Gas is expensive, my ass.

I watched the news last night. I KNOW! impressive! well, for me at least.

Anyhow, common misconception of the American people: Gas is expensive. Gas is NOT expensive here. Europeans are paying an equivalent of about $6 a gallon. Canadians are paying about $4 a gallon. Prices generally aren't given for African and South American countries because not a whole heck of a lot of people buy gas or diesel, and those that do tend to have an option of buying a bio-fuel of some sort. The only countries actively paying less than us are the middle east countries (they do have the most oil), Venezuela (has the 2nd greatest amount of oil--Venezuela is actually the number 2 supplier of oil for the US), and China, who is subsidizing the price of oil and so the government is going hugely in debt and is wanting to stop the subsidizing.

BUT, the interesting stuff:
-People currently aren't concerned about Venezuela--or really even know all that much about it right now--mostly because it's not in the news. Iran/Iraq is/are more important. But the news with Venezuela: Hugo Chavez (the president) hates George Bush. He loves Fidel Castro. He does whatever Fidel tells him to do. Chavez is currently passing out rifles to his people and telling them to learn to use them because they may have to use them against the Americans when they invade the country to steal the oil.

-The president may want to open ANWR to oil drilling (hey, it's been a debate since Clinton's first administration). The problem with this: Unless the fuel consumption standards on automobiles are changed, ANWR will only supply enough fuel for about 5, possibly 10 years. Back in 2002 (when I did a bunch of research for this), it was thought that ANWR had some oil, but not a lot. It was surmised that if the standard of fuel consumption for cars was increased from 27 to 36 mpg, it would end up saving the amount of fuel that was available in ANWR.

-Playboy ran an article last month (which was a reprint from a Canadian magazine) about how the US made the assumption that they'd be able to get oil from Iraq, but the problem was that Saddam didn't ever really actively drill for oil and so in order for the US to get any oil from Iraq, they'd have to re-build the entire infrastructure first. Iran, on the other hand, has a great oil drilling system. and as such, it was surmised that the US would use the same excuse (WMD's) to go after Iran.

-Oil companies in the US have posted an average of a 48% profit for their 1st quarter standings. 48% profit--this is a 31% increase over the same time last year. what this REALLY means: the price of the fuel you are currently buying is more expensive than last summer because the oil companies want to make a larger profit.

Dani's Blog (BB post)

1. If you were looking for a pair of stranglers in New York city and they were looking for you but neither you nor they knew anything about you, inculding names how would you go about finding them? empire state building...probably 9am, noon, 3pm...TOP observation deck. large posters advertising....that or wear something completely outlandish.

2 What smell do you just love? grilling/barbecueing food.

3 list five things that are on your life time goals? 1. own a dog. 2. go to the UK again. 3. Go on a cruise. 4. retire from working at the City. 5. learn to drive stick.

4 do you a five year plan? as far as still working at the City, not really...but then, I guess they would want me to have taken my damn PE by then.

5 What is the biggest turn-off for you? "hey, let's just skip the foreplay"

6 what personality trait do you dislike the most in yourself? not sticking up for myself when I should.

7 What is one of your happiest memories? sitting out in the middle of nowhere in parker eating cupcakes from king soopers and drinking Jones Soda with my buds...it was kinda a common theme Junior year of high school.

8 what's your favorite TV show? CSI

9 list three things that are 'odd' about you? 1. i remember weird trivia/dates. 2. I hate to talk in public...at all--any more than 3 people listening to me at once makes me nervous. 3. When I get nervous, I break out in a rash all over my chest/neck.

10 right at this moment, how happy are you with your life (on a scale of 1-10)? 7

11 favorite sandwich? left over turkey from thanksgiving, miracle whip, mustard, lettuce, cheddar cheese slices, a little pepper.

12 What's your favorite acholoic mix drink or shot? Mike's cranberry lemonade.

13 What's your favorite brand of beer? Fat tire.

14 what physical feature of the oppsite sex is your favorite? sense of humor...or rather sarcasm.

15. what physical feature do you like best about yourself? my boobs...or butt.

16. what would you like to do when you retire? travel.

17. what is your biggest regret? not dating more people...or getting drunk more often.

18. what is your favorite time of day? the hour after I get home from work.

19. Whats the best present that you have ever gotten? Grandpa's slide rule from when he was a new engineering kid.

20. If you could meet anyone that is dead who would you pick? Queen Elizabeth...I think, maybe.

21. how did your parents pick your name? do you know what your name would have been if you were born the oppisite sex? They got it from a Soap Opera (Days of our Lives to be exact). I would have been Jared Wesley if I were a boy.

22 would you like your spouse to be smarter than you? sure, in some things.

23. What is more important in picking a mate brains or looks or something else? brains

24. What was the weirdest or worst dream/nightmare you have had? well, the most crazy re-occuring one. Dani and I are little, and we're starting out across a field to go fishing with Grandpa Ben. I get to a drainage ditch, I look down, and there's this large aligator. Dani hasn't seen it, but is further behind me and goes to take a flying leap over the ditch. and that's about when I always wake up. Granted, I haven't had this dream since like 4th grade...but the point is, I remember it.

