New Hats and No Soliciting

I blew $50.00 or so on new hats this week. Ordered several sale hats from villagehatshop.com. The first two are straw fedoras, the last one in a wool fedora. I needed some summer fedoras, the straw ones will do the trick but the wool one will have to wait for winter before I get any use out of it.

I also ordered a No Soliciting sign last week from floppingfish.com and my friend Tracy e-mailed me to tell me she'd gotten the order. It'd been since Christmas when I last heard from her and Shea. The sign arrived today, so I took a moment when I got home to make two pilot holes in the door and install it. It looks really good! :-) The original sign has tarnished, and started to develop a green patina. Hopefully the new sign will begin to do the same. Regardless I'm very satisfied. Much much classier than those No Solicitors stickers you buy at the hardware store.

Goodnight

This is the third night I've stayed up late. Today seemed alright, but it got capped off wrong and I'm still sitting here thinking. Life is so complicated sometimes, I just wish to God things would go my way sometime. I'm so tired, tired of everything.

Tonight

I know I get down, but when others are down I am at a loss to cheer them up... and wish I could do something.

I added a plug-in from playlist.com to my MySpace page tonight, pretty nifty. Playlist of eclectic music that I like, mixed with sound effects, old retro commercials. The music runs the gamut from the 1920's to today, and includes some old TV themes, the Indiana Jones theme, and even Rick Astley and the Starland Vocal Band! :-)

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry

Time is linear, one day runs into the next, into the next, until the days run out on our clock and we expire. We can't be wound back up like a watch, or have a new battery popped into us. We wear out, wear down. How we spend that time, who we spend it with, that is what makes life worth living.

There was a story on Escape Pod a while back, "Friction".

It seems like when my day is going smoothly, that I can breeze through it and everything is wonderful. My Sunday this weekend was like that. The day was perfect, nothing ruined it and it was probably the best day I've had in a long time.

Mondays are usually rough, coming back into the office after such a great weekend is usually either difficult to deal with because you're busy, or you might come in and be good to go. Yesterday was a Monday where everything seemed fine.

Tuesday, well, it was obviously a delayed Monday.

I was tired when I woke up this morning, and I was up late cleaning the shower and doing general housework. My dreams were good ones, the weather was nice, I was really looking forward to getting off work. Things change though, maybe it was shaving last night that did it. Fishermen believe shaving changes their luck, some people believe that trimming their toenails does the same. I'd had maybe a week and a half of growth on a new beard. I got a haircut AND shaved yesterday. I guess I'll probably go home tonight and just go to bed early, it's supposed to rain.

How's this related to friction? Well, our interactions with people, be they smooth and pleasant or rough are all forms of friction. Friction on the mind, and they can drag you down or build you up. Sometimes circumstances don't always allow things to go as you'd like them. I think that life is worth fighting for, dreams are worth striving for. I feel so worn sometimes that I don't want to dream anymore. Dreams can either soar greatly, or be dashed on the rocks and I'm tired of having my dreams shattered.

Highway Robbery. Oil Cartels, and Ethanol

$3.39 a gallon for regular gas, and the label on the gas pump warns: May contain 10% ethanol.

• The nightly news says that oil refiners are idling their plants, and producing less and less gasoline since the price per barrel of oil is climbing.
• OPEC refuses to up production, saying supply is fine and the world economy shows no signs of slowing.
• Economists say that the US economy is hitting staflation, and we have already entered the beginning of a recession.
• The world economy follows the US economy, a recession here will lead to a worldwide recession and possibly a depression.
• Food shortages are being reported in third world countries since the US is redirecting corn and wheat into the production of ethanol.

Some things to think about.

• Ethanol lowers gas mileage, it's basically filler, like when they used to add alcohol to gasoline to screw customers in the late 70's and early 80's.
• Ethanol damages some kinds of rubber seals, gunks up fuel injectors, and is bad for your engine.
• If you ride a motorcycle, your bike won't like Ethanol, so you better buy premium fuel.

Some thoughts being offered up on forums on the web

• OPEC is saying they won't up production, but the truth is (according to some) that they CAN'T, they've maxed out on their supply. They have hit Hubbert's Peak and are trying to hide the fact that the world is running out of oil.

Some things I've noticed:

• In an experiment last week, I drove 55 mph on the highway (1970's and 80's speeds) to see if it would increase gas mileage. I also drove 5 mph under street speed limits except for ones below 30 mph. I averaged 22 miles per gallon. This is the MAX gas mileage on the window sticker my truck came with back in 2002 (it's a six cylinder Ford Ranger).
• When I drove above the speed limit by 5 miles per hour the week before, my gas mileage averaged 18.75 miles per gallon.
• My gas mileage this week, after hauling around a trailer for several days and splurging by doing the speed limit on Sunday to get somewhere in the afternoon was 20 miles per gallon.

Conclusion:

• It's time to start watching the weather, and riding to work. I need to get back into that habit, 70 miles per gallon on the Buell and 60 miles per gallon on the Vulcan would go a long way towards stretching my paycheck more with the current gas prices.
• The oil companies need to be hauled across hot coals, I am betting they're going to report record profits again.