Sometimes, you just have to shake your head at how unbelievably kind fate can be.

At the beginning of this week, my business line received a call from, of all places, Fuddruckers. You know those glass bowls you drop business cards into for a free lunch? Well, for the first time in our life my wife and I dropped a card in. This was a call letting us know we had won a lunch for not two, but fifteen people. It was a very nice surprise to start the week with.

I should be honest here and, at the risk of insulting any Boston readers, mentioned I was still recovering from the Cleveland Indian’s loss to the Red Sox in the ALCS. Yes, I live in Boston. But it’s hard to steal a team’s affection away from a Cleveland hometown boy.

So the call from Fuddruckers helped brighten my mood a bit. Then, on Wednesday night I checked my email right before going to bed. I saw an email with the title “You won!”, and almost threw it into my spam box before noticing it was from Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary, one of the personal finance blogs I read every day. To be honest, at first I couldn’t figure out what this might be referring to. I opened the email to find out I had won the contest he had posted last week for a free Sumo Lounge “Omni” chair – basically, a luxury, incredibly comfortable, massive bean bag chair.

What a surprise this was! The last contest I won, in all seriousness, was when I was eight years old, opened a pack of Bubble Yum gum, and won a shower radio. Not only was I excited about winning, but I also really wanted the prize! From some reviews I’ve read, it’s a great thing to lounge on when playing video games. Even better, my wife is a huge fan of lying on the floor when reading, so at least now she can be more comfortable doing it. Thanks Flexo!

Then yesterday came the biggest news of all. A few days ago, I posted about living on a salary where a bonus accounts for a large portion of your yearly pay. Well this week was our fiscal end of the year bonus. My boss had mentioned several times that this was going to be a nice bonus, thanks due to a new, expensive publication we started and then sold out of a week later.

I can’t really say the amount of the bonus, as I don’t like revealing too many exact figures about my financial life, but I can say this: It was the largest check I have received in my life, and was more than three times the amount I had expected. When I received the check, my hands started shaking and I was having trouble getting oxygen. Funny how the body responds like that, even to good news!

This check hammered home one of the things I love about the company I work for: They appreciate and reward hard work. This past month, I have stayed late a large amount of days, and worked over two weekends, all in preparation for launching our new website. I think they noticed that, and besides simply telling me their appreciation, also expressed it in this bonus.

Now here comes the challenge: Budgeting this very large sum when I had only planned for receiving one-third of it. I threw around some numbers last night and came up with this plan:

• 30% to my dad, for my college loan. This will put me within two years of paying off the remainder of my loan.
• 20% to reach my goal for my emergency savings!
• 20% towards a down payment for the used car I plan on purchasing in December (don’t worry – I have been planning on getting a new car for several months now. It wasn’t the bonus that made me decide to do this).
• 20% to pay off the remaining eight months on my current car’s loan.
• 10% to test my self control.

As for that last 10% … I am honestly not sure what to do with it. I know that it is really only fair for me to spend some of that on something I would really enjoy, either a nice night out with my wife or a new gadget from Best Buy. The problem is, I have been near-salivating over an Apple Powerbook for the past half year. I have decided to get rid of all my current computer equipment and replace it with a single laptop. The thing is, I don’t need a new computer right now. So it’s going to be a very difficult decision to make regarding how much to spend of that remaining 10%, and what to spend it on.

Oh, and one more thing. Last night I got to go see one of my favorite groups, Mates of State, play at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was a great way to cap off a fantastic week.