How about that guy who won all that money &045; what was it, $280 million? &045; in the Powerball on Christmas Day? It was the largest jackpot ever won by one person.

Funny part was, the dude was already a millionaire.

Of course, he has as much of a right as anybody to buy a lottery ticket. And I’m sure he worked very hard to build a successful business and become a millionaire.

Plus, he’s impressed so many people because he’s such a nice guy. He’s even donating 10 percent of his take to his church. Ten percent of $280 million equals one rich church.

I don’t mean to pick on this guy in particular, and maybe it’s easier for me to say this because I’m not in his position, but if you’ve got more money than any reasonable person could ever spend, shouldn’t you be keeping 10 percent of it and giving away 90 percent? Isn’t there something in the Bible about a camel fitting through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man could get into Heaven? Wouldn’t a religious man like him see some extra meaning in the fact that he won on Christmas Day?

This just sort of bugs me.

I have a few little things to get off my chest, actually. Since none are going to be very long, I’m going to throw them all into this mess of a column and label it &uot;Random Chunks.&uot;

–The Tribune made an omission in our Year in Review 2002 package that we printed around the turn of the year. Nowhere did we mention the opening of the Albert Lea Business Development Center as an important event, but we should have.

The center is already home to three businesses that are doing some exciting things, and offers the ability to help home-grown businesses survive and thrive during those early years. We’ve heard a lot lately that most of the job creation we can expect will come not from Ford or some other company dropping a gift into our laps, but from the creation and expansion of the companies that are already here.

The City of Albert Lea, Riverland Community College and Greater Jobs, Inc. deserve credit for this innovation, which, we all hope, will have a positive impact on the local economy.

–To change the subject completely, have you watched any cable lately? Do you wonder, as I do, what’s up with this explosion of pasta pots with the locking, draining lids?

Suddenly, maybe a month ago, the channels started being flooded by commercials for this &uot;bold new innovation,&uot; where you can drain water out of your pot just by locking the cover, turning it over and letting the water pour out the holes. Wow. This is espeically good for me, since I’m a moron and can’t handle the complicated task of using a colander.

The funny thing is, there’s at least three &045; maybe four &045; of these things out there, so you see an ad for one every 30 seconds. Why the sudden abundance of these phone-order pasta pots? Why now, all at once, when I’ve never heard about these things before? And why didn’t the first one get a patent or something? Which one was first, anyway?

— The city council is going to talk about leaf burning on Monday. The issue is whether to ban it.

If it was up to me, I’d rather see it banned. I noticed this fall that on leaf-burning days, I had a heck of a time breathing. I don’t think it was coincidence.

Somebody made an interesting suggestion to me, though. The city can’t afford any new equipment to pick up leaves from people’s houses if they no longer get to burn them, but why couldn’t they do it for a fee? Maybe if they don’t, and there is a ban, a private person can step in and offer the service.

— I wanted to make an appeal about the Tribune’s first job contest. We’ve been running an advertisement about it. We’re looking for people’s stories about their first job. A bunch have come in, but we want as many as we can get, and the deadline is Jan. 17. You could win cash if your story is chosen as the best, and it might be printed in our 2003 Profile edition. If you want to submit one, mail it to 808 W. Front St., Albert Lea, 56007, or e-mail it to news@albertleatribune.com.

My first job, incidentally, was as a caddy at Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska. There, I learned that golf bags are very heavy, that Hazeltine is a very long course, and that most golfers don’t tip very well.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays. E-mail him at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com.