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We all have different definitions of affluence. When I was a boy I would stay with my cousins from time to time. They lived on a golf course and had a fancy riding lawnmower, which 30 years ago a boy might have interpreted as signs of wealth. They also had a pool table and a television with a remote control. My uncle always drove a Cadillac.

What made the biggest impression on me, though, was what was in my cousins' freezer: A 20-pound bag of hot dogs. And they had a microwave, also a novelty to me, which meant that any time you wanted—and I wanted at least two or three times a day—you could have a couple hot dogs for a snack. Didn't even need to ask. That, to me, was living the high life.

Thoreau wrote, "That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest." In retrospect, I believe what wealth my cousins enjoyed was due to my uncle trading in black-market gasoline. The last time anyone saw him he was driving a delivery truck. He probably misses his Caddies, but I still love hot dogs.

Right up there with hot dogs in Yaeger's Hierarchy of Needs: Easy access to a swell gym. Please let me know if you will or will not be playing hoops at St. John's this weekend. We tip off at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, as usual.