Just enter your zip code in the site below, and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gasoline in your zip code area. It's updated every evening.
http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx
Be a good neighbor and pass this along.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Gas Prices by ZipCode :o)
Monday, May 12, 2008
We're Back!
Wow – what a great four days we had. As we mentioned previously, Beth and I headed to Springfield, Missouri for Mother’s Day with my Mom.
We hit the road at about 8:00 AM on Friday morning, leaving the laptops at home :o) Can’t say that I did not have to bring a little bit of “work” with me, but I was able to get it done Sunday morning (our main Mother’s Day was with my Step-Sister and her family on Saturday evening, so no comments about working on Mother’s Day). We were watching Ratatouille (very cute and enjoyable), and then some old Western’s, which we only watch when we visit my Mom and Step-Dad, which is perfect for a “lazy” day.
But I have thing out of order... So back to the drive on Friday, we had 585 miles to go, ½ a pack of gum, our Shades, and some Tea and Coffee. We got my I-Zoom out of the glove-box to ensure a near seamless transition through the Toll-Booths (this is a new experience for us here Indiana), and ventured onto the Toll-Road.
Beth had done some research for her “controlled” Obsession regarding Route 66, and we had a stop to make near Rolla, Mo. But that was approximately 2/3 of the way there, and we experienced many miles of neck-craning looks at the old Route 66 that is adjacent to the Illinois Hwy 55 and Missouri Hwy 44, from Chicago to Springfield (Mo) respectively. We spent about 30 minutes at John’s Modern Cabins, and then resumed our journey to my Mom’s.
We arrived after 10 ½ hours on the road, including the 30 minutes at the cabins and a Steak & Shake lunch stop. Needless to say, we received a warm welcome.
Saturday was a lazy morning to start with coffee and the paper, and then I headed out for a 90 minute jog through greater Springfield, got cleaned up, and headed to my Step-Sister’s for some ham (both pork and human :o), turkey, homemade potato salad, and great family fun. My niece was there with her daughter, who is a splitting image of her mother. My family has taken Beth in as one of their own, just like her family has done with me – what a wonderful and lasting gift.
Sunday morning was spent again lazing around the house, with coffee, the paper, Tim Russert, and some great discussions on the upcoming elections. Breakfast consisted of some brownies (Yum!) and then a little later, a snack of Ruffles With Ridges and some Southwestern Dip (we bought that on Friday, thinking that was my Mom’s favorite since she had it when we were down in December, only to find out that she had bought it then for us, we had a great laugh over that). As mentioned above, I sneaked in some work, but they understand and it did not disrupt the flow at all. We then had a great discussion with them regarding Pay It Forward, but that will be an entry later this week. Beth and I headed out to get a few groceries and stamps for my Mom, and then I grilled some Pork Chops. It was a great day, and we know that the purpose of our trip was achieved in spending Mother’s Day with my Mom.
Today, we hit the road at about 7:00 AM, with the sun shining and Blacky purring (we got 26 mpg going both ways, we were shocked!). We put in a couple hours, then crossed our fingers as we tried a couple of wineries we saw on the way down just South of Meramec Caverns. One was closed, but the St. James Winery was open. While not as good as California wines, we liked their dry reds, and ended up getting three cases to add to our basement wine collection (not quite a cellar, it consists of seven racks, years 2000 – 2007, that is about 60% filled now :o). The rest of the drive was not too eventful, but the details I will again leave to Nutwood Junction. We got back home around 6:30 PM, and the rest of the evening has been “ketchup” <LOL>
Hope you had a great weekend and an even better Mother’s Day :o)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Can I Get Personal For a Moment?
Alas, with my recent travels, I forgot to mention that I was at the Minneapolis Airport, and not only that, if I can get a little personal, I had to use the facilities.
I am pleased to announce that there were no awkward footsie games, or such :o)
So, no entrapment, and all is well.
As you may have read on Beth's journal, we are headed to my Mom's for Mothers Day, so no new entries for a few days. For all you mothers out there, kudos to you, and may you have a great day!
