Well, that was shocking.

[MossRoad]

The sun never came out, so I took a picture anyway. Here it is. 1993 Chevy Suburban K1500 with 64,000 original miles.

 

[Bird]

That's a nice looking machine, David. Wouldn't mind having that myself.

 

[jinman]

Speaking of fuel, Congress had like (5?) top oil company exec's on the carpet earlier this week...haven't heard the outcome yet...maybe I'll google it.

I like your statement because it is non-political and I'll try to be the same as long as I can give some "heat" to Congress as a whole without leaning to either side of the chamber.

I feel a little sorry for these oil company execs who are summoned to Congress to defend themselves for making lots of money for their stockholders. The reason is how the cost of a gallon of gasoline is broken down. If the oil industry execs aren't cooperative with Congress, they will surely be "spanked." Does anyone summon Congress to make them explain why the tax on a gallon of gas is as much as the profit or even more?

I'm attaching a link to a website showing the estimated breakdown of cost and profit on a gallon of gasoline in California. Easily, the biggest cost is the crude oil cost. Only about 20% of our crude comes from the Middle East. Most of the imported oil comes from Canada and Mexico.

I don't like paying the high cost of gasoline, but if I were to take away all oil company profit, I'd still be paying lots of money. I just have a hard time blaming oil companies for the current prices.

I think we as consumers drive this market. Our usage has increased exponentially in the last 40 years. I grew up in the 50s with one car (no A/C) in my family, one tractor, and one push mower until I was 14 and could buy a gasoline mower for myself. We lived in a tiny house and had natural gas heaters and a window air conditioner. I graduated from a high school without air conditioned classrooms.

I don't want to go back to any of that, but I'm not naive about why we are paying much higher bills for all kinds of energy. I pay more because I use more. I'll grumble and pay it like everyone else, but I'll place a lot of the blame on the fellow I look at in the mirror.

Gasoline Margins

 

[MossRoad]

That's a nice looking machine, David. Wouldn't mind having that myself.

Thanks, Bird. It doesn't have any bells and whistles, so less stuff to go wrong. Just a simple truck that runs pretty well. That 1993 G20 van in the background is going to the scrapper ASAP. It is not safe to drive and I would feel guilty selling it to anyone that wants to drive it. I'd also be scared of liability down the road. It served us well for the last 10 years. It has the same tranny as the Suburban, so I'm pulling that for storage just in case. I'm also pulling the throttle body fuel injection, starter, alternator, power steering pump, battery and the air conditioning. I'm pulling everything but the V6 and storing the parts for another project down the road... a 1971 Toyota LandCruiser that I have a Chevy V8 kit for and a figerglass body. I've been working on that one since 1985!

 

[texbaylea]

Sounds like some of us need to learn the idea of "ONLY BUYING AND DRIVING WHAT YOU REALLY NEED". Picture yourself pulling up to the gas pumps one day in the not-too-distant future, and finally deciding NO, you're not going to pay THAT MUCH! How much will it have to be? $4.00? $5.00? $10.00? The thing is, if you drive a gas hog just cause it looks cool or makes you feel good, you deserve whatever the price may be. Or maybe you enjoy sending your fortune to the oil companies and Arab countries. But the rest of us will end up paying the same. Sorry to say, the electric cars aren't affordable yet, and bicycles would get blown off the road.

There are some of us that really need our so called "Gas Guzzlers". I am very tall and large and simply don't fit the little econo cars. I can not drive safely in them because of restricted leg room, and bad seat posture.

I had back surgery in 1967 and my surgeon said to me that the reason so many people had back problems was the car seats. On his recommendation I started driving a pickup and have driven nothing but pickups and Suburbans since with few back problems until osteoarthritis has caught up to me. My new to me 2002 Suburban has less leg room than the earlier models, particularly the '93-'99's, however. I am trying to figure how to move the seat rails back about 1-1/2 inches.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

I am very tall

Vernon, this reminds me of the captain at the police academy when I first started. I think he was 6' 6", 275 pounds, and was the only captain on the department who did not have a home storage city car. He said he turned down the city car, preferring to drive his own pickup truck.

Sometimes being tall is an advantage; sometimes a disadvantage. In later years, when I was a captain and the fleet management was part of my responsibility, we had a couple of tall officers who said the driver's seat on the full sized marked sedans could not be moved far enough back for them, so they wanted the city garage to remove the front seats and re-install them farther back. I explained there was inadequate anchorage and it would not be safe to move the seats from their factory anchorage, not to mention the fact that when a shorter officer got in the car he/she might not be able to move the seat far enough forward to safely operate the vehicle. So they told the chief it was simply impossible for them to work in those cars and something had to be done. So I sent a message that communications needed dispatchers and they could be transferred to communications, that the chairs were on casters, and they could move their chair just as far as they wanted to from the console. Oddly enough, that instantly solved their problem, they declined the offer to be dispatchers, and never complained about the cars again.

 

[mjarrels]

May not be related... but I remember a guy we called "Mister Wax"... Sold wax products to the US Navy while we were at sea during short trips. Wild seas off the coast of Virginia... He was probably 300# and setting in a rolling chair... Ship rolled and he headed to my Commanders desk... (Navy Capt)... I never saw eyes get that big before... CAG (Navy Capt) looked up and watched his desk move about 5' toward the bulkhead with him behind it. CAG just shook it off... One of the best guys I ever worked for.

marl

 

[RonMar]

May not be related... but I remember a guy we called "Mister Wax"... Sold wax products to the US Navy while we were at sea during short trips. Wild seas off the coast of Virginia... He was probably 300# and setting in a rolling chair... Ship rolled and he headed to my Commanders desk... (Navy Capt)... I never saw eyes get that big before... CAG (Navy Capt) looked up and watched his desk move about 5' toward the bulkhead with him behind it. CAG just shook it off... One of the best guys I ever worked for.

marl

A rolling chair on a ship! Guess they never heard of securing for sea...

 

[jinman]

A rolling chair on a ship! Guess they never heard of securing for sea...

Keepin' thread drift alive, I'll add my two cents. . .

Many people have found themselves becoming "missile hazards" aboard ships. The higher up in the superstructure, the more the ship's rolling movements are magnified. In rough seas, the bridge of a ship can get very exciting. Of the broken bone injuries I saw aboard ship, most were on the bridge in rough seas. The other was from a filing cabinet that launched itself across the personnel office.

Trying to explain how you eat chow on a ship always brings disbelief from some who have never been there. If you have never held your tray at an angle with a grip on your drink in one hand and the silverware in the other hand, you just haven't experienced seagoing life. Waiting for the ship to roll level and grabbing a bite before getting a grip again is an experience. Gotta love it!

 

[RonMar]

Keepin' thread drift alive, I'll add my two cents. . .

Guilty as charged, but having ate many meals as you just described, I couldn't pass up the rolling chair