This week I’ve had a heck of a cold and it’s left me quite uninspired to write anything at all.  Sorry ’bout that.  Since I’m always adding links to the section on the right side of the site but not mentioning anything about them I thought I’d showcase some interesting websites I’ve found.

HybridCars.com - follows all the news relating to evolution, design and release of hybrid cars.

MattPalka.com - website and blog of a local guy who wrote and published his own book -plus recorded and produced an accompanying album-  and is on tour promoting said book and album wherever the road takes him.

PostSecret - each week the postcards change on this website but each week anyone’s secrets can be anonymously revealed.  (then anonymously published in a book that’s available for anyone to buy)

StarbucksGossip.com - a website devoted to monitoring every move that Starbucks makes.  Quite a few Starbucks employees weigh in with their comments.

CatsThatLookLikeHitler.com - a website where cat owners can submit pictures of their “kitlers” AKA cats that have a small patch of black fur under their nose.

Click here and follow the directions for a cool illusion that’ll trick your brain.

Honor Flight of NW Ohio - this organization provides a day trip for  veterans to visit the memorials to their respective wars in Washington, D.C.

A calendar like no other you’ve seen!

StephenWiltshire.co.uk - website for a gentleman who -after viewing a cityscape for a short period of time- can accurately draw, from memory, everything he saw.  It’s truly amazing.  Check this one out.

EnergyFiend.com - offers you information on ANY caffeinated beverage on the market today!

Snopes.com - get any forwarded emails lately that seem a little far fetched?  Copy and paste a line that contains some key words into the search box at Snopes and you’ll be able to find out the validity.

Unclutterer - a blog about getting organized and staying that way…lots of neat tips here.

StrangeMaps - a blog that highlights all sorts of weird and wacky maps.

GroceryLists.org - a wacky collection of discarded grocery lists.  Yup, that’s it.  But’s it’s strangely fascinating.

I have lots of other websites on the list but these are some of the highlights.  When I feel better I’ll hopefully have some more to write about.

Did I miss something or did we skip the 80 cent range altogether?  Last Wednesday I took a picture of this station with $3.79 and all of a sudden it’s $3.95?  Are all the jumps going to be this big from now on?

On an interesting note, however, comes news via hybridcars.com:

April sales figures for cars and trucks sent a clear and resounding message to the auto industry: Make smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or die. About one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car. Sales of traditional Sport Utility Vehicles are down more than 25 percent this year—and full-size pickup sales have fallen more than 15 percent. And for the first time, fuel-efficient, four-cylinder engines surpassed six-cylinder models in popularity.

“It’s easily the most dramatic segment shift I have witnessed in the market in my 31 years here,” said George Pipas, chief sales analyst for the Ford Motor Co. Is this a one-time fluke or have we hit a tipping point again? According to Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information Web site Edmunds.com, “This shift appears to be a permanent situation.”

From the file of “I never woulda known that” comes news that the government wants to change the metal composition of 2 United States coins.  The penny and the nickel are under scrutiny for the amount of money it costs to manufacture them.  Currently it costs the U.S. Mint 1.3 cents to produce a coin that is only worth 1 cent.

This article states that the bill voted on by the House of Representatives would bring back the steel penny.  It would still look like today’s penny because it would be copper-plated steel.  The coins that are currently in production are a zinc-copper alloy.  The bill also recommends phasing in steel nickels within the next 2 years.  Nickels are currently made of copper and nickel and cost 7.7 cents to make.

From the AP:

In 2007, the Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies and 1.2 billion nickels, according to the House Financial Services Committee.

Other coins still cost less than their face value, according to the Mint. The dime costs a little over 4 cents to make, while the quarter costs almost 10 cents. The dollar coin, meanwhile, costs about 16 cents to make, according to the Mint.

The U.S. Mint hasn’t messed with the composition of the penny since 1982 when the cost of copper prompted them to change a penny from being almost entirely copper to almost entirely zinc.  This move is expected to save the country $100 million a year…assuming the cost of steel doesn’t skyrocket in the next few years. 

