Dressed like Papa John's

College is known for pranks and Asbury was no exception:

An Asbury college student dressed up in his old Papa John's uniform and went to the 3rd floor of Trustees holding a pizza box in his arm.

Knocked on some doors and mentioned that this pepperoni pizza had been ordered but that the guys ordering it weren't there and that he couldn't bring it back to the store....said he could sell it for $3.

Some fellows down the hall paid the $3 and brought it back into their room.

They came out a few seconds later shouting and swearing and looking for the Papa John's deliveryman. He was no where to be found....

He had pooped in a pizza box and sold that.

Gluttony

Maybe two years ago, Jara called me up one evening and asked if I'd like to grab sushi with her and several friends.

To which I replied: 'I want to, but I just ate 18 inches of Subway.'

Working in the Cafeteria

I loved working in the cafeteria at college and became a student supervisor fairly quickly. I loved opening the dining hall...getting some biscuits and gravy in the morning and smelling the home-made donuts they would be deep frying.

I loved the old ladies each working at their own station....bakery, ovens, stove tops, salad bar, etc.

One of them in particular was always really sweet to me. I think the world of her and would love to visit her again in Kentucky. I'll call her "Rose". Rose loved moonshine (I never saw her drink)....called it 'corn liquor'. She said "you can drink as much as you like and not get drunk as long as you sip it". She also loved the chew. I would have LOVED to see her out on her porch spitting chew.

I saw her get up past her elbows in potato salad tossing and turning the ingredients. All those ladies worked harder than most people I know.

There were so many great stories surrounding that time in the cafeteria: late night studying after locking up, catching amorous students in the throws of love, pleasant smells of diesel from the morning delivery trucks, the storage area in the basement with all sorts of scientific equipment, the tunnels from the basement to other areas of the campus, bringing the outdated vending machine goods back to the dorms to give away, and meeting some really great student workers and the ladies of the cafeteria.

Market Failures Con't

Asymmetric Information:

One of the major problems in specific markets (health care, real estate) is that one party knows much more than other party when doing a deal. Steven Levitt illustrates this well in Freakonomics when talking about real estate. In real estate, the cartel of realtors control information about recent local house sales; recent local house sales that inform a seller how to price their own house. Consequently, the real estate agent strongly suggests what price to market the house and his/her motive in the sale is not the same as the buyer or seller. His/her commission is not greatly affected by a large decrease in the sale price. If the house ends up selling for $20,000 less than the asking price, this means the realtor only loses $600 in commissions.

This ‘priced’ to sell motive means that for the realtor, a quick sale is more important than the price difference between the buyer and seller.

Asymmetric information plagues the market because the "MARKET" is just series of smaller markets, many of which have their own characteristics and quirks.

If You're Going To Put Old Reruns On T.V....

Why choose the following, which are currently being offered in Omaha?

1) Alf
2) Coach
3) Saved by the Bell
4) The Beverly Hillbillies
5) Golden Girls
6) Nash Bridges
7) Becker
8) Just Shoot Me
9) 7th Heaven
10) Wings

While they're at it, why not just put on:
Small Wonder or Mr. Belvidere?

My Neighbor 'Ernie'

When I first came to Omaha six years ago, I quickly moved into my current apartment complex.

I live across the hall from 'Ernie'. Ernie is great. He isn't loud in the evenings, he says 'Hi', and we sometimes exchange video games. Pretty much all the qualifications I have for someone being a great neighbor.

After the first year or so of being neighbors, we shared personal info...single/married, our job, etc. I told him I worked for a non-profit. He said he was currently unemployed but was volunteering and hoped to use this as a springboard for a staff position at that firm.

He also shared that he wanted to be a ninja. And that he had been practicing the last year with his nunchucks.

This explained a lot.

I had heard crashing sounds coming from his place, had seen windows broken throughout his apartment, and missing light bulbs. He told me that he had broken all but 2 windows in his apartment with the nunchucks.

I asked him what he would do as a ninja...like what his responsibilities would be...
(My mind wandered to killing, kidnapping, sword play, and throwing star proficiency).

He said "We ninjas don't like to talk about that".