Well. Gas prices jumped 50 cents a gallon today. Twenty more cents and gas will have doubled in price in the past year.

Okay, I know that more than one of you (especially those of you living in other countries) are thinking, "Oh, too bad!" And you can certainly make a case that Americans should pay $6 a gallon like the rest of the world.

But this is a different issue. My speculation is that we're now paying upwards of $3 a gallon (whereas yesterday it was upwards of $2 a gallon) because of Katrina. Refineries all along the Gulf coast are wiped out, and so we pay more . . . because, why? Because when the surplus runs out (in 4 months? 6 months?), the oil companies won't make as much profit? So they have to make their profit now instead? Are oil barons in danger of starvation??

This isn't a matter of international justice. It's a matter of fat pigs getting fatter. And I'm sorry, I'm not going to allow liberal guilt over being a pampered American deter me from wishing those pigs would all roast in hell.

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And in other news . . . The podcasting/commuting synergy is fraught with difficulty. I bought a bunch of rechargeable batteries and a charger to keep my MP3 player ready to go . . . but I think the rechargeable batteries are not strong enough to power the player at a level that will make the FM-tuner thingey work well enough. (The tuner thingey plugs into the car cigarette lighter, and the MP3 player plugs into it. The tuner thingey picks up the signal from the MP3 player and broadcasts it through the car radio; you have to tune the radio and the thingey to the same unused FM frequency. Kevin talked about such a device years ago, and I had no idea what he was telling me . . . ) Problem is, the signal from the MP3 player isn't loud enough to drown out the weak FM stations, which are ubiquitous all up and down the dial. ("Dial." Ha. How quaint!) Or maybe the car radio tuner is too strong; the device worked perfectly well in the Hyundai, but not so well in the Subaru.

Also, the MP3 player I have is less than optimum. I have been thinking a lot about the features I want in such a device . . . (I almost said "iPod." I want an iPod! I want an iPod! But that Apple-hater I live with will never bring himself to buy me one, I fear . . . ) A menu would be nifty. And also, I would really like a way to set bookmarks; I always seem to arrive at my destination about 35 minutes into a 50-minute broadcast, and before I set out again I have to manually advance the thing to the 35-minute mark (akin to setting a slow-moving digital clock). And some sort of battery that doesn't crap out every 2 hours would be nice, too . . . (those iPods can be charged from the car battery, you know . . . ) More storage would be nice but I'm not greedy; I think 4G would do nicely . . .

In the meantime, I'm devouring Books on CD. Just finished Murder on the Iditarod Trail, and I checked out John Grisham's The Summons from the college library today, so I'd have something to listen to on the way home, since I'd used up the stuff on my MP3 player - only when I got to the car I discovered that I had Volume 2, so it began with Disk 8. Sigh. Stopped at the library on the way home and got a novel by Arturo Perez Reverte (perfect!), 3 hours' worth of Dragnet, from back when it was a radio show, and some mystery involving hunters that I could probably just return right now . . . I don't think hunters will float my boat. (I would really love to find episodes of The Shadow. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" One of my earliest memories is listening to that show with my father on Sunday evenings in the house on Chestnut St. . . .)

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In other news, although I am completely exhausted, classes are going very well. The FY comp is going much better now that I'm finding readings rather than using a textbook - although, of course, finding readings puts a certain onus on me, at least right now. And as I was telling Louise tonight, starting classes feels like trying to pull a heavily-laden wagon from a dead stop . . . after a while there will be the inertia of motion to help, and things will get easier. But right now, I'm pushing as hard as I can . . . I like the students a lot, though, which makes it all worthwhile. And although I am bone-cracking weary already (teaching on four days is brutal, I've decided - I really like having days when I don't have to be "on"), I'm feeling very upbeat about it all.

Well, I have a stack of essays to read. I only have to write encouraging marginal comments, not evaluate the damned things, so it'll go quickly - but it's already 10 pm and I will fall asleep over the stack if I don't get back at it . . . I'm looking forward to the upcoming 4-day weekend . . .