fun. And no I don't have $5000!


You're given $5000 (£3103, €3652, 1 million Ft) as soon as you finish reading this post by a kindly stranger, whose only instructions are that you MUST spend it within 3 days. The stranger is not up to any wrongdoing, and you will not get in any trouble. You cannot save or invest the money in any way so as to make it "grow" - if you put it in a bank or buy stock with it, it or the stock or other common equity will disappear in three days.

You may spend it on anything you want otherwise. On yourself, on others, give it to a charity, whatever. You can spend partial amounts on many different things. But you must spend it within 3 days (placing an online or mail order counts as spending it even if what you purchase doesn't arrive within 3 days). Whatever is leftover after 3 days will vanish, and you can't sell any purchases you made for a profit down the line, so again forget collector's items or any other investments.

You are, however allowed to gamble the money at a casino, on horse races or other sports, or anything else which is played by the rules and there is no insider knowledge or foul play.

So, what do you do with this little boon?

I'll give my answer in the comments, just as soon as I think of it!

26 comments:

Hans said...

I would give my 3 children (and family) the money in this form: I would buy new mattress sets for them including Grandma Alene and MJ! They all need them and we all spend so much time in them.

Unknown said...

I'd pay back the money I owe my mum after getting my roof fixed, adopt the kit down the hill and get her neutered (she's just about the right age for that now) and buy in a year's supply of deworming-fleaing (did I invent that word?) pipettes, get a new PC, and buy me flight to SF.

Anything that was left over would got to a local cat rescue charity.

Unknown said...

Bah, I've just reread the post and seen the € equivalent - I was blinded by the *5,000* the first time and let my imagination run away with me. It wouldn't get me that far after all.

Unknown said...

OK, so I've had a shower, made dinner, pondered the dilemma and decided my mum can wait for the money. I'll do everything else on the list instead :) So then, where did you say this $5,000 was?

Metamatician said...

That's sweet of you, Mom! Raelha, it's under your mattress.

billybytedoc said...

Buy a Mac Pro and keep adding goodies ( Monitors etc. ) till I ran out of money. You cooda( it is a word starting now ) figured that out couldn't you. But I beat you to it, sorry.

Metamatician said...

Well, since this is for fun, I'm not gonna stress too much about it. I'd probably just pay down bills or something, but to make it for fun, here's a possible list that comes to $5000. I didn't even include any books, music, or video games on it =o

$ 500 GeForce GTX 580 PC Video Card
$ 230 Corsair F120 120GB SSD Boot Drive
$ 60 Logitech G9X Gaming Mouse
$ 250 Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Wireless PC Speakers
$ 100 New Balance Men's MR993 Running Shoes
$ 35 Zafu (meditation pillow)
$ 50 Lavender Aromatherapy Candles, Jar style, x 4
$ 500 Alpine CD Head Unit + Subwoofer for Car
$ 500 House of Staunton St Petersburg Chess Set
$1000 LG Stainless 15lb Front Load Washer/Dryer
$ 375 Christmas Presents
$ 200 Big Cat Rescue
$ 200 World Wildlife Foundation
$ 200 Born Free Primate Sanctuary
$ 800 Round Trip Ticket SF - Spain

Metamatician said...

And Byte, whaddya mean "and keep adding on to it"? ...$5000 wouldn't even get you in the door of a GOOD Mac Pro (12-core). You'd have to pay the tax out of your own pocket.

That reminds me, I forgot about an iPad. But I would want to wait till the 2G version anyway, so I'll leave it off my list for now. :)

Unknown said...

Bah, the cats must've got there before me, not a $ to be found under my matress.

billybytedoc said...

More PC Junk. Get a Mac!

billybytedoc said...

And no the basic 12 core Mac Pro is 4999, so I would have $1 to add stuff.

Metamatician said...

Hahahaha...$1

That's the best one I've heard in a long time, Byte, you actually made me LOL in real life.

But: wouldn't there be tax in California?

Metamatician said...

Secondly, I did think about going with a Mac Book Pro, a Mac Book Air, or an iMac 27", all configured to be around $2500, or half my free money, and then be charitable with the rest.

I debated over it a bit but in the end I could get MORE STUFF by just getting a new video card and a few other things for my PC.

But if it were a REAL situation... I would definitely think more seriously about it. Probably go for the Mac or an iPad after all. Who knows!

Mandula said...

I would buy that tiny room across my mom's place, and turn it into a tiny workshop. I would a double amount of this money (approx.), but I would be happy that I only have to borrow the other half from a bank. :D

Mandula said...

* "I would need" - sry, it is early in the morning and I did not finished yet my coffee. :D

Metamatician said...

Your writing error is forgiven, Mandula!

That would be great to have a workshop... what kinds of things would you make there? Jewelry?

What about investing the money into the tools and training needed to be a goldsmith again?

Would that be possible with a million+ forints?

Metamatician said...

OK, second choice following Byte's recommendation to get a Mac: I'd get a mid-sized MacBook Pro with school and work in mind, and with CPU, RAM, HDD, and LED Display upgrades - the works for this sized form factor.

This would keep it powerful enough to use for all but the most demanding games or graphics software, and yet small and light (and strong) enough to lug around wherever I went. Battery life would be good thanks to the lightning-fast and silent Solid State Drive, and 8 GB of RAM is a lot of room to keep multiple items open at one. The upgrade to the fastest i7 CPU available for a notebook would deliver desktop-grade speed, and the resolution of the widescreen, anti-glare display would rival many desktop displays and make watching hi-def movies an enjoyable experience.

MAC BOOK PRO 15"
------------------------
2.8GHz Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
512GB Solid State Drive - silent and fast!
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
15" Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
------------------------
TOTAL: $4,250

With the remaining $750 dollars I would buy friends and family nice, thoughtful Christmas presents.

Better, ByteDoc? :P

billybytedoc said...

Much better! I respect your judgement again. I was beginning to lose faith.

Byte

billybytedoc said...

And as far as tax, I will move to Oregon so I will still have $1 to spend.

Mandula said...

Billybytedoc, have a good icecream for that dollar. ;) I would. :D

Meta, if I wanted to have a fully equipped workshop, even in such a small size, only with the most important things to be able to make jewelry (yes, that's what I would do), it would cost... dunno, a LOT. Hundreds of thousands (in HUF). Besides the price of the renovation of that tiny little room I mentioned. But I think I could give it a try with your 5000, for start. :)

Metamatician said...

Well, you could get started, Mandula, and then maybe another kind old stranger will come along with another million in HUF to help you finish up the place :D

billybytedoc said...

Ice cream sounds better, but it would be a small dish for $1.

Metamatician said...

I'll get all of you giant waffle cones filled with your favorite ice cream or gelato with my extra money, don't worry.

And if you can't eat dairy, I'll gladly offer a substitution of your choice for no additional charge.

Raelha you can have €5000, and Mandula, you can have 1.5 million HUF, since you two are deprived by not living in the USA, where the streets are paved with gold.

But that's only if: a) You come visit, Raels, and b) You get that room and begin to turn it into a goldsmithy, Mandus. :oD

Hans said...

Someone mention Ice Cream? Why don't we all pool our money that Meta is giving us and have an ice cream party for a month!

Metamatician said...

I just bought some Haagen Dazs vanilla yesterday. I'm gonna have my own ice cream party!

Metamatician said...

But everyone's invited, although I don't think a quart will go very far with this crowd.

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