Ouch

As suspected and prognosticated in my last post, gas is going through the roof. Today's big story on the national news is the fact that gas may be $4.50 a gallon (national average) by the end of the week. Forget the fourth of July. That's officially been bumped up. End of the week, kids..Ouch.

I'm glad Karen and I will be making just a quick two hour (now looks like $45) drive up to get married in Eureka Springs this week. Scott and Jen are visiting the Martins this week and it looks like they will have spent a couple hundred on gas by the time they get back. All that for a place that's only six hours drive time away. Eeek. 400 miles and some change to the Lou. 200 and some change down to see Jen's Parents in the duck hunting capital of Arkansas, then another 250 miles back home. Approximately 900 miles will be added to the odometer of Scott's TJ by the time it's all said and done. That equates to about 50 gallons of gas with an average 18 mpg that the 4.0 liter six might get on the highway since it's a manual tranny. That's $200 at a $4 average per gallon. Their Dave Mathews Band tickets were cheaper than that, I'm sure.

Gone forever are the road trips like the Griswalds took in National Lampoon's Summer Vacation. I can't believe it's been 25 years since that movie came out. In today's money, that trip would have been a few grand just in gas. That giant sled of a goofy station wagon got about seven or eight miles to the gallon. Awesome. All the Hummer owners are going to be keeping their steeds in the garage soon, I think, because that's about what they average. Unless, that is, the owners have more money than sense. Aahhnuld out in Cali with his fleet o' Hummers is probably not doing much recreational cruising with Maria riding shotgun these days. Kevin and Sam, great friends of ours that live near Sacramento in the People's United Socialist Republic of California, are now paying $4.59 a gallon. Woohoo...Kevin says he's driving like a grandfather. I hear ya, brother, I hear ya.

In positive, much happier news, I'm officially getting my ass kicked. I knew going in it would be tough, but I was ready for it, because at 32, I'm not getting in any better shape without serious effort. Karen and I decided a few months ago to ditch the gym membership since we were paying a ridiculous $80 combined every month. Stupid money. Anyway, we had seen a paid infomercial on the boob tube about a program called P90X. Usually, these things don't really intrigue me because I've seen too many workout gimicks in my day. Ab rollers, thigh masters, whatchahoozits that don't do shit for you but empty your bank account.

To put it bluntly, this is a serious ass-kicking program, but it's worth every cent of the $130 entry fee to play. I've only done two of the (I think ten) dvds so far, but I can tell it will pay off in spades by putting me in the best shape I've ever seen. I'll let everyone know a little more about it when I'm not so sore, tired, and can speak more about the exercises and results.

How much is gas in your neck of the woods?

CZ