What Jeff Thinks - Taking a Little Vacation

Happy 4th of July everyone! My family and I are going Sasquatch hunting for a few days. Have a great 4th of July!

Go Twins!

Jeff

Pass the Mayo

I went to bed last night thinking the Wolves messed up and took the right guy in the draft. When I woke up this morning, my wife was already up watching the news and said "the Timberwolves traded that guy they drafted for some guy named "Love."

My heart sank. You knew this was going to happen, right?

Here we go again! McFail! Then, I settled down and poured over the details of the trade on the internet. Basically the Wolves give Mayo, Greg Buckner, Antoine Walker & Marco Jaric to Memphis for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal & Jason Collins. Now, I am not going to pretend to be a big basketball aficionado and break down the X's and O's of this deal. If you want that, Neil K. added a link to an excellent Britt Robson article in his comments on the previous post (thanks Neil!).

Here are my impressions of this trade:

1. Obviously, people are freaking out because of the horrible history the Wolves had had with Kevin McHale trades. His last couple (Boston and Miami) may actually work out in the Wolves favor in the long run. Not that handing Kevin Garnett to Boston didn't "help" them mind you.

2. Let's face the facts - O.J. Mayo will probably turn out to be the next Magic Johnson. That is The Way Things Go. Would he have been happy in Minnesota? Who knows. Will Mayo even remain in Memphis? Who knows. These guys tend to "pout" and demand a trade if they are not HAPPY in the situation. Hey, it's a hard life. See Stephon Marbury for details.

3. It seems that McHale and the Wolves always wanted Love. I give them credit for NOT taking him with the third pick, and actually trading for him to get some additional stuff in return. Love is McHale's kind of guy. Heady. A Gamer. All that crap. Kind of dorky looking, which is perfect. What bugs me the most about Love is that pencil-thin "beard" that "the kids" seem to like. Man I hate those.

4. The Wolves have rid themselves of Marco Jaric and his comedic, yet immoral contract. This move cannot be overstated. Seriously, Jaric must feel like he is stealing every time he gets paid. Now, he is going to marry a supermodel. How bad did this guy suffer in a previous life to get this kind of stuff handed to him?

5. Mike Miller can shoot three's. That's good.

6. The Wolves, I guess, freed up all kinds of cap room for future free agents. The only problem with this is that most basketball players want no part of Minnesota in the winter. Except the heady gamers.

7. Hey, ESPN's Chad Ford likes the trade. Who is Chad Ford? I don't know.

Well, that's all I've got. I know a bit more about baseball, hockey and football than I do about basketball. I tried playing basketball when I was a lad, but I broke my glasses every time. I mean every time.

What do you think about this trade? And more importantly, how about them Twins!!

Jeff

NBA Draft - Thursday Night....

Timberwolves pick 3rd. I'm starting to get that sick feeling.....

10 Years Ago - Xcel Groundbreaking

It was ten years ago today, June 23 1998, that ground was broken for the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. I remember it like it was yesterday. The old St. Paul Civic Center stood on that ground at the time. I remember St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman and Governor Arne Carlson being in the fight of their political lives trying to get the arena built in St. Paul. I also recall some local politicians trying to kill the deal. Some went as far as to say the deal for the arena would "bankrupt the city." Their lack of foresight was frightening.

Well, as we now know, the arena eventually was built and NHL hockey returned to Minnesota. The impact on downtown St. Paul has been immeasurable. Here are some of the national accolades that the arena has received:

"Best Stadium Experience," ESPN the Magazine, 2003, 2007
"Best NHL Arena," SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily, 2006
"Best Fan Experience," Forbes, 2006
Six-time nominee for "Arena of the Year" by Pollstar magazine, an industry publication.

Today's St. Paul Pioneer Press featured a great 10-year anniversary article that summarizes the political fight that took place to build the X:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_9668252?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

The same voices that cried doom and gloom back in the '90's were quieted, although they reemerged during the Twins stadium debate a few years ago. I truly believe the new Twins stadium will have the same effect on the Warehouse District of Minneapolis that the X had on St. Paul. I'd sure hate to think of downtown if we listened to those voices and the Xcel Energy Center was never built.

Peace.

Jeff

Guest Bogger #3 - Dave (MN) M.

