this is just plain nuts

before i bitch and moan, i figured i'd start with a laugh. at least i thought it was funny and it helped to lighten my irritated frame of mind.

on the way home, there is a house for sale, nothing unusual about that, but the owners were trying very hard to sell it themselves. the 'home for sale by owner' sign had been up for some time now, and they've even held open houses. i thought about it one time, but where the house is located is in a kinda crappy spot, right near a traffic light near the top of a small hill that creates a pretty crappy visibility issue. it looks to be a pleasant little house aside from the lacking (IMO) location, but i wouldn't be suprised if they were asking too much for it anyways. in any event, as i drove past this morning, i saw the usual 'for sale by owner' sign. this afternoon on the way home, low and behold, the 'for sale by owner' sign was gone, replaced by a spiffy and shiny clean sign for a local real estate company. one wonders if they were over their head...

so that gave me a little chuckle and helped lighten my mood slightly (augmented slightly by a medium ice hazelnut, cream, 2 splenda). anyways, last week when i fed my car (a ford explorer sport (2-door)) last week, i paid $2.19 9/10 (i'll bitch about that whole 9/10th issue some other time, suffice is to say, it bugs the hell out of me) and i was grumbling to myself about how that was a pretty significant rip-off. so, as TK-8103 and i are driving to the movie theater to see Land of the Dead (which we enjoyed), i noticed the gas station where i had not 2-3 days before paid $2.19 9/10 was now up to $2.29 9/10 and i commented to TK about how that really sucked. this weekend, i drove past another gas station i'll sometimes get gas at, and they were selling it for $2.32 9/10 and i cringed as i drove by. they were cheap. that is until i fed my car this afternoon.

fucking $2.48 9/10 per gallon. regular.

(yes, i know there are places that would love to see these prices again, but i don't live anywhere near there, so sorry if this is old hat now. and yes, i know that is cheap compared to the rest of the world that pays that per litre, so remember folks, 3.8L/gallon)

i have NEVER in my life had to pay so much for gas. what the fuck happened in the last 2 weeks that spiked the price of gas to these disgusting levels? (if i was working normal hours, i prolly would have heard about this on Marketplace) but this is fucking INSANE!

RB asked how it was the other day (knowing what i drive) and i said that things are ok, but that was before this. for fucks sake people, this is nuts!

i've been looking forward to this fall, when i have my car paid off IN FULL. final payments are now, and i'm loving the idea of not having to pay a car payment monthly. but right now, i'm beginning to wonder if i'm going to save anything at all. i've started wondering what car will be my next one, and gas mileage is now a very important factor, but right now, i'm wondering if the bulk of my soon to be gone car payments wouldn't be better off actually making new car payments on a car that might actually SAVE me money by being more fuel efficient than my current car is. i'm really beginning to wonder. esp as the explorer doesn't have quite the enjoyment factor that i had with the cherokee. (it's nice, but i really really do miss not having a standard transmission. plus, the jeep was the first car i owned, title and all. or lock, stock and rusting bolts as i referred to it.)

RB seems to like his little Matrix. maybe that isn't such a bad idea afterall. it does have trunk space. and i think i can get it with a standard transmission...yup.

and as a related aside, i've mentioned my watching Motorweek on sunday mornings. lately i've noticed the trend to describe the average mileage of their long term test cars to be 'good' at an average of 20-21 miles/gallon.

uhhhh...THAT'S PRETTY CRAPPY! esp for some of the sedans and cars they are testing. i tend to average 19/20 (better on longer trips) and i'm driving a big honking car (the jeep fared better than this, usually 22/24). i have a hard time believing that 20/21MPG is 'good'. i may consider it good for my car, but i really do think that a car that is smaller and lighter than mine should do better in the mileage department. and this is seems to be a trend with all car makers, both american and overseas (including japan).

well, i'm going to get off my soapbox now. need to start prepping dinner stuff so M&i can have a lovely dinner.