I can't take credit for that picture, but we did take some good ones. I love DC. Even on a crappy weather day it was wonderful. The skies finally cleared up for us to have a great picture session at the monuments. Charlotte was a great tour guide, and we were able to hit the best places in 8 hours. It would be hard for me to accept the high cost of living, but you get what you pay for. DC is the place to be right now. Even though Dallas was ranked #9 in Forbes best cities for single people, it's far from being close to Washington (which holds the #1 ranking). I like where Dallas is going. The long-term plans for downtown, and the recent closing of several ghetto apartments are making a big impact, but I can't imagine us erecting any statues to great Dallasites. If they even threw out the idea, the hispanics would raise a fuss about how Ceasar Chaves deserves one.

calling all idiots

This is a plea to everyone that is quickly influenced by drops in gas prices. Because of my job, I am well aware of the buying habits of divers, and how those trends are affected by gas prices. I watch the sales of trucks and SUVs shift the opposite way of gas prices all the time. This year, people finally realized that the days of cheap gas are gone. I'm not saying it won't drop below $2/gallon ever again, but if it does, it ain't staying there for long. I know this is not good news for the auto makers, but if the consumers would shift their interest to fuel efficiency, then they could charge more for smaller vehicles.

For years, the American drivers have seen value in size and speed. This caused the big three (GM, Ford, and DCX) to shift their production there, and in the end, they made higher profits on those vehicles. They make very little money on cars, because of a couple factors: less economies of scale and production, and less demand on the retail side. Sorry America, but this is an area that we need to look to Europe for insight. European governments add much higher taxes to gas. Ideally, they will then lower taxes on income. Either way, it lowers the demand for gas, and causes the consumers to purchase smaller vehicles. The car manufacturers are then able to charge more for smaller vehicles, because the consumer values MPG efficiency. It might take a bankruptcy or two before they realize they have to make this shift.

They manufacturers have always claimed that they had to make big vehicles because that's what the consumer wanted. This is our chance to tell them that we are changing, and that they had better invest in something other than size, because there's going to be little or no profit in the big vehicles. Gas prices will go up, so when they shoot back up to $4/gallon, don't be stuck with your recent purchase of a gas guzzler.

missing MB

There's no easy way to say it, I lost a good friend. Mary Beth Farmer was my freshmen at fish camp, and out of all my fish, she and I kept in touch the best. It wasn't often, but I always enjoyed talking to her on the phone and getting updates. We had no good mutual friends, so there was never any talk of anyone else, and we could be open and honest, and just talk about anything. The first time we went for a walk, we went to the Bonfire Memorial. I never could have imagined that she would leave this world too soon like those other Ags.

Mary Beth died in a car accident in May. I did not find out until August. It was a devastation I could not understand. Because we only talked every few months, it wasn't strange that we hadn't talked in a while; and there were no mutual friends to tell me when it happened. I am finally to a point that I can post about it. She was an amazing human being, and I wish I could love people the way she did. Mary Beth had graduated from A&M just a week earlier, and she was planning on going into a PHD program back in College Station. If I had told her at fish camp that she was going to stay past her 4 years, she'd say I was crazy. She really didn't care for Aggie life at first, but it was so fun to see her get involved with things.

I will always miss her, but that's just my selfish view of the whole situation. The greater tragedy is that more of the world will never meet her. This post is to introduce you to Mary Beth Farmer, and remind you that there is more to this world than the trivial things that consume our lives. Her life is an inspiration to mine, and I hope it is to yours. Missing the funeral service has been hard. I didn't realized how important it is to have closure with things like that. I look forward to saying goodbye when I visit College Station, but for now, this is the best way I can say farewell, and remember my friend that I miss so dearly.

Thank you for sharing your life with me, I will always remember you MB.