I have received a request from frequent commentor and ex-CHECK employee Dave M. to be the the next Guest Blogger on What Jeff Thinks. It turns out that Dave M. had a rather poor experience at a Minneapolis restaurant, Rossi's, and would like to share the experience! This is a good example of telling 2 people about a good experience, 10 about a bad experience, and blogging about a "really bad" experience. Here is Dave M's "Less than CHECK-like experience:

Hello What Jeff Thinks readers. I am dave m, a sometimes commentator on this blog. I am the one from Eagan, not the other real dave m from some other parts unknown to me. I have asked Jeff for the opportunity to guest blog for you today as a service to any of you who might have disposable income and utilize it for dining. Below is a chain of three letters that I have exchanged with the Manager at Rossi’s Steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. The letters do tell almost all of the story, but a little more background should be helpful to you.

First and foremost, we are not really all that rich, but we are also not cheap when we eat. My friends have cabins, boats, cool cars and go on expensive vacations. We use our disposable income on concert tickets and expensive meals. We love good wine with a good dinner and are willing to pay for it. Even more, we like it better when our employers are willing to pay for it instead.

Rossi’s may be one of the most expensive restaurants in town….see here. Yes, that Filet Mignon starts at $39. Note also that $72.50 steak as well, like $72 wouldn’t have been enough.

http://rossis2.users18.edigita.com/uploads/Menus/08-02-18Steakhouse.pdf

Rossi’s also has a happy hour menu in which actual items from that menu above are sold for 3/5/7, meaning three bucks, five bucks and seven bucks. Notice the difference. Now you have the background, here is what happened taken verbatim from my letter I wrote that night when I got home with that wine and that beer already in me, and another glass of wine in front of me.

How five words can cost you thousands of dollars.
I am writing this message to let you know about my experience at Rossi's tonight.
Today I went to your establishment for the third time ever, all in the past few months. The first time I went there as a guest of one of my vendors and had a very nice steak dinner. The second time was in your Blue Star room, during happy hour where I had a very economical meal before a show in downtown Minneapolis and was very impressed by the food, atmosphere and the prices. So impressed that I told my wife that this would be a great place to add to our list of restaurants given my experiences there.
This evening (Sunday, June 8) my wife and I got in the car with every intention of driving to Pazzaluna in St. Paul (from Eagan). On the way I said, "We should go to Rossi's. They have a great happy hour deal and I can't believe that they would be that busy on a Sunday." We changed course and headed to your restaurant. I honestly thought it might be nice to spend a little less for dinner on a Sunday.

We arrived to see the large bar was not open, but were seated in the Tavern. We received our menus and nobody made mention of the 3/5/7 menu that I thought you were offering. I figured that, even though there were signs on the table indicating it was on, that perhaps you had discontinued it, but didn't want to make a big deal out of it or sound cheap, so we had a great meal off of the regular menu. I need to let you know that I am happy to spend a good amount of money on a nice meal. We were not tremendously hungry tonight so we really didn't plan on 40 and 50 dollar steaks as an option.

After we were presented the bill, a group of people came in and we overheard the waitperson happily explaining the 3/5/7 menu to them when no person even bothered to bring up this option to us. I asked the person who appeared to be the main host why we were not told this was an option and she said "Why would I do that?" (those are the 5 words. I said something like, "So that your customers can make informed decisions". I explained that we were aware of it, but assumed things had changed and she offered an apology but made it plainly obvious that this was a financial decision that drove this as opposed to anything else. Basically what I heard was, "Why would I want you to know that you can spend less money here?"
For the record, we had 3 glasses of wine, one beer, a salad and two entrees (mussels and a pork chop). Given that we may have actually gotten one 3 dollar appetizer instead of the salad and perhaps two 7 dollar entrees, you probably milked me for maybe 18 dollars more than I would have spent at most. Who knows, maybe we might have bought dessert or had another drink. But at most we spent 18 dollars more.

Anyway, my wife is a bit miffed. You need to understand that she is a Sales Manager for a large local company and currently has three sales representatives that encompass downtown Minneapolis. All of their clients are local professionals and typical courtship with clients always includes spending large amounts of money at expensive restaurants for lunch and/or dinner. She has now made it her mission to not sign off on any expense reports that show Rossi's on the tab.

I wish I was kidding. You had a huge chance tonight to earn an important believer, but your decision to treat us poorly may have cost you considerable future business.
I realize that times are tough right now, but I also know that the survivors are going to be the ones who treat their customers with the respect that they deserve. I hope that my message to you here at least gives you one perspective.

