very week the prices are going up and up and there is nothing do be done about it. I believe I saw Diesel going for over $4.00 a gallon the other day? Every week you can count on a least a modest increase in price. Which is what led me to an interesting idea.... first of all, I tend to keep a closer eye on the “corner store”.. you know, the one you stop in for bread, a soda and maybe a candy bar on your way to the house? It struck me some time ago that they were pretty consistent about making major changes on Friday afternoon. Usually in that time frame after the average Joe goes to work but before he comes home. And of course Friday being payday for so many of us, they always are extra busy on Friday evenings! Golly, is there a pattern emerging here?? I guess they figure most folks don't pay attention, at least until its too late and have their tanks filled up. Point is, a few months back I started a pool on this, you know, increase of how much and by what time of day. I even ran a special on the holiday as to how much it would drop back after the holiday was over! All you have to do is get a few friends, maybe a couple of co-workers together and before you know it you have enough people in it so if you win even once a month you can cover the gouge factor on your own gas! Amazing how a little creativity can take the sting out of Big Oil. And you can have fun at the same time!

OK so we have taken a pretty poor situation, figured out how to have a little fun with it and even make maybe enough money at it to cover the up charges..... now it gets just a little more interesting.

As I have said, this store is a place I do frequent and I know most of the people that work there, even the manager (kind of). So a few weeks ago I mentioned what I was doing and everybody got a kick out of it, one guy even wants to get in on it... sadly I told him that wouldn’t go over well with the other folks in the pool as he just might be perceived as having too much “insider information”? The manager who was in the office overheard my conversation and came out. And proceeded to rant about how he/they would never take advantage of their customers in such a way... I MEAN HE REALLY GOT UPSET! Now this is one of those stores that generally charges top dollar on everything from milk to bread and we already know all about the cost of their gas. Not wanting to get into a fist fight with the guy I backed off saying it was just an interesting pass time. This was on a Wednesday.... guess what happened on Friday? And no I didn't have the nerve to go in and tell the Manager “told you so”!

Anyway, for now at least I'm having fun with my little betting pool. Perhaps the State would like to fashion a new Lottery Game based on the concept. Of course they might run into a bit of trouble finding enough gas stations willing to sell them?