Pour us a road, we’ll both drink and drive

Sometimes, we’re so counterproductive in our society, it’s a wonder we get anything accomplished. Hell, look at government as a good example! Seriously though, if we used just a slice of common sense, we might actually get to the other side of the road and go, “Huh, if I had known it was that easy, I would’ve done that a long time ago!”

The reason I’m mentioning this is that last night, I took a friends brother who is in town for the week to my favorite hockey bar to watch Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals while my friend was busy with a previous commitment. After I arrived home from work, changed and was heading out the door, my brother walked in and asked where I was headed, so I mentioned it to him and asked if he wanted to join us. Now I know my brother is only 19 years old, but he has been in this bar before, not with me, but with some other people that know the owners, so I figured we’d be ok.

We get to the bar, find some seats and get ready to sit down, but the bartender spotted us as we were walking in and asked to see everyone’s ID. First off, um, hello? I have a beard and some grayish hair; I think I can pass for 21! Second, I mentioned that my brother wasn’t 21, but we brought him so he could be our designated driver, which I thought would be a logical excuse. It wasn’t likely that he’d be drinking; however, the law in Texas says that he can’t be in there, but then, it also says this:

In Houston, Texas, beer many not be purchased after midnight on Sunday, but can be purchased anytime on Monday...which happens to begin right after midnight on Sunday! So it's illegal to buy it when it’s legal to buy it?

I digress.

This left us with two options, pick up some beer, go back to the house and watch the game, or I drive my brother home and come back. He said it was ok if I took him home and I mentioned option 1, but he said he was cool with going home, so I drove him back there and headed back to the bar to hang out with my friends’ brother.

This brings about non-logical point number two: I know have to waste gas to drive my brother home. This is really not the time to be wasting energy resources! If we let him stay at the bar, I can drink a little more and have a safe, reliable driver waiting to take me home AND only use one trip’s worth of gas. This is opposed to the two trip’s worth of gas I had to use to take him home and then try not to drink too much so I could be a responsible driver for myself. Does that make sense to anyone? Sober driver and less gas used, or slightly intoxicated driver and more gas used, which sounds better?

On a side note, my brother is not a big hockey fan because he grew up in the south, whereas I grew up in the north. He has watched a number of games at home with me during the playoffs, but he’s just not a big fan in general. My friends’ brother on the other hand…anyway.

Needless to say, tomorrow night, we’re staying in to watch the game.

Please don't bury me down in that cold, cold ground

Two solutions to the Anna Nicole Smith "problem":

• Cremate her and put us out of our entire misery. Spread her ashes all over the damned Earth for all I care, just stop making this such a big freakin deal.

• Chop her into pieces and bury them in different locations. Heart/torso in the Bahamas; head in Houston; and ass/legs in LA near Marilyn Monroe. Hell you can even freeze her boobs next to Ted Williams head in Arizona, if you're so inclined.

Interesting people die everyday, none of them get this much exposure in the news - and that is a damned shame.

I used to ride my big wheel, and sell lemonade, eat popcorn with grandpa while we watched the parade

I remember when the worst thing I worried about walking home from school was getting hit with a snowball in the back (of the head!).

People are out of control!

I'm on the football team

With the recent college bowl games occurring nightly for the past 2 weeks, there has been a lot made of the issue that the bowl games bring in millions of dollars for each school, and that college players give up a lot to play football, yet with all that money coming in, they aren’t paid to play. I watched a few interviews on ESPN and I thought, “You’re getting a free education and room and board!” Moreover, many of the stars on these teams will continue on to the pro level where they can make more money in a few years than an average person with a four-year degree will probably make in their lifetime. Of course, don’t forget that while the athletes are making their millions after graduating with a free degree, if they graduate at all, the rest of us will have to pay back our student loans while working an entry/low-to-mid-level job making a fraction of what their signing bonus was.

Don’t give me this crap about how they should be paid to play. They have even more of a choice than everyone else has; play sports and get a free education or don’t play sports and work a real job like the rest of the world.

The bigger problem here is that the sponsors for the bowl games and the networks have ramped up the prices for everything so they can afford to dish out these multimillion-dollar awards to the teams who represent their products in the “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl”, the “Nokia Sugar Bowl”, the “Chik-Fil-A Bowl” or the “Rose Bowl presented by Citi.” It’s obscene how much money universities get for playing a game. The driving force for a school should not be how much money they can make by developing a quality athletic program, it should be how many quality individuals can their education department turn out year after year. This is among the many reasons our education system is backwards and our kids priorities are so screwed up.

I'm here for my sanity, sanity! I am here for you.