I agree with this editorial in that it’s probably time to simple eliminate the penny from the lineup.  I rarely use them, I have a bunch in my car, a bunch at home and every once in a while I have to put them into those paper coin wrappers just to get some useable money.  Heck, with the widespread use in this country of debit and credit cards I rarely get my hands on actual paper money, never mind coins.

Other news articles on this proposed change.

 

Forever Stamps are an interesting concept.  The idea is that you purchase the stamps now and then you can use them at any time in the future, no matter what the postal rate happens to be.  Currently they are flying out of post offices because on May 12 the cost to send a first class letter will be increasing one penny from 41 cents to 42 cents.  These stamps will still be available after the rate hike, but you will have to purchase them at the new rate.  Someone even has a blog dedicated to the Forever Stamp.

For one day only, Thursday, May 8, 2008, customers can buy a large, one topping pizza at Papa Johns for just 23 cents.  (one pizza per customer)

The reason?

CLEVELAND (AP) — Papa John’s Pizza issued an apology to Cleveland and the Cavaliers for making T-shirts with LeBron James‘ number and the word “crybaby” under it.

To apologize, Papa John’s will sell Cleveland residents a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. The 23 is an homage to James’ jersey number. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

The pizza chain’s T-shirts were featured during the Cavs’ games against the Wizards on Friday in Washington. Wizards fans taunted the Cavs, who won the payoff series that night in Game 6.

The shirts started after James complained about hard fouls, and Wizards center Brendan Haywood called him a crybaby.

Apparently the Toledo area is included in this promotion.  Eat hearty everyone!

UPDATE 5/8/2008

Apparently word of this deal spread like wildfire.  When I passed by a Papa Johns a little after 3pm today, there were about 15-20 waiting in line outside.  Apparently in East Toledo things got a little out of hand with a few fights breaking out and some pushing and shoving.  Police closed the place down to prevent further problems.  Most -if not all- of the Papa Johns in Toledo ran out of dough and ingredients and closed for the day as early as 5pm.   Apparently each store had a 900 pizza limit for this deal.  Here’s some of the coverage from today, some links have video.

• Papa Johns Offers 23 Cent Pizza - Toledo
• Customers Wait Hours - Cleveland
• Papa Johns Running Out of Pizza - Cleveland
• $.23 Pizzas a Slam Dunk - Youngstown
• 23 Cent Pizzas Bring Out the Crowds - Canton

Today we hit another extreme record high in the price of gasoline in the Toledo area.  I’ve run out of things to say, but I’m going to continue to take pictures of the signs and post them here if for no other reason than to be able to show my kids that gasoline once cost less than $15 a gallon.

 

I find these monetary limits quite annoying.  These stickers are on the pumps at local Speedway gas stations.  According to this article these limits have always been in place and part of corporate policy.  The stickers, however, have shown up in the last year or so as the cost of a gallon of gas rose to the point that filling your tank can actually cost more than $50.

I filled up tonight at $2.49 per gallon.  I let my tank get pretty empty sometimes because I hope to find a decent price before I fill up.  So I reached the $50 limit by the time I almost filled the tank.  No biggie.  But when gas reaches much higher than that and I want to fill up, it’s gonna mean that I have to do 2 separate pay at the pump transactions.

Annoying.  Perhaps I should get a MasterCard and use that for gas instead.

Ah, once again the calendar page makes a stop at May 5th, another drinking holiday speedbump on the annual trip thru the year.  Bars are happy, cops are on patrol, courtrooms will soon have full dockets of drunk drivers once again.

The title of my post is misspelled on purpose.  It’s the punchline to a horribly bad joke:

Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellman’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. The “Titanic” was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after New York City.

The Mexican people were eagerly awaiting delivery and were disconsolate at the loss. So much so that they declared a national day of mourning which they still observe today. It is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Not that it should really be needed, but snopes.com issued a rumor buster about that joke.

Yesterday I challenged myself to come up with a blog entry.  I had to drive to Napoleon, Ohio on an errand and I knew of a couple places I might take a picture or two.  What I ended up with was a short travel guide to the section of U.S. 24 that stretches between the two towns of Grand Rapids and Napoleon.

