What's Up With That?

Yesterday I filled up at the base gas station. Gas was $2.19/gal for regular. Tonight as Linda and I were out driving around it struck me. I actually felt like I was getting a DEAL for paying ONLY $2.19! Gas prices have become outrageous in the past year. While claims of Katrina and Rita interfering with the refineries may have some merit, I have to wonder if that is really true when one considers the profits posted by the oil companies during the first quarter of last year. Talk about greed on a global scale!

294% profit?!? 165%? 125%? And poor Conoco-Phillips at only 44%. With profits like that I have to wonder why the prices at the pump have to fluctuate so often and so dramatically unless there is some profit margin control that is really running prices.

OK. It's Sunday afternoon and I'm pretty bored I think. I'm watching Cat Woman on HBO. It's as bad as all the reviews said it was. I wonder if we're getting too much reality these days so we're turning to fantasy for escape. Batman, Spiderman, Cat Woman, DOOM, Aeon Flux. Movies taken from cartoons, comics and video games. I guess too much reality isn't what I mean, but rather reality is that the world has too much war, disaster, pain and suffering and television brings it directly into our living rooms, into our lives. So we escape in whatever way we can, at least for a few hours at a time.

We're starting to make plans for our trip home for Thanksgiving. We're really getting excited about seeing everyone again. I can't wait for it to be home for good once again! As nice as the parish is here at Holy Spirit, we really miss Holy Name of Mary and Fr. John. It'll be great going to Mass there again, too.

Maintaining some semblance of normalcy, Linda went to a craft fair at the church yesterday and got a couple of nice Christmas items. Next Saturday is another fair called Christmas Village, in Nashville which I think we plan to attend. And we will be coming in for the Covington Craft Fair in December if it is still on. When the going gets tough, the tough go SHOPPING!

Take care, and God bless!

Dean