This is worse than 9/11. Much, much worse. And I really don't think anyone around here really realizes how much this will affect our lives during the coming months. During the coming winter!

If gas rises to $4/gallon, if heating costs rise as much as they say they will, then there will be many, many people who can't afford to drive to work, buy food, or function.

A year ago, (Okay, in May 2004) I thought $1.87/gallon sounded horribly high. Haha.

I fill up my car approximately 4 times a month (a generous estimate.) That's 13 gallons at $3.09/gallon, which will cost me $40.17 each time I fill up. That's $160.68 a month, dammit. And almost $2000 a year! That's a significant amount of money! If gas rises to $4/gallon, it will cost me $52 each time to fill up. That's triple my budget amount of last year. Yikes!

New Orleans' port is one of the busiest ports in the world. I'm sure much of our imported food comes through that port, and guess what? The port is inoperable. That means food prices going up and food shortages. This doesn't look good. Not good at all.

I'm worried about the people with low-wage jobs who barely make ends meet as it is. How will they survive now? Until the people with the SUVs and Hummers stop consuming and start conserving, the price will remain too high for a lot of people to afford. And I don't see that likely to happen until the price of gas starts to pinch the upper middle class. From conversations I have had, this isn't likely to happen soon.

Wake up, people! Even the President (who I didn't vote for, btw) has asked us to conserve energy. Since I can't really do all that much about my gas consumption, I have decided to shut off my air conditioners for the year, unless it gets really, really, really humid in the house and even then I will turn them on as a last resort. There really isn't anything else I can do, since I feel we're already trying to conserve energy here to keep the electric bill low.

I will definitely think more than twice about traveling now, and I will continue to buy needed items only at Goodwill and other discount/thrift stores. I will continue to allow myself to eat out once a week at work, but I will also stick to that vow, starting next week (since tomorrow is Friday and I've already eaten out twice this week, darn it all.)

There's very little room in my budget for conservation. I don't have cable to cut. My phone is very basic, and so is my internet. I don't eat out, go see movies at expensive theaters, or go to the gym. My car gets relatively good gas mileage (about 32 mpg) and I try my best to only have to drive to Bethel on the weekends or nowhere at all.

What more can I do?

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