The Truth About Gas Prices

In my decades long work history, I spent three years working at gas stations. I worked my way up from part time cashier to assistant manager before I decided that wasn’t the lifestyle for me. For one thing, I was constantly surrounded by snack food and for someone who is a snack junkie – my butt just kept getting bigger and bigger.

This is a bad thing.

Yesterday morning I took Mom in for her stress test. As I drove by the gas station closest to the house, I noticed the price per gallon was $2.91. Even though the price was sucky (I don’t think we should be paying anything more than 2.00 – oil companies are having record years in terms of profits and they’re acquiring those on the backs of hard working Americans), I knew I had to fill up my tank. So I said to Mom, I’ll have to fill up when I come back to pick you up. So I drop her off at 8:45am and toddle home to do laundry, deal with the herd (the dogs) and do my thing.

I left the house to pick Mom up at 12:30, three hours and forty-five minutes later. I had every intention of stopping at the gas station to fill up…until I saw the price had risen to 3.19. So let’s do some math.

3.19-2.91=.28

The rice rose .28 cents in less than four hours. Wow, don’t you wish you could get a .28 raise every four hours that you worked? I know I do!

So now it is time for some truth about gas prices and how it really works in the industry.

1. There is a 30 day supply of gasoline, already processed and ready to use, at any one time in the United States.

2. This is not the ‘national reserve’ that you hear President C- talk about from time to time. That is another ‘pot’ of gas and it to is 30 days supply. The National Reserve is to be used in case of emergency.

3. Oil companies stockpile oil way in advance. I don’t know how much they keep on hand, but I would hazard a guess that it is a substantial amount. Remember the edict, buy low, sell high. (This will come in handy later)

4. The gasoline that you put in your car today, was not refined yesterday. Chances are it was refined roughly 25 – 30 days earlier.

5. When the daily price of barrels of oil ebb and flow, it *should* have no immediate impact at the pumps. Why is that? Because it takes roughly three weeks to buy crude oil, refine it, ship it etc. Remember – what you put in your car wasn’t made yesterday – it was made weeks ago.

6. Most gas stations are franchises – the owner / manager of said station BUYS the franchise rights to have a Big Dollar Gas Company station.

7. In most (okay, almost all) gas stations, the price is determined by the MANAGER/OWNER. Surely you didn’t think someone from Big Dollar Gas called all the stations and jacked up the price did you?

8. The consequence of the Owner/Manager setting the price is they can pay x dollars for a gallon and charge xy to you. For example: if the gas station owner is buying gasoline at 2.75 per gallon, they could set the price at 2.79 and make a good profit. With most stations, its about quantity of gas sold, not a large profit per tank.

9. To be competitive, in my day, station owners would survey other stations. This means they’d hop in the car with a notepad and run around to all stations within 2 miles and check their rates. A smart station owner would then set their price .01 LESS than their competators. This is no longer the case – now it seems to be every man/woman for themselves.

So what have we learned? That most gas stations are price gouging the consumer. This time last year gasoline prices were 2.41 per gallon and they’re predicting 4.00 in late spring. So, how long until you have to decide whether to put gas in the car or buy enough food to put on the table? Write the Attorney General of your state and start asking the hard questions.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-501-s&p=office+of+the+attorney+general&rs=1&fr2=rs-top

It's Oscar Time!

Yes, it’s time for the Oscars. Ever since I was a child (which was only a few weeks ago) I would make popcorn and watch the Oscars with my grandmother and Mom. We love the clothing more than anything else. Well, there is also the aspect of seeing the stars without the acting mask firmly in place.

So here are my nominations for the Oscar this year, read them and weep! (Feel free to harass me if they’re wrong. )

Best Movie: No Country For Old Men – I’d like to see Juno win but I just don’t think its going to happen. Its rare that a film with a comedic bent wins best picture. (Tells me the voters are all stuffy!)

Best Actor: Tommy Lee Jones – The man has paid his dues. Yes, I love Johnny Depp too but let’s face it, he could do a Verizon commercial and get an Oscar nod.

Best Actress: Either Cate Blanchett or possibly Julie Christie. I think Julie is a long shot as she hasn’t been ‘around’ much in the past 15 years or so.

Best Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck – He’s incredibly talented but if No Country wins for best film, then I predict it will be Javier Bardem.

Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee – hands down!

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Atonement

Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Juno or Lars and the Real Girl

A fishy quandry

I love to cook – and I have quite a few signature dishes. I receive rave reviews any time I fix ribs, meatballs, pizza, boxed cereal…no one pours milk like I do!

I cannot cook fish. It is a tragedy really. I do have one good recipe for salmon but that’s pretty much it. And I’ve tried everything. Tonight I had two fabulous pieces of Mahi Mahi tuna. It is fatty and meaty which means its pretty tolerent of fools like myself so if I overcook it, the fish does retain some moisture.