Recently, many of the hits I’ve received have been from people searching for answers to a question I once faced – and despised – “The study habits of Joe Student.”

I’m very curious as to exactly what you were looking for because I know how serious the college takes plagiarism. Also, many of the visits have been for a decent length of time, such as the one person who spent 18 HOURS reading my posts. It’s tough to get your homework done when you’re reading blogs online! Shame, shame! Just kidding. Obviously, I’ve been where you are, so I know how idiotic that question is and how hard it is to concentrate when you think the question is stupid and useless. What I can tell you is that I answered the question with about 250 words of bullshit and got 23/30 points. My asswipe instructor wrote some comment that if I had simplified my thought process, I could’ve received the other seven points. What. Ever. The question was stupid then and I stand by my answer a year later.

All that being said, one year later, I received my two-year degree in business and my 3.63 GPA never really missed those seven points.

Since you’re here, and not doing your homework, why not let me know what you think of the Joe Student question? It’s only fair since I’ve told you what I thought of it.

In other news, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year everyone. You would’ve thought with the 14 hours I sat on the couch and watched Bowl games on Monday (yes, I picked Boise State over OU!), I could’ve done that earlier. Nonetheless, it’s now been said.

With 2006 out of the way, I am looking forward to a new start in ’07 and with that, I am going to attempt to spend some more time sharing my pearls of wisdom. Enjoy!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Christmas Carols for the Disturbed:

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and.....
6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ---Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle, Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells ...

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you.

Sometimes, you just have to wonder, “What the fuck are people thinking?”

I saw a great commercial the other day for November 10th when Cinemax will show all six Star Wars episodes in order for the first time ever. Scenes from all six movies were set to Coldplay’s “Fix You” and it very well done and poignant, you know, for a movie marathon trailer. Now, I have no issue with this because if I had Cinemax, I would definitely sit there for 14 hours and watch Star Wars continuously. The issue I have is that it starts at midnight. 12:00 am. 00:00:00 on the clock. Why would you start a movie marathon at that time of the day? Whose genius idea was this? Do you think the marketing people at Cinemax were sitting around a room brainstorming and then somebody piped up and said, “…and we should start it at midnight!” And the whole room stopped for a moment and thought, “Wow, that IS a really good idea! Let’s do it!” And so it began. On the one hand, hardcore Star Wars enthusiast will do this and normal people such as myself will be sound asleep for the majority of that time and then watch them on DVD later because there is no way I am going to screw up my sleep schedule and stay up ALL NIGHT to watch Star Wars!

Watch the trailer here.

Rebel, rebel and yell cause our people still dwell in hell.

Oooooooo, I am feisty today!

I received what I thought was spam in my email this morning. It was from an American/Israeli group in regards to the war in Iraq, the situation in Israel, the lies being told by American mainstream media...blah, blah, blah. After reading about 5 sentences, I was pretty mad, so I just started to write a reply back, my thoughts flowing like a fire hydrant and I laid into whoever wrote the email real good. However, I did not assault the person personally, I only attacked their "group" for continuing with the lies that they so vehemently oppose from our own media. I'm not going to bore you with details of either email. What I will tell you is that it was not spam! I know this because I got a response from a specific person who attacked me, my upbringing, my marital status (why, I do not know) and my mother!

Need I say more as to why I am feisty today? Well, I'm going to anyway.

Next.

Women. I love women, but for the love of...please wear a bra when you are going to wear a tank top to the grocery store! a) It's usually chilly in the store and men will notice those things; and b) With every step you take, I swear one of your melons are going to fly out the side! I wouldn't have mentioned this if it had just been one weirdo women, but it was more like 5 women - and 3 of them were fairly attractive, so it was difficult not to stare!

Next.

Before I moved last week, I purchased DirecTV. I scheduled the installation appointment for Friday. I didn’t realize that my apartment did not face the southern sky as much as it needed to, so I had to cancel it and go back to cable. When I called to cancel, the customer service lady asked me why I was cancelling and I told her the straightforward reason. Her next question, I kid you not, "Will you want to reschedule your appointment?" I wanted to say, "Well, if my apartment suddenly rotates enough to start facing the southern sky, I'll reschedule," but I politely said, "No, thank you." She then asked, "Why?" I swear I am not making this up! I politely reiterated my statement from earlier and she must have understood my frustration because she said, "Ok then, have a nice weekend!"

Drive in drive out, I'll come back again.

What is with people passing me because I am driving at or just slightly above the speed limit? I mean, I don’t need to go 10 mph above the speed limit to get to the next red light. Every time people pass me, I wind up sitting behind them at the red light, how has this been productive for you? Instead of being behind me, you wound up in front of me. Congratulations, you won the race.