Keep in mind, we had a very nice time tonight and had perfect service from our waiter, that is not an issue. It is too bad that this message will be the only time my wife or I bring that up to anyone we talk to. Unfortunately, they are going to hear about the comments that were made to us. I sincerely hope that you will take into account my perception about this evening and maybe you will treat another customer better in the future as a result of this message.

Respectfully,
Dave Matschina

Now I know what you are thinking, does this guy really have that much time on his hands? Unfortunately the answer is yes. I should have mentioned that I used to own 3 restaurants, so I have a bit of a stronger opinion of these types of things. With that said, I rarely complain, but that comment was so biting and rude, I had to get it off of my chest. Two weeks later, I get this response:

Mr. M, I want to apologize for the delay in getting back to you - I was out of town last week and I wanted to investigate before giving a response. First, I would like to say that I am sorry you were disappointed with your evening at Rossi's on Sunday, June 8th. I was quite taken aback when I read how the host had answered you. I couldn't imagine which host would respond in this way and I was even more surprised when I found out that it was Melissa.Upon confirmation that she recalled the interaction, I told Melissa that I had received a letter from you, but I did not reveal the letter's contents. I asked her why she responded to your question with "why would I do that?" She told me that she posed the question "why would I do that" with the intent to make a joke, as she frequently banters with guests. She wasn't sure how to respond when you didn't pick up on her intended humor and she became a bit flustered by your serious demeanor.

It was at that point that she continued her explanation with what she thought would make sense based off of your previous dialogue. Customer service can be tricky when dealing with so many different personalities. One must be able to read people and it often relies heavily on improvisation. It unfortunately appears that, in this instance, Melissa did not succeed in relating to a guest or in properly conveying Rossi's principles. She did end our conversation by saying "When you write back to them please make sure that your letter is very nice. I really feel badly at how upset they looked, hey, I would be too if I just spent money unnecessarily."

So after reading that last sentence, I guess I thought that the manager was going to send me a very nice message…

You did not receive a happy hour menu when you were seated on Sunday night and there was not a financial motivate behind this. Happy hour menus are distributed Monday through Friday because the majority of guests at Rossi's between 4pm - 7pm are there for happy hour. This is not the case on Saturday and Sunday evening. You state in your letter that you were aware of Rossi's happy hour and this is why you chose to dine at Rossi's. You were seated at your table and you saw advertisements promoting happy hour at your table. Instead of asking your server about it, you assumed that happy hour had been discontinued. I fail to see how you could arrive at this assumption. I fail to see why you wouldn't just ask your server if happy hour was applicable. Consider the following scenario based on this logic:

Notice the italics on the word “assumed”. I think she just called me an ass.

A server approaches a gentleman at a table to take his beverage order. The gentleman sees the keg taps at the bar, but does not see any beer listed on his menu. Instead of asking his server for a beer list, the gentleman assumes that the bar no longer serves beer.

In other words, not only am going to give you a bull doody analogy, I am going to make you look stupid.

Rossi's has a steakhouse menu, blue star menu, wine list, happy hour menu, dessert menu, martini/specialty drink list, beer list, cognac list, and even a tobacco menu. It would be ridiculous to supply every guest with every menu we offer. I am sorry to reiterate this point, but I can't imagine why you didn't just ask your server, "Hey, do you have a happy hour menu?"

But you gave me the steakhouse menu, the wine menu the martini list and the beer list, but didn’t bother to let me know you have a hamburger available for 3 dollars? (for real, notice the $12.95 charge for the EXACT SAME hamburger on the regular menu that you did give me).

I must also say that I was taken aback by your unmannerly letter. If you had submitted the same letter without the spiteful retribution then perhaps the outcome could have been different. Perhaps the miscommunication between you and the host could have been laughed off. I would have sent you a gift certificate to apologize for this miscommunication and unnecessary animosity would cease to exist. Best Regards, (The Manager)

Unmannerly? Unmannerly? Are you also my Mom now? Unnecessary animosity? I think it is perfectly necessary. When did I ask for a gift card? I am supposed to laugh off the part where I just got the “opportunity” to pay 16 bucks for a pork chop that would have cost me 7 dollars if I would have asked for the menu? Shouldn’t have you just charged me 7 dollars for it anyway?

For the two or three of you that have actually gotten this far in the post, here is my response. I know that it looks like I am spending way too much time on this. That is because I have. Please know that I am doing this for your benefit. Do not tolerate service like this, What Jeff Thinks readers. You will be better for it.

