Something new

Yes, there I was, worried about getting 50 posts in two months, and then I took yesterday off.  By which I mean, I crashed -- hard -- last night.  Indeed, I fell asleep during one of my favorite economics podcasts!  Alas.  Funny, as I when I resumed it today, they were discussing this study about lottery tickets:

The economics of American lotteries (economist.com)
Namely, the poorer the people, the more likely they play the lottery.  My parents played, but I seldom do -- the occasional pool or such, of course, but not regularly.  One thing that was discussed is that in some ways it is not that economically foolish -- some people win, if you are poor, you are spending money (often) unwisely anyways, and if you do win... it was worth it.  I think that is correct, but... in the aggregate, people are poor because they spend money on dumb crap (so there is less money for the stuff they actually need).

This was more of an argument because this morning I signed a contract and made a deposit for the bathroom renovation... so obviously I will be spending less on stupid crap.  :)  More seriously, it was a bit nervous (I left off the total on the check) and the contractor was amused.  It is the contractor I wanted and the designer and I had a good sit down... so I think it should be good.  The stuff has to be ordered and set on the schedule... actually, the price is pretty good; barring economic catastrophe, I should be able to handle it.  That is good as I have a bunch of stuff I need to fix after the bathroom.  

The Mental-Health Benefits Linked to Going to Church (msn.com)
I do not think anyone would think of me as being particularly mentally there, but... on the other hand, I am mostly happy and I do have a sense of... well, I am not a Millennial.  :)  I think this article is correct; being a part of a church does give you a sense of purpose -- working for a goal -- and plenty of things to do.  I also have plenty of friends/acquaintances/church people I know, which is key, too.  On the other hand...if younger people don't want to get involved... then they cannot complain about being depressed and lonely.

Last night I had dinner with some former coworkers.  It was quite nice, and we had a good time, but... I think I have thing -- or, better, dogs have a thing for me.  They have a golden retriever puppy (which is the size of a horse!) and the thing was all over me.  Does it know that I am an easy mark?  I wanted to feed it, but was told not to from the table (which seemed fair), and the thing was... fairly nice.  I mean, like most dogs, it wanted to be my friend... and it was well-behaved, but at the end of the day, I am not a pet person.  At least it was nice to get out of the house (not like I don't) and be social...