Tuesday, June 26, 2007

1st Camping Trip Of The Year - Pontiac Lake State Park

Pontiac Lake State Park - IT'S NOT IN PONTIAC!

We finally got out into a state park for a couple of night this past weekend - we've camped here before so we knew the layout. It truly is one really nice park - and thankfully not at all overcrowded. From speaking to one of the DNR people, she explained that it's likely that a lot of people associate this park with Pontiac - hence the slogan above! Although maybe we shouldn't publicize it.


Our camping area was great - grassy, spacious, a couple of trees for partial shelter. And, unlike last year at Hudson Lake, there were not too many bugs.


Activities were as follows - Friday evening - tent setup, food (chili), fire, relaxation, and a couple of beers. Saturday breakfast (Chili - for me anyway), then fishing - the DNR had put on some fishing demonstrations for the kids - it was really good. Then lunch, then beach - swimming and splashing - then a big long hike in the woods, then dinner then relaxation. Sunday was breakfast, then a DNR mammal education thing for the kids, then tent packing and home. Nice!

So, here are some random poorly taken photos.

Above - I have nothing to back this up, but trust me, it was about 4-5 inches in diameter.

Here's the beach from under the tree which ma wife sat with the dawg while me and the kids went for a swim - the dawg was not allowed on the beach.

This is one of the views from the hilltop on our great big hike.

That's a corner of the lake in which we fished. I'm sure there are some big bass swimming under those lilly pads, but all we caught was a bunch of little blue gill.

And last of all, here's our dawg. Who chewed through her leash, unknown to us, and then proceeded to not even try to run away.

All in all, it was a great weekend - quiet park, nice weather, fun for big people and kids, and the great outdoors.





Thursday, June 07, 2007

2 things that I fail to understand - Lottery Lines and Costco Gas Economists

I rarely play the Michigan Lottery. I've got nothing against it, nor against those who play it; I'm just not that pushed - time and money... neither of which I could be bothered gambling that much.

That said, on occasion, I will play. Recently I did, and I won a whopping $2. Now I'll go to collect this and "re-invest" my winnings. Will I become a millionaire by Friday night? Will I get hit on the head with a coconut? I know which is more likely to happen.

Now with the assistance of the internet, I checked to see if this week was going to be one of the "Mega Weeks", i.e. a huge prize, because if it was, I'd hold off as I really could not be bothered getting in line to put on a lottery ticket. It's not. It's a measly $25,000,000 jackpot.

I am digressing, so here's what makes me wonder. Why is there no line when it is $25 million, but if it were, say $100 million, there would be a line out the door? Are the general lottery-playing public so financially secure that they could not be bothered playing if the prize is ONLY $25 mil? At what point does it become "worth winning"???

Me, I'll take the $25 million. Thanks

Wondrous thing #2 - people lining up for gas at Costco.

I usually fill my tank up at Costco; this is for 2 reasons, the first being that they are consistently 5 to 10 cents a gallon cheaper that everywhere else, and the second being that they are on my commute. As anyone living here knows, the price of gas is going through the roof here, now at around $3.50 a gallon.

These days, it's a 10-minute wait to get to the pump at Costco. Normally, it's nowhere near as busy. I really do not understand!

Do people not understand that, during normal prices, you save the margin between regular gas station prices and costco x the number of gallons you put in your tank? And when the prices rise, that margin is almost always the same; therefore you save the same amount of cash. Why do these people only fill up there during high prices?? Why not all the time???

Also, I'll bet that some of the Yukon / Escalade / Excursion / Hummer drivers will propel their oversized underdesigned guzzlers a good distance to get this cheaper gas. Cos the trip to the gas station don't use no gas!