Dear (Manager), Thank you for the response. I can accept that your host was attempting humor and we both missed the intent. Perhaps it is her that should be upset to have been put into that situation. One key element to quality customer service is the ability to anticipate customer issues before they occur and put in place resolution before the issue occurs. By making the business decision to omit that particular menu upon greeting your customers, you certainly create the possibility that someone such as myself might gain the perception I brought up in my original message to you. I do not accept your analogy regarding the beer menu. Let me give you a better picture.

We arrived at your place coming home from a graduation party. We were dressed in shorts, sandals and casual shirts. I expected to enter a bar atmosphere and were promptly seated to a white linen table and met your expertly dressed waiter. Frankly speaking, I was a bit embarassed at my personal dress from the start, and didn't want to sound even cheaper by asking for the cheap menu. You may choose to infer from my comments that I generally am a bargain hunter. I am not. I could have asked for the menu, I chose not to. You seem to make fun of the fact that I made an assumption. A 3" by 3" table piece with a tiny 3/5/7 message could most certainly be overlooked, and consider the possibility that I may have figured it only available in the music bar, not the fancy one. I also struggle with your comment that it is not a financial motivation to withhold that particular menu from your customers. Of course you would not deliver a dessert menu at the beginning of the meal. I would however expect to either see all of my menu options or at least be asked if I would like to see any of the additional menus.

More so, I would certainly expect to be informed that you have a happy hour menu with some great specials. I can only ask you how you would feel if you had no knowledge of that menu, ordered a $16.50 pork chop only to find out that there was a $7.00 option that nobody told you about. This is in fact what I ordered, and another tenant of quality service might have been for the waiter to mention that when I ordered my item. I didn't actually see the menu, so I do not know if it was on there on that evening, but I do know it was there the one time I had been to your place during happy hour. I feel it unfortunate that you seem to take my comments in the latter half of my message to you as spiteful. I was merely letting you know how your staff made us feel based on a specific interaction and our perception of your business practices.

Your letter seems like I hurt your feelings. That was not my intent. My intent was to let you know that that maybe an underdressed couple that spent 70 dollars at your very nice restaurant on a Sunday night at 5:00 just might be as important as the guy trying to close a deal with his customer by utilizing his corporate Amex card. That is exactly who we could have been to you. In fact, if you would have ended your message to me after the first paragraph, perhaps we could actually still have been. Any "unnecessary animosity" has surely been created by you.

I can assure you that my message was to express my dissatisfaction and nothing more. 90% of your guests who do not have a good experience just don't come back. Feedback is something you should embrace, not something you should debate. I was sure not looking for a gift card. Read my message again. I was very complimentary about the service and the experience (though I do think that my spicy pork chop for seven bucks a few weeks ago might have been better prepared than the one I had that night). Your message back to me only seems to affirm my opinion of how you treat people. I realize that you will probably be just fine as a business without ever seeing me, my wife and all of the other people I am going to forward this message to (that is me being spiteful) ever enter your establishment. I think we will probably just have to choose to disagree with one another regarding my experience. Make sure to give me a wave when I am across the street at Manny's in a few months. Dave

For those of you not from around here, Manny’s is THE finest steakhouse in town, and they just announced that they are moving locations to right across the street from this clip joint. I am happy to buy a 55 dollar steak from them.

Thanks to Jeff for allowing my rant to grace his blog. Happy eating everyone, just don’t go to Rossi’s, tell your friends.

More Important Stuff

Here's the stuff keeping me up at night lately:

1. So Kevin Garnett gets his ring. Free wrote a good post about this. I must say that Free is a better man than me because I am rather bitter about the whole thing, which probably says more about me than anything. Nothing against Kevin Garnett, mind you. He poured his heart and soul into playing for the Cursed Timberwolves for over a decade. He put Minnesota back on the NBA map. But anybody who has been paying attention knew in their heart that, the minute the trade was made, Boston would win the championship this year. Seeing Garnett win a championship in Boston is a little like having an ex-wife who marries a Hollywood star and hits the lottery. "Oh yeah. I'm.............really happy for her." This is How Things Happen in Minnesota.

This is why we all know there is only one way for another Minnesota team, the Vikings, to win the Super Bowl: move. If the Vikings move to LA, Vegas, Toronto or Fargo, they win the Super Bowl within two years - no question. This is How Things Happen in Minnesota. Staying with that same topic, Dr. Z of SI.com is picking the Vikings to WIN THE SUPER BOWL this year. Ah, Dr. Z? Have you been watching the Vikings over the last 40 years? It simply can't happen.

