Minor Katrina update

I got caught in a convoy of about 10 Arkansas National Guard jeeps, Medic units, tonight. They were headed for Louisiana to help with the aftermath. (Doesn't sound like much, but it's all my town has) Last night, at the gas station, I encountered some tree-trimmers also heading down.

I know MLGW is sending people. I suspect KCPL will as well. (My sister's father-in-law will probably go)

We had power outages here in Memphis. Rhodes College had to cancel classes. Trees were down all over my commute route, but not nearly as many as that one July.


A lot of the refugees who came up here, are going ahead and registering their kids for school. They eem to understand they wonm't be getting home any time soon.

A depressing economic post

My father was working for minimum wage in 1962.
It took him 2 minutes to earn a first class stamp to mail a letter.
It took him 15 minutes to earn a gallon of gasoline.
It took 24 minutes to earn a gallon of milk, and 26 to earn a dozen eggs.

I was working for minimum wage in 1987.
It took me 4 minutes to earn that same first class stamp.
Gasoline took me between 13 and 16 minutes, depending on where I got it.
The eggs only took me 14 minutes, but the milk took me 41.
For what it's worth, bread took 4 minutes, assuming I bought the cheap stuff.

Today, it takes 4 1/3 minutes to earn the stamp. The gas, as of this morning, is 32 minutes' work.
The eggs are 14 minutes and milk is 38 minutes. The same loaf of bread now takes 9.7 minutes.

Consider, that the average household doesn't use more than 2-3 gallons of milk/week. Yet for my husband and I to get to work takes 5 gallons of gas/day. So which is going to hurt or help more: milk requiring 5 fewer minutes/gallon, or gas doubling in time?

Just for further reference,
In the year between my sisters' births, (1973)
Stamp=3 minutes
gas= 14.5 minutes
eggs= 29 minutes
milk= 49 minutes

In the year of Bunny's birth, (1992)
stamp= 4 minutes
gas=13 minutes
eggs=11 minutes
milk=39 minutes
bread=3.5 minutes

Prices taken from http://www.1990sflashback.com/1992/Economy.asp
Minimum wage from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

Method:
(price/minimum wage)*60=minutes/item

Play time again

We got the roles for Tom Saywer today.

Bunny is Aunt Polly.
Obi got Doc Robinson (I forsee a frock coat and string tie)
Jonner and Dollface are townsfolk.

Oh boy, period costuming!

And Bun is planning to call her grandma to see about a rural Missouri accent.

Obi has incipient tonsillitis, so it's off to the dr. tomorrow.