A new low

Today was pay day, which means it's time to put fuel in the mule.

Throughout this so-called gas crisis, I've been happily avoiding getting raped on fuel prices. Today, that stopped.

Today, I paid the most I've ever paid to fill up the Civic. Even with the handy little Maverick discount card, I paid $2.80 per gallon. I put in 10.004 gallons of the shitty, watered down excuse for gas they sell (81 octane or some crap, maybe lower). Total = $28.00.

It's not that I've never spent that much for gas before. When I borrowed various SUV-type things when moving, I've spent $30-$40 to fill up. But this is my car, the one that gets 30-40 mpg.

And the more I thought about it, the more it made me mad. Gas prices have been well over $2 for the past year. I'm old enough to remember when gas was 99 cents, or lower. It was when I was in high school and had my first car... an '82 Datsun station wagon. For a mere $5, I had gas for a week. So back in 1989, if I put $28 in gas into the Datsun, I would've had enough fuel for a month.

Now, that $28 is good for about 2 weeks, assuming I'm going between home, work, Scott's and the game store. Throw in a trip or two to Nampa or Caldwell, and it's quite a bit less.

But the thought of even $1.50/gallon is appealing. There was a time when we thought the price was appalling. What's appalling today is the fact that minimum wage in Idaho is $5.15/hour and the average price for a gallon of gas is $2.836. I'm not going to bother with doing the math here, but the shorter the commute, the more money in your pocket. Look at it this way: When I drive 30 miles, it's going to cost me roughly $2.80 in fuel (assuming the 30 mpg). For people with SUVs and other fuel inefficient vehicles, if they drive 30 miles, and are getting say, 6 mpg (piece o shit Hummer anyone?), it costs them five times as much, or $14.

These are the price averages for Tuesday:


Do you see the prices for last week? Last month? What. The. Fuck.

In any event, this shit is way out of control. There isn't a damn thing I can do as one consumer. The fact of the matter is, those of us who work generally drive. Car pooling isn't a great option up here, and public transit isn't worth a damn. I'd love to get another motorcycle, but there's the insurance and the asshat drivers here. So I'll drive my car, and pay those fucking prices. And remind myself yet again of the one thing that kind of makes it all OK:

That 1997 Honda Civic coupe was free. And did I mention it only has 63,000 miles on it?