Orlando Gas Gouging

Remember the good old days when gas only cost $2.53/gallon? Well, my friends, that was literally only yesterday. This picture was taken yesterday on my way home from work:

I had about a quarter tank of gas in my car when I left for work this morning. I didn't really need to get gas yet, but I thought I would take a look at the prices to see what they were doing. The first two gas stations I passed were completely out of gas. I sensed trouble.

When I finally got to the 7 Eleven that I pass every day on my way into work, I was shocked to see that the price had jumped 26 cents overnight! Holy crap! Not only that, but the line to get gas at the pump was about two or cars deep on each side. I guess you could say that there was a run on the pumps.



For an extended vacation Orlando timeshares can help make your Orlando trip more comfortable since timeshares allow you to have more freedom and room than hotel rooms;

Orlando timeshare resales are available from brokers or you can find a timeshare for sale from an individual for a more personal touch.

Become a sponsor

Oops...

This happened to me while I was at UCF yesterday:

Christian dude: Do you know where you would go if you died tonight?

Me: Well, Saipan is too far away; I would probably just die en route. So if I were to die tonight, I would probably just go home, pick up a six back of beer along the way, order a pizza, and watch the Red Sox play the Devil Rays at Fenway on the PAX network. I would probably also call a bunch of people that I love and tell them goodbye and that it was good while it lasted.

Christian dude: Actually, I meant where would you go AFTER you died?

Me: Oh, I haven't thought about it. Here, will you sign this petition?

tic toc tic toc

Somebody posted on Big Daikon that they got upgraded yesterday. I don't expect to be so lucky, but here's to hoping.

Kevin's Birthday!

What a long day. When we stepped into the Florida sunshine after five hours of being bombarded with blinking lights and loud music from Disney Quest, it felt like we were waking up from a very long sleep filled with dreams of attacking the Death Star, aliens, and pirate ghosts.



We got home around 7 and didn't get our act together until around 8:30 to take Kevin out to dinner (the birthday lunch obviously wasn't enough). We decided to take an 8 year old and a 5 year old out for sushi at 9 PM on a Saturday night. I love my family. Any other family would think us insane. For us, it was just another normal Saturday night.



I managed to get about an ounce of raw fish down Kevin's throught before he accused me of trying to poison him with wasabi. Catie was a champ, though. She demolished a piece of salmon sashimi and a bowl of miso soup. Mom commented that she looked like she had Nemo hanging out of her mouth.

The kids passed out on the way home. I'm about to follow suit.

Good night.

Here is a good visual

I've been to the places in red.

I thought I was pretty well traveled. I guess not.

create your own visited countries map

Not much time left

My experience with JET is slowly coming to an end. It is now the middle of August. I don't expect to get upgraded.

Hangin' with the T

I made myself a rather delicious dinner last night, the details of which shall appear on Chopsticks within the hour. I managed to eat the whole thing in one night; it was about four bowls worth of food. Sometimes I amaze even myself.

Today was the day of the Orange DEC grand opening picnic. Mom and company couldn't come, so I had to settle for the company of my lovely niece/goddaughter. Here she is talking to Nana:

We had a fantastic time. It was catered, so we chowed down on free bbq chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, and corn on the cob. The corn on the cob was a bit tasteless, but everything else was FAN-TAS-TIC. We finished off our meal with a few popsicles, red, white, and blue of course.

They even had some games for the kids. They rented one of those inflatable bouncy room things and the handful of kids that were there had a blast.

It was a lot of fun dragging Tiana around. I think a few people thought she was my daughter, but she was quick to set them straight. She would say, "he's not my Dad, he's my UNCLE!"

Duh!

All of the people from all of the groups were there and I recognized a few of the candidates from last years election. Even Senator Bill Nelson showed up. I didn't try to talk to him because everybody else was trying too.

After the bbq we went back to my new home, watched some cartoons, took a nap, ate some ice cream, played with the dog, my new roommates, my new roommates' friends, and the treasure chest on the front porch.

Then I got scratched by the cat:

Ouch! It wasn't really my fault. The dog was making a go at the cat (which is one of the cats that Sandra "rescued" at the old LCV office on Edgewater) and the cat leapt about eight feet in the air, claws and teeth bared, and I just happened to be in the way.

Special Delivery

Yesterday I bought Emily's 22nd birthday present, even though her birthday isn't until the end of September. Right now it is sitting in a box in my office. My hope is that I get to hand deliver it on her birthday.

Free frickin' phone calls!

Emily has been in Japan for about 5 days now. She's called me twice and we have chatted a whole bunch of times on Windows Messenger.

Last night we found an even better program called Skype. Just go to www.skype.com to download it. The best feature is the voice program. With just a microphone and a computer you can have voice conversations, just like you were on the telephone. And it is completely FREE!

This is the greatest thing ever. Emily has a microphone on her computer, so this morning she talked while I typed. I am going to run out and buy a microphone tonight so that we can keep it on all the time.