When I was a kid

When I was a kid, gas was under a dollar per gallon.

It was always in the ninety cent range but it was still less than a dollar.  Other things that were a dollar or less: a dozen eggs, apples (even out of season), and movies from Redbox.  (Okay, Redbox wasn't around when I was a kid, but the movies were just $1 when Redbox started.)

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I remember the price of gas increased drastically-it reached the $1.50/gallon range.  I distinctly remember thinking, "Man, gas is getting expensive.  I'll have to cut down on my visits home during the school year!"

Did I?  No.

In fact, I think I started driving MORE.

The summer I bought my car, gas prices reached $4 a gallon.  I took public transit to work for a while until I realized it was still cheaper for me to drive than to pay to ride the train.  Take that for what it's worth, UTA.

Yesterday I bought gas for $2.999 a gallon.  Sure, it rounds to $3 per gallon but I LOVED seeing the 2 in the dollar position.  It felt amazing to buy gas for "less" than $3 a gallon!  I wanted to shout my good fortune from the housetops.  And I wanted to share with Porter that when I was a kid we would have been shocked to pay more than $1 per gallon of gas.  Or at least more than $1.10 per gallon.

So now that I have declared my good fortune, maybe I'll take yesterdays savings and rent some movies from Redbox!

Driving in the Snow

I do not like driving in the snow.  I blame it on several scary experiences that happened one Thanksgiving about 14 years ago in Vermont and New Hampshire.  (Read: spinning off the road into a mountain, driving through a white out, and sliding down my grandparent's steep driveway while begging dad to let us walk up the hill to the house - "You can't!  I need your weight in the back of the car!")

View from our Apartment

Yesterday we had our first big snowfall of the season.  I typically enjoy the first snow, especially when I'm in the house with a fire going, a good book to read, and a view of the accumulating snow in the yard.  I had all of these when the snow started yesterday; the only problem was the house was not mine.  It was my parents'.

Mom offered to let me spend the night.  But I thought to myself, "The snow isn't too terrible.  It would be silly to stay here when my husband is at home."

So I loaded up the car (I always seem to bring a week's worth of "just-in-case" things to my parents' such as slippers, books, crocheting, computer, mail, etc.) and headed home.

The first few miles were clear enough.  But once I reached downtown, I couldn't see the freeway underneath the snow.  At one point the car in front of me switched lanes, completely covering my windshield with slush, making it impossible to see out the window.  Every time I switched lanes (which was not frequent), I lost traction with the road.

Luckily, most everyone was driving cautiously at about 40 miles per hour.  I say most everyone because there were a few complete idiots who decided to zoom past the rest of us while driving at freeway speeds.

I made it home safely but shaken.  Nate's first response was "She lives!" and a hug as I walked through the front door.  He was then shocked when I started bawling. He tried to calm me down and listened to my tirade against all things cold and wet.  When I told him about the "complete idiots" who were speeding down the road he said, "Oh.  I was one of those."

Apparently our driving styles differ.