Confessions of a crazy caucasian guy - LastRites's Blog

Confessions of a crazy caucasian guy - LastRites's Blog - The Northwest Voice http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites There's more than sports in my life. Family, politics, attempts at humor, I'll try to touch base on it all at least once. There's more than sports in my life. Family, politics, attempts at humor, I'll try to touch base on it all at least once. en-us Questioning the Price at the Pump http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/27602 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/27602 I never thought I'd actually see gas hit the $4 mark. In the back of my mind, I always thought our state or national government would either suspend the gas tax or implement legislation that would allow companies to use oil from the federal reserve. Now that oil is $125-plus a barrel, I've been keeping tabs on some of the prices in the Northwest. Particularly, the prices at Gas War (Fruitvale and Meany Aves) and the  Arco on Rosedale. The price for regular gas at that particular Gas War has changed five different times in four days. In the Midwest, specifically in Indiana and Minnesota, stations aren't allowed to change the price at the pump until after a tanker has re-filled the tanks. Apparently, that's not the case here. On Wednesday morning, the price for regular gas at Gas War was $4.13, then by Wednesday afternoon it dropped to $4.03. On Thursday morning, it was $3.99, then Thursday afternoon $4.19. It stayed the same on Friday, and Saturday morning it was $4.09. That's ridiculous. What's the rules for changing the prices around here? It's baffling. As for the Arco, they've been good about their price. I purchased gas on Monday for $3.83, then purchased on Tuesday for $3.85 for a rental car we used. Price was at $3.99 until Friday, and it jumped to $4.03 as of today. Is anyone else wondering what is going on? Opinion: Dust in the Wind http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/27149 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/27149 Because of my job I don't get a chance to step on the soapbox too often. But since I've been away from the office for the past few days -- enjoying my paternity leave -- I thought I'd share my opinion on a local news events. The wind has wreaked havoc on Bakersfield the past few days, and as I write, it's pouring down in Rosedale. But before this sudden monsoon, the strong winds were kicking up dust all around Kern County. When my wife and I would look out our front window, Rosedale looked like the Dust Bowl. I have to comment on this latest story that's made the news. A 7-car accident on Highway 99 south of Bakersfield sent a few people to the hospital, and a one of the family and apparent lawyer for one of the injured blaming a farmer that wasn't even on the road. Here's a link to the story: <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/452618.html">www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/452618.html</a> I don't know the Tom Gutcher family, and I pray for a speedy and healthy recovery for him and his family. I'm sorry that this happened to him but to lay blame on a farmer is ridiculous. How could a farmer have control on which way the wind blows? Someone is quoted as saying, "I have no idea why they would be out there, pulling a huge plow when the wind is so high." Ummm. How about doing his job? You can't regulate mother nature, so you can't regulate a farmer. I guess the family will hire some slick city lawyer to sue the farmhand that was driving the tractor, the farmer that owns the tractor and the county for allowing this farmer to have a field so close to a highway, which of course was built through the fields. No news source, not even the Californian, has asked for the farmer's thoughts on the matter but KGET was quick to find the lawyer, who of course, questioned why there wasn't some local/county/state/Farmer's Almanac mandate on plowing, or driving or whatever the farmer was doing through the fields during windy conditions by a roadway. Mr. Gutcher I'm sorry that the truck hit you from behind. The insurance companies will call it a no-fault accident because of the conditions, and you'll have to pay your deductible. White out conditions/slick, icy conditions, most fall under no-fault claims. The farmer was doing his job. Mother Nature unfortunately was doing hers. Afterall, we're all just Dust in the Wind. Recycle center UPDATE http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/25709 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/25709 I finally broke down and packed all our recyclables and drove to BARC.  It's a 16-mile roundtrip trek from our house, but I'm willing to make the drive because of my past relationship with ARC organizations. My college fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, has a strong relationship with organizations such as ARC. We worked with PARC (Peoria, Ill.) when I was in the fraternity, so I feel while I’m getting paid to recycle, I’m also helping out a great program, rather than a guy off the street trying to make a few bucks. Nothing wrong with that, just have more of a relationship with non-profit groups. Anyway, I raked in a whopping $22 dollars and some odd cents for the six months of recycling – plastics, cans, milk jugs, newspaper. Is it worth it? I don't know monetarily. But I feel good about it, and I think that's what makes it worthwhile. Recycle center in the Northwest http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/25264 