Do Not Drown

I hoped for a shorter-than-advertised session with the oncologist yesterday. Hope is wasted energy. We arrived at 8:45 a.m. We left the oncology center at 5:20 p.m. I know little more now than I did when I arrived. Apparently, though, the carboplatin desensitization process worked; after it was completed, I was given a full dose of carboplatin and, as far as I can tell, I did not die from an allergic reaction.  And I was given a full dose of taxol. And a large infusion of magnesium. And an infusion of Benadryl that made me sleepy (but did no put me to sleep), and several little doses of various other stuff. It was a LONG day. I return Monday for more blood work and then again later this month for another long (but, I hope, not quite so long) treatment. And, I hope, additional information/updates. They will have me get another PET scan about 3 months after the most recent one. Little by little, I will learn what my body is doing to/for me.  In the meantime, no month-long road trips, I suppose.

+++

An online essay from the July 8 edition of the New York Times, entitled “The American Elevator Explains Why Housing Costs Have Skyrocketed,” offers a fascinating perspective on underlying causes of increasing home prices. Among them, according to the author, are special interests whose financial goals often conflict with one another but whose greed run in parallel. Developers want to maximize their profits by minimizing costs; union contractors want maximize their income by maximizing pay rates. Both focus, then, on what is best for themselves, sometimes (frequently?) at the expense of their end-use customers: the people who will occupy the structures they plan and build. I would not deny reasonable income to either developers or to contractors. The problem, in my mind, is who defines reasonable. I tend to support unions far more than I do developers, but I think unions can go much too far in their battles to maximize their members’ financial positions.  And the politicians and others who bend to the demands of unions are just as guilty. In my opinion, though, developers probably use their political and financial prowess to secure political support at the expense of both contractors and home-buyers. The article, by the way, extrapolates from the elevator experience to the home-building experience.  The elevator experience is what initially attracted my interest. The author, Stephen Smith, first explained the problems with elevators in this country and then illustrated the difference in price for American versus European elevators:

Elevators in North America have become over-engineered, bespoke, handcrafted and expensive pieces of equipment that are unaffordable in all the places where they are most needed. Special interests here have run wild with an outdated, inefficient, overregulated system. Accessibility rules miss the forest for the trees. Our broken immigration system cannot supply the labor that the construction industry desperately needs. Regulators distrust global best practices and our construction rules are so heavily oriented toward single-family housing that we’ve forgotten the basics of how a city should work

…

A basic four-stop elevator costs about $158,000 in New York City, compared with about $36,000 in Switzerland. A six-stop model will set you back more than three times as much in Pennsylvania as in Belgium.

What does it matter than I have read the article and feel that I better understand some of the cost-drivers of housing and elevator construction? Will I take any actions toward addressing the inadequacies and unfairness of the system? Short of calling for a series of massively advertised, highly focused, non-political national discussions aimed toward ways of achieving maximum fairness, best practices, at the lowest costs in EVERY sector of the economy, what other windmills might I tilt at? Children and idealistic old men and women, alone, view windmills as worthy of our attention. Is there anything else we can do and be equally as ineffective?

+++

Off to the bank in a while to complete the transfer of officer signatories for the church accounts. And, later, dinner with mi novia‘s daughter and, I hope, with mi novia‘s daughter’s father (who is AKA known as mi novia‘s former husband). I think I’ve said before I am glad to see that people who go through a divorce can remain friends; he is an intelligent guy, very interesting and pleasant to be around. Today will be a pressure-reduction day for me, I hope, easing the stress of yesterday’s unexpectedly long day of dealing with a downside of cancer. My advice: don’t get cancer—but if you do, go with the flow and float. Fight it, but try not to get caught in the rapids and drown in the process.