Panic at the Disco

It all started at work today. One of the ladies sent an email that claimed her mother's boss said there would be a gasoline shortage and that you'd better fill up your tank today. I wasn't overly impressed, but rapidly realized that humans, being the dumb panicky animals that they are, coupled with a report on wholesale gasoline increasing from less than $3/gallon Tuesday to $4.85 today, that I should get the car filled up. Of course, it didn't help that I had less than a fourth of a tank left, and that wouldn't last me very many days of commuting. Just for the heck of it, I got a 5 gallon gas can and filled that too. Better too much than too little, and I can always use it in the mower if I don't end up needing it.

I leave work early on Fridays (I work through enough lunches and get enough off hours calls that I'm more than making my hours for the week), and had a leisurely fillup, and grabbed some candles on the off chance I have no power tomorrow night. I live far enough north that my power grid isn't the most stable thing on the planet, so that just made sense as well.

After getting home and letting the dog out, I realized I had run out of food for her. Back out to get dog food. Home again, and I remembered I had run out of beer. It's just not the weekend without beer.

I hopped back into the car and ran up to the local gas station. This is the only station within two or three miles of my place. The image above greeted me as I pulled in. Naturally, I felt happy and superior that I had already filled my tank up, but I was curious as to why all the cars? Talking to the clerk inside, I found out they had run out of every grade of gas earlier that day, and a tanker (you can see it in the background) had just arrived to get them some more. Everyone there was waiting for gas. Everyone. The clerk mentioned that he had been told by folks waiting that many other service stations in the area also were out of gas.

So, obviously, regional supply has been upset to some degree. Is it just a run on the gas stations by folks worried about the storm, perhaps compounded by a lack of trucks shuttling back and forth to Houston to get more gas and keep the normal supply chain running? That's fine, but a massive refinery disruption down there could seriously impact fuel availability and prices. We just don't have enough refinery capacity (let alone more places to drill in to tap domestic oil supplies) to handle emergencies thanks to Congress.

Suddenly, having a full tank and extra to spare didn't seem like such a silly idea.

Ike rolls into Dallas tomorrow. We're still expecting sustained winds at 40mph with gusts over 50, and 2-6" of rain depending on who you ask. I'll have to say that I'm happy my lot is up on a hill.

Plenty of food, ammo, batteries, water, gas, beer, and propane for the grill. I should be fine for anything short of a total breakdown of society for at least two weeks or so if necessary. If nothing else, this makes for a good exercise to see where the disaster kit is lacking.