Cutter's Weekly - from www.cuttersweekly.com

The national average for a gallon of gas is sitting right around $3.88 a gallon. So my question is will anything happen to help bring this back down, or are we going to have to get used to paying $4.00 a gallon? Or is this just the beginning, and before long we will hit $5.00 a gallon? I can remember when I was a teenager and gas was at $1.00 a gallon, and when a new Kroger opened in the area and they got into a gas war with Meijer for a few days where each place had their prices down to $0.10 a gallon! I'm starting to consider what I'm going to do to avoid spending so much of an already tight budget on fuel, and here are some of my options:

Parking the SUV. Luckily I have more than one car, so I have the option of which one to drive. The one I will be leaving at home more often is the 2010 SUV which gets about 20 miles to the gallon. So for now, I'll be soon cruising around in my 2002 Saturn SL2 with Manual transmission. I knew I kept this car for a reason! The Saturn has 180,000 miles on it and can get close to 30 miles per gallon. So if I drive the Saturn that would save me about 20 gallons per month or $80. This will be a sacrifice on my part going from a vehicle with 3,000 miles on it and is still brand new, to a car which has it's side mirrors being held on by Gorilla Glue, moon roof does not work, drivers side window every now and then will not go back up, radio switches channels on it's own, and the wiper blades will go off on their own from time to time. This car is a like a grumpy old man, it's going to do what it wants and does not give a shit what anyone else thinks. It smells like a combination of sweat, alcohol, greasy food, and fish bait.

: 2002 Saturn SL2

Option 2: Using other means of transportation. What have people used since the beginning of time and is an effective way of getting from place to place? Themselves! So walking or running to places is an option, but I'm not sure of how reasonable an option this is for me. First off, I would have to set some parameters to how far I would be willing to travel somewhere on foot, and I'm thinking 5 miles would be a reasonable distance. So where do I go that is within 5 miles? No where, so that idea is out. But the distance I would be willing to travel to some place on a bike would expand to 20 miles and now we are getting some practical options. I could ride a bike every day to work. I would need to purchase a bike to make this happen, because I don't think the old 20" Dyno BMX bike is going to get it done. My other concern is getting ran over by some jack wagon, who failed to see me peddling along. Also, not a fan of coming into work with helmet hair every day and we are currently in monsoon season in Ohio, so for now that idea is out, but still an interesting thought if gas were to ever rise past $5 a gallon.

Public transportation is scary, you have to waste time waiting on a bus, and it's embarrassing, here in Ohio at least it is. Never seen someone waiting at a bus stop that you stop and think, "there's a successful person, they look like they have life figured out, winning!" There is a reason why certain upscale places and locations fight to not allow public bus stops to be put in close by. Like it or not it's a fact of life.

So for now I'll just be cringing every time I go to the pump in the old Saturn, praying to God, Obama, Muammar Gudaffi, and anyone else I can think of, in hopes that we will begin to see some relief at the pumps.

Red's Pitcher Mike Leake aka The Thief

2011-04-19T11:00:00.001-04:00

Mike Leake

So yesterday afternoon Mike Leake was arrested at a downtown Cincinnati's Macy's store for stealing $60 worth of shirts, six shirts at $10 a pop. He was caught on security cameras removing the security tags, and walking out of the store without paying for the merchandise. Why there was even a security tag on a $10 shirt I have no idea, maybe this is why he stole them, thinking something fishy was going on and that these shirts were worth a lot more than what the price tag suggested.

Leake's Mug Shot

This is a complete embarrassment for Leake and the Reds. Leake makes $425,000 a year, and received a $2.3 million signing bonus when the Reds drafted him. So why would someone with that type of money make such a dumb decision? Here are some possible explanations that I have come up with:

1. Leake is actually broke. He has spent all of his money living the Charlie Sheen lifestyle in his short time in the major leagues. Drugs, women, & a shady social circle has led him to this. Charlie Sheen is a big Reds fan by the way, coincidence? Probably not.

2. Tiger Blood DNA - Leake, like many other athletes and celebrities might suffer from the belief that he is above everyone else and the rules of society do not apply to him. When caught doing things like this, he should be allowed to just sign a couple of autographs and everything is good. He is above the law and can do what he wants, when he wants.

3. Leake is a Kleptomaniac- The definition of kleptomania is a strong impulse to steal, especially when there is no obvious motivation. What better example of this than Mike Leake! They need to add his picture next to this definition in the dictionary. No matter how hard you look and look, there is no reasonable motivation for him to steal shirts from Macy's, other than the fact that he just gets some type of satisfaction from shop lifting. So Cincinnati business owners beware, Sticky Fingers Leake could be coming to a location near you.

4. It was all a big misunderstanding. Many of the Reds faithful are putting their blindfolds on, and covering their ears, waiting for the Reds and Leake to come out with the explanation that this was all just a mistake. Leake probably was only removing the tags while he was thinking about it so that he would not be embarrassed in the clubhouse later when N.L. MVP Joey Votto pointed out that not only was Leake wearing an awful looking cheap shirt, but even worst that it still had the security tag on it. Then after removing the tags, Leake who was in deep thought about strategies for his next pitching start, walked out without paying. It slipped his mind because he is such a dedicated player that his thinking about making the perfect pitch 24/7. Don't worry Reds fans, you know Leake is innocent and soon enough it will be proven! And Leake will be filing a law suit against Macy's for entrapment and public defamation of character.

All kidding aside this cannot come at a worst time for the Reds pitching staff who has struggled so far this year, and Leake will more than likely miss several starts over this, leaving the Reds even more shorthanded while they wait for Cueto and Bailey to finish their rehab assignments. Oh, and I hear the Bengals are looking for a new QB and Leake would fit in great with the Bengals crew, so maybe he should test out that strong arm in the NFL.

2nd Chance Public Service Announcement

2011-04-15T14:42:00.000-04:00

So funny for those like me who do not like 2nd chance users.