Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 18.0

Weather
What's up with the weather in Houston? Yesterday morning I went running with runnerOne. It was bordering on the point of running shirtless. Who knew that it could border on balmy on the ninth day of December?

However, by evening time the temperature had made a considerable drop and it became jacket weather...and it continued to drop.

The Calvinator was L-O-V-I-N-G it! Cold weather. High winds. He had a bit of lilt to his walk.

Gas Prices
I was so excited I almost did a cartwheel on the corner of Leeland and Dowling. You see...

I paid $1.45 a gallon for gas! I remember back in June when gas was at the $4.00 mark. I'm not sure if the price any more so I'm gonna enjoy it while I can.

Have You Ever Wondered...
how a car wreck happens? You see...

Yesterday morning I was driving down Memorial Drive heading toward downtown. Traffic normally goes about 50 m.p.h. which is why I love Memorial Drive! It's sort of like a mini-crosstown expressway. Anywho...

So traffic comes to a standstill and in the middle lane are two cars that obviously had hit. There is debris in the right lane (the lane I'm in) so I'm sorta having to swerve to avoid the debris).

I travel a few more yards and there is a car that has its trunk smashed into the back seat. The force of the impact must have REALLY catapulted that car. OY!

Art For Sale
Back in the late '90s I purchased a piece of art from a gallery in New Orleans. I've never had it matted and framed and I'd actually forgotten about it. I'm thinking of selling it but I don't know if I should do it on ebay, Craigslist, or try to find an art dealer? Any advice?

I did a bit of research and other serigraphs of this piece are retailing for about to three times what I paid for it. Just don't know what to do.

Wanna Go For A Run?
So yesterday morning when I was running, I decided I need to run another marathon. runnerOne suggested that I try to get into NYC Marathon.

So I'm thinking I'll put my name in the lottery and if I don't get selected (again), I can do San Antonio which would 1 or 2 weeks later. Anybody want to join me? Just askin'.

Christmas Carol
I *heart* this song and I can't wait for Darlene Love to make her annual appearance on Letterman (she didn't do it last year because of the strike). I like U2's version of the song but I LOVE her rendition. Enjoy!

Sign of the times?

On Friday night while I was driving home from work and chatting with Friend G, I saw this sign. I abruptly ended the conversation, pulled into the gasoline station filled up The Cal Mobile for less than $26.00!!!! THAT hasn't happened in a LONG time.

Greetings from The Energy Capital of the U.S.!

Hello

OK. Yes. I know. I've been a bit quiet. Not much to say about anything.

It's getting hotter here in H-town. It's so hot (how hot is it?), The Calvinator is cutting his walks short. Seriously. When he has had enough and is ready to turn around he just stops and digs in and won't move. It's sort of like trying to get a mule to budge.

I went running this morning a bit before 800a.m. and it was already in the low 80s. In fact, when we went for our morning stroll at 630a.m. it was already 83 degrees and the humidity was high. I'm one of those people who sweats like a whore in church (no comments please) and I just can't understand those lizard people who don't sweat.

This morning as I was finishing up my 5 mile jaunt at Memorial Park, I saw a familiar face...well, familiar from his blog. It was Active Runner. I had about 1/2 a mile to go and REALLY wanted to finish so I didn't stop to chat him up. I think I surprised him though.

So I showered and went and did some weights and worked up another sweat. And showered again.

Then later on I went to AttyHou and Everyday Italian's pool and was joined by Neighbor Michael. At this point the temperature was in the 90s. OY! I didn't last long because I was sweating like a whore at The Vatican. So yes, I showered...again.

I must ask. Is it normal to take three showers in one day? Am I bordering on OCD or am I OCD?

So that's what's on my mind tonight...well that and whole bunch of other stuff that you may or not may not be interested in, like:

1) I can't figure why gas is so high in Houston when the f_cking refineries are right down the road in Texas City, La Porte and Deer Park? I'm just saying.

2) Is it normal to have a job interview at 800a on Memorial Day? Is this some kind of test?