And by the way, does anybody read Bill Simmons on espn.com? Simmons is the Boston shill for ESPN. I like the guy, and he is very funny, but his "Boy Am I On Cloud 9 Now That the (insert Patriots, Red Sox or Celtics) have won the (insert Super Bowl, World Series or NBA Championship) is getting old. My God, Boston should just keep a permanent street route open for championship victory parades. This is akin to the same guy winning the lottery over and over and over and saying "Boy am I psyched that I won a zillion dollars for the 12th time! I haven't felt this good in hours!" We're happy for you Bill. Again.

2. I was perusing the movie reviews in the paper the other day and noticed that one particular film was rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and........smoking. Smoking? I had to read that three times. I don't remember smoking playing into movie ratings before. Sure enough, I Googled "smoking and movies" and found a May 11th New York Times article on the subject. Here is what that article had to say:

In a significant change to its movie ratings system, the Motion Picture Association of America on Thursday said portrayals of smoking would be considered alongside sex and violence in assessing the suitability of movies for young viewers. Films that appear to glamorize smoking will risk a more restrictive rating, and descriptions of tobacco use will be added to the increasingly detailed advisories that accompany each rated film.

Antismoking groups, already successful in much of the country in banning smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places, have ratcheted up the pressure on Hollywood in recent years to purge movies of images that might promote tobacco use. Some have even demanded that virtually any film with smoking be rated R, shutting out those under 17 unless they are accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

Now, I am not a smoker. But, come on people. Smoking is going to put on the same level with people having sex, heads getting cut off and the "old-F'n-heimer" being uttered every 15 seconds in movies? Come on. What is next in movie ratings? How about these things: Drinking beer. Hamburger eating. Not wearing seat belts. The movie listings in the paper will be as thick as the telephone book. Would anybody NOT take their kids to a movie if there is smoking? Here's some more from the NY Times article:

Dr. Healton said her group advocated an R rating for all smoking references unless they were historically accurate or “unambiguously demonstrate the health issues.” Lindsay Doran, a veteran Hollywood producer known within the film community for her opposition to onscreen smoking, applauded the ratings revision.

“It would be nice if we could leave this to the filmmakers,” said Ms. Doran, producer of last year’s PG-13 rated “Stranger Than Fiction,” in which Emma Thompson played something of a human ashtray, and quite deliberately deglamorized her tobacco addiction. But, Ms. Doran added, even socially conscious Hollywood types could use a nudge.

“This makes people say, ‘Wait a minute, what are we doing here, and why are we doing it?’ ” she said.

So if it's an ugly loser smoking, the movie's PG. If it's a beautiful heroine smoking, it gets an R. Look, I realize that smoking is bad for a person. It just seems to me that we are trying to "classify, rate, warn, etc." against every possible type of "bad behavior" because it is assumed people cannot think for themselves.

3. Lastly, my favorite politician to "needle," Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, is at it again. Now that the controversial circus animal issue has been solved, Mayor Rybak has found a new windmill to attack - bottled water. From today's StarTribune.com:

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and other mayors from around the country are urging all U.S. cities to stop spending tax money on bottled water, and instead drink from the tap. A resolution to that effect has been written and will be presented Saturday in the Environment Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami.

The resolution, submitted by Rybak and the mayors of 14 other cities, cites a host of reasons why cities should use their own municipal water, rather than bottled water.

Rybak's office stopped serving bottled water last year, and Minneapolis has about $200,000 in its budget this year to promote city water.

Also, the city of Minneapolis points out that a resident can refill a bottle 2,850 times with city water before equaling the price of a single 79-cent bottle of store-bought water.

Coca-Cola (Dasani), Nestle (Ice Mountain) and PepsiCo (Aquafina) are the leaders in a $10.8 billion-a-year bottled water industry in the United States, with demand growing 8 percent a year.

Going up against a $10.8 billion-a-year industry? Good luck with that fight, Mayor. I am just glad that the issues of crime, retail/office vacancy, downtown job loss, etc. have been solved in Minneapolis. This leaves plenty of time for circus animals and bottled water. Look, Rybak seems to be a nice guy, and he was always very cordial when I wrote him e-mails about his "lack of involvement" on the Twins stadium (you think I didn't?). His was always very kind to respond. He never really answered my questions for him, which amounted to "what the hell are you really doing?" There was a lot of talking in circles. I guess we'll see where this hard-hitting issue ends up.

