Thursday, September 25, 2008

Gas Shortage

I did not want to join the thousands who are currently editorializing the mysterious gas shortage coupled with the economic slowdown... so I won't.  I will however record here my feelings so that when the archives of the blog are read by my kids, they will know what Dad thought.

I am scared... I am very scared.  I know that we will have gas tomorrow, somewhere, I am scared that my stuburn butt will try to push the envelop and get stuck on the way.  The S-10 is out of gas, the MINI has about 60 miles left and I have a 50 mile round trip commute.  I do not want to buy into the hysteria surrounding the temporary shortage of gasoline, but I am concerned.

Moreover, I am scared about the affect on our weekend economy.  I watch every day when Independence Blvd. fills up from 4:30 to 6:30 full of Monrovians heading back home.  Today, I assume because of the lack of gas... cars trickled by, one by one, at 5:30.  There was no backup, there was no one on the road.  The traffic seemed down more than 50 percent, the customer count was down over 60%.  This weekend will suck.

Tertiary concerns lay with the economy.  I am now thinking in the back of my head about my stock holdings, my retirement, my mother's retirement, my business.  I have not reached panic mode but Amanda and I have began to talk about ways we can scale back and set ourselves up to weather this downturn if it lasts longer than the spring of 2009.  We have also suspended entertaining thoughts of bringing a child into this world... we will eventually... but the next couple years are not promising.  

New & Notes From The Bradshaw's
- Our house has insulation, gas lines, and has the back windows done.
- We have canceled this weekends plans of going to the Cleveland County Fair
- The responsible adult side of me has won out and the MINI will be for sale soon... well.. maybe.

1 comment:

Dawn said...

I feel your pain! But,good for you for realizing stress and panic are reactive aproaches and cautionary ways and reflection are proactive things. I applaud you in your decisions and hope that everything works out for you and your family! (Me, well, I've borrowed "The Grapes of Wrath" DVD from the library and plan to watch it for pointers this weekend!)