All Now Mysterious...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

No Escape

I never really thought I’d see the day when I’d be paying more for gasoline than for milk—$3.94/gallon for gas at the club store vs. $2.99/gallon for skim milk (store brand) at the local grocery chain. It’s ridiculous. It makes me wish I were riding a cow to work.

So, in an effort to save money—and as much as I’d like to say that I was trying to do my part for the environment, economics is really all I was considering—I decided to buy a bus pass for July. The way I see it, I’ve spent about $110 on gas this month (two $45 fill-ups, plus $20 last night to get me by until my next paycheck). A bus pass is $58.50 for a month. The bus picks me up two and a half blocks from my house (it used to be half a block, until route changes were made a few months ago) and drops me off right in front of the building where I work. The bus pass also counts towards the price of my train fare when I head to Ogden to game on Thursdays. And if I need to get to somewhere that’s inconvenient by bus, well, there is still the car.

So I went in today to buy my bus pass. Alas, they don’t actually start selling them until tomorrow. And even more alas, the price has gone up. The Utah Transit Authority, it turns out, has begun adding a fuel surcharge to all its fares. The normal one-way bus or light rail fare of $1.75 has been raised to $2.00. The one-way FrontRunner train fare from SLC to Ogden has been increased from $5.00 to $5.50. And the monthly bus pass has been increased from $58.50 to $66.50.

The good news about this, I suppose, is that the base fare hasn’t changed. The fuel surcharge is a temporary measure based on diesel fuel prices as determined by the US Department of Energy. So if the price of fuel drops, the fuel surcharge will go away. The increase is not inherently permanent, which is a good thing.

The bad news is that if the price of diesel tops $4.00/gallon for the quarter, the fuel surcharge will go up again, and fares will increase by the same amount. The normal one-way fare will increase to $2.25, the FrontRunner fare will go up to $6.00, and the monthly bus pass will go up another $8.00 to $74.50. And if diesel tops $5.00 a gallon, the fuel surcharge will go up yet again and fares will be increased by the same amount.

Still, it’s cheaper than driving....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Thursday Night Memes

Part I: Friday's Feast
Feast One Hundred & Ninety Four

Appetizer If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?
People are going to think I'm crazy for saying this (especially my wife), but I think it would be amazing to spend a year at one of the Antarctic research stations. There's so much about that part of the world we still don't know; the scientist in me thinks it'd be the next best thing to spending a year in space.

Soup Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?
Mozilla Firefox, version 3. If you're still mucking about with Internet Exploder, do yourself a favor and download the latest version of Firefox.

Salad On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country?
I'd be inclined to say at least eight, but I'm coming to find that so much of the history of my country has changed over the last 20 years, now I'm no longer certain.

Main Course Finish this sentence: Love is…
Love is...the WD-40 that makes the world go 'round and the duct tape that holds it all together.

Dessert Have you ever been in or near a tornado?
Right after my family moved to J-town in 1976, the town was surrounded by no less than six tornadoes one afternoon. And, of course, my brothers's house got hit by one a couple of weeks ago:

Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather - Update
Stormy Weather - Happy Ending

--

Part II: Top 5 On Friday
Top 5 On Friday - Week 180 from The Music Memoirs:

Top 5 albums that you can't stop playing lately, and tell us why you love them!

» A Day Without Rain by Enya

When I've been looking for something relaxing to listen to lately, this one and 'Amarantine' hit the spot. I've loved Enya's music for as long as I've known about her.

» Asia by Asia

I've owned this album for decades, and I keep coming back to it time and time again (no pun intended). The more I listen to it, the more I'm amazed at how good this group really was. The musicianship is astounding, and the band members play together with a chemistry that's hard to describe. Listen you it, and you'll understand.

» Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Frank Sinatra

I got this from the library the other day, and it's amazing. Definitely going on my wish list.

» Narada Collection 3 by Various Artists

I owned this on tape for many years, but only just got around to getting it on CD. It's been in the stereo in the kitchen (along with volumes 1, 2, and 4) for the past few weeks.

» Kill to Get Crimson by Mark Knopfler

I got this one a few weeks ago and then misplaced it. I finally found it today as I was doing a little straightening in the office. It's going into the stereo first thing tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

White & Nerdy

I took The Nerd Test, ver 2.0, and discovered that I am a:

Cool Nerd King!


NerdTests.com says I'm a Cool Nerd King.  What are you?  Click here!


Like we didn't all already know that....

Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday the 13th Memes

Part I: Friday's Feast
Feast One Hundred & Eighty Eight

Appetizer Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?
I try to be an optimist. I get frustrated more easily than I should, but in general, I have a pretty positive outlook.

One quick side note here:
Optimist: The glass is half full.
Pessimist: The glass is half empty.
Chemist: The glass is full. It contains 50% H2O, 39% N2, 10.5% O2, and 0.5% trace gases by volume.


Soup What is your favorite color of ink to write with?
Green. I've preferred green ink since high school. Ask Diliwag, he can back me up on this one.

Salad How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?
I've never had a professional manicure or pedicure.

Main Course Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?
I'm pretty sure I won a game of internet Mah Jongg once. But as far as contests or online gambling, I have no victories to report.

Dessert In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?
My desktop (the computer on which I'm typing right now) is in the office. When I use my laptop, it's usually in the living room or the kitchen.

--

Part II: Top 5 On Friday
Top 5 On Friday - Week 179 from The Music Memoirs:

Top 5 postal songs

» Postcards From Paraguay by Mark Knopfler
(from the album Shangri-La)

» In Your Letter by REO Speedwagon
(from the album Hi Infidelity)

» Return to Sender by Elvis Presley
(featured on the album Elvis 30 #1 Hits)

» Presents to Send You by Jimmy Buffett
(from the album A-1-A)

» I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter by Frank Sinatra
(from the album Swing Easy!)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Stormy Weather - Happy Ending

Even with the tornadoes in Windsor, life continues to move forward - especially the really important stuff:



My brother got Married on Saturday. Due to the unusual events surrounding the wedding, it made the Greeley newspaper.

Storm doesn't blow away couple's nuptials

Me, I'm just happy that K's an official member of the family now. So is everyone else (especially K herself...and my brother!). They really are perfect for each other.

They've certainly made the best of a difficult situation. I like my brother's attitude on the whole thing, as quoted in the story: "We figured if we could make it through the wedding, there's not much that's going to stop us". With an attitude like that, he's bound to be right.

I'm amazed at how they've managed to handle the whole thing with a sense a humor. When the tornado hit, the brick façade on the west side of the house was torn away. They did something particularly creative with it:



That's right, they used the bricks as centerpieces at their reception.

Now that's awesome!

Two Days Late

Tuesday Tunes - Week 33 from The Music Memoirs

"Too Darn Hot"* as Cole Porter wrote so let's go with a bit of word association this week.

Remember tell us the first artist/song/album etc that comes to mind when you see the following words.

jazz: "Kiss My Axe" by Al Di Meola
cool: "Cool Down Daddy" by Jellyroll
swing: "In the Mood" by The Glenn Miller Orchestra
club: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles
street: "Sentimental Street" by Night Ranger
thank: "Thank You World" by The Statler Brothers
rose: "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal
party: "Party at the End of the World" by Jimmy Buffett
sex: "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred
water: "Break the Silence" by Rocket Scientists ("Vermilion-colored waves will rise, oceans swallow paradise....")

--
*The Meme Mistress obviously doesn't live anywhere near Salt Lake City, where it's 46° F this morning....