Friday, February 22, 2008

Chi-kopa-chi-kopita-kopita-kopita-kop!


Those who know me know that I have this one practical hobby / eccentricity / quirk. More the latter than the formers. Its a habit thats sorta loud, occasionally irritating, and although dependable, not always posh. I drive a diesel. More specifically I drive old mercedes diesels that I buy cheap and squeeze every last life and breath out of them. I love it. Does my wife love it.. well.. not so much.

I’ve always said that its a practical hobby. I get great fuel mileage. I buy my cars pretty reasonable and sell them after years and tens of thousands of miles for not much less than I buy them.

Lately, though, buying diesel fuel has not been so practical. For some reason, although its the most basic of fuels and take way less to process than gasoline, it’s selling for much more than gasoline. What is up with that? (It seems to me that a rogue oil company could capture the market if they just process and supply diesel at a decent price..) oh... ok... that’s not where I wanted to go with this blog...

Expectations. That’s what I wanted to write about. Actually, not expectations themselves but rather the way they can change so quickly. How we can suddenly acclimate to whole other levels in such a short time.

I was driving home yesterday when I saw a diesel station selling it for $3.64 / Gallon. For those outside the US you may be saying, WOW! Cheap!”. Not me. I’m saying wait! NO WAY! I paid $2.89/G for my last tank. Less than 3 weeks ago! That’s outrageous! Great Ceasar’s Ghost! (what show was that from?... ah yes... Superman!) GREAT CEASAR’S GHOST!

20 minutes later, though, and a few miles down the highway, I was snickering and looking slyly from side to side, as I pumped the frothy liquid gold into my 1990 300D 2.5 Turbo at its young age of 203,000 miles (car). So Happy was I!

Why so pleased?

I had beaten the system! I had struck pay-dirt. I had found a Walmart who was selling diesel for a mere $3.39 a gallon!

I was excited and satisfied to be paying a 1/2 buck more per gallon than the last time I filled up.

Holiday by the sea or a Mud Pie.. hmmm.. let me think on that and get back with you...

Lowered Expectations... we are such a fickle bunch.

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