If that flashing $100 million lottery sign on the other side of the B of A clock on 101 had you dreaming like it did SFist (if SFist won, we were going to chip in for the Bay Bridge retrofit � and oh yeah, and buy us a digital camera), there�s good news and bad news. The good news is that two tickets in the Bay Area won. (The third winning ticket was sold in Huntington Beach). The bad news is that it probably wasn�t you � unless you�re Walter Tracy, an 80 year old WWII pilot from Los Altos, or you live in Sausalito and bought your ticket from Pal�s Liquor and Wine. (That's Mr. Tracy cashing in on the left, with his son behind.) The Sausalito person hasn�t emerged from hiding yet. SFist is fascinated by the ritualized process of winning the lottery � the going into seclusion, the locking up of the ticket in a safe deposit box, the fending off of frantic calls of out-of-the-woodwork relatives and acquaintances � oh, the burdens of sudden wealth! How SFist longs for them!

Now, you all know that there is almost no chance of winning the lottery, with odds of 1/41,416,352 (meaning that if every single person in the United States bought a ticket, only 6 people would win -- you're six times more likely to die of the flu this year), that you should get help immediately if you feel your lottery purchases are spiraling out of control, and only 34 cents out of your ticket actually goes towards education � but hey, like they say in New York, all it takes is a dollar and a dream.

Walter Tracy�s story is great too � he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford in economics, he fought in Iwo Jima, has eight kids, his son buys him tickets twice a week, and his fourteenth grandchild was just born ten days ago. He�s going to use his $33.3 million for his grandchildren�s education (and fix his driveway). SFist can�t wait for the ceremony where they�ll present Mr. Tracy with his huge cardboard check.