Gas Out - I wish

I was surprised to get this in my Inbox today:

Subject: Don't pump gas on July 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon in one day. On July 15th 2008, all Internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $4.00 a gallon in most places. There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the Internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on July 15th and lets try to put a dent in the oil industry for at least one day. If you agree resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on July 15th"

How is this e-mail even circulating? I tend to go to Snopes to verify the chain e-mail I get but this one really doesn't need it. I really wish they'd explain the logic of this one. If you don't buy gas on a single day but buy it the day before or after, how does it keep money from the oil companies' pockets? Gas isn't a product that is purchased daily, like, say, a newspaper. It's a consumable that's purchased weekly, roughly. And it's not a consumable that has a short shelf life, like milk, so it's not like gas stations throw out the gas because no one bought it for a day.

I'm just not getting how not buying gas on a certain day is keeping billions of dollars out of Big Oil's pockets. Even if sales were calculated daily, the 3 billion dollars they don't make on July 15 will be washed out by the 6 billion dollars they make the next day when everyone who held out on the 15th buys it on the 16th, along with everyone else who would have normally bought gas on that day anyway. I wouldn't normally go on about these things, but judging from the long list of forwards on this e-mail I received, it seems that a lot of folks are on this bandwagon.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good protest and/or boycott. I boycotted McDonald's until they stopped packing their big sandwiches in styrofoam boxes. They eventually switched to paper wrappers. Though I think the fact that these paper wrappers took up less space and were cheaper made more of an impact than me not eating there. The problem is, this "gas out" isn't anywhere near a boycott. A boycott would be like not buying gas indefinitely. And I don't see that happening on a mass scale any time soon.

If someone could explain the logic of the e-mail to me, please step up to the mic and enlighten me.

status quo

At week 7, I weighed in at 158, which is the same as last week. It's somewhat disappointing but again, I went over my points, by about 15. For 3 weeks in a row, I have not been able to stick to my weekly allotment of points and it's been frustrating lacking the self-control and not losing the weight. I don't know what I have to do to refocus my brain and regain some willpower. Well for now, it's a new week, and I'll try again.

that guy

Do remember that guy from years ago? When you went to a bar, he was singing along to "The Piano Man" in that tone-deaf, drunk, belligerent sort of way clutching his beer bottle. He probably had his baseball hat sideways in some "wiggity-wack" sort of fashion, which was his rebellious way of giving the finger to the Establishment. And his face, flushed boozy red, was contorting wildly while emoting the narrative of the song. And if some unfortunate guy bumped into that guy and made him spill his beer, that guy would loudly confront him.

that guy: Hey what's your problem?!
unfortunate guy:
tg: Yeah, I'm talking to you! What's your problem?!
ug: huh?
tg: You pushed me, @sshole. You gotta problem with me?
ug: oh, are you talking to me?
tg: You want to take this outside? Huh?! Do yuh?
ug: not really.
tg: Yeah...didn't think so...you better watch yourself...Queer!

Guess what? I played softball with that guy last night.

On a side note, I play softball in a co-ed rec league with some folks at work. I use the term "play" loosely because I suck. Though I am working on it--yesterday I went to the batting cages on my lunch hour and made contact with over 50% of the slow pitches. Sad to say, that's progress. After four games, my current batting average is .100. It was .000. My chief contribution to the team so far has been my attendance to help meet the minimum female headcount of 4 women so we don't forfeit as a co-ed team.

Anyhoo, that guy looks pretty much the same except all those beers have now given him a softer build and a carby face. He keeps his baseball hat on straight, but by the power of Grey Skull, he sure still loves to yell. Hey that shortstop got in our runner's way. Oh, you're just going to ignore me? Great! I'm just talking to myself out here! And when he gets called out: I can't believe you're making these calls in rec league! You've been giving us f*cking bad calls the last four games! And on and on and on.

