Friday, August 26, 2005

cause and effect

Goodness, I've been a slacker. Sorry about that. It's been a busy week.

The good news is that as of today, our test team at work is official. Praise God. It was a long time coming and we were pretty sure it wasn't going to be approved, but it was.

I've been working on a fun write up about the camping experience, but it's not ready yet. Look for it in a week or so.

In lieu of that, here is my more recent pondering.

As you all are probably aware (even my international readers), gas prices in the USA continue to take flight in the upward direction. While our prices are not yet as extreme as most of the rest of the civilized world, it's a pretty hard hit to many of us here at home. The drastic increase is impacting some more than others, specifically those who make piddly a non-profit jobs. So here are a few ways the price of gas is impacting me personally.

* there are no more out of town excursions, meaning I don't get to drive to Woodland Park just for the heck of it, no fun zoo trips to Denver and no driving to see out of town relatives.

* running out for lunch is no longer an option, I have to bring lunch daily or buy here in the cafe. Sadly, this is also impacted by our new policy about no forgiveness for missing a minute of work time, but the gas prices have completely shut down lunch time sanity breaks.

* serious cutback in "going out" or just running to Walmart to get an item or two. All trips out must be done in conjunction with others (so I'm not running one place tonight and another tomorrow) and some things are just not bought because it's too far out of the way to get it.

* no more late night taco bell runs. It's not worth it even to get a Mt. Dew Blast.

* a serious cutback in the fun times, like going to the movies or shopping trips for books and such. it costs too much to get to the store and then actually buy something.

Thankfully, there is no drama going on right now, so trips to church are down, and most places I shop are between work and home, so I can stop on the way home in the evenings. And I have a HUGE movie collection, so even if I can't go out, I always have something to watch.

So tell me, what impact is the rising cost of gas having in your life?

3 comments:

Le laquet said...

High/rising gas prices - petrol/diesel in the UK are something we have lived with for years! In the summer when our local paper does cheap trips to France, filling up with diesel in France (the cost difference between UK/Europe being so great) pays for the price of the shopping trip ..... but that's a positive not a negative thing? Right? does it count?

Le laquet said...

Diesel = 96p per litre. Almost £1.00 per litre, £1.00 = $1.80!!

The Girl with a Green Hat said...

Our gas prices are about the same as yours, but we haven't really considered it bad during the past 2 years we have been over here, cause europeans pay so much more. I've always had to plan ahead for trips etc. My first car had a V8 engine and driving half an hour to and from the Black Forest (where I lived during college) was costly. Now, we live in a small village 20 min.from most places and drive cars with smaller engines. I still always plan my trips, but that is just normal for people who live out of town, I guess. Even before gas went up. So don't fret to much, just think of it as a new adventure in living your life a different way. That's the way I have to think about my life on most days, or I would not be able to enjoy living overseas for years at a time.