25 Do you prefer being around men or women? men usually...but I do hang out with a LOT of girls now.

26 What would be the 'perfect evening' for you? melting pot and a movie...that or melting pot and then just sitting outside in the dark for a while.

27.When was your last fight? What caused it and who won? Mom probably...over wedding stuff. I don't remember who won. I think we compromised on it...I got more colors in my bouquet, but not as many as she wanted.

28. What do you most strive for in your life: accomplishment, security, love, power, excitement, knowledge, or something else? knowledge.

29. If money wasn't an issue where would you go on your next vacation? Europe...maybe I'd do the crazy cruise thing that Susan and Jonathan did--take a cruise down to Brazil, travel up the amazon for a while, turn around, go across the ocean and then it turns into a cruise about the mediterranean.

30. Do you judge others by higher or lower standards than you use to judge yourself? depends on what I'm judging them on.

Delivery Day

Three things:

1. Our Fridge arrived yesterday at about 4 pm. I have posted 2 pictures. One is of the fridge itself--you can see the Easter towel my mom gave me on the oven next to the fridge. The other, is of our 10 pound turkey in the freezer. Obviously you CAN fit a turkey in the freezer.







2. Mom sent us flowers for Easter (Yay!!!). I like flowers. Yep yep yep.


3. Shawn's supervisor at work gave us some tickets he couldn't use to an Austin Wranglers game. Now then, for those of you who haven't seen arena football, it is like the craziest thing ever! First, it's football on a 50 yard field instead of the normal 100 yard. Second, because of this crazy shortened field, everything else is also smaller (except for the players). Third, they have a bunch of break time audience involved stuff--dropping rolled t-shirts from the rafters with parachutes on them and letting some ladies run around with a shopping cart trying to get as many as possible before they hit the ground, a competition between 2 father/son teams to see who can catch the most thrown rubber fish in a net, having a guy stand on the "15" and throw a football through the field goals (keep in mind that the field goals are smaller, and probably lower), and he gets 10 Hooter dollars for every one he makes, etc. Fourth, Texans, they are crazy--the mascot's name is Trigger...They set off fireworks after every touchdown/fieldgoal/conversion done by the Wranglers. And, finally Fifth, there are crazy 1.00 minute rules--apparently there are separate rules that apply in the last minute of the game...I think these exist to make the last football minute last about 30 real minutes.

Also, the Wranglers, they need to get a real mascot--I suggest a miniature horse.

So, Does Hallmark make a card...

...that says "sorry that your life is so eff'ed up, and sorry that your husband is a dork, and sorry that your job sucks, and sorry that both your cars crapped out on you, and sorry that you lost the baby"? No, they don't? Damn. So yeah, my sister-in-law apparently lost the baby. At least, this is what Shawn's mom told me in her 30 second phone call on Monday evening, and pretty much everything else in that sentence...actually, she said a lot in that 30 seconds. Again, I say "Damn".

Fridgermarator

We finally bought a new fridge. We didn't really NEED a new fridge, but it was one of those annoyance factors--our kitchen has all new (1.5 years old now), black appliances and one, very white, fridge. It was the first thing Shawn was going to replace because it looked bad. Now, a kitchen table, and bedroom furniture later, we finally got the fridge.

We actually bought the thing LAST weekend, but we have to wait until NEXT weekend for it to be delivered--Both of us worked half the day on Saturday so we didn't think we should try to get it delivered yesterday. And, to be fair, we did have our collective eyes on this thing for like the last 6 months or so, we were just waiting for Sears to have a really good deal on it. Shawn swears that right before Christmas he saw an ad for 12 months 0% interest, free delivery, and 10% off. Usually the ads are for the free delivery OR the 10% off, so I'm not sure if he read it correctly, but in any case we knew we were getting THIS fridge, it was just a question of when.

So, perhaps, after we get it, I shall write a blog about how good/bad the fridge is, as to whether or not you CAN fit a frozen turkey in the freezer, and does moving the ice to the door REALLY give you five frozen pizzas worth of space, not to mention the fact that there's this crazy little "Fresh-n-Ready" bin for fruits...Does it really keep your fruits fresh AND ready?

"CATS!"

So, Finally, the cats are getting better. IV isn't getting her happy pills, but she doesn't seem that distraught without them, so that's good. Quazi's pus bubble went away it feels like, and he's back to his normal self...climbing trees and being a better alarm clock than our alarm clocks (beep, meow, beep, meow, :::hit the snooze button:::, meow, ..., meow...and you really can't hit a cat...).

And then it happened.

IV came home and her RIGHT eye was clenched shut. That's right, our cat manages to somehow get something in or scratch her OTHER eye. At least this time we have the meds so we're giving her 2 doses of the anti-bacterial and 1 dose of the pupil dilator/pain meds so she doesn't rub her eye.

In other pointless news, I've been wearing cute skirts for the last 2 days because I finally waxed my legs again.