Pipes Network Clog Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

Gas Prices

OK, so it's time to complain a little. Not too long ago (January 18th actually), I was saying how cheap gas is. I had even seen an article saying Detroit has the cheapest gas in the States (Here is that article, dated January 22).

Now, one month later, this is the headline:

Michigan motorists are paying the eighth-highest prices for gasoline in the country and the highest among Midwest states, according to the Web site www.fuelgaugereport.com.

At an average of $2.40 a gallon, only drivers in Hawaii, New York, Oregon, California, Connecticut, Nevada and Washington state are shelling out more for fuel at the pump. The national average, meanwhile, rose a penny overnight to $2.30.

How we go from being the cheapest (although some friends in Indiana said it was the same price there) to the 8th most expensive in a month is beyond me. I just know that the $.50/gal. increase costs me $15 extra if I'm low like I am right now.

Music Piracy

The RIAA released a list of the top American Universities for music pirating. The Big Ten claimed 4 of the top 10 spots, including both #1 (Ohio State) and #2 (Purdue). I guess its a not so proud day for my alma mater (which the guy who wrote the article said also).

Below is a list of the top 25 schools. The number is the number of copyright infringement notices that school has received.

1. Ohio University - 1,287
2. Purdue University - 1,068
3. University of Nebraska at Lincoln - 1,002
4. University of Tennessee at Knoxville - 959
5. University of South Carolina - 914
6. University of Massachusetts at Amherst - 897
7. Michigan State University - 753
8. Howard University - 572
9. North Carolina State University - 550
10. University of Wisconsin at Madison - 513
11. University of South Florida - 490
12. Syracuse University - 488
13. Northern Illinois University - 487
14. University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire - 473
15. Boston University - 470
16. Northern Michigan University - 457
17. Kent State University - 424
18. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - 400
19. University of Texas at Austin - 371
20. North Dakota State University - 360
21. Indiana University - 353
22. Western Kentucky University - 353
23. Seton Hall University - 338
24. Arizona State University - 336
25. Marshall University - 331

Here is the article.

Days are too short

Do you ever feel like you just don't have enough hours in the day? That's my problem lately. No matter what I do, my list of things to do is growing faster than I can check them off. School just gets in the way.

Grad school better be worth the crap I've had to sacrifice and not get done over the last 3 years...

Nothing to say

I really don't have anything to say today, so thats what I'll say. Nothing.

Never use ProFlowers.com

Ok, so being the good husband that I am, I had ordered flowers for my wife to be delivered Wednesday morning for Valentine's day. I had even paid the extra to make sure they would be there in the morning. Turns out, they didn't show up until yesterday afternoon. I knew on Wednesday they wouldn't make it before noon, so I called to complain and they refunded the delivery costs, and said they'd send out additional flowers (but they wouldn't arrive till at least the next day). I thought that was ok, until the flowers didn't even show up on Valentine's day, and when they did show up the next day, they were dead and looked nothing like the picture.

At this point, I was irate, so I called them once again, and told them I don't want their 2nd bouquet if it is going to look like the first, and that I want a refund so I can take my money and buy flowers from a real florist where they don't come by fedex and don't come in a cardboard box, and hopefully look good. So thats what they did.

The short of it is, use a real florist, not these .com crapheads.

Snow

So I was right. We didn't even have an inch of snow by the time I got home at 6 yesterday. We had a couple more this morning, but no more than 4 total. Even as much as they talked about it however, they still were not ready as NONE of the roads had been plowed yet on the way in this morning. It's times like this that having a truck with 4-wheel drive can be fun. It only took me about an extra 5 minutes to get to work. I can't imagine what it will be like in the next couple hours though, the 4-lane road was down to 1 that was almost just wet, the other 3 were snow covered so it was really one snow covered lane, and one wet/slushy lane. The worst part was when I got to work, the sidewalks hadn't been shoveled yet and were about a foot deep drifts. Lovely.

Winter Weather Day

They've been talking about how much snow we're going to get since Saturday. Originally it was supposed to start yesterday. Then it was 6am this morning. Its 6:30 now (about), and not a flake to be seen. Its 10am its going to start now. We're supposed to see 6-10 inches according to some weather men, others say 5-8, and the radio said 3-6 on the way in (after they said 6-8). The bottom line is, nobody knows what the hell they're talking about. I'm guessing we're on the low end of that 3-6 and this is really not going to be a big deal. At least thats what I'm hoping, because seeing how stupid people are driving when its dry (like this morning), I don't want to drive home tonight when its crappy.

On another note, I thought I had a glimpse of hope this morning that the power was going to be out at work. When I was only about a mile or so away, I noticed the lights were all off at the gas station that lights up the corner. Then I realized all the street lights and house lights were out (as I went through a stop light that was out). Of course however, once I got to work, somehow this area was not affected by the power outage. Bummer.

Power from Trash

Apparently, some Purdue people have figured out a way to make the equivalent of Mr. Fusion (Back to the Future II).

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A group of scientists have created a portable refinery that efficiently converts food, paper and plastic trash into electricity. The machine, designed for the U.S. military, would allow soldiers in the field to convert waste into power and could have widespread civilian applications in the future.

Here's the full article, and some commentary.

Brutal Cold

For the second day in a row, my truck said the temperature was -9 today as I got in to leave for the day. Almost every school around here has been closed so far this week because of how cold it is (I'm guessing for the kids waiting for the Cheese Wagon). If you think its cold here however, be happy you're not up in northern Manitoba. Some people from work were there over the weekend....the high on Sunday was -20, with a low of -43. All I can say to that, is I hope there wasn't any wind, and I hope they had a thick coat.

Stay warm, and remember, the best way to do that is to share body heat :-)

The Man is Coming Back!

Brett Favre will be playing for the Packers in 2007.

Brett Favre will return in 2007. Green Bay Packers General Manager Ted Thompson announced the news in a statement Friday saying, "Brett Favre informed me this morning that he plans to return for a 17th NFL season. The Packers are excited by his decision and look forward to a successful 2007 campaign."

link

Some might say that he needs to retire and give it up. The guy isn't the MVP he was 10 years ago, but he is still one of the best QB's in the NFL when he doesn't try to do everything himself. They had a young team this year that went 8-8. I think he wants one more playoff run, and I'll be rooting for them once again this fall.