In March 1997 a doctor said to me, “Your jeans are going to fit a lot better once we get that out.” So tactful. The that to which he referred was a cyst-morphing-into-a-tumor that had wrapped itself around my left ovary. This was discovered at a post-abortion checkup. I paid cash for the abortion. The removal of both the tumor, which as it turned out had malignant cells in it, and the ovary (the two could not be disentangled) were covered by insurance. Luckily, I required no chemo or radiation. I don’t recall that my jeans fit any different when all was said and done....

The nationwide drop in home prices is disproportionately sharp for those houses farthest from employment centers. In Washington D.C., prices dropped an average of 11% in the last year, but have risen in areas close to downtown or public transportation. Local statistics seem to bear this out - average price per square foot was down 2.21% overall as compared to last year. Most central areas were up (except for Zilker, which was pretty flat), while some outlying areas were up and some were down....