Saturday, May 17, 2008

Elephant Bar


I am so excited. Josh has been looking to find something in the food/hospitality industry and he did it. Josh got hired as a server at the brand new Elephant Bar Restaurant in Dublin, California. The guy he interviewed with said that he did better than some seasoned servers that he interviewed. He will have about two weeks of training and then the grand opening is June 13th. This is such a great opportunity for him!!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown



"The fastest riders on two wheels will return to Infineon Raceway in 2008 for another great doubleheader weekend of racing at the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts."

Josh is gettng the opportunity to bartend at this 3 day event. We absolutley love watching motorcycle races. So even though Josh has to work it should be a great weekend for him. I wish the girls and I could go for a while. You never know maybe we will drag Great Nana out of the house for a couple hours.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

xoxo

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Tips on Pumping Gas

I got this in an email and I thought I would share!

"I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... But here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon. Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount. Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS! WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON...

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil. These companies import Middle Eastern oil: Shell.......................... 205,742,000 barrels, Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels, Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels, Marathon/Speedway.. 117,740,000 barrels, Amoco...........................62,231,000 barrels, Citgo gas is from South America. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (Oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel) Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil: Sunoco..................0 barrels, Conoco..................0 barrels, Sinclair................0 barrels, B P/Phillips...........0 barrels, Hess........................0 barrels, ARCO....................0 barrels.

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas Buyers.. It's really simple to do. Now, don't wimp out at this point.... Please forward this on to everyone you know.