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I watched the Olympics opening ceremonies last Friday night, and was dutifully impressed, just as the Chinese government planned for…

i forgot to mention earlier, i don’t think that gas prices will go back down. a new standard has been set. we’ll get used to paying these prices for a while, and we’ll be understanding about it because “we’re in a war” and “the economy’s suffered a setback” due to the devastation from the hurricane… and pretty soon we’ll be SO used to paying these prices that we won’t notice that they aren’t going down again. just my theory. say goodbye to $1.50 gas. say goodbye to $2.50 gas. we went to the movies tonight and, in the parking lot, walked past possibly the largest pickup truck i’ve ever seen. it was… well, “fat” i guess is a good word for it. and tall. i said to doc “i bet that person is sorry they bought that gas-guzzling monstrosity now.” maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. but like i said earlier, i’m not terribly upset by the rise in gas prices, if it forces people to consider transportation alternatives.

gas prices have shot up, i would say, about 35-40 cents per gallon in the past week. it’s now difficult to find gas that’s less than $3 per gallon for regular octane. just a year or so ago, prices topped $2 for the first time that i can remember, and have more than doubled in the last 3 years or so. from what i can gather, in inflation-adjusted dollars, these prices are some of the highest in u.s. history. so thursday night after work, i filled up the tank ($2.99 per gallon), put the car in the garage, and left it there. friday i found a way to get to work on public transportation. it took longer, but i got some nice walking in that i wouldn’t have otherwise. it’s not that i really have a problem with gas prices being high like they are. i hope the effect is that people will use their cars less and walk/bike/take public transport more. i hope that the sales of giant gas-guzzling vehicles drops like a rock. maybe our pollution levels will decrease and we’ll have fewer red and orange pollution alert days. it’s not like we really have anything to complain about. gas prices here are some of the lowest around the world. in europe, they pay something like $5-$7 per gallon.