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/25264 My wife and I are still new to the northwest. If someone could please point us in the direction of a great recycling center that would be much appreciative. I'm not just talking about a place that pays for cans and plastic bottles. We've been dropping our stuff at BARC ever since I found out they pay for newspaper, glass, milk jugs, colored plastics, along with the usual cans and plastic bottles. I have roughly 100 pounds of newsprint in my garage, and I'm looking for a place closer to home to drop off our recyclables, and get a few bucks for doing it. Does anyone know of such a place in the northwest or will I be making the trip down Union Avenue? Help a few soldiers http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/24887 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/24887 My wife talked her mom some time last week. Seems her brother has gotten into some trouble in Kosovo over tolietries. He's currently a sergent in the Guard's 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry that was deployed in October, as part of the U.N. international peacekeeping force in the country. Anyway, seems our troops are running out of basic necessaties in Kosovo. Thanks to some incredible foresight, all the toiletries are being shipped elsewhere for two other fronts. And the ones that do make it to Kosovo are being sold in the PX. The same PX where citizens of Kosovo are buying these items in bulk and selling on the black market for 3 times, if not more, the retail value. So our troops are SOL. Apparently, my brother-in-law raised a stink (literally and figuratively) to his commanders and well, if you were in the military, that's not good to question authority, especially the U.N. folk. My wife is starting a drive to send items to our National Guard guys. These items are: toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodrant, soap, shower gels, floss, etc. All items are being rationed in Kosovo. If anyone is interested in helping our soldiers, you can private me and I'll send the details. If we get enough support, we might consider a community drop-off site. For now, we're hoping to send at least one box full of supplies to our Real American Heroes. Free baseball for a week http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/24016 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/24016 I should have asked for Monday off. Better yet, I should have requested the entire week off. It's baseball season, and I can't get enough of it.  The only disappointing glitch, and it's a small one because I found a work around, is that the Cincinnati Reds' game isn't televised. It's the first time in 8 years, the Reds' Opening Day game won't be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2. But as I said, it's a minor detail because I found a work around. For the first week of the season, all the games can be seen on MLB Extra Innings -- FREE. Yes, FREE. (Just putting the word "FREE" in bold makes be feel like I'm watching a late-night informercial for some Ronco product.) For those that have Bright House networks digital package that's channels 154 through 163. Now I don't know what the channels are if you have DirecTV, but I'll know once I get in the office tonight. So I encourage you to take the day off Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe Thursday. Shoot take the rest of the week off. You have my permission. And that's as good as a note from your mom in this case. Up early to see the Rising Sun http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/23715 http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/LastRites/23715 My wife is an amazing woman. I talked all Monday about how I wanted to stay up and watch the season opener for Major League Baseball. You know the Red Sox-A's game. The game at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The one that started at 6 a.m. EST, errrrrr 3 a.m. in Bakersfield. Don't worry if you missed it. You weren't the only one. Well, I did see a few innings, thanks to my wife. As I was saying, my wife is an amazing woman. Not only did she record the game on our DVR. But she turned the game on at 3 a.m. after she got up for one of those third trimester wakeup calls. Actually, I left the TV on all night, and she just changed the channel to ESPN2, so I could listen to the game in my sleep. Now, I don't know if she thought I'd be able to see the games in my dreams or soak in the stats through osmosis, but it worked. Seriously. I heard the second inning of the game in my sleep. I could hear ESPN announcer Gary Thorne's voice as he said Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out Jack Cust to end the inning with the bases loaded. Of course, in my sleep Dice-K had a shutout through six innings. When I woke up that was in fact was fantasy. I blame that on my fantasy baseball team. Dice-K is one of my pitchers, so that was the only reason I wanted to watch the game in the first place. As a I said, I did wake up to watch Dice-K finally settle down, and the Red Sox take a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth. Our 18-month-old son started crying around that time (4:15 a.m.), and I went to his room to change him. By the time I'd come back, the A's had taken a 4-3 lead and I decided to call it a night, errrr, early morning. Unfortunately, my wife couldn't back to sleep because of the TV and our son. So while I went back to sleep, she paid for my selfishness. The Red Sox and A's play again at 3 a.m. But I'm keeping the TV off and letting her sleep in. She deserves it.