Have a great weekend :o)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Saskatoon and Spring Cruising
This is only a three day week for me, and I am swamped. I did want to take the time to put up two postcard pictures, one showing the flatness of Saskatoon, and one showing the river lushness through town.
Yesterday was wonderful, walking out to my car, breathing deep the smell of the honeysuckle, I immediately started to relax. After getting into Blacky, the top came down (car that is :o), the CD player got cranked, and I cruised home. I love the warm weather and what a great way to unwind from work. Happy Spring!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Saskatoon Pictures
I will not include much text since I have already made two entries.
The quality is not that good, but I will be getting a new digital camera this year. These were taken on my cell phone :o)
How lucky, the first afternoon I arrived, there
was a domonstration against several legislative
bills. This was right across the street from my
hotel.
This is a picture of the River
that runs through Saskatoon.
With most of the land being prairie,
it is strange having such a lush river. The river
is not too deep though, but I did see several boats.
Here, I am on on the second floor, outside the
doctor's office, looking back down mainstreet.
How cool that there is an entire town inside
the building. The building does not look that
imposing from the outside.
This is an area at the back
of the building. Due to the
many people that were
taking old farm machinery and
selling for scrap, there was a
concerted effort by the province,
in conjunction with the Agricultural
Hall of Fame, to preserve the equipment.
All equipment in this building is from
1910-1930 Vintage.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
BOOMTOWN
Ah, what a beautiful afternoon. My meetings were finished today at 11:45 AM, so I had the afternoon free (I love it when a plan comes together, this is how it has been at the last three Region 2 meetings). So, I brought my meeting materials up to the room, donned my sunglasses (yes, they were definitely necessary here, it was sunny and in the low 70’s), and hit the pavement.
My navigation tool was a Convention and Event Planning Guide map from a welcome package, and the distance from my hotel, along the river walk, through the park, to the final destination “Western Development Museum” was only about two inches. Who knew that it would be a one hour walk. About fifteen minutes into my walk, I stopped to ask a gentleman which way to the WDM, and he said “that is a long way away”. I laughed, and said that’s okay, which way? He gave me the directions, and it was “Eeexxxittt, Stage Left” [this is a test to see who gets the reference] :o)
After the first fifteen minutes along the riverwalk, it was another 45 minutes through residential neighborhoods. As I walked along, I could not help but notice the dust clouds as the cars went past. Because of the cold temperatures here, and the damage to the vehicles, they no longer use salt on the roads during the winter – only sand. So there were sand dust clouds as cars went past. They had snow here last weekend, so this is the first weekend that the street cleaners could be out (I think I saw at least four of them).
As I strolled down the sidewalk, I could only marvel at the fact that the grass was just starting to turn (70% brown still), and close examination of the bushes and trees showed little green buds bursting at the seams, ready to break out into luscious green leaves at any moment. There were many majestic conifer trees, and magnificent Dutch Elms lining the streets of this older section of Saskatoon (per one of the residents, planted a while back by the city, cause der arnt any trees in da praireee). The houses were not that large, and many had a shotgun design. Most of the houses had chimneys, and even the shotgun style houses had basements.
I reached the Western Development Museum, 1910 BOOMTOWN Saskatoon, and the building was very non-de script. I paid my $8.50 and entered the museum proper. The museum was broken into three areas: first was the Transportation Gallery, with many 1910 – 1930 era buggies, carriages, and vehicles; second was a replica of a 1910 town, all indoors, with a main street, complete with carriages and cars parked on the edges of the road; and last was a Prairie Work in progress.
There are a total of four Western Development Museums in the province, and they have 250 antique vehicles between them. They have all been beautifully restored. As part of the Transportation Gallery, they also had a St. Louis streetcar, and a model railroad with era appropriate models. As a model railroader wannabe, it was really cool.
The Prairie Work was interesting because they had a Railroad Steam Engine, tenders, and flatcars. In addition, they had recreated the aboriginal dwellings and a sod hut that most settlers used for their first few years on the farm. The 1910 time frame is important because this was when the area really started to boom based on the 1872 Dominion Lands Act of that offered homesteads of 160 acres for $10 dollars if the settler lived on the homestead for at least six months each year for three years, build a suitable home, broke at least 30 acres of land and seeded at least 20 acres. Many families came from England, Scotland, France, and Germany during this time; typically with the man coming for the first year, followed by his wife and children.