This happened once yesterday on my way in to work and the lady driving the Jeep Commander who passed me didn’t even have her hands on the wheel! I know this because when I looked in my rear view mirror, her one hand was holding the cell phone to her ear, while the other was holding her coffee mug up to her face. Then she proceeded to pass me at the first stop sign, then run the second stop sign and still only made it as far as the red light at the end of the street where I slowly pulled up behind her and waited for it to change. I didn’t see any checkered flag waving when I got there, so I assume she got out and took it for her trophy case at home.

It happened again today on my way to work, this time by a snobby looking fellow in a Mercedes (I’m not saying everyone who drives a Mercedes is snobby looking, but this guy WAS!). He passed me at the stop sign again, DID stop for the second one and still wound up right there in front of me at the signal.

Then on my way to lunch, I also had to stop at Barnes & Noble (I had a gift card - nosey!) for the new Duncan Sheik CD. This guy creeps up on my tail, like that is going to make me go faster, then juts out into the right lane and passes me at probably about 35 mph. Oh yea, I was in a SCHOOL ZONE! Guess what? I pulled up behind him at the next red light.

See driving faster than me doesn’t get you anywhere quicker. I know this because I’ve had about 10 speeding tickets prove it to me.

Anyway, here is what I’m getting at: by passing me in a short distance situation, you’re not gaining any significant time and really, you’re just pissing me off!

Have a holly jolly Christmas

Where to begin? So many stories, so little time!

I arrived at the airport for my 114 pm flight a few minutes after 11 am figuring there is going to be a line at the ticket counter and a line to go through security, but I would still be early enough to have time to relax for a few minutes before boarding. Think again. At 1145 am, I was sitting in a seat at the gate waiting for the next hour and fifteen minutes to board my flight! There was no line at the ticket counter and I walked right up. I was about eighth or ninth in the line to go through security and I that didn’t take long either. So I plopped myself down, plugged in my laptop and here I am writing this post!

My flight to Atlanta was pleasant and the flight attendant was attractive and attentive, so that was nice.

When I arrived in Atlanta, I went right to the ticket counter to ask if I could get on standby for the earlier flight to Richmond, since I was on the last flight out, but wanted to get there earlier. The CSR asked if I carried on my bags and when I replied no, he said he was sorry, but I have to travel with my bags - even though we know this isn’t always true since luggage is lost all the time and if everyone were traveling with their bags, that would not occur – but I digress! So I consigned myself to my 5 hour layover and found a spot to plug myself in again and write this post! Remember all of this for future reference – you’ve been warned!

While I was waiting in line to speak with the CSR, there was a little boy, all of 3 years old sitting with his mother on the floor, near the gate. As every passenger passed by him, he yelled out, “Merry Christmas!” and we all thought it was funny and cute. The flight attendants waiting to board the plane were laughing hysterically, because it was pretty funny. The best part, however, was when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he yells, “Welcome to Atlanta!” followed by,“Happy Holidays!” and then he went back to his original greeting. It was so funny, if I had been in a bad mood, that surely would’ve turned it around.

I boarded my regularly scheduled flight around 855 thinking, “There is no way this plane is taking off on time (906 pm), but 15 minutes won’t kill us.” At 955 pm we finally pulled away from the gate after a few announcements from the Captain as to why we were still sitting there. At 1010 pm, we officially took off and at 1115 pm, we arrived at the gate in Richmond, almost 40 minutes late. I’m also going to mention that our landing was not bumpy, but it wasn’t smooth either. The term I am using is, “We Bounced.” Seriously, I think the pilot bounced us on the first touchdown and then eased it down again. It was a jarring landing, to say the least. Nonetheless, there is more!

I found my sister waiting for me and went to go get my luggage. After watching my entire flight find their luggage and leave the airport, we were left standing there, wondering where my bags are! So I trotted to the service counter and let the man know the situation. He asked for my last name and when I gave it to him he smiled, chuckled and said, “Your bags are already here, they came in on the earlier flight!” I asked him how that could’ve happened and he told me it happens all the time because the handlers don’t look at the time of the flight, the just see the code and put it on the next plane. So my bags and flew without me. Do you think they were scared of not being picked up?

Party all the time

Lots o’parties this weekend!

The City of Houston, Metro and the Downtown District wish to thank the community for its support as we celebrate the completion of the Downtown Midtown Transit Streets Project.
Friday, December 9, 2005
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Main Street Square

Enjoy fun, festivities, live music, a visit from Santa Claus and special surprise guests! Plus, register to win a holiday prize package to be drawn during the Mayor's Holiday Celebration, Saturday, Dec. 10 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Yea, I think I’ll pass.

