Red: It's the new blue

California is now officially a red state. I can't really say I'm surprised - the President (aka "POTUS" - what a cool name) has been pushing hard for support, especially with the midterm elections coming up and his approval rating in the toilet. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for it to happen, though it's not obvious what good it will do - by the time the elections come around, no one will be able to afford the gas needed to drive to the polling places.

There was a story all over the news yesterday about how the President was calling for an investigation into rising gas prices. I can see how that would go now - the President will turn to the Vice President and say "knock it off Dick, they're catching on!"

I got gas the other day (roughly $0.25 ago) - as we were running errands we found a station that was a mere $3.019 (what's with the "9" - do they think we don't get it?). All of the other stations around were $3.079 each. I usually don't go for the cheapest of anything - I'm naturally [overly] paranoid and suspicious - how can this be so much cheaper than that - it must be a scam.

And you know what? It was a scam. This station was cheaper than the others because they didn't take credit cards, and they charged a surcharge for using a debit card. Sure, I could have used cash, but let's be realistic - how many people carry enough cash to fill up a car these days?

Ok, the surcharge was only $0.45, so I really shouldn't complain - the car took 9.7 gallons, which works out to a surcharge of $0.046/gallon, or $3.065, so it was still cheaper than everywhere else, but that's not really the point - the sign should have somehow indicated that $3.019/gallon was the minimum I would be paying.

I pulled up to a traffic light next to a BFT (Lincoln Navigator - EPA estimate of 13/18mpg) this morning. When the light turned green, he hammered it. At first I thought "damn, that's a waste of fuel" but then I thought about it more and realized that at 13/18, the amount of gas he wasted with that start was for the most part negligible anyway.

Speaking of BFTs - I saw the funniest commercial the other day. Ok, it was for a Hummer, but it was still funny. A copy of it is here. After I watched it, I got it, but I was left wondering - if the H3 is just right, does that mean the H1 and H2 aren't?