TP,You know, I haven't had a cigar since the recent health...

TP,

You know, I haven't had a cigar since the recent health scare. In fact, up until you mentioned it, I really hadn't wanted one either. Now, of course, I can think of nothing else.

As for the Maxibon. I'd probably buy a four pack from my local supermarket. The unit cost is cheaper and even if I eat one Maxibon a quarter over the next year, I'd be better off financially that buying them from, say, a corner store at an increased price each quarter. It's a NPV thing you understand.

Whilst it's an economically superior approach to buy in bulk, the danger of course is what we financial types call 'temptation risk'. i.e. the risk that at any stage during the 'consumption cycle', one could consume the item just because it is present nearby (in the freezer).

Temptation Risk is similar to 'ooh I have money in my trading account and therefore should buy something' risk, which is displayed frequently in the current stock market.

I appreciate that one should support local small enterprise, but I find so many cases where they are simply far more expensive than the big name stores. Of course, there is the 'convenience tradeoff' where one has to balance the accessibility of the item (say, geographically or at particular time of day - like midnight when you are drunk) against the increased price one has to pay. There is also the 'quality paradigm' where the fully loaded unit cost of purchasing the item may be identical between big name and convenience store but one party offers the product at superior quality. For instance, fruit.

At the end of the day though, small business needs to understand that consumers are becoming increasingly more price-conscious in the current economic environment. If one can save 20c on an ice-cream, one would do well to invest this long-term (in, say CNP shares). Doing this on a regular basis could amount to a considerable sum in 40 or 50 years.

For us though, the nearest stores are quite a distance from Swap Island, which means that we also have to take into account the travel cost of getting there and the time involved. I certainly wouldn't make the journey for a single item. Buying multiple items per trip is far more economical when you apportion the cost of travel to each item. I do envy those of you who live close to shops - your unit cost modelling for grocery items must be far simpler than ours.

Anyway, back to the Maxibon in question...

A refinance would be cause for a big celebration so I would eat one Maxibon chocolate-end first when the refi comes through (even though it's good news, we don't want to get too excited and go biscuit-end by mistake). I'd be disciplined and save the rest for another time.

As for the other ways to celebrate:

I have managed to remain tattoo-free thus far in my life and I'd be happy for this to continue.

Whilst I may sometimes get the urge to run naked in public, I do not do so for fear of the negative impact it may have on society in general....

...oh, and the fact that Judge Finkelstein said that if he caught me doing it again he'd lock me up.

Fair enough I say.