Day 10 October 25. 2008
Saturday, a day off. Went to K-Mart (not) with Jim and his wife and got groceries. I noticed something telling about big business. As my friends and family know, I’m a diet coke fiend. I bought some equivalent to the 20 oz size for 2.50 RMB apiece, approximately 35 cents. Now you know they’re making a profit on that, assume it’s a modest 5%, or 1.75 cents. That means it costs them about 33 cents a bottle. They charge a buck and a half for that bottle in the U.S., two at a deli, for a profit of about 500%, give or take. And take they do, whatever the traffic will bear.
Had dinner with my neighbors Chris, her mother Diane, and her five year old daughter, really nice people. Chris and Diane checked in on me yesterday, when I was stuck in bed after the spinal. We went to the International Buffet at a beautiful five star hotel. Once again, wonderful ambience, excellent service and food, for about fifteen bucks each. Although I could have done without the pig tails, chicken feet, and just about every part of a duck, including the sliced in half heads.
Like I said, international.
All of this would have been a lot more enjoyable, if I hadn’t taken three steps back on the ataxia front. I’m not sure if it was the fun filled spinal, the lack of sleep afterward, or the ups and downs of this wonderful syndrome that account for it, but I basically lost all the gains previously made. Even though we were warned this could happen, it’s somewhat discouraging. When you’re used to dealing with something, you adjust, but when all of a sudden you get significantly better, then backslide to where you were…
Well, tomorrow is another day off. Another day to prepare for the rigors to come.
6 comments October 26th, 2008
