Sunshine, Blue Sky, and a Paranoid Gas Pump

Sunlight is blasting in through the west window of the room where I work. It'd be blinding, if one of the computer's speakers wasn't partly in the way. I really need to think about putting up some sort of shade for early evening.

Or adjust my schedule.

The shade might be easier.

It's been a perky day: bright blue sky, not much wind; and I've been inside for most of it, working on taxes. Which is another topic. ("Lemming Tracks: Tax Time Surprise," Apathetic Lemming of the North, (March 20, 2010))

I ran out of LP gas while grilling this noon. Which is yet another topic. ("So That's Why It was Hard to Light!," Easy Griller blog (March 20, 2010))

I went out after lunch (the noon meal, in this household). I had some reasons. Excuses, anyway:

• The grill's LP cylinder needed refilling
  • Or, no grilled burgers tomorrow noon
• The van's tank was more than half empty

Also, I needed a break. Assembling and organizing information for the annual tax forms is not one of my favorite pastimes. My wife does most of it, actually, and a few years ago we broke down and started having H & R Block handle the forms. But there's still a lot of data to get ready.

In my case, it's what happened with my business for 2009. There's something to be said for being a 'wage slave:' but I think I made the right decision.

Anyway, when I drove the van up to a pump at the local Holiday Super Stop, I went through the usual routine and eventually got over a gallon of gas in the tank. If I was really careful, I could squeeze almost two tenths of a gallon out before the pump stopped.

Dribbling gasoline into the van a squirt at a time, when I had maybe fifteen gallons to go, I didn't have time for. Or patience.

So I went inside to settle up for what I'd managed to coax out of the pump.

A young woman was ahead of me in the checkout line, playing the Minnesota lottery. I don't have moral objections to gambling as such ("Halloween's Coming: Why aren't I Ranting?," A Catholic Citizen in America (October 29, 2009)), and I realize that the Minnesota state government likes to get money. Still, after a while watching someone else go through a the scratch-and-check process with several cards - - -. Well, it was a good opportunity to practice patience.

Turns out, the pumps had been 'fixed.' They're much safer now. The system isn't supposed to be quite that paranoid over data from the overflow sensor, though. The senior clerk told me when I could call in and tell one of the managers about the situation. Seems I wasn't the first one to run into the issue.

The other clerk, a young man maybe in his early 20s (everybody under about 35 looks like a kid to me, these days), went out to the pump to see what he could do with it.

It worked perfectly, of course.

All problems should be solved so easily.

Next stop, Fleet Supply - but I wrote about that in the Easy Griller blog, and there's still those tax records to go through.

The sunlight's still in my eyes: or would be, if I hadn't gotten smart, put on a hat and pulled it down until the brim blocks out the sun, but not most of the monitor. I'd better get back to work.