New Blog

So, see that post below?  Yeah, that good one about saving gas from my older brother.  Well, now you can see it on his own blog : The World According to Pedro.  You can keep up on what's going on just by checking the blog list over to the right.  No, your right, not mine.  Enjoy.

The world according to Pedro

Now that gas is getting affordable again there is the temptation to go back to our old habits. We start driving more, we take the larger car because it is more comfortable and we think about our next road trip. It'll be fun again.

But before we lapse back into cheap gas paralysis we should look at what we have accomplished. We actually began to consider how much gas we were using in our daily lives. Some of us even took public transportation or drove less or took the car that used the least gas or asked others to join us so we could increase the miles per person per gallon if we had to drive. This was good for us temporarily, it eased our wallet pinch, but it also was good for us longterm.

We actually may have started changing our thinking. We talked about going green, wind farms, alternative energy sources, our oil dependence and how we can reduce the impact of our gas addiction on our planet.

So let's keep it going. Let's do it so we can continue to reduce our dependence on oil, so we can begin to heal the planet and so we can keep some change in our pockets. We can also send a message to the oil companies that we can kick our habit. We don't need a full fix anymore and maybe we can get on methadone and get clean.

So even as the price of oil continues to drop, keep thinking about our impact on the environment and how to reduce our oil consumption. Ask yourself if you need to run that errand, if you can take public transportation or if you can go as a group. We will be shaping our future, it will help us be independent and it will put more money in our pockets. It can also be fun to see the basic economic theory of supply and demand bemuse the oil companies as they try to figure out why we are still using less oil even though the price is going down.

Drink less - live more.

Pedro

Anna

The internet sucks.

Half an hour searching the internet looking for the results for the Granite School Board elections. Nothing. Channel 2 and 13 didn't think the information was important enough to even put it on the little ticker-tape blurb on the bottom of the screen. My blood pressure was so high I heard someone yell "SELL". Thank God for the Salt Lake Tribune. Trekking out in the snow in nothing but shoes, my sleepin' shorts and a coat was worth it, it had ALL the info. So, if you haven't heard, here's the results that interest me:

• Barack Obama - 52% of the popular vote (McCain 47%) and 349 electoral votes (McCain 163). This is the first time in years that I have felt proud to be an American, and Obama's speech last night actually brought a tear to my eye. He was eloquent, intelligent, passionate and didn't blow hot air up our skirts. I voted for him as a vote against McCain (Bush Light), but I have to admit I was truly impressed and inspired by his speech.
• Connie Anderson - beat Granite School Board incumbent Patty Sandstrom 55% to 45%. Way to go Connie!
• Dan Lofgren - The other Granite School Board candidate I wanted to see win. And he did, just barely with 52% of the vote. Connie & Dan are going to be the Dynamic Duo of the Granite School Board. I suspect the Superintendent is sweating a bit this morning, despite the snow.
• Chris Buttars - Um, UnbeFreakinleavable! 49% to 45% the boneheads in West Jordan sent this bigotted homophobe back to office. I think it's because Gayle Ruzicka threatened to move there if they didn't.
• Dell Schanze - 3% of the vote. I laughed histerically. Until I realized that there were 21 THOUSAND people who voted for him. I was amazed to realize that there were that manyu people on the 5 West wing of the University Hospital.

Phew!

I just watched Senator McCain's concession speech, sitting here ready to hear Obama's acceptance speech. I am elated. That's about the best way for me to describe it. It's going to make the last 76 days of GW's term a lot easier to endure, knowing that there really will be a change in January. Enough gloating, well at least as far as the presidential election goes.

Del Schantze pulled in a full 2% of the vote. That makes me laugh. Not because he did so bad, but because he did so well, compared to what I would have expected. With 17% of the vote in, over 7,500 people voted for him. I wasn't aware Utah had such a large psychotic population.