• Well, then, there

    My wife said this today as a retort to something I said. I'm still scratching my head figuring out what she meant. I'm not sure she knows, either.

  • New Math

    I've gotten a bit fed up with our local paper in that the content is decreasing very rapidly (the quality of the content was always questionable). We decided today that we'd goto Sunday only if it was significantly cheaper. I called and was told that Sunday only was $9/month; we currently pay $11.25/month for every day. I said that I wanted to cancel, so the lady on the phone said that we could get Friday-Sunday for $6/month. Hmmm, so for $3 less per month, we get 2 more days than Sunday alone? I don't get it, but decided we'll go for it for awhile.

  • Lottery

    One of the propositions on the upcoming California ballot is about changing how the lottery works and increases advertising for the lottery. I have read the pros and cons of the proposition and no one has mentioned that lotteries are effectively a tax on those can't afford it. (A friend of mine has called lotteries a tax on those that can't do math.) In many cases, low income people play the lottery in the hopes that they'll win. While there is nothing wrong with hoping, the reality is that people will keep playing the lottery despite the odds.

  • Ripped off

    About a month ago when we had our major plumbing problem, we just picked a plumber to do the work and didn't shop around. We didn't have much of a choice as we needed the water back on. We chose Rescue Rooter and the plumber did a good job. When he was doing the work, I was trying to do some calculations to see what it really should have cost based on say $85/hour for a plumber (that's what I was charged in the past for non-emergency work). The plumber said the rate was the same if it was an emergency or non-emergency. The repair cost a lot, but I started to forget about it.