So I gave it a good rinse and dunked it in milk to let it soak. (gets rid of the ‘fishy’ taste / smell) Any fish that has been wrapped in plastic more than a day gets that fishy smell and its just nasty. I then pulled out my jelly roll pan and greased it up.

Lying out the fish, I lightly coated it in butter then Old Bay seasoning, Louisiana Spice (its a brand) garlic and a dash of salt and pepper. I then sliced an onion very thin and laid that on top along with some thin sweet pepper strips. It looked very pretty – I was quite pleased with myself. (did you notice I forgot the lemon?)

Popped it in the oven and baked it for about 15 minutes – it was smelling good…..and it had little flavor at all. I could taste the garlic and a hint of the butter but that was it. I have no clue what went wrong, am I supposed to coat the fish in seasoning?

Yes ma’am, I’d like some fish with my seasoning…

What gives???

Signed,

Disaster in the Kitchen

I've lost my brain…

if found, please return to J.C. Wilder as she is looking for it…when she remembers its missing that is.

Took Mom to the doctor this morning. I mentioned that she was ill a few weeks ago on my blog. She was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and stenosis of one of her heart valves. This doesn’t have much to do with my brain which is MIA, but it is a follow up to an early post so there you go.

I took her to the two doctors, heart and lung guys, then shot off on a trip to NY. Somehow, in the furor of packing, flying, coming home etc, I seem to have completely forgotten exactly what the lung doctor told us to do. What I remembered was to pick up an oxygen sensor for Mom to wear overnight to test her oxygen levels while she slept. So yesterday I picked up the machine and all was well.

CHECK!

This morning I take her to the doctor and I handed in the machine. They downloaded the information to check her stats and voila…she never turned it on. Yep, she put on the machine, slept with it all night and failed to turn it on.

Yes, at least I come by my craziness honestly.

So the nurses and Mom and I laughed about it. I had explained to Mom how to put it on and she missed the part about the little button on the top.

Then, the next nurse comes in to ask about the breathing test.

What breathing test?
The one that was scheduled for Monday at the hospital down the street from you.
Blink.
I wasn’t aware of a breathing test…

Yes, I forgot to take Mom for a breathing test appointment. So she forgets to turn on the machine…I forget to take her for another test.

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

Gorging Myself…

Today I am gorging myself on Project Runway (www.bravotv.com) I just love that show. In high school I created most of my clothing because we were financially challenged – not to mention that it was a great way to express myself creatively.

Keeping in mind that it’s been about 24 years since I’ve created a garment, Project Runway has inspired me to pick up my scissors again. A few months ago I picked up some fabulous fabrics with the Romantic Times conference in mind. So here it is, eight weeks until RT and I’ve yet to even pick up the bag of fabric. So here is my challenge, I bought materials to create a duster, and two shirts. If I can create one new look for RT, I consider myself a winner.

Think I can do it?

Home Again

I returned home late Thursday and I’m glad to be here. What is it about stretching out in your own bed? It’s the closest thing one will come to finding perfection in life that’s for sure.

NY was great fun and I can’t wait to return. I injured my knee walking to the theatre to see RENT but it was worth it. Seeing that performance was worth both pain and blood…except I didn’t bleed. But if I had, it still would’ve been worth it.

At the end of the performance the staff of the Nederland theatre directed me to walk down some back steps and voila – ended up backstage. LOL! I was able to meet a few principals of the show and thank them for their most excellent job they did. It was brilliant.

But now I’m back in Ohio…no theatre here. (sigh)

The Apple is FROZEN!

I’m not sure I’ve ever been as cold in my life as I’ve been here in NY. All this cement makes everything feel 10x colder than it really is I guess.

On Sunday I went to check out the show Young Frankenstein and it was fabulous. Roger Bart (The psycho pharmacist from Desperate Housewives) played the lead and he was brilliant. Megan Mullaly (Will & Grace) was the fiancee and she was hilarious. Originally I had seats in the back of the orchestra section and when I got there, they moved me up to the 3rd row on the aisle. It was an amazing seat. I was so close that when they danced, I could feel every footfall. Since I love the movie, the musical was brilliant.

Last night we went out to Perdilla – this is the restaurant owned by Harold Diedrich, the first winner of Top Chef. I cannot tell you how good this meal was. It ranks up there in the top five for me. If you’re in New York – GO! Just make sure you call ahead and get a reservation. After dinner I was privledged to meet the Chef and chat with him a few minutes. I was just in awe – cooking is such an art and while I love it, I could never be a cook of even half his calibre.

Tonight I’m off to see RENT, my all time fave musical…well, okay…one of them. I adore so many of them – but with Rent I know all of the lines, lyrics etc. Yes, it’s just that good.