Yesterday’s dilemma was whether or not to go on the Donut Walk™. I’ve gone twice since I threw my back out. One time it was not worth the pain. I had trouble making it home. The other time wasn’t as bad, but part of that was chance. There was a hard surface I could put my back against. Keep in mind this is not normal back pain, that I could deal with, this is double over pain. I debated what to do yesterday so long that it was too late to go. I decided to compromise and make the shorter walk to Popeye’s. As I approached it I felt fine and regretted not going on the longer walk to Krispy Kreme. Then a few yards from Popeyes my back went out again. I had a good surface to lean against and it was not awful. I think I made the right compromise. I needed some exercise. I might risk KK today. It depends on how it feels around the house until then.
Last night I watched South for Winter do a streaming concert for Club Passim. It started weird as Matt’s mic was off during the introduction. I, and everybody else, was furiously telling him in the comments. We were worried that the problem was in the stream but when he switched to the band we could hear them asking if people can hear them. We are still getting used to the new reality. I liked the way that Matt handled it, saying how weird it must have looked watching him gesticulate. He was right. That’s being a pro, we all make mistakes, a pro handles it with aplomb. South for Winter just got a promotion, their own macro to insert a link to their website. You can rest on your laurels now guys; you’ve achieved the highest honor.
It’s now the next day this is happening all too often. I won’t keep you in suspense, I went on the Donut Walk™. I survived. I still have to be extra careful about my movements. I can’t wait for this to pass. Yesterday my Fantasy Baseball League, The Rebel Alliance, had its minor league draft. I ran it. I didn’t screw up too badly. It was fun getting together on video conference with the guys. I got one exciting potential superstar, Bobby Witt Jr. Wish me luck. After the draft I switched to real baseball. I’ve been stupid for years; I don’t have SNY, so I have not been able to watch he Mets. I recently decided to start listening on the radio. Part of that was realizing that I didn’t need a radio to do so, I stream WCBS-AM on my computer and phone I was rewarded by listening to a gem by Jacob deGrom. Watching or even listening to deGrom is like following Dwight Gooden in ’84 and ’85. He’s an artist at the peak of his game. It’s pretty rare for the Mets to have the best of the best. I can’t wait to be able to see him pitch in person again.
I finally remember something trivial that I have meant to post for a year, egg prices. At my local supermarket they sell large eggs for $1.89/dozen and $2.99 for a pack of 18. If you buy in bulk you pay more per egg. The prices have gone up and down, but this relationship has held steady. How can this be? Can people really not see that buying 18 is a bad deal. This seems to be deliberate on the part of the store, not innumeracy. They list the unit price differently; one is per egg and the other per pound, so you don’t see the direct comparison. They use a third unit price for the extra-large I think that’s given per dozen. The extra-large which weigh 27 oz cost $1.99 while the jumbo which weigh in at 30 oz, cost $2.99. These are all the same brand. This is a breakdown in one of the assumptions of capitalism, that people are rational. It’s eggs and not a big deal in the scheme of things. One assumption that many people have is that there is some sort of objectively right price or wage. This is a chimera; nobody can come close to devising a meaningful and consistent way of doing so. For most things supply and demand, capitalism, works the best. What other people don’t get is that most things is not the same as all things. The basic assumptions of capitalism break down in some markets, for instance health care. Hardly anyone is capable of judging the optimal insurance plan for themselves, and when there is a medical emergency you don’t have the time or resources to shop around. People don’t have the expertise to rationally judge which doctors or even more important, treatments are best. Theory says this should lead to market failure and it does. What makes this difficult to fix is that people are no better at judging that than the price of eggs.
Something else trivial I keep forgetting to write about. Oh wait, the trivial egg prices connected to the very much non-trivial health care system. Is nothing truly trivial? Nah, many things are, but that doesn’t mean that some don’t have connections to important things. Now to the other trivial thing. I’m in a baseball trivia group on Facebook. There has been a string of poor questions posted that I described as “nebulous.” Some are of the “What do A,B, and C, have in common?” variety. There is never a clear answer to things like that. What I want to talk about is not that, but somebody mocked my use of “nebulous.” “Was that your word of the day?” I didn’t even think when I wrote “nebulous.” It’s the word that came naturally, the only other word I can think of that might work is “vague.” In my usual social settings, My Gentle Readers, for example, nobody would think the use of “nebulous” as worth remarking on. Yet here was an adult with the mentality of a middle schooler mocking someone for knowing things they don’t. That mentality is part of why we got Trump.
I’ll go on another Donut Walk™ today. I wish I were socializing with friends. I’m vaccinated, my friends are vaccinated, but I’m still living in isolation. I’ve been feeling that way quite a bit of late. It doesn’t help that my therapist has been out all month. This is something she’s immensely helpful with. Some of it is that in some ways a therapist is someone whose job is similar to being a best friend. There are differences, important one, but she’s the person I can talk to about anything. I feel awkward even writing about this here. It’s at the top of my thoughts so I felt I couldn’t leave it out.
Wise Madness 