I have no comment on the price, but dental cleanings are very important for dogs. Dental disease is often a silent source of significant pain for dogs. Anesthesia is necessary because dogs won’t sit still for the cleaning.
The author David Sedaris is apparently a compulsive trash picker-upper. He's said he has walked for up to 9 hours per days picking up garbage on the side of the road all the while. His town in the UK named a garbage truck after him, and he was invited to meet the Queen of England because of it (she used to meet with people who performed large amounts of community service).
Not to hijack the thread, but weddings are significantly suckier. The cost is several multiples more than a diamond (natural or lab), only lasts one night, and is typically a large source of stress. Just have a party at a restaurant and use the $50k-$100k saved for student debt or rent or kids school.
Now that i'm in my 50s, i realize the enormous benefits of working as you get into your 60s and 70s and, hopefully, 80s. The social interaction and mental stimulation, sense of purpose, just having things to do and that make you feel productive.
Same here. I switched to a very low glycemic diet and I've gone from 193 to 181 in less than 2 weeks with very little effort. Note -- reading the research on the damage of glucose spikes over a prolonged period of time (read: years) has made it easy for me to want to avoid sugar and "white" carb. Going low glycemic has required little to no willpower on my part; i've found a way to turn my hypochondria/anxiety into a helpful/beneficial thing. I suggest reading "Glucose Revolution" (yes, the title makes me cringe, and it's written on an 8th grade level) -- it contains lots of easy tricks for lowering glucose spikes that work, even for people that aren't compelled to adopt a super duper low glycemic diet like me.
If you are interested in this general subject, i recommend reading "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser. It chronicles the development of the US nuclear arsenal, and describes how the military dealt with the inherent tradeoff between nuclear weapon readiness vs reducing the likelihood of accidents.