Where I do get lost is if I'm actually physically working on something. It takes a lot of motivation to get out to the garage and start something, but once I'm out there I will lose hours and straight up forget to eat if I'm elbow deep in a project.

My first engine swap was complete in a matter of weeks because of this. My current engine swap is approaching year 2 and it's barely started, but my job situation and kid situation have severely reduced my opportunities for having enough energy to start working.

Wiring is something that gets me - I frequently read car builders absolutely dread wiring, but the zen of designing the circuits, tracing the wires, crimping connections, bundling harnesses, etc. just disappears the time.

Holy shit…

Just saw diesel for over $8.

Regular here took a sudden rise yesterday. I saw $2.55 last night. It was $2.25 a couple of days ago

In the burbs, it just dipped below $4. That $8 diesel has to be a mistake.

Mobil in the city next to Costco. Never noticed they had E85.

https://i.imgur.com/UYc0au1.jpg


Control suburban Speedway.

https://i.imgur.com/wvmGdEj.jpg



Edit: I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Pizzeria Uno sucks, it sucks it’s been exported, and it sucks that’s what people think is Chicago pizza.

I run into quite a few Chicagoans and nothing triggers them harder than insinuating that all pizza is the same.

The sad truth is for all intents and purposes, New York pizza is better.

Costco has frozen Motor City Pizza Co, which is probably the best frozen pizza I've ever had. It approaches how much I like Pizza Hut, which tells you where I fall in the pizza spectrum.

Maybe…but it would be some specific New York pizza, not “New York style pizza.”

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my introduction to Chicago style pizza was at a restaurant called “Conan’s Pizza”, just off the Drag in Austin. Thick crust edges, lots of “depth” to both the structure and flavors, and some amazing cheese choices. I also think their brick oven had several spells cast on it for “awesomeness” and “deliciousness.”

The folks working there were mostly UT students, but management seemed to be real restaurant people. They were up front about “our pizza is our own take on Chicago style,” and “we think it’s as close as you will get outside the Chicago metro area.”

Nowadays, most chain pizza is pretty generic. While I have a geographical loyalty to Little Caesars, and Domino’s Pizza, as like me, they are Southeastern Michigan natives, but their current products seem to max out at “boy, the high school cafeteria ladies outdid themselves today.”

But…There’s a relatively local chain called “VIA 313” that makes Detroit style pizza. Not “college town” pizza, or “we’re trying to make someone else’s style of pizza,” but the kind of stuff the founders of the company ate before they moved away from Detroit. And it’s pretty dang good, too.

Maybe a better way to put it is 9 times out of 10 I prefer thin crust over pan.

New York thin is greasy and floppy cut into slices. Chicago thin has a crispier crust, usually cut into squares. I much prefer the former. There used to be a place who did a good job of the latter, but they’ve closed, as has my New York style go-to.

For pan, the place to go here is Lou Malnati’s. Lou started out at Uno in the 50s, and then opened his own far superior deal. It’s good, but like I said, I want it rarely.


I actually like Pizza Hut, but it really varies by franchise owner. My nearby one used to be good, now it’s not. Domino’s is okay, though I’d say go with their non-pizza offerings.

Indeed, franchise owner variation is something that most pizza chains have let get out of hand. If the master web site says you can order black olives, and you select those for you online order, EVERY franchise should have black olives, or tell you “we’re out” when you try to order. Not so much.

A “formerly local” sandwich chain, Schlotzksy’s, has the same problem. They sell salads, and the menu includes a bunch of dressing options…the closest store “has never had” a particular dressing (which is the default with one salad)…Huh?

Sadly, this restaurant that started as a “hole in the wall” shop in the heart of Austin, is now a corporate minion. Dammit.

I’d almost make a day trip to Austin (about 100 miles each way) just to be able to eat in a “real” Schlotzsky’s restaurant.

Oh, on-topic: around here regular has been slowly descending from about $3.30/gal to $3.14 or so yesterday. End of summer driving season, maybe.

Regular unleaded is back up in CA.

$5.79⁹ at The Stickup
$5.39⁹ at ARCO.
$4.99⁹ at the off-brand station.

At the gas station where I get my car washed. Did not fill up.

https://i.imgur.com/wVIVtEp.jpg



Edit: car wash was $15, which included them vacuuming and doing an interior wipe down.

https://i.imgur.com/27IXh7u.jpg

Much more reasonable at the control suburban Speedway. Speedy Freeze is on the rise though.

Mobil in the city next to the Costco.

https://i.imgur.com/rKCSMRk.jpg

I follow an auto journalist on Instagram that mostly talks about cars but for some reason decided to post a picture of gas prices in California. Nothing brings out the social media crazies like mentioning:
- Gas prices during a democratic presidential term
- KKKalifornia

Gas has gone up nearly a dollar in 2 weeks here. Crazy.

Some time last week, some local stations started bouncing the price of regular up from about $3.05 to about $3.59 per gallon. My go-to grocery/gas station was still at $3.15 when I filled up, then a few days later they went to $3.59 as well.

