Airline insanity (Kalwejt and I in Warsaw!)

[Torie]

Well I might very well do the same thing, so if you are insane Franzl, I am in a zone for which no word has yet been coined (I could probably manage to cut down my pot consumption by a few percent or give Mittens a bit less money to cover the difference and so forth and so on). The insanity of airline pricing structures and procedures, and airlines in general, and airports in general, must be undermined and frustrated in every way possible. Fight back!  Bring it all down!  And with the money saved, savor even more what you eventually spend it on.

[Torie]

Well I might very well do the same thing, so if you are insane Franzl, I am in a zone for which no word has yet been coined (I could probably manage to cut down my pot consumption by a few percent or give Mittens a bit less money to cover the difference and so forth and so on). The insanity of airline pricing structures and procedures, and airlines in general, and airports in general, must be undermined and frustrated in every way possible. Fight back!  Bring it all down!  And with the money saved, savor even more what you eventually spend it on.

You don't fly first class?

Never.  That is a waste of money.

[Torie]

Well I might very well do the same thing, so if you are insane Franzl, I am in a zone for which no word has yet been coined (I could probably manage to cut down my pot consumption by a few percent or give Mittens a bit less money to cover the difference and so forth and so on). The insanity of airline pricing structures and procedures, and airlines in general, and airports in general, must be undermined and frustrated in every way possible. Fight back!  Bring it all down!  And with the money saved, savor even more what you eventually spend it on.

You don't fly first class?

Never.  That is a waste of money.

So, you're not only a rich white Republican California lawyer, but also penny-pinching too.

Another day, another dissapointment regarding Torie

I am a spendthrift when it comes to spending on my body!    I am not a pinch penny.  But I parse the pleasure or good versus the expenditure, to see if it pencils for me. You don't want to know what I spent on my face lift.  Putting aside special expenditures like the face lift, I probably spend about 100K/year on myself, for housing (imputed rental value of house), food, auto, medical, entertainment, travel, etc. And that is just on myself - one person. Given tax obligations, one needs to earn about 150K to do that, unless using savings.  I consider that I live pretty lavishly. But I don't spend to impress, or because of personal insecurities. I would be almost as happy living on about half of what I spend. I mean that. I know what has meaning to my life, and what does not.

Almost all of my wealth when I die will be going to charity. I am very hostile to the idea of inheritance, beyond modest amounts. So whatever I "pinch penny" now will eventually be going to charity.

[Torie]

But I don't spend...

Almost all of my wealth when I die will be going to charity. I am very hostile to the idea of inheritance, beyond modest amounts. So whatever I "pinch penny" now will eventually be going to charity.

OK, so how does this make sense, buddy?  You deny yourself something in order to give it to charity?  That's crazy!  You should spend it all up, leave nothing behind.  Charity is offensive and counterproductive anyway.

I presume you have flown first class either just to try it out or when padding a legal-expense-account?  I never have, unless you count one 3 hour trip on Philippine airlines first class (bumped up) - that was only just barely to a first class standard I suspect.  I'm curious, for a trip to Thailand, what do  you suppose would be the round trip cost of a first class ticket?  I can never find such prices online.

The only times I have flown first class were once with a client where the client was paying, and he had upgrade points to first class, and once with my Dad when I was eight years old, and he was flying first class on business paid for by the company for which he worked. I flew with him from LAX to NYC, and stayed there with him for a week at the Essex House on the south end of Central Park (I have a signed Altman lithograph of a painting of Central Park in the winter that I dearly love in part because it has the Essex House in the background bringing back those memories for me).

You can imagine my sense of wonderment at seeing the Big Apple for the first time at that age. It was far better than Disneyland!  I do remember getting out of the plane at La Guardia Airport, and asking my Dad what was wrong with the air. The airport back then in 1959 was not air conditioned, and it was the first time in my life that I was exposed to hot humid air. That incident seems like yesterday in my mind. I can picture the spot in my mind's eye where I was standing in that dumpy airport making my inquiry about the stale and noxious air.