The recent outrageous spike in gasoline prices has got me thinking…no, not about knocking over a bank or forging lottery tickets, but about what the oil companies think they’re doing.
Maybe I’m a graduate candidate for the Bumblebrain School of Economics, but it would seem to me that, in this burgeoning green climate of petroleo-electric hybrid vehicles and the looming advent of practical hydrogen fuel cell technology, the oil companies would be competing for market share by lowering the price of gas. Granted, there’s the whole supply-and-demand ethic at work, and deeper thinkers than I remind me that the oil suppliers – meaning the OPEC – are the ones who set the prices for crude oil, and the rest of us demanders pay accordingly down the line, the recent record profits of the American oil refining companies notwithstanding.
This spike in prices has me thinking the oil companies – the producers as well as the refiners – realize the jig is up. I think they think the world is at the edge of the abyss, looking down into the limitless expanse of alternatives for fueling our world that don’t include crude oil, and it’s more than willing to leap. And the oil companies are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the consumers that they can before the cows come home to roost.
That, or they’ve seen the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, and are padding their futures before they leave the world dangling in the breeze….
(Oooh! Hey! Bank.... Lottery tickets.... Hmmmm....)
Dad Update
On Tuesday April 22, Dad moved out of the nursing home and into the Illinois Veteran’s Home, in Manteno, about 50 miles south of downtown Chicago, straight down Interstate 57. Not like he did the moving, however, as he was transferred from bed to chair, wheeled into a medi-van, driven to the new place, wheeled in for a medical evaluation, and then transferred to bed. All in all, it was a tiresome day for him.
In the same move one of my fears was unrealized while a co-related fear was fulfilled: when my sister announced about a month ago that Dad would be moved on April 22, I feared that he would not make it to that day, and would die without the comfort (as we perceived it) of being surrounded by men of his generation who share a significant life experience, and who might be able to bring a modicum of emotional comfort and camaraderie to his last days. I also feared he would survive, and thus prolong the misery of his worn out, useless body, the agony of the decay eating him alive from the inside.
But he is still with us. For that, selfishly, I can be happy.
Rope-a-Mope
Am I doomed to spend the rest of my life resenting the who that I am not, who could’ve kept either of the two women I have loved with my whole being from divesting themselves of me? Does everyone who has let a good thing get away go through the same thing I am going through? Or am I just a terminal mope?
Did I fuck up the only real chances I had, or have I still yet to find “the one?”
Does this section even make sense?
Joy
What can better describe the meaning of the word ‘joy’ than this?
Nothing, that’s what!
(Okay... Just so any cat people don't feel left out....
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9 comments:
Thank you for keeping us updated on everything, including your dad. I keep sending good thoughts your way.
And as far as love... as a hopeless (or is it helpless?) romantic, I still think there must be a reason so maybe, just maybe, you haven't found "the one." Or maybe she hasn't found you!
You're still too young to think you may be over the hill romantically. You have plenty of time to find the one who's meant for you!
I hope your dad can settle in to the new place and enjoy the company of similar people.
I think you may be a might optimistic about the reasoning behind increased oil prices (re: OPEC padding its coffers), as the other 2 up-and-coming gas guzzling world economies (India, China) don't give a rat's ass about eco-friendly fuel and will use what's available at whatever price.
Thanks for including the cat video. Nominally a "dog person" I have owned cats in the past, though they weren't half so entertaining without that nifty Bjork soundtrack!
Thanks for the visit and the comment; although if you're looking for a lady friend, you might want to curb such thoughts!!
Let's see -- gas prices, record profits. It all makes me sick. I used to be such a capitalist republican. Now I just want to live in the wildnerness without the need of any modern technology. I'm okay with profit, making a living, but this is ridiculous. Some brainiac has already figured out how to live without oil, I'm sure, so let's just do it.
As for fathers, I lost mine a few years ago. He was 73 and had lived a full life. I feel sometimes it's better to let go than to hang on, which brings us to love ...
If you've let go and it doesn't matter what you think because they're already gone, then it's just time to stop asking questions and start living life in the now.
This episode of Dr. Laura brought to you by Beth.
Back again; thanks for the visit and you are right, it has to be Ontario!!
I'm happily married, but I still think about the one who got away.
I hope your dad finds some comfort where he is now.
Farrago, don't you know that two-buck chuck is now three-buck-chuck? Had to happen, didn't it?
LOL. They have some sesame covered honeyed cashews that are out of this world, as well as some think ginger cookies I could eat a million of. I guess that's worth it, huh?
I had about a dozen 'ones the got away," then I got one, 17 years later left him, and started all over again. With time we get wiser, perhaps, about what it is that we find valuable. You're not a mope - you're learning.
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