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May 28, 2007
Back in Portland
The rock concert Rian and I attended in the Columbia River Gorge on Sunday was so blustery that a band was evacuated from the main stage, and all kinds of re-scheduling and re-locating took place. Faced with mounting hunger and chilled to the bone, we decided to leave early.
There's a concept in economics called "sunk costs." When you've already spent money on something -- say a rock concert -- you shouldn't let that past decision influence your decisions about the next best action. For example, "I've already spent a lot of money on this concert, so I'm going to stay, even though I'll have to buy overpriced clothes to stay warm and overpriced food to stay fed, and even though I'll likely be miserable," is not a good decision.
We drove through downtown Yakima, Wash., instead. Cows, horses, orchards and trailer parks surround this rural desert town. Downtown's wide and well-lit streets, sidewalks, new construction make it a welcoming modern Western city.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at May 28, 2007 08:38 PM