Itsy Bitsy Spider

I was checking the pool out this evening making sure the skimmers were all clean from all the debri from Katrina. Finished that and started making my way to the pool pump to backwash and rinse. Two more steps and I would have walked into a spider web you would have only seen in the movies. The web was taller than me and as wide as my car. I jumped so far back that I almost landed on the pool.

If you are afraid of spider you might not want to scroll any lower.

Click on the image for a larger picture..

I got a hole in my pocket.....

After listening to various rumors regarding gas prices and gas availability in the near future. I took my car which was running on fumes to the closest and cheapest gas station. I glanced in the distance and saw a sign that said $2.79. I figured that this is the cheapest I would find as rumors were floating around that gas was $3.09 in some places. I pulled up the pump and here is what I saw.



While pumping my $2.89 gas instead of my $2.79 gas I noticed the pump across the parking lot. Looks like gas at this location was not going to last long, especially since there was cars waiting behind me and probably the same at each pump.



A little more and I would not have gotten any more change from the Grant Bill. Grant would be rolling over in his grave at gas prices like this. This is the most I have ever paid for Gas. It even beat Perry's all time high he reached last week.




When will something be done to make us less dependable on fossil fuels? Why don't we use technology independent people are using to get better gas mileage on their cars? One made modified his Suburban to get over 250 miles per gallon. Yes, a suburban at 250 miles a gallon. If independent people can do it, why don't the car manufacturers start doing this? My guess is that by the time something is really done, gas prices will be near 5 bucks.

Evacuate, why when I can't even move?

Like everyone else, I am keeping up with the Katrina and the evacuation taking place or should I say not taking place or taking place very slowly.

This made me dive into some history from grade school. If I recall correctly, Eisenhower was trying to get the National Interstate and Defense Highway implemented to help the military travel and to evacuate people in our country in case of emergency/war. He got what he needed back when there were 10-20% the amount of cars we have today. Back then a disaster like Katrina would not have traffic at a stand still.

Is the interstate system adequate to evacuate people in the course of a natural disaster? I think not, especially if you are keeping up with the Katrina News. A better plan needs to be put in place to help people evacuate in the case of a Natural Disaster like Katrina.

Why doesn't the government open up all lanes, including north bound lanes and emergency lanes to help move this traffic? There are stories online about people running out of gas waiting for traffic to move. So are you more at risk in your home or your in your car.

Not a Razor, but serves its purpose.

Ok, so this it not as impressive a phone as the one Kennzilla got, but it does serve a purpose. This lets me talk to my relatives in Peru for a $1.50 a day walkie-talkie style. Can't beat that deal.

I bought the cheepest one they had in case it did not work. And by cheapest, I mean this thing has no added features what so ever.

$20 for a piece of fruit

I like me some fruit, but am I willing to pay $20 for one. For the past year I have subscribed to a weekly newsletter for the website Melissa's. They are the ones that pretty much distribute fruits to all the K-Rogers. If there is a fruit out there, they are the people that have it or will have it when the season hits.

One fruit that I am really wanting to try are Mango Nectarines. This is not the one that cost $20. The Mango Nectarine has the mango flavor with a nectarine texture. This one is not in season yet, but I am keeping my eye on it.

Now for the $20 fruit I have been wanting to try for the past year. The fruit is called Tropical Dragonfruit. The fact is that you can't just purchase 1, they come in packs of 3 for $48 plus $12.95 for shipping.

The Tropical Dragonfruit is now is season and ready to ship. Should I spend $60 for 3 fruits? What if I don't like it? If I don't get it, I will have to wait until next year to have the opportunity again.

I guess I will give it a try and let everyone know what a $20 fruit taste like. Maybe I will even let you try it.

For other fruits that are hard to find go to Melissa's.

Riding the short bus

In my attempt to come up with transportation alternative to save on fuel. I called MATA transit to see what it would cost me and what routes I would have to take to get to work from my crib.

Unfortunately, there are no options for me to leave from Neshoba. I would have to walk about a mile to get to the Bus Stop.


The Bus Stop would be at Kirby and Poplar and I would jump on the "50" at 6:24 am and ride it to the downtown terminal to arrive there at 7:17 am. Already making me 17 minutes late for work. I would then jump on the number "10 Lamar/Scottsdale" at 7:38 am to Mendenhall and Raines to arrive at 9:00 am, making me 2.5 hours late for work. Going to work would cost me $1.30 every day to total $6.5 each week. This normally takes me 15 minutes to drive.


The return is not as bad I would leave work at 4:20pm on the "10" to the American Way/Getwell Terminal to arrive there are 4:58 pm. I would then jump on the "69" at 5:25 pm to arrive at Kirby/Poplar Stop at 5:55 pm and then walk 1 mile to get home. This would take me almost 2 hours to get home from work at a cost of $1.30 everyday to total $6.5 each week.


