| A Story and a rant
Yesterday my mom was outside planting her fall flowers. A man drove up to the house, got out of his can and walked over to my mom. "Do you like salad?" he asked. My mom answered with a resounding "yes" and he then said "well go get a bowl, I'll make you some salad." "this guy is weird..." my mom thought to herself, but nevertheless she went inside and got a bowl. He went back to his car and got out some sort of kitchen contraption and a bag of cabbage, carrots, apples and something else. He asked to wash his hands, and since my mom was watering plants, she handed him the hose. "No, no, in the kitchen." he said. Being slightly over trusting (IMO) she allowed him into the house and proceeded to make a salad, using above mentioned contraption. He then proceeded to ask if he could make dinner for her. Looking confused, he went out to explain his purpose and said that he would make a dinner, for free, for our family and another. Said dinner would contain 500 calories and no fat. Healthy, well NO fat worries me, but healthier than a lot of stuff we put in our bodies. Said dinner would be cooked without oils or butter yet include fried chicken, fried potatoes, four vegetables and a chocolate cake. Said dinner is occuring on saturday night and our neighbors are coming also. Because the neighbors are coming, we get the contraption thing for free. Apparently he sells lots of other kitchen contraptions as well, so we'll see.
Gas prices are absurd. My radio station was talking today, as I drove to work in my super-economical Honda Accord, about how the price of gas, in Wichita Kansas, mind you, is about to jump to $2.72.9/gallon. There are speculations that it'll hit $3 before labour day. I believe that since we live in such an environment (ie. massive suburbs) that is only condusive to driving cars to get around that people will give up luxuries like their daily cup of Starbucks, and eating out, and that new pair of designer shoes (yes, very much so luxuries, but none the less, normal people do this) before finding alternative forms of transportation. This can potentially have huge ramifications on our economy, while the price of gas continues to climb because the demand is still strong. Also, the government is not really doing anything to stop this problem or weaken it's blow to our economy. Yes, they are giving tax credits for Hybrid cars, but only for the first 60,000 hybrids produced each year. Last I checked, we have more than 60,000 people in this nation. And where are those Hydrogen cars. I heard they were being tested in DC right now, but if anyone wants a chance to be able to afford their car, it has got to be super efficient or run on an alternative fuel. This is why disel cars are good. With a converter (I'm not really sure how they work) a disel car can run on vegetable oil, used vegetable oil. That means you can strike a deal with your local McDonald's (or other non-evil restaurant that uses oil) and get their used cooking oilto fuel your car. Yes, the fumes may smell like french fries (or fish if you go to a fish and chips place lets say) but hey, it's free fuel, and who doesn't like that. There are also fuel flexible cars on the road that allow you you use a mixed fuel of gasoline and ethanol, that is better for the environment and at a reduced price, because ethanol comes from a renewable resource (corn). All that in mind, what if you don't have a hybrid, hydrogen, disel coverted, or fuel flexible car? I don't. Well, don't slamp on the brakes when you come to a stop, avoid idling in traffic and go the speed limit. The faster you go (above like 55 mph i think) the more gas your car uses, so try to drive in that 40-55 mph range as much as possible. I'm using all these tactics and it seems to be working. I filled up on sunday (at $2.47 a gallon) and I've been driving around town/to and from work and I have yet to use a quarter of my tank. It's thrilling and I'm sure just keeping those things in mind will save me lots of money while gas prices continue to climb to astronomical heights. |