4. Lastly, I am keeping an eye on the NHL draft tonight on the internet. The Wild pick 24th. I have noticed something new - individuals born in the 1990's are now routinely being drafted into the National Hockey League.

These are the things that keep me up at night.

Jeff

Memories of The Moped

It was exactly 23 years ago this month that I graduated from High School. One of my graduation presents was a moped. I specifically asked for one because I was sick of driving my Chevy Chevette (The Red Radical Ramblin' Road Rat). That Chevette was, hands-down, the worst car that I have ever owned. A real piece of crap. But that is a topic for another day.

I wanted a moped because I was going to be attending The University of Leinenkugels (Eau Claire) in the fall, and a vehicle like that was perfect for buzzing around the city. Parking at the University would be a cinch. And, the mighty moped got - get ready - 100 Miles Per Gallon. Yes, 100 MPG. So, I received a moped for graduation. I even have a picture of myself in my purple cap and gown on the thing.

Now, I know my description of the moped makes it sound rather euphoric. I must admit there were some "negatives" that came along with the moped. Here are a few:

1. The moped went no faster than 30 MPH. And, if you were going up a hill, that decreased to no faster than 4 MPH. This did not bode well with the vehicle, or vehicles, behind you. The horrible buzzing sound that the motor emitted was a little embarrassing too.

2. Owners of mopeds were not "welcomed into the two-wheel club" by their motorcycle brethren. In fact, most motorcyclists seemed to harbour some animosity towards the moped. If I had a dollar for every time somebody yelled "Hey, get a real motorcycle!" I would not be working at THE CHECK right now.

Speaking of getting yelled at, there was a lot of yelling happening in Eau Claire in the mid-80's. Some of the townsfolk seemed very concerned about other people's sexual orientation in the mid-80's. In mid-80's Eau Claire, a male was deemed as "gay" by the "open-minded" townsfolk if any of the following characteristics were met. And they would yell at you to let you know about this:

--Short hair. I am not making this up. We passed into some parallel universe in which it was manly for a male to have long flowing locks but short hair was feminine.

--Listening to "college music." In mid-80's Eau Claire, if a person listened to anything that was not metal, or a hair band, they were "gay." Once again, in the parallel universe, listening to long-haired men in make-up and spandex was considered masculine. I am not making this up.

--Wearing glasses. "Gay."

--Riding a moped. (See, I am trying to make a point here)

--Going to college.

Now, back in 1985, I fit all of these categories. You can imagine, then, the reaction that I received from some of the townsfolk when I was riding my moped to the university, with my short hair and glasses and R.E.M shirt on. It was the perfect storm! I was in constant danger. It's quite a wonder that I am happily married to a woman and have three lovely children today.

3. Wiping out on a moped. Very embarrassing. Luckily, this only happened a few times. I really didn't understand the concept of "loose gravel" back then. I was also lucky that I only wiped out on the loose gravel. I would not want to "collide" with any other vehicle with a moped. The moped will lose. Even against a piece of crap Chevy Chevette.

4. Roommates constantly borrowing the moped. You know who you are.

5. Let's face the facts. Anyone riding a moped looks like an idiot.

I finally couldn't take it anymore and I decided to sell the moped to my friend Al, who took it to Madison. I think. (Al?)

Anyway, the reason that I am bringing this up is that one of our vehicles today is a Chevy Suburban. The Suburban has a 40-gallon gas tank. Gas is about $4 a gallon. Here is that math:

40 x $4 = $160.00. To fill up the tank.

Now, the Suburban gets 10-15 MPG. That means if we take my daughter to her friends house in Minneapolis (10 miles away) it is a gallon there and a gallon back home. That is $8 to take my daughter to Minneapolis.

That is ridiculous! I am losing my mind! I am just about ready to buy another moped (which is the point of this post)! I don't care about 1 - 5 above. I still have short hair and glasses and listen to college music. Sometimes, I even look like an idiot. But think about how many times I could drive to THE CHECK on the moped at 100 MPG! I bet they make mopeds that go as fast as 35 MPH today! I read that there are scooters that reach 70 MPH, but I still don't trust the loose gravel.

What do you think? Should I buy another moped? You're going to want to borrow it. You know you will.

Jeff