Hot for teacher (as in red hot MAD!)

Have I mentioned that I am taking online classes? I don’t think that I have, so I am now. Of course, I can’t say which college I am enrolled in, but let’s just say that it’s probably the most popular one out there. One of my classes is called Internet Technologies, which is, basically, “how to use the Internet as a research, reference and study tool for your schooling”. Needless to say, it’s rather boring if you already know how to do this (see Google), but I have learned a couple new tricks and how to use the online library that is included with my rather costly tuition. Nonetheless, the instructor for this class has been able to get under my skin and I’ve never even verbally spoken to him. Our only contact is through email and he’s still managed to piss me off. Not only has he pissed me off, but he’s pissed off S as well. What has he done you ask? Here’s a list:

A day or two after we turn in an assignment, we receive the grade. A couple days into the new week, we then receive a summary of our grades for the previous weeks’ assignments with some comments. A few weeks back, he gave me a grade of 30/30 on the assignment, but on the summary, it was listed as 10/30. Of course, I wanted to know which one was right, so I emailed him and very politely asked which one was correct. He emailed back a few hours later saying, “OOOPs. my error. should be 30/30 and I will change that.” He didn’t say, “I’m sorry”, or apologize in any manner. This alone I felt was not a big deal until the next issue.

On my summary for week Five, which was just a couple weeks ago, none of the point values were filled in, just left as zeroes. Again, I emailed him to let him know of this situation and I joked, “Or did I do that poorly last week?” The response I received on this one, nothing. The only thing I received was a return email with the subject line reading, “Week 5 Summary Corrected”, but nothing in the body of the email, no apology again. I’m slightly ticked at this, but as long as it’s not affecting my grades, I guess I can let this slide, until this week’s problem.

We have an assignment due tonight, that I have yet to begin, but read through on Monday. Here is the assignment:

Correct the misconceptions of “Joe Student”, who believes he can work full-time and pursue his online degree without modifying the study habits he used in high school.

Offer suggestions to help Joe succeed as a distance learner.

I don’t quite fully understand this assignment because if “Joe Student” was a good student, who had acceptable study habits in high school, why would he think it won’t work for him in this scenario? So I emailed the instructor again, 120 words worth, with a number of questions and this is the response I received concerning my email, “Joe is anyone; any student grades are unimportant in this assignment.”

What? How can grades be unimportant when talking about study habits? Don’t good study habits lead to good grades? I’ve posed these questions, along with this whole situation to S and a few people at work and the response I’m getting is, “It’s time to just put some BS down on paper.” Unfortunately, I don’t even know where to begin! Any help on this would be appreciated, but this assignment is due by midnight Central Time, so if you could be expeditious in your response, I’d be very grateful to you.

It’s the safety dance

This is our government at work. Maybe we need to send them a wake up call by voting their lazy asses out of office!

I saw a great bumper sticker this morning:

W
Our Scarlet Letter

That’s all I have to say about that.

(Click the title of this post for the news story.)

A star is torn

I like Gregory Peck as an actor as much as the next person, but this is ridiculous!

We live in a political world...We’re living in times where men commit crimes

Apparently, the Republican Party, the party that wants to display the Ten Commandments in front of courthouses and have any phrase with the word “God” in it put into our daily vocabulary, whether it’s through the Pledge of Allegiance, or on a quarter, is forgetting how to represent certain commandments and whatever God they seem to acknowledge. I’m pretty sure this story takes care of commandment #’s 5, 8 & 9. In case you you’re a little rusty on what those commandments say, here’s a refresher course:

5. You shall not dishonor your parents.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not commit perjury.

I suppose if you want to get technical, you could include #6 in there as well (You shall not murder). Because he was taking bribes from defense contractors, he was indirectly murdering people. Or maybe I’m just stretching this a little far? Nonetheless, way to go GOP! It’s a good thing the Democrats have absolutely nobody to run against you in 2008.

They said screw you, I ain't got nothin' to lose

I am pretty sure I just got screwed a little. I say “a little” because it was only about .20¢ worth, but nonetheless, I was screwed.

I go to Subway about once every 10 days or so for lunch. Today was one of those days and I bought the same thing that I always buy. I got my usual combo and when the girl handed me my drink cup, I looked at it quizzically and asked if that was the right size. She said yes and confirmed it with the other employee, who I think is a manager-type of some sort. She then told me they were out of the larger cups. If you’re out of those sized cups, then why am I paying my regular price and receiving less in return? Like I said, it’s probably only .20¢, but I want what I paid for.

