Matt’s Random Thoughts

If you’re going to plan a crime, PLAN the crime!

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Trail Of Coins Gets Crook Busted

Police in Wisconsin didn’t need a trail of bread crumbs to catch a couple of crooks, they had a trail of coins.

Appleton Police Sergeant Pat DeWall says an officer investigating the rip-off of the Open Pantry convenience store noticed a quarter in the snow. DeWall says the officer walked a little farther and saw another quarter.

Officers followed the trail of coins for a number blocks, even a finding a full roll of dimes at one point. The coin trail stopped at the front porch of a home. The two residents were busted on burglary and other charges.

DeWall says the thieves loaded their loot into a milk crate. He figures as the crooks ran, the coins started falling through the slots in the crate.

(Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

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Not that I’d ever rob a bank or anything, but I seriously bet I could do it better than these idiots!

I…got…gas…tonight… It was $1.98 a gallon. I think I actually shed a tear tonight when I was at the pump. Ouch!

I’m sure anyone reading this is also feeling my pain. Gas prices are tremendously high, and from what I gather, it ain’t gettin’ better anytime soon. But what makes it worse is this…

When I first started driving, gas was 89 cents per gallon. Less than half of what it is today. That was in 1997 when I was driving our old brown Toyota Corolla. I’ve since been driving a black Pontiac Sunfire. I got it brand new, and it had 89 miles on the odometer. Now it has about 83,500 miles on the odometer.

Here’s where things get scary. I’d say on average gas has been around $1.50 a gallon since I’ve had the sunfire. I get about 24 miles to the gallon. With 83,500 miles, that means I’ve used 3479 gallons of gas. At $1.50 a gallon, that’s $5218.50 I’ve spent in gas since I’ve had this car. Now if gas were still 89 cents/gallon, I would’ve only spent $3096.31 in gas. That’s $2122.19 LESS!

HOLY SHIT! C’mon OPEC… cut us some slack here! Yes, my next car will be a hybrid. I don’t care if it only goes a top speed of 55mph. ‘Tis a sad, sad time. If gas prices were to suddenly fall, I would actually be able to pay off my credit cards. Now that’s a nice thought. But will it happen? Probably not. Bummer.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve dropped out of graduate school at ODU. With Great Wolf, I seriously won’t be able to keep up with classes. I seriously thought spring break would have been a catch up time, but boy was I wrong! I ended up more behind than I was originally.

In the end it came down to an issue of time and money. Great Wolf is paying me for work. ODU is charging me for work. Hmmm… easy decision there. Being as far in debt as I am, I really need to work as much as I can. There will always be time for school.

I’ve been in school for the past 20 years. I think I need a break anyway.

In my last post, I mentioned how the dumpster across the way disappeared. I joked saying that perhaps they took it away because too many people from the apartments were throwing their garbage in the condo dumpster. At first I really was joking, but after throwing some trash away tonight in my dumpster, I think people really were using the other one.

I had to take a picture. Unfortunately, it was dark out so the quality isn’t all that great. However, I think you can clearly see that there is so much garbage it’s spewing out into the street. How gross is that! Featherstone either needs to get another dumpster, or come more often to collect it. This is just disgusting. If they are so worried about their image, why do they allow this to happen.

My friends, we have a Code Adam! The missing individual is 10′ wide, 6′ long, and about 4′ tall. It’s probably a good 800+ pounds. Last seen in a a green coat of paint wearing a small printed sign displaying the words “Dumpster is for Cascades Residents ONLY!” Last seen on Monday February 28 across from building 737 on Brookside Dr.

Funny, three days have passed and no dumpster. Of course, that doesn’t mean people have stopped throwing their crap there. I have to wonder why it’s gone though. Did they move it because too many of us lower class renters were putting our trash in there? BASTARDS! Now we have to walk a whole 50 extra steps to OUR dumpster. The world is a sad, sad place.

It’s over! It’s done! (Well, aside from the survey I have to make and the final meeting, it might as well be finished.)

All my stress is gone! Friday night was hectic. I was so paranoid about my speech, I couldn’t think. Finally I just said (and yes, I really did say this) “screw it!” So Saturday morning came, and I just started ad libbing. So if you were wondering if I had planned it, in part, yes. I did plan the part where I ripped open my shirt to reveal the super k. The rest of it I pretty much came up with on the fly.

At lunch, Terry did an excellent job! I was really surprised when they took up a collection to get his savings account started. Maybe I should’ve mentioned my numerous months of unemployment…

Saturday night consisted of Kiki Photos. To help raise money for the W&M’ers who were going to Thailand, I toured the hospitality suites (which were dead this year, for whatever reason) asking if anyone wanted a scrapbook picture with Kiki. We raised about $260 for them. Again, perhaps I should’ve mentioned my numerous months of unemployment!!!

I was a little curious as to how certain people could show up and be comped for meals, but I, as a speaker, was not. Tara wasn’t even comped for the session she MC’d. Kiwanis is weird in this regard. Oh well, it’s over and done with now. It’ll be interesting to see what the surveys say.