3) I finally had to look up the words to 4 Minutes and I still don't understand part of it and I'm laughing at myself for not incorrectly singing some of the lyrics. (Lyrics I don't understand: "Keep it up, keep it up, don't be a pri..")

4) I'm wondering if Candy Shop will be remixed?

5) I don't think Betty Suarez went to Tuscon (with Henry) or Rome (with Gio). If she was going to marry Henry, that would mean she has to leave Mode and there goes the whole show. Plus, she would want her family at the wedding. I think she is afraid of Gio because she knows she belongs with him. I think she went on a trip to Mexico to visit family and get her head together.

And while I'm on the subject of Ugly Betty, did anyone else LOL when Naomi Campbell pulled out her cell phone and everybody took cover? And poor Hilda. She gets a hunkalicious love interest only to find out he is still married.

6) Did anyone watch The Bachelorette? Deanna was in her own Candy Shop. My assumption is that they don't let the guys eat any food and then do a vodka drip so the alcohol can go directly into their bloodstream. And the guy who didn't get picked and was howling at the moon? Uh...LOL

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun holiday weekend!

The temperature is rising and so is the price of gasoline

A brief prologue covers the events preceding the original Mad Max (no backstory was offered in that movie). After uprisings and an extended war due to energy shortages proved to destabilize the country, marauding biker gangs began to terrorize the townspeople in the Australian desert. The crumbling remnants of the government created a tiny, underfunded group of special highway patrol officers to attempt a restoration of order in the outback. By contrast, Mad Max 2 features a much more pronounced breakdown of civilization. In the prologue, a narrator informs us that the world has "crumbled and...the cities have exploded"; life has become a "whirlwind of looting and a firestorm of fear, in which 'men began to feed on men.'" -from Wikipedia about Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

I'm beginning to think we are just a few steps away from this becoming a reality. I mean really.

The price of gasoline is the highest it has ever been. I remember when I was a kid and gas stations would have price wars to see who could sell a gallon of gas for the lowest price. I remember competing stations getting it down to $00.28. And then I remember the day it went up to $00.33 and it never went down. It has only gone up.

I also remember the year of the fuel shortage. Long lines at the gas stations. Also, there was a system for how often you could get gas. You just couldn't pull up and get some. You were only allowed to get gas on certain days of the week unless your vehicle was for commercial purposes.

Then there was the fuel shortage along the Gulf Coast during the Hurricane Rita evacuation. I think that was the most frightened I have ever been about running out of gas. And not only gas but drinking water.

Everytime The Calvinator does something to upset me, I have to remember that he was a real trooper for staying in the car (well, he did try to jump out once) with me for 27 hours. I'm not sure who was more relieved when I accidentally found the vending machine outside of a closed convenience store in the middle of nowhere. It was ice cold and water never tasted better.

It was pure luck that I found gasoline when I did. Just about the time I would start to panic about the gauge getting low, I'd find a station that had fuel.

I've been taking people to the airport for their extended Memorial Day getaways. In the olden days I would never have accepted money for doing that. Now I'm accepting Euros (LOL) to put gas back into The Cal Mobile for the jaunts back and forth to the airport. Speaking of Euros...

The other night at Todd, Marc & Gordon's cocktail party, somebody dropped something into the pool. We couldn't figure out what it was but a person was being very dilligent about trying to retrieve it. Nobody in my circle of partygoers could figure it out so I started a rumor that it was a Euro. LOL I wanted to see if people would jump into the pool. (I crack myself up sometimes.)

OK. So why did I even discuss this? While I was watching the 10:00 evening news on Wednesday night, Neighbor Ryan Korsgard at KPRC Channel 2 did a story about how much it is costing the City of Houston to gas up vehicles and ambulances and fire trucks, etc. Then there was another story someone who stole about 500 gallons (edit: 1000 gallons) of diesel fuel.

Hey. I need to stop this rambling and get going. I think I just saw Mel Gibson walking through NoRO.