Just when I think I've made a bunch of payments and won't have to write too many checks � other than rent and the automaticly deducted car payments and insurance at the first of the month � and my bank account is at a level not seen for some time (thanks to the refunds), Notre Dame goes and sends me the 2003 football ticket application.

It's a brilliant scam they've got going, really. First, you only get the application if you make the minimum annual donation of $100 (or $50 for "young alumni," those out less than five years � so I've given my last $50 gift). Then, they send out the application, on which you can apply to any of the games � home or away � for the upcoming season. You're allowed a maximum of two tickets for most home games, and four for the designated "family game," usually against a team like Navy that doesn't draw the requests that USC or Florida State does. Ticket maximums for away games vary by venue. Of course, you're not guaranteed anything � you could apply for every game, and get tickets to none; or you could apply to one and get it. They say it's random, but I doubt it's not completely random. For one, donors who give $1,000 or more annually are apparently guaranteed tickets, though I wouldn't know firsthand. I don't know if they're guaranteed tickets to all the games they want, or just A game.

But here's the thing: The application is due sometime in mid-May. Who knows when the "lottery" is conducted, but we're notified of the games we received in July, but we have to send a check covering ALL the games we requested along with the application in mid-May. So that means the university is getting thousands of dollars in May, investing it somewhere and making money on it (I'm speculating), then reimbursing us for the games we don't get two months later. Granted, maybe you can't make that much money in two months, but if you're investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the right place, you'll make something. Anyway, so if I wanted two tickets each to three home games (tickets are like $40 now), I'd have to include $240. Then, in July, they make the results available online or over the phone, and sometime by the end of the summer you get the money back for any games you didn't win tickets to. If I got the two tickets to every game, then I'd get no money and my tickets would come by the start of the season in September. If I got one game, those tickets would come by the start of the season, and a check for $160 would come with the letter explaining which games I'd won tickets to.

So, instead of having a little extra cash (some of which I did put toward paying off my loans), I'll probably be letting the university borrow some of it for a couple of months until they tell me they're not giving me any tickets. I'm really trying to accelerate the process of paying off those loans, not to mention my car payments, which is tougher. I'm focusing on the loans first, because they have the higher interest rates (I think). Or, at least, the ones for the car are already fixed � I'm paying X amount per month until August 2005. With my loans, I can pay them off for Y right now, or Y plus several hundred if I continue with the minimum payments every month. In any case, I want to have both off my hands by August 2005, meaning I'd like to have the loans paid off by the time my car is.

Man, this has probably all been pretty boring for ... well, everyone. Sorry 'bout that. Go back to the previous one for something more interesting.