in completely different news, I stumbled across the online news for my college (and its brother school). One "crime" report read:

THERE IS A SUSPICIOUS WHITE MALE WALKING AROUND IN A BATHROBE AND CARRYING A LIGHT SABER. ALL UNITS CLEAR AT 0148 HOURS.  UNIT 54 SPOKE WITH THE COMPLAINANT AND EVERYTHING IS OK AT THIS TIME

Yup - I came here naturally.

Oh, good lord. Richmond to D.C.? Isn't that like a three-hour round trip? Over the lifetime of the car?

It's longer than that -- at least two or two and a half hours each way -- but still small compared to the lifetime of the car.

A talked about the car's wear and tear

Unless he's towing them in a trailer behind his car, the passengers aren't causing *more* of that.

which I said would have happened anyway

YEAH

I hate to be the driver -- one tank of gas seems a good price to me .

However, if I was the driver and it was where I was going - 5 bucks would have been cool

Oh, good lord. Richmond to D.C.? Isn't that like a three-hour round trip?

Thereabouts. I think that I agreed with A because I would have chipped in for half of the gas, but I'm sort of craxy about making it as easy as possible for people to do me favors. Probably comes from dealing with Mom :)

Is there a right way to walk through a door while using crutches, when it's the kind of door that swings shut if you don't hold it open? At the math department, the door to the bathroom and the door to the main office are both like that, and I keep ending up with the door closing on me and knocking the crutches off balance.

I have also not yet managed to open the front door of my apartment building without dropping a crutch. I need to lift my arm up to get the key in the lock, so then there's nothing holding the crutch in place.

Aww ....

Larry King files for divorce in Los Angeles

He's divorcing the woman who makes Utah claim Larry King as one of "us".

However, if I was the driver and it was where I was going - 5 bucks would have been cool

Yeah, I usually think of "chip in for gas" as "give me whatever you want." I mean, I was going there already. In fact, you are probably doing ME a favor by giving me company.

Yeah, what if it hadn't been one tank of gas there and back? What would A have said it cost? Seems like A needs to work this out internally. Personally I think 1/3 the gas is reasonable. But if there's not an easy way then it's more up to the driver...but also as the "chip in for gas" they'd probably not be expecting you to be all "well the IRS rate is fifty cents a mile because of wear and tear so you should each pay me a quarter a mile.."

A touchy situation.

Some people are happy to have some (any) gas money chipped in and some are annoyed feel like they are being taken advantage of.

Personally when "Friend C discovers the situation and asks if he can ride along." I'd feel taken advantage of. Because it wasn't offered, it was asked and asked in a way that wasn't really something that could be refused. But I know that others feel differently.

I just hate when people think that precisely half the cost of gas is what it costs for them to use me as a car service. And, hello, my issue. Then there are people who are welcome in my car any time and I never would expect a penny from them. Basically, it's all complicated with Other Stuff.