So all in all I would have to ride the bus 22.5 hours a week at a cost of $12.5 a week. I use about $40 a week on gas, which included weekends. Hmm. Not worth the time to be sitting on a bus, but seems to be a decent price.

Maybe I will give it a shot one day and tell my story after that. Of course, I would have to get permission to come in late to work.

....so take of all your clothes.

It has been extremely hot in Memphis, TN for the past 2-3 weeks and no rain to boot. Is there a way to stop global warming to cool a brother off?

Ever wonder why the Wal-mart, K-Roger, Target and other parking lots seem to be about 10 degrees hotter that anywhere else. I wonder if parking lots owners started placing High Oxygen Producing Trees every 50-100 feet would the temperature start going down. This has got to cool down the parking lots a little. My guess is that there are more than a million parking lots in the USA along. Place a tree every 50-100 feet away at each one would total about 40+ trees per lot. That would be over 40 million trees planted.

Ok, the reality of it is that store owners don't want to lose a spot for a tree when a customer could park there. So what, they can walk. Not everyone needs to be near the entrance.

The government could also plant more trees along highways. Does the patch of land that goes between the highway have to be sans trees. I am guessing not. The government could plant 100 trees per mile. Multiply that my the number of miles in the USA. My guess is that there would be a hell of a lot of trees planted. Even if I guess that there are 35,000 miles of highway in the USA, that would equal about 3,500,000 millions trees planted in the USA along out higheways.

Reality to this is that our taxes would go up to pay for the trees but the environment would be so much better.

So, if you add up both of my scenarios and add a few million to cover anything missed there would be over 50 million trees planted. My guess is that 50 million trees would help with the global warming problem.

Tree Facts:

http://www.treesaregood.com/funfacts/funfacts.asp

Saw this at K-Roger last night parked next to me. I ended up talking to the guy that owns it and asked him a few questions. He built it himself and has put about $7000 into building it. He said it is street legal and it is great to drive around in the summer. He even mentioned that the gas mileage is really good. He is actually waiting for someone from California to come into town to try and help him figure out a resale price.

If gas prices keep going up.........

If gas price keep going up we all might not be able to furnish our cribs. This has got to be uncomfortable. Hopefully someone can get this guy a mattress to go on his bed frame.

www.fedexfurniture.com

I own Apple share, so now I need my IPOD

I purchased 15 shares of Apple and due to the Ipod Apple had a stock split to tremedous earning. Now I own 30 Apple Shares and hope it goes up even more.

Being an Apple Shareholder, though a very small shareholder, I feel that it is my duty to invest in the company that is making me some cash.

Now the real reason for my post. I figure the Ipod is on it 5th run and most of the kinks are gone and it is time for me to get one. For those relatives that read this when there is nothing going on at work, I would really like an Ipod 20g for my birthday. I figure the Ipod is on it 5th run and most of the kinks are gone

Dinosaur Eggs.....

No, this it not something from the Flinstones. Dinosaur eggs are actually a fruit mix/hybrid between a plum and an apricot. It also goes by the name of Dapper Dandy Pluots. This fruit is usually only available end of August to as late as October if you are lucky. I have already found some at Costco on Winchester Rd.

If you have not tried it keep an eye open for them. You might also find up 15 different types of Pluots out there, since this is their season.

Netflix was great, until.......

After 5 movies at a time every week for the past year is quite a bit of movies. So many movies infact that the once great Netflix.com is not longer that great for me. After almost 200+ movies in the past year (and even more as I have had Netflix for almost 2 years) and having had watch movies pretty much all my life Netflix no longer has much to offer me.

My queue is almost down to nothing left to rent. New release cannot come out quick enough. So if you have any movie suggestion for something I might not have seen, please let me know. It almost seems as if I am just renting movies just to keep them coming.

Ice, Ice baby

Like many people, I did not have my "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) information on me.

Now I do. I just received an email that stated that you should enter an entry on your phone labeled ICE. Put the number or other information of you Emergency contact person. That way if you are in an accident paramedics can scroll through your phone and call your ICE Contact.

More information can be found at :
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ice-campaign-email.html

I went to the above link first to make sure it was legit and it is.

Off the wagon and trying to get back on.

For those that know me, I at one time could easily drink 5-6 20 oz. Mountain Dews. I decided I needed to quit. So January 1 I officially quit till roughly a month ago. It is now time for me to quit again and quit for good.

I no longer enjoy drinking Mountain Dew. It is almost as if I am drinking it just to drink it. Drinking Mountain Dew no longer tastes like the first time I had it.

My First Mountain Dew
I drank my very first Mountain Dew by mistake in Destin, Fl in the summer of 1981. It was a Pepsi Machine, but Mountain Dew was not my first choice. I was pressing the button for Hawaiian Punch and of course an Iced Cold Mountain Dew can popped out. At first I complained, but not having anymore money I drank it anyway. From then on it was only Mountain Dew for me and the start of an addiction.