Still no gas

It's been two weeks and Charlotte is still facing a gas shortage.
People are rushing for gas and turning the situation into a state of emergency.

With a quarter tank, I drove to work last Thursday with hopes of finding some gas on the way but no luck. The two stations that had gas on the way home had long lines and maybe an hour wait. My company issued an email informing us that if we cannot find gas, we are allowed to work from home.

Friday morning, Jason called me up and told me the station down the road had gas. I got there at 7am and lines had already started to form with two police cars directing traffic and standing by incase a fight broke out. By afternoon, they were out of gas again.
Even at $4.19/gallon, I was glad my car is full.

Yesterday, we saw cars circling the Shell station near Walmart because they saw a tanker parked there. People are desperate.
Some cars will even follow behind a tanker just to see where it goes to get gas.

Mayor McCrory said he had considered ordering that gasoline be rationed, but decided that would create more panic and hoarding, which industry experts say are exacerbating the problem.
We've turned into vultures. But who is to blame?

Jason's debut

Here's a short extract from yesterday's concert - tunes from the fifties and Broadway.

For the love of soaps

Here's my latest addiction...... handmade soaps!

I bought these myself recently from here, here and here :And Jason got me these for my birthday from here :


And I bought a whole bunch of these.. and recently ordered more from this very wonderful lady as a collaboration with my scrubbies :


Yummy yummy-licious!

Insane

On Thursday, the price of gas (petrol) was $3.65.
Yesterday, Jason called me on the way to work and told me that I better go get my car filled up.
I went out in the afternoon and there were atleast 15 cars all waiting in line at the gas station. I drove to the next one, and there were atleast 30 cars and causing traffic havoc. I waited in line. After 15 minutes, the guy who works there comes around to tell us that they were out of gas.

So I drove to two more gas stations and they were also out of gas. By now, the price of gas was already $4.29 per gallon. I finally found one station with 20 cars all waiting like vultures for gas. I was hoping that there'd still be some gas left for me when my turn came. There was.

Relieved, I went home.

Today, we saw atleast 5 stations all out of gas. And one station had gas for $5.75 ! And cars were still rushing for it!

This is a crime.

Oh, Ike, what have you done?

I've discovered the secret pre-teen language decoder

http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertranslator.html

Where's Bernie?

I have been blogging here just to account for dates and facts to help me remember better.
And also trying to calm my nerves.

Thank you Suzie !

Remember our wonderful groomer who so graciously rescued us and a sticky cat and did not want to accept our money?

Well, I ordered a print from this lady in Canada and it came in the mail today! I'll get it framed and will give it to the wonderful groomer this week.

When paths cross for a reason

I find out on Thursday that our two managers from China and South Africa are in town for two weeks. I was told that the manager from China has been food-challenged all week and is just dying for some good authentic Chinese food. So far, she's been getting only Americanized Chinese food here. With some encouragement from Jason, I emailed her and told her that Jason and I will be happy to take them to our favorite Chinese restaurant on Saturday.
I immediately got a happy and relieved call back from her.

So we picked them up from the hotel today and brought them to Tin Tin Buffet.

After lunch, we brought them shopping at the mall because the Johannesburg colleague wanted to buy some Nike shoes and clothes for her daughter and mom.
We then took them back to their hotel.

I've always enjoyed meeting people from different cultures. It's like getting a glimpse of a country you've never been before and also puts another place to visit on my list.

I think we may have done a good deed today because we found out they were practically stuck in the hotel with no transport of their own. The other manager who is staying at the same hotel had gone home to Atlanta for the weekend leaving these two foreigners to fend for themselves. There is practically nowhere to eat or go around the hotel if you do not have a car.
In Charlotte, you will not find a taxi or a bus easily.

They are super nice and Jason and I are super pleased to have been able to make their stay a little more pleasant.