matching tracksuits

We recently bought a Jetta turbo diesel, with the eventual aim of going bio-diesel. Until we get the filtration system set up, we’re just using regular diesel.

On our trip to the Outer Banks (pics coming soon), we averaged 41.09 MPG, with a high of 47.48 MPG. In other words, to travel 248.8 miles, we consumed 5.24 gallons of gas. At the price we paid (2.89, if memory serves), that’s $0.06 per mile!

Okay — I’m getting nerdy with all the numbers.

We filled up before leaving the Outer Banks and still have a quarter of a tank left…

There was a time when Kinga and I regularly packed all the belongings we thought we’d need for an entire week or more into bike panniers and still be convinced we’d taken too much. For the trip to Budapest (picture at right — “more here”:http://kingary.net/places/europe/budapest/index.php) we even took (I’m embarrassed to admit it) _three_ cameras. Oh, and a tripod.

For this weekend’s trip to the Outer Banks, we’ve almost filled our new car’s trunk — Jetta turbo diesel (40 mpg average!) — and we haven’t even finished packing yet!

This Monday I participated in an education flesh fair: an education career fair. Hundreds of us unemployed teachers (or at least not employed teaching in one’s subject area) were queuing in front of tables where representatives from various school districts sat, taking resumes and asking assorted questions.

I’d checked all the websites of districts I knew to be participating and found very few jobs listed there. “Perhaps they’re just not listing them on the site, opting instead to wait until after the career fair to see what jobs remain open.” Wrong.

There were very few school systems looking for English teachers, and a couple of them that had posted vacancies just about two weeks ago had already filled the positions. That’s _fast_ — two weeks to get resumes, conduct interviews, make the first selection, call back those who made the cut, interview a second time, make a decision, make an offer, and have the offer accepted. At some point in that process one would think that the district would update its vacancy page to reflect the filled position, but that’s a bit naïve I guess. Two of them are still there.

At any rate, I went from table to table (county to county essentially), flashed a smile, answered questions, and generally schmoozed. The outcome: one interview set for mid-June, with two more schools expressing interest. “We’ll call you,” they said.

I’d interviewed at this same school near the beginning of the school year when an unanticipated vacancy appeared literally days before the school year began. My first interview in years. It obviously didn’t go so well. It also didn’t go so badly, it seems, for the director of personnel remembered me and was willing — interested, might I even say? — in having me “come by to talk again.” The downside: the school is forty miles away.

“Loose Change”:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848 has been steadily moving up “Google Video’s Ranking”:http://video.google.com/videoranking. It’s up to the number one position, after sitting at two for a couple of days.

Well, at least part of it appears to be proven wrong.

“Flight 77 not a hoax
“:http://news.google.com/?ncl=http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,19168241-5001027,00.html&hl=en.

Of course, they still haven’t released the video from the service station or the hotel, so Dylan and the boys still have part of their film intact.