Last fall it got cold and the grass stopped growing before I good run the last of the gas out of the lawnmower. So I decided to try adding some STA-BIL to the gas already in the gas tank. I also drained out the old oil last fall, but did not add new oil back in. Fast forward to today. I added fresh oil and started to pull the start cord. When I store the lawnmower with no gas and oil, it usually starts up on about the fifth pull. Today it took maybe 10 or 15 pulls before it started. There was a small poof of white smoke and then it started running as smooth as could be. I would say I was happy with the performance of STA-BIL, but only use it if time doesn't permit you to store a small engine the right way.

I forgot that I put a sharp blade on right at the end of last season. I still have to drop the dull blade I took off at Ace Hardware to have it sharpened. I like to buy an extra blade and rotate the two so that I always have a sharp blade on hand. It only takes a few minutes to change blades, and a spare blade only costs like $10 - $15. It makes a big difference on your lawn too. If you look, you can drive down a neighborhood and see who uses a sharp blade and who uses a dull blade.

After I finished cutting the grass I put down some crab grass preventer and feed.

We are supposed to get some rain in about an hour. I can see a big front on the radar south-west of us.

Remember the Levi's commercial about a year or so ago with the Latino guy walking down the street with a real rubbery leg looking walk with some cool music playing? We have been trying to find out for a long time what band the music is from. Well Sheri finally found who the music was from and ordered the CD, and it just showed up today. The band is Control Machete, and the song used on the commercial was Si Señor. Amazon.com didn't have it. She found it at the VH-1 site. It is all in Spanish, but the whole album has nice hip-hop/rap/gangsta beat too it.

I am going to clean up, and then I think we are going to Geneva to Gander Mountain and a shopping strip that Sheri has been to before with Greta. We will probably get some lunch while we are out.

Whenever I see someone driving a brand new Hummer with a nice shiny paint job that will never see a mud bog, a grade steeper than 15º, or any thing more off-road than a highway shoulder, I think what a moron. A girl in my last MBA class bought one, and then sold it within three weeks. She lives in the city, so finding a parking spot was impossible. She had a reserved parking space in the garage at her high rise apartment, and both people with spots next to her kept leaving nasty notes on her windshield, and the gas mileage was just amazing. It had a 32 gallon gas tank, so it would cost her almost $60 to fill it up, and then would have to fill it up again just 250 miles later! Our van can go around 800 miles on 32 gallons of gas. If you had a ranch out in the badlands and were 100 miles from the nearest grocery store, a Hummer is the ideal car for you, but in the middle of Chicagoland? Give me a break. Some people have more money than good sense.

On a related note, next year's Toyota Prius will be larger and get better mileage than the current model. The current model is classified as a compact, and the 2004 model will be in the midsize category. It will get 55 m.p.g., up from the current 48 m.p.g. It will be able to accelerate to 60 m.p.g. in 10.5 seconds, which is the same as traditional 4-cylinder Toyota Camry. (The Camry gets 27 m.p.g.)

It actually feels a little humid here today. The dew point here right now is 58º. (Remember, it is generally considered that any dew point over 65º is uncomfortable.)