To say that a person could suck the fun out of a rec league game for a person of my playing caliber is pretty pathetic. Unfortunately it wasn't only him, a lot of his teammates were also on the B!tch and Moan Express last night. Man, I just wanted to serve them a nice warm glass of Shut the Hell Up, but that would have been like opening a fresh carafe of whine for them. And I was soooo sick of that.

I would like to say that we won but we lost pretty soundly, something like 17-3. Needless to say, the complaining was nonstop, even though they were winning. I can only imagine how tedious this game would have been if they lost.

Anyhoo, if you were wondering what happened to that guy from years ago, he's playing softball in the rec league. He's probably due to have an aneurysm soon, so better hurry if you want to see him.

UPDATED: So a friend informs me that this guy is ubiquitously known as Softball Guy. He's a common reference for the guy who treats a rec league softball game like the World Series. Yeesh. So there's more of them?

not tired of them yet

Does anybody else find those freecreditreport commercials pretty catchy? I'm talking about the ones where the guy is singing about working in a seafood restaurant, lamenting about marrying a girl with bad credit, or buying a used sub-compact because he didn't stay on top of his credit. I haven't grown tired of them yet and moreover, I still kind of smile when I see them. It's the little things, like the way the old lady in the restaurant gives the stink eye, the drummer in the bathroom keeps opening the door, or cruising in the junky car. Is it just me?

sigh. perhaps it's just late.

2 more W's

Continuing on a W theme here. I saw two movies this week: "Wall-E" at the theaters and "We are Marshall" on cable.

"Wall-E" was wonderful. I hadn't read any reviews before I went to see it and I was mesmerized the whole way. I confess I kind of thought Wall-E was a physical rip-off of #5 from "Short Circuit" but he was a great character and I totally got sucked into his world. I cried twice. Well, I guess it was just once since my face was still wet from the first flow. The messages of the film, regarding consumerism, pollution, disconnection, were somewhat sledgehammered home but it's to be expected when you're aiming a movie at young children as well.

"We are Marshall" was...weak. I know this was based on the true story of a tragic plane crash where practically the entire Marshall football team and staff perished and how it regains its spirit by putting a new football team back on the field the next season, but, ugh, was Matthew McConaughey's character supposed to be so annoying? I feel like he showed up to play the Larry character for a "Three's Company" remake--he was certainly drenched in his signature 70s swingin' wardrobe. I'm assuming that McConaughey's vacant stares and goofy smirks when fielding questions about why he wants to coach this team are supposed to read as earnest optimism but I was left bewildered. Yes, I cried in this one, given the subject matter alone. I connected easily to Ian McShane's character as the father who lost his son in the crash and if I could have gotten inside more characters, I'm sure I would have been moved more. To that end, I rate this movie a C+. To this movie's credit, it was open about being a story of moving forward and opportunity. With the climactic winning game (oops--I guess I should have put Spoiler Alert), the narration shares that this is one win of nine over four YEARS. The lead characters do not go on to glorious NFL careers. Marshall doesn't even get a winning season until 10-15 years later. The triumph here is simply hope, which is a refreshing change from the slick and glossy endings we're usually fed from Hollywood.

WW Week 6 - slight setback

I weighed in at 158, which is UP 1.5 pounds from last week. Fortunately, I'm not feeling that disappointed because I totally ate an extra 57 points (one is allowed 35) this week. In other words, I ate an extra day's worth of points. So in some ways, I was expecting it. I guess that's one positive thing about recording everything I eat--no surprises.

I'm back in the saddle again. Wish me luck.

Pringles

have been my personal deadly siren: calling me, only to lead me to my destruction. I know, I know! They're not even real potato chips! Am I eating them for the salty, dusty seasoning? sigh. I ate another two cans this week. I've gone over my alloted extra points again this week. I don't know if I'll be as lucky as last week and still lose weight.

Last night, I resorted again to telling the girl that if I ate one, I would pay her a dollar. Why don't I do this all the time? Because a part of me wants to be able to have a few--I'm trying to gain that self-control to enjoy a few. Is that so hard?

Apparently so.