Proof that gas prices are too high (and other random thoughts)

Proof that gas prices are too high: It's Memorial Day weekend... so, naturally... something is going to get grilled at the Faircloth house and I'm going to crack open a beer. It's a given. It's set in stone. Nothing will change it from happening... ever. It just is. So, I run to the store to pick up something to grill... but, on the way, I make a stop of at the Costco Gas Station (which, by the way... is NOT cheaper than any other gas in town.... so, I don't know why I keep filling up there) to fill Kelly's Explorer up with gas. Final tally... a mind staggering $70. That's going to make any man pause and re-evaluate things. $70 bucks used to buy you a nice date with the wife. It used to get you groceries in college for an entire semester (ok... slight stretch... but, at that time, I was a card-carrying member of the Farmer Jack Savings Club... NEVER underestimate the savings power that was brought to the table when you would wield that at the cashier). It used to buy you a pair of shoes that would last months. Now, it gets you one measly tank of gas.


So, needless to say, I was thinking budget when I went to the grocery store to pick out the much anticipated and aforementioned items: (1) Something to grill and (2) Beer. First off, I picked up hamburger meat.... that's the first clue gas prices are too high. In a perfect world, I would have been slow-cooking baby back ribs all day long... but... at $3 for a pound of ground beef vs. $30 for baby back ribs... it's a no-brainer... I am, after all, paying $70 to fill up my tank now.


Then, on the more important decision. Unlike food... I can live without beer. So, this adds much more pressure to the situation. I know what you're thinking.... this shouldn't be such a difficult decision... I could do without.... right...??? Well, again... let me remind you of the "Faircloth Memorial Day Weekend Axiom"... that is... something will be grilled and beer will be consumed... I simply have no choice. Now, that's not to say that I don't understand that times are tight and must make a wise choice. So, I mosey on up to the beer aisle.... and I'm instantly torn in two. Everything in me is telling me to pick up Sam Adams Summer Ale or the Sierra Nevada Summer Ale and just be done. But both of those cost upwards of $10 just for the sixer... and... I'm trying to be conscious of the $70 I just spent at the pump. Finally... I do it... I just do it... I make a decision to make a selection and move on. It's not one I'm proud of... but... desperate times call for desperate measures. I reach up and grab a six pack of............ BUDWEISER... ahhh... I can just feel your disappointment in me as I type that. Bud -freaking - weiser. Might as well have bought bottled water, I know. If it makes you feel any better, it was in bottles (not ghetto cans or 40 oz' ers)... and I did go with Budweiser "Select" (which, I thought would surely taste better -- umm... it doesn't). However, at $4.57 for a six-pack, thanks to my $70 fill-up... I really didn't have a choice now did I?


Other Random Thoughts


What's that Medeival torture device you just brought home?: A year or so ago, Kelly came home excitedly from a MOPS sale (a flea market kind of thing for kids clothes) and showed me this contraption she bought. It's called a baby bjorn and it's basically a baby carrier that straps the baby to you via about 1,000 straps, buttons and velcro. Well, since we didn't have a baby at the time, I never got to see it in action. That all changed today... Kelly wore it when we went down the Potomac River (as I've mentioned before, short walk just behind our house). She got Will all hooked up into this complicated thing and carried him like he were a couple of Biology books... seemed to work out well.... but that thing just looks kind of silly.... I've seen dudes wearing them and... seriously man, I just couldn't do it. I'll change diapers, push the stroller, carry the diaper bag, make cutesy faces at the baby... but... I can't... I just can't carry my child around in some pregnancy-mimicking getup. I just can't. I sense a good excuse to insert a picture... so... picture of us down at the Potomac (if you look closely, the baby holding contraption is visible):





Lastly, I got this Sporting News in the mail the other day:



Now, I don't know if they intentionally did this... but when I first saw it, instead of reading "RARE HEIR"... I read it as: "RAPE HER"... now.. perhaps this is an unintended "Freudian Slip" or something.... but... given Bryant's well-publicized trial a few years ago... I'm circumspect on that one... I did a quick google search to see if anyone else noticed... and, thus far... nobody said a word that I can tell. Am I crazy on this one?

Well... I gotta run... my Budweiser Select is getting warm.