Since the weekend, prices have been slowly floating downward, with most in the $3.36 +/- range nearby. No idea at all what bounced prices up, or why they’re settling down.

It seems to have been the Libya flooding. The oil futures market jumped up on fears Libya would lose output.

That is somehow reassuring. And the local, slow settling down of prices now also makes sense - to an extent.

$6.39 for regular. Ouch. My wallet.

Average here is $3.59

Realized on the way to my parents' that I needed to fill up and nowhere had E85 so I had to switch back to good ol' E10. Cost $108 to put in 30 gallons and the pump was slow enough that we had time to go in, use the potty, dilly-dally over what snacks to get, wait in line, get back out to the pump, and still sit there for several more minutes. On the plus side I averaged 19+mpg doing 60mph for the 80 mile trip.

Prices have dropped slightly to $7.60/gallon, regular.

That’s an “on the plus side” mpg?

For “truck” any two digit city MPG is “good”. Nearly 20 MPG on the highway is also “good” because pick up trucks’ aerodynamics are…lacking.

Filled up today at $3.19⁹ at the grocery/gas station. Others around were not much more, but Gas Buddy says there are at least a few places asking $3.70⁹ “nearby”. The app does not say what sorts of “other services” come with gas that’s 50¢/gallon more expensive than almost everywhere else.

Yep, my last tank of mostly in-town driving on E85 was 11.0mpg.

$3.49 yesterday in the MA suburbs which surprised me. It was enough in the boondocks that I expected pirate prices, but instead it was a small full service Shell. Closer to my house spotted $3.69.

“Cheap” Mobil in the city next to the Costco:

https://i.imgur.com/ukoUIHM.jpg


Control suburban Speedway:

https://i.imgur.com/ASiGOjn.jpg

Speedy Freeze holding steady.

We were near Big Bend National Park this past week, WAY out west. The area is quite remote, and somewhat like other “remote” areas, some things are priced as if they got first class airfare out there. For example, at the junction of TX118 and FM 170 is an Alon station. They were out of mid-grade and premium gas, and their regular was priced at $4.29⁹. There’s another Alon station INSIDE Big Bend National Park, whose prices were about 18¢ lower. Oh, and there’s a Sunoco station in Lajitas (site of the “world renowned” Lajitas Golf Resort), but they don’t have a price sign posted, and nobody’s stopped there and reported the price to Gas Buddy, but I’ll bet they have “Golf Resort”-level prices.

Then we got back to San Antonio yesterday afternoon. $2.75⁹ at our preferred grocery/gas location. We were very pleased with that…

A couple days ago, I drove past a local Stickup and saw E85 for sale. First time I can recall seeing E85 locally.

$4.29⁹ per gallon. This is CA, and a Stickup (Chevron) to boot. But it still felt high, even for them. I'm not feeling the alcohol savings.

Maybe it's a promotion - for every 20 gallons of expensive E85, you get a free Fifth of a whiskey of your choice. But I didn't see a promo sign, and didn't inquire within the mini-store.

Control Speedway over the weekend. Finally have some winter prices.

https://i.imgur.com/kgGvRdE.jpg

Control suburban Speedway. First time since I started the thread it’s been below $3.

https://i.imgur.com/Gek1QAO.jpg

Speedy Freeze won’t budge. We need to invade a country.


Mobil in the city by Costco.

https://i.imgur.com/LEhqSNa.jpg

Saw $2.59 at the Speedway near my house last night.
We have a Costco near us now. The wife says it’s always the best price.

Prices seem to have stabilized, but what I have been noticing lately is the price discrepancy between cash/credit, normally $.10-$.15 a gallon, has been closer to $.25 a gallon. in a related vein, the jump to go from 87 to 89 is over a dollar a gallon!

The price of regular gas around me has bounced around for a while. It’s settling at around $2.35, +/-. It still jumps quite a bit at Valero stations (a refiner brand), with somewhat time related but lower changes at other stations.

I don’t want to be deep enough in the news to see what might be “causing” these changes. Fortunately we don’t use much fuel anyway, so instead of being a major issue with commuting, it’s more of an academic subject for me.

Groupon sent me an offer for a discount Costco membership, which was tempting, but I doubt I’d actually use it. I’m too hooked on Instacart.

Instacart does Costco. Sometimes that's the only way to see what's actually in stock at the local store. Costco still thinks it's 2005 and that people want to go to a physical store and browse to see whether or not their desired items are available.

To be honest, sometimes I DO want to actually look at stuff to decide if it’s what I want. But not usually Costco-type stuff.

Fuel prices aside, does anyone else see stations with car washes doing promotions? Around here I see two types: fill up and get a discount on the car wash, or (a more recent thing) buy a car wash and get a discount on the gas.

We’ve had the bait-and-switch version around here forever. The discount with car wash is up on the board and “with car wash” is in fine print.

I do sometimes like browsing a store, and I feel it’s a necessity for produce.

Good to know! Thanks!


Edit: of course, in terms of checking what’s in stock, Instacart is pretty hit and miss. That might be a Kroger problem tho.