The following recreations were included in the indoor representation of a typical Saskatchewan town:
- Telephone Operator’s House
- Harness Shop
- Livery Stable
- Blacksmith Shop
- General Store
- Real Estate Office and Law Office
- Dentist’s Office (Yikes, usually the doctor did all dental work until a town was large enough to justify a dentist. The tools of the trade back then were very crude – I will never complain again :o)
- Doctor’s Office (Exam $1-$5, Amputation $15 for fingers and $50 for limbs, Surgery $100-$300)
- Drugstore (1000’s of bottles on the walls)
- Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP) – complete with a little one person jail. From 10/01/1909 through 09/30/1910, the biggest crime was Drunk & Disorderly.
- Church
- School
- Laundry
- Hardware Store
- Arctic Ice Company (blocks cut from river and stored, then delivered)
- Railway Station
- Implement Dealer
- Bank of Nova Scotia
- Craft Parlor
- Dry Goods
- City Garage
- Photo Studio
- Fire Hall
- Town Office
- Clock Shop (again a sign of prosperity for a town, and also included jewelry, china, and silver)
- Butcher Shop
- Print Shop
- Barber Shop and Pool Hall (the man’s place)
- Café
All in all, it was a very enjoyable way to spend my afternoon, learning about life on the prairie at the turn of the last century.
After all that walking, I headed back to the City Center, and went to an English Pub I discovered on Thursday, and had a few brews and some fish and chips.
Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I enjoyed mine. Pictures hopefully to follow when I get back to Indiana.
Update: there is one previous entry on Saskatoon details, and two subsequent entries that have some pictures :o)
Friday, May 2, 2008
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (fun to say, Eh!)
Soooo, whut is da deal, why is Ken in Saskatoooooon? Eh!
I had the opportunity to come here, courtesy of my company, for a Regional Meeting of the Project Management Institute (PMI). I am the president of the local chapter, PMI Michiana, in PMI Region 2 (there are 21 chapters in Region 2, from Saskatoon to Central Iowa to Central Indiana to Fort Wayne to Milwaukee to Minnesota to Manitoba and back to Saskatoon). We get together twice per year to exchange ideas and learn how we can be better stewards of our chapters, thereby providing value to our members.
This trip, I am concentrating on getting more information regarding outreach; which for the PMI Michiana Chapter, means reaching out to our remote members in Michigan and Warsaw Indiana, finding ways to interface with the community and local businesses, and finding ways to give back to the community. We currently have 83 members, and I want to grow that number substantially in the next 2-3 years. With that in mind, today was a productive day, with some good ideas on how to proceed.
But enough about why I am here – tell me more about Saskatoon? you might ask :o)
Well, Saskatoon is about 300 km from the US border (they are metric here, so that would be 186.4 miles), which puts Saskatoon as central in the Saskatchewan province (that’s right, provinces versus states in Canada). The temperature range here is -22 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The motto here is Saskatoon Shines because they get 2381 hours of sunshine here per year, making it one of the sunniest parts of Canada.
The city is about 100 years old, and has a population of 208,300. The Saskatoon area grows 50% of the Canadian export corps, consisting of wheat, barley, rye, and oats. They also have the biggest Potash mining operation, a subset of which is uranium ore.
The name Saskatoon is derived from the Cree Indian name “mis-sask-quah-toonia,” a local indigenous berry (which I had on my salad as a vinaigrette tonight, sweet, but good with some fresh pepper).
Some fun facts:
- In the 1970’s, the winter Olympics were held in Saskatoon. They had to build Trash Mountain, because the only other way to ski around here is to ski into a hole in the ground.
- It is so flat here, that you can watch your dog run away for three days.
- There have been 98 reported UFO sightings in the area.
- July is the only month they have never had snow here.
- Al Capone used to go to Moose Jaw (near Saskatoon) to get whiskey to run back do Chicago during prohibition.
I plan on walking around some tomorrow afternoon, so hope to have some more facts to share.
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