Tuesday, October 21, 2025

     The charming professor is visiting for a couple of days. She is near my age and we have the same parents. We have a lot to talk about. As usual she arrives with a box of curated see’s candy. She only brings fabulous hand picked candy. We delight in watching the Rachel Maddow show highlighting the NO KING massive protests from Saturday. The tall man stops by after work to join the conversation.

     Cold fog, heater is on this morning. The professor goes out for her early morning walk and bagel. I am finishing my usual daily tasks.

     I am trying to understand the current value of money. Twenty dollars today is quite different than twenty dollars years ago. Twenty dollars today buys a breakfast at Denny’s. That same breakfast used to be five dollars. Breakfast at Denny’s is my go to measuring stick for the value of money. So, a twenty dollar tip to the Instacart shopper is worth one breakfast at Denny’s. A hundred dollar bill is now worth 5 breakfasts at Denny’s. So breakfast trips to Denny’s helps me understand inflation.

     In the evening after conversations and news watching I continue reading MIDNIGHT IN SOAP LAKE by Matthew Sullivan before turning off my bedroom lights.