Road Trip

I'm a big football fan, but I don't go to a lot of games. Its kind of expensive, and most of the time you can see the game better on TV than you can from many stadium seats. But every once in a while I'll splurge, and this was one of those times. This past weekend my son and I ventured to Columbus to see Penn State beat Ohio State. We made a weekend of it, leaving here on Friday and coming back on Sunday. I rooted for Penn State and my son rooted for Ohio State (how he became an Ohio State fan, I really don't know...any more than I know how my daughter became a Packers fan). Anyway here are some pictures.....

This was the view from our seats. We were so high that we could almost reach up and touch the blimp.

We stayed at this hotel. The Crown Plaza North in Columbus. Very nice and I highly recommend it. The PSU team and coaches also stayed there. They arrived a little while after us.

The Budweiser brewery was right across the street from the hotel. How's that for convenience??

Also visited with a former roommate. His wife is a professor at Ohio State. He works for the University of Illinois. It's a long-distance relationship right now.

The price of gas in Columbus: $2.28/gallon!!!! Talk about a ripoff! It's cheaper everywhere than it is here!!!!!

So Sayeth The Shack

Walkers Beware!

Twice in the past two days I have nearly been struck down in the middle of the road by someone blatantly running a red light. Both of these occurrences were in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon. Both times I had a walk signal and the light had been red for the cross traffic for several seconds, so it was not a case of someone trying to beat the red light and not quite making it. No, it was a case of someone totally disregarding the light, not to mention the safety of everyone else.

Drivers, please obey the law. By running red lights, you are risking not only a fine and a citation, but also a collision with another vehicle or a pedestrian who assumes you will obey the law and stop. Serious injury or even death could result.

Pedestrians, please obey the law. Do not jaywalk. But even when you have a walk signal, be very careful, lest you end up flattened in the middle of the street by a red-light runner.

So Sayeth The Shack

Who Is More Wrong?

Not a week goes by that I don't hear a comment about how weathermen are always wrong. Well we may miss a forecast now and then, but what about those ECONOMISTS????

I didn't hear or see ANYONE predicting this economic tumble a few months ago. I didn't hear or see ANYONE say the price of gas would drop below $3.00/gallon or that crude would be under $90/barrel. To the contrary I heard predictions of $5.00-$10.00/gallon gas. So how 'bout it ECONOMISTS? Talk about a busted forecast! How 'bout y'all picking on THEM for a change?


So Sayeth The Shack

Serves You Right

Have you lost money with the decline of crude oil prices?

SERVES YOU RIGHT, I SAY

Those who mess with the lives of others by speculating in the markets of necessities such as food and fuel and driving prices upward for the common person deserve to lose their money, I say. Just look at the economic toll of $140/barrel crude and $4/gallon-plus gasoline plus the huge rise in food prices. People going broke, losing their jobs and losing their homes so that some other greedy person could have even more money.

Now its time for those greedy people to lose some of what they have.

What goes around comes around.

So Sayeth The Shack

Will Anything Be Learned From This?

The government is "bailing out" financial institutions that are in serious trouble, supposedly because of the economy, but maybe instead because of some poor choices that they made.

If we as individuals get "bailed out" every time we make a mistake, will we ever learn anything from our mistakes? Probably not. We will just figure that everything is OK and even if we make the same mistake again, it will still be OK because someone will again bail is out.

While this government bailout might help the economy, eventually, I fear that sometime down the road, we will find ourselves in the same boat once again and will again be looking for a bailout.

On all levels, from the individual to the corporation to the nation, we must at some time have to face the consequences of our action and of our mistakes if we are ever to learn not to repeat them.

So Sayeth The Shack

Getting Gouged Deeply

The price of crude oil has dropped $40/barrel over the past several weeks.

The average price of gas in PA. is $3.45/gallon.

So why are gas stations in and around State College still charging $3.55/gallon????

The actual price should be closer to $3.00.

I for one, refuse to buy any gas until the price drops to a more reasonable level based on the price of crude. If I run out of gas before that, I will just leave my car right there in the middle of the road where it sputters to a stop as my form of protest.

So Sayeth The Shack