First off, before getting to Grand Rapids you encounter the first entrance to Providence Metropark.  It’s located at N41°25.167/W083°51.348.  It’s in this section of that park that you can leave your car to wander over to the canal boat ride or to visit the general store and grist mill.

I laughed when I saw this sign on North Reynolds Rd. in Toledo this evening.  An article in the Dayton Business Journal states that Ohio House Bill 545:

would cap annual percentage rates on payday loans at 28 percent, extend the repayment period to 31 days from 14 days and cut the maximum loan amount to $500 from $800.   Representatives of the state’s 1,638 payday lending shops have said the House measures would kill the industry, particularly with the percentage rate caps. Payday lenders can charge up to $15 per $100 loaned over a 14-day period, which converts to an annualized 391 percent. Instituting a rate ceiling at a fraction of the current maximum, as H.B. 545 and two other bills have proposed, would cap fees at a few dollars per $100.

Although there some frost last night, chances are pretty good that things will be warmer from this point on.  I snapped a few photos around my area that tell me spring is in the air.  At our place we have a lot of flowers that come up each spring (I suppose those are annuals) and we’ve never planted a single one of them in the 6 years we’ve lived there.  Pretty lucky that way.  Other photos are from the immediate area.  It seems appropriate -somehow- to start with my favorite cement pig, Oreo, who is busy plowing the garden…and seems to need a springtime touch-up of his own.

 

*sigh*   No explanation needed I suppose.

Snapped this picture on my way to work today, a new record high in Toledo.

I remember when gas was about $1.65 a gallon, that was when I decided to buy an SUV.

A colleague of mine, who has a blog of his own, pointed me towards an article that makes a lot of sense.  Check it out.

Two weekends ago, Ethan and I attended a program put on by our scout council called “Dad & Lad.”  It’s a weekend designed around cubs and their dads spending time outside together in an activity based setting.  It’s held at Camp Miakonda in Sylvania, Ohio.  There’s also a companion weekend a couple weeks later called “Mom & Me” where the moms spend an overnight with the scouts. 

Everyone was split into groups that contained boys from our Cub Scout Pack and we then moved from activity to activity together as a group.  That was nice since the kids had some friends around them and the adults knew each other a little bit as well.

April 26, 2007 was the day I started this blog by writing my first post.  On that day I never would have thought that I would be marking one year by reporting that there have been 11,708 visitors.

You keep reading and I’ll keep writing.  Thanks!

A requirement for earning the Tiger badge in Cub Scouts is to visit a museum or historic place.  So a couple weekends ago Ethan’s Tiger den (and their parents) headed to Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, Ohio, an historic site that was an integral part of the War of 1812. 

From The Ohio Historical Society’s website:

William Henry Harrison built Fort Meigs on the Maumee River in 1813 to protect northwest Ohio and Indiana from British invasion. Today’s reconstruction is one of the largest log forts in America. British and Canadian troops, assisted by Indians under Tecumseh, besieged the fort twice. The 10-acre log enclosure with 7 blockhouses and 5 emplacements presented a formidable defense. The first assault was in May of 1813 and the second was in July. Both failed and the British retreated after the second. In the spring of 2003, the fort underwent a major renovation and the construction of a Museum and Education Center.

The Museum and Education Center has 3,000 square feet of exhibits and artifacts - including soldiers’ letters and diaries, weapons, maps, and uniforms - that describe Fort Meigs role during the War of 1812. Exhibits themes include The Lore of the Land, The Sixty Year War for Ohio, and Building Fort Meigs. Original artifacts from the War of 1812, including swords, uniforms, and maps highlight the events of the war and the impact it had on soldiers and thier families. 

It’s a very interesting and educational place to visit.  As is often the case for people that live so close to something famous, I had never visited the fort in the almost 18 years I’ve lived in the area.  If you live in NW Ohio maybe these photos will entice you to want to check out the fort.  Here are details for your visit.

We had guides for our arranged tour of the fort.  They dress in period uniforms, exacting in detail, and are very knowledgeable about the history of the 10 acre fort and the War of 1812.