Also, there are some 300-plus Subway restaurants in Houston; there is another one within 2 miles of this one. Somebody please go borrow some cups!

I won’t become the thing I hate

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is?

2. People who are willing to get off their ass to search the entire room for the T.V. remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually.

3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?

4. When people say, "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? I’m gonna kick their asses!

5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.

6. People who ask, "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya sunshine?

7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before, it couldn't be new.

8. When people say, "life is short". What the hell? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?

9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?". If the bus came, would I be standing here, dumb ass?

Sorry seems to the hardest word

Would everyone please stop paying attention to Terrell Owens now? Please, for the love of Pete, stop paying him ANY attention! He won’t be playing anymore this year and if we’re lucky, EVER AGAIN!! Good grief! This boy (I am using the term “boy” because he is a spoiled, self-centered, egomaniac who has yet to grow up) only wants attention and every time he does something, he gets it. The media just keeps on feeding him. When he got kicked out of training cap earlier this year, the media followed him to his house. What does he do? He goes out in his driveway and starts working out – for the media – because they paid attention. When are they going to learn that this is just feeding fuel to the fire that is Terrell Owens? That fire got so hot, they had to douse him for the rest of the season and sit his sorry ass down. Is it hurting the Eagles? Sure it is and don’t let the Eagles fool you into thinking otherwise. T.O is an amazing athlete and football player, but his physical abilities are largely overshadowed by his verbal stupidity. I swear on how much I love chicken wings that if I have to hear about T.O. for the rest of the season and that includes his dumb-ass Right-Guard Power Stripe commercial, I am going to have to take someone down and it might just be T. freakin’ O. himself. He is driving me crazy – and I don’t even like the Eagles, I just feel sorry for them.

There was a great rant on Craigslist during training camp and I think everyone should read it because it is hilarious and true beyond words. I encourage everyone to read it and laugh their heads off.

You wreck me baby, yea, you break me in two

Ok, I have two different gripes right now and I’m just going to get ‘em off my fingers and onto my screen.

First off, I’m leaving for lunch and it just so happens that I am parked right next to the man who I shared the elevator with to my level in the parking garage. He drives a Lexus SUV and me, well, I don’t, let’s put it that way. He was parked inside the lines (in case you were wondering), but he said the rudest thing to me as I was getting into my car, “Watch that door!” Of course, he was probably only being half-serious about it, but still, that’s just rude. I mean, here I am in khaki’s and a polo, not an expensive polo either, just a casual, plain blue polo getting into my so-so car and he is dressed in a tailored suit getting into his leather interior, gold-trimmed Lexus SUV. Does he think I am not going to be careful about hitting his door because I have the money to throw away and do it? Hello? I’m being as careful as a brain surgeon is right now! Nevertheless, I chuckled, got in my car and went to lunch; but he lit a fuse and here you get to read the bomb going off.

Now for my second issue: I don’t understand gasoline stations and their prices. I filled up today at the logical station, the least expensive one. On the same corner, there are three stations, each with different prices. None of the three was close to the other. What? That’s right, three stations, same corner and three separate prices. One was $2.39, one $2.45 and the last one $2.54. Can somebody please explain to me why anyone would pay .15 cents more to go across the street? How does this station expect to compete? For every six ½ gallons of gas sold at the least expensive station, you’ve saved $1 that you would've spent the most expensive station. Therefore, if you have to put 24 gallons into your Lexus SUV that was not hit in the door earlier in the day, you would pay $4 less. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but over the course of a year, that equals $208. I know I could do many other things than waste my money on gas, which I could’ve and should’ve bought cheaper. Of course, if you’re driving any SUV, the price of gas is most likely not affecting you as it does the rest of the real world. Even so, there were people across the street filling their tanks up. Probably those same adults dressed up for Halloween. Apparently, people enjoy throwing money away.

Don’t need no credit card to ride this train

I love how technology has overtaken rational thinking these days. Every month, my credit card bill is auto-generated by some computer at some office and then stuffed into an envelope and sent to me. No human interaction is involved until the actual stuffing and sending. I can also skip the paper and just have an e-bill sent to me, but I like wasting my money (I am essentially paying for the paper through my finance charge, correct?) I would at least like to think that we are technologically advanced enough to program the computer that spits out our monthly statements to make sure the due date does NOT fall on a weekend or holiday!

I received my credit card statement yesterday and the due date falls on Sunday, November 13th, but because the preceding Friday is Veteran’s Day, I need to get it there by Thursday, November 10th. How can a credit card company not catch this? I have to pay my bill three days early or it’s late. Why can’t we just shift my due date to Monday? Because money and technology rule the world, but not in my favor apparently.