Gas

And now a word about gasoline. A few words, in fact. And a few more about why I should never have gotten out of bed this morning.

I get a little panicky when my gas gauge gets below 1/4 tank. It’s silly, because 1/4 tank will get me to Bloomington and back two times. But still, it makes me tweaky, so I try not to let it happen. Well, this morning, the needle was resting on top of E (which, alas, does not stand for Enough). I stopped at our local Bigfoot on my way to work and put the last $14 dollars in my checking account into my gas tank. Then, I went inside with the last of my ash tray change to buy a big, fat pepsi-coke-soda-pop[1].

While waiting in line behind the inevitable “cigarettes and lottery tickets” crowd (why the hell do folks need lottery tickets and smokes at 5am?), a couple of town marshalls came in. Apparently, someone had done a pump and run, and the clerk had called the cops. Poor kid. When that happens, it comes out of his pay check. He was just ending his shift, and was likely tired and thinking of his warm, comfy bed. He told the marshalls that he didn’t even remember approving the guy, and so he didn’t get a plate number or a good description of the car. That really sucks. Here I am, spending my last $14 dollars on gas, and other folks are stealing it. Hrmph.

The best part of the morning, though, was getting to Bloomington and finding that 17th Street is closed at the football stadium. Hello?! Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to tear up the street in front of the largest parking lot on campus, the week before finals? Hmf. I just hope I can remember not to get off the bypass at Kinser tomorrow morning.

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[1] Growing up in the Crossroads of America does unkind things to one’s vocabulary. To some folks, anything fizzy is a “coke,” to others, it’s all soda, and to others, it’s pop. Our local drive-in calls it “Coke-cola.” They also serve “Mellow Yellow,” so perhaps their authority on the subject of fizzy drink nomenclature is questionable. My favorite, though, is the ever popular Pepsi-Coke. That pretty much covers the major bases.