Brownian Motion
Filled up the car this morning. The QT near my house had plenty of gas and a very short line... at 5:30 on a Sunday morning.
The gas shortage makes this an awkward time for Jen to be in the hospital, not that there's ever a good time for that, of course. Every day, I visit Jen for about an hour in the morning before I go to work and then again for two or three hours in the evening after work. Home is north-east, work is at Perimeter, and the hospital is downtown... so I'm putting a bunch of extra miles in every day. This doesn't bother me, but it means I have to fill up pretty often, and that doesn't bother me either, except for this whole gas shortage thing we've got going on 'round here these days.
Still, I'm pleased with my resourcefulness. A few days ago, I filled up the van at a QT that was more-or-less on the way home; no trouble at all, plenty of gas, not even really a line. I'm keeping the filled-up-van as the reserve vehicle while I use the car for my daily driving. Yesterday, the car started getting low, so on the way to the hospital I scoped out the various gas options. On the way home I did more recon. Later in the evening I went out for a couple of hours of board gaming, and on the way back I did even more recon. I discovered that 1) there are very few places with gas and 2) there are really long lines at all of them.
In particular, though, I noticed that a few places seemed to consistently have gas each time I went past them - notably two different QT stores (one down the street from me, and another one on the way from the house to I-285), plus a Marathon station around the corner from the house. But I really, really, REALLY didn't want to spend an hour waiting in lines, which is what I estimated it would take based on how long they were, even at 11:00 at night.
So instead I set the alarm for god-awful-early. Wasting an hour sitting in line is a non-starter, but interrupting my sleep I can deal with, no problem.
But despite the inconvenience of waiting in line, or getting up at off hours, or driving around to find places with gas, or even paying high monetary prices (which I would vastly prefer to the other options)... I'm not for a second considering cutting back my usage. I consider my trips downtown to be essential. The handful of hours I get to spend with my wife and unborn children are the best moments of my life right now.
Tank filled, I'm off to bed again.
The gas shortage makes this an awkward time for Jen to be in the hospital, not that there's ever a good time for that, of course. Every day, I visit Jen for about an hour in the morning before I go to work and then again for two or three hours in the evening after work. Home is north-east, work is at Perimeter, and the hospital is downtown... so I'm putting a bunch of extra miles in every day. This doesn't bother me, but it means I have to fill up pretty often, and that doesn't bother me either, except for this whole gas shortage thing we've got going on 'round here these days.
Still, I'm pleased with my resourcefulness. A few days ago, I filled up the van at a QT that was more-or-less on the way home; no trouble at all, plenty of gas, not even really a line. I'm keeping the filled-up-van as the reserve vehicle while I use the car for my daily driving. Yesterday, the car started getting low, so on the way to the hospital I scoped out the various gas options. On the way home I did more recon. Later in the evening I went out for a couple of hours of board gaming, and on the way back I did even more recon. I discovered that 1) there are very few places with gas and 2) there are really long lines at all of them.
In particular, though, I noticed that a few places seemed to consistently have gas each time I went past them - notably two different QT stores (one down the street from me, and another one on the way from the house to I-285), plus a Marathon station around the corner from the house. But I really, really, REALLY didn't want to spend an hour waiting in lines, which is what I estimated it would take based on how long they were, even at 11:00 at night.
So instead I set the alarm for god-awful-early. Wasting an hour sitting in line is a non-starter, but interrupting my sleep I can deal with, no problem.
But despite the inconvenience of waiting in line, or getting up at off hours, or driving around to find places with gas, or even paying high monetary prices (which I would vastly prefer to the other options)... I'm not for a second considering cutting back my usage. I consider my trips downtown to be essential. The handful of hours I get to spend with my wife and unborn children are the best moments of my life right now.
Tank filled, I'm off to bed again.