Yesterday, our first day in Papeete was a tough day for me. The humidity coupled with a sudden swelling in my ankles probably from too much sodium, kind of did me in. I walked around the best I could but it was a real struggle so we came back to the ship and took it easy the rest of the day. Had no lunch and dinner in our cabin. I never know when I will experience these episodes but I already am substantially recovered. Hopefully when I get off the ship today, I will be fine. As always, Barbara took good care of me.
The taxis in Papeete are outrageously expensive. They are asking around $60 an hour. We finally found one who is taking us around today for $35 an hour. Last time we were in Papeete, we had a great driver and I had both his email and telephone number. Apparently, he is no longer driving because all efforts to reach him failed.
One interesting note about Papeete. We went into a pharmacy to buy a pain medication that is purchasable in the United States without a prescription. One was required in Papeete. What is unusual about this is that, normally the reverse is true I can buy many medications in Italy and other countries in Western Europe that require prescriptions in the United States.
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Bad day in stock market yesterday. Not sure if caused by China balloon and/or Powell.
——————————— With my now being five hours earlier, about to increase, I will probably miss the State of the Union address.
Might be watching the Super Bowl, assuming ship’s satellite works, while having breakfast.
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The story I told yesterday about my Father was, to me at least, surprisingly well received. Since I have nothing more to say today about other things, I will tell you another. The story kind of points out the ripple effect of things that happen as one is growing up that may appear innocuous at the time, but turn out to be important in other respects.
When I was 18, my Father bought me my first car. It was a 1957 Chevrolet Impala. I went with my Father to buy the car, saw the price and saw my Father write a check for $3000.
That night, at the dinner table, my Father said to me “Jimmy, how much did the car I just bought you cost?”. I said “$3000” and probably added “Sir”. My Father said “no, it costs $6000 because I had to earn that much to have $3000 after taxes to have $3000”.
This principle did not sink in for several years. The first time was in law school when I took Estate and Gift Tax and got the highest grade on the exam by tax effecting everything. Boies was not in that class so it was an open field as to who would curve the exam.
Then, in my family law practice, I knew from day 1 that before I could divide the net assets of the marriage, I needed to determine the value of each asset after taxes.
Even when I went to a casino and asked that my air fare of say $1500 be reimbursed to me, I would say they should pay me because I needed to earn $3000 to have $1500 for my ticket but the casino could deduct the $1500 and it cost them only $750. In other words, it was my dollar to their quarter. One credit manager grudgingly paid me and said” I am paying you but I never want to deal with you again, see someone else for your reimbursement request”.
Again, I will let the reader decide the moral of this story.
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See you tomorrow from Bora Bora. At least that is my plan.
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Go Ukraine
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