Category: Bay Area

Strange days indeed

So. I made a stop this morning to get petrol for my hoopty so I could make it to work.

I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even look at the price anymore. Because it gives me a pain. I just pull up, put the nozzle in the tank, swipe my card and fill ‘er up.

So I was idly hanging about, checking email while the tank filled when I noticed.

One dollar and ninety nine cents!?!?!??!

I need a neck brace for all the whiplash! It was, what, two, three months ago that I had to take out a loan promising my life and any future offspring to the Gods of Petrol just to get enough gas in the tank to get to work?

And now, it’s at a rate lower than I think I’ve ever seen it since I moved here eleven years ago.

Wow.

So then. As I drove in to work, I started to ponder.

All those freight carriers. They were adding a “fuel surcharge” to my orders to get them to me.

Have they lowered or eliminated those?

The airlines were bumping up rates for high fuel charges. Am I seeing a fare reduction?

And plastic materials. Their price was up because of the rising costs of petroleum. Have they lowered their prices?

Ha! Doubtful.

And then I was ticked off.

Not a good way to start my Friday.

One of my very sweet employees, noting my rough mood, offered me a slice of coffee cake. Which I accepted.

These economic times are weird.

And I know I can expect that fuel won’t stay at this gloriously low rate for long.

Strap in people. Bumpy road ahead.

Rumor has it

So. Word on the street is that today is December.

But I’m not buyin’ it.

Because I’m fairly certain I did NOT authorize 2008 to dissipate so quickly.

Nope. No way. No how. I don’t care that people are Christmas shopping. I don’t care that decorations are cropping up. Nope.

Nuh uh.

Not gonna do it.

Oh, and *someone* must have told the Bay Area that it’s December today because it went and got all overcast and foggy and crappy and, well, wintry.

I’m telling you, if we all band together against this thing, it doesn’t HAVE to be December. Roll back the calendar, get the sun out of storage and let’s go on about our lives circa, I don’t know, June?

How does June work for you? Do I hear a July? Going once, going twice…

Please stand by…I’m going to go see about fixing this.

It’s the small victories that add up

I am ridiculously excited because, on the advice of a couple coworkers, I’ve found a different route to take to work. It’s actually a few miles longer in distance, but since traffic rolls and no stop-go, stop-go, it actually shaves 10 to 15 minutes off my commute.

TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES! That means that over the course of a week, I could get around two extra hours with my sweetie. Or sleeping. Or fast asleep next to my sweetie. All good options!

I’ve got the drive down to about 25 minutes each way, now. Commute to the old job was 45 to 50 minutes each way.

THIS is a victory for sanity!