I hope gas prices continue to go up. There I said it.

Now, before you come and burn down my house– listen to why I’m saying this. I too have been feeling the sting to my bank account due to the already record breaking prices of fuel, and I too have hoped for a drop.

I need to start by explaining that I’m not totally naive to the problems that high fuel cost can have. One of the biggest problems I see with the prices of gas is, now that a bigger chunk of your income is going to fuel (because we all know you won’t be driving a whole lot less than you were before), you will end up spending less on other consumer goods which will make an impact on our overall economy. Bad news.

So what is the good news? Why would I say such a blasphemous thing about wanting prices to stay high? It is because these prices have driven (no pun intended) people to invest in more fuel efficient cars (or in our case scooters), automobile companies are putting more effort into making hybrids more affordable in order to stay competitive, and more progress is being made to find better, more eco-friendly, fuel alternatives. I wish these things were happening even faster, but they are happening.

Unfortunately most of us were more motivated to make these changes because of the impact of prices on our wallets, instead of the impact our gas hungry cars have been making on our planet. At least it is happening, but there’s a lot more progress to be made. I worry that it will slow down if gas prices start to fall.

As I mentioned in my first post, I have been watching utterly too much TV during the past 2-3 weeks. The other day however, I actually learned something very helpful that I will share with you.

So, those of you who know me will know that the majority of what I eat is pure sugar (according to Dave, it is because I’m female– but this is off the topic). Well, thanks to Rachael Ray’s TV show, I learned that eating artichokes will help your body regulate blood glucose levels (good news for me and probably diabetics too). I wanted to make sure this wasn’t too good to be true, so I checked and found several other websites that confirm this. While doing so I came along several other fun facts about our friend the artichoke:

1. Artichokes are a good source of iron and folic acid.

2. They help to reduce bowel upsets and they help to let lactobacillus bacteria flourish in the gut– sounds yummy…

3. One artichoke supplies 20 percent of the vitamin C you need for the day.

4. An artichoke has only 60 calories (I have a strong feeling this doesn’t include the butter or mayo that I would dip it in).

5. It is a species of sunflower, and is sometimes called a sunchoke.

So, I just got done eating an artichoke for dinner and not only was it delicious and surprisingly filling, but fun to eat. After my healthy artichoke, I chased it down with some marshmallows…. I know, I know…

After some peer pressure from Steve, I guess I’ll give this blogging a shot even if he is the only one who will ever read it.

Now that it is summer, I have basically nothing to do– which means I have plenty of time to post, but it also means that I don’t have much to write about other than what’s been happening on The Real World. Yeah, I know it is pathetic, don’t judge…. For nine months of the year I am not this lame. I still haven’t decided how I will be using this blog, but I’m sure it will include things that I’m learning, rants and raves, travel logs, pictures, and updates on my life.

(P.S.- thanks Steve for picking my theme)