Save Money on Gasoline

I work from home and consequently, I don’t do much driving.  I only need to buy gas for my car a few times a month.  And every time I buy gas I get a new case of sticker shock!  On our recent trip (in the motorhome no less) we found gasoline as high as $3.90 per gallon.

There are all sorts of tips out there on how to save gas, some are a little crazy. (Like not braking for corners so you don’t lose any speed or momentum)  To find tips that actually work, it is best to go straight to the experts.  So here are some real gas saving tips from someone who knows what they are talking about.

I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline…. but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon..

 

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening….your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up–most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!


 

Getting Back to Diet Basics

My weight has been creeping up on me again. A few years ago I managed to lose 30 pounds. I did it a simple way, by eliminating all sugar and refined carbohydrates from my diet, and by eating foods that were as close as possible to their natural state. I ate lots of vegetables, some fruit, and high quality protein. I felt and looked great!? But then I started having little slips in my diet. First it was pizza, and then honey, and slowly and surely I got back to the place where I am now. Eating too much sugar and way too many refined foods.

So of course, I start looking for the quick fix. I have read all sorts of top 10 lists on how to lose weight. I’ve actually been watching the commercials for those “fat burner” pills. I even briefly considered taking that new, FDA approved weight loss pill. Anything except the one thing that will work. Eating right and getting some exercise.

Why is that? Even though I know it doesn’t exist I am looking for the great, miracle weight loss secret. I am hoping to find the magic pill that will let me watch TV all day and eat junk food and still be slim and healthy. Why am I looking for a magic pill when I know what works? The secret to weight loss is simple. Eat less, exercise more! Eat healthy foods and it will be easier to eat less.

Today I have recommitted to my healthy eating plan. No more sugar, no more toast with honey. Plenty of quality protein, fresh vegies and fruit. I will drink lots of water and take a walk every day. I think I’ll start a 30 day healthy eating and exercise  challenge to go along with my 30 day blogging challenge. It will give me something to write about!

Solar Power

Just a quick thought tonight. With all the concern about running out of oil, and the reliance on foreign oil, and all the government programs to help people save energy, would it make sense for the government to put solar panels on every public building? It might not be worth it in some of the northern states, but we have plenty of southern states that get lots of sun. If the panels generated extra power you could have public powering stations for electric cars. That would save a barrel or two of oil!

I don’t know, maybe that’s not a good idea, but it is late and I am tired.  I will be away for the next few days. I’m going camping! Hopefully the sun will shine!  No phones and no internet. But I will bring my laptop and continue to write a post a day, then I will feel I’ve stayed true to my 30 day challenge. You’ll just have to wait till I get back to read them. Hopefully they will be better than this one!

Do You Like The Theme?

I changed my theme again. I really like this one. Three days from now I will probably really like another one! I have a lot of fun looking for new themes and trying them out. However, I’m not sure it is the best thing for this blog.

Most of what I read says that you should pay for a custom theme, and then don’t change it. Apparently blog readers can get confused if your blog doesn’t look like it always does. This creates a conflict for me, I don’t really like anyone telling me what I should or shouldn’t do. If you don’t believe me take a look at my rant about Google Page Rank!

But I do want to keep my readers happy. (Are you happy?) On the other hand, I am pretty sure my readers don’t get confused that easy. Plus, I know some of you are Entrecard droppers who don’t care about the theme and are happy as long as the EC widget is above the fold and loads fast. (I want you to be happy too!)

So I think in this case it is OK to change the theme, as long as I control myself and don’t change it too often. If I don’t control myself I might change the theme everyday! Now there’s a thought. A 30 day theme challenge to go with my 30 day blogging challenge!

Now back to my question, Do you like the theme?

Tax Rebate Checks are Coming

The IRS says the tax rebate checks for over 130 million US Taxpayers will be sent beginning in May. I have a post on My CFO on the Go that talks about how to make sure you get your tax rebate check. You can read that post here.

But I what I really want ot know is what are you going to do with your rebate check? I know most people say they are going to pay down debt, or put the money in savings. That is what most people said the last time the IRS sent out advance payments, but the reality was most people spent it and there was a noticeable upswing in the economy. But I think most people, when they get that money in their hot little hands, are going to spend at least some of it on some new toy! I know I am! I am just trying to decide what. Any ideas? Maybe custom themes for my blogs? What are you going to spend you rebate check on?

On Writing

woman writing with quill pen

So I am all the way to day 5 of my 30 day challenge. And already it is getting hard to post everyday. It is not that I have any trouble at all coming up with topics. I’ve got enough things I’d like to talk about for the rest of this month and well into next! I think my challenge is, I’d like to talk about it, not write about it.

I don’t really think I am much of a writer. So why would I write on a blog (or two or three) and even volunteer for a challenge to write every day for 30 days? Because I want to become a good blog writer. Like many things, blog writing is a learn by doing type of activity. I expect that if at the end of this 30 day challenge I’ll be a much better writer than I am now!

Sometimes it helps some to read other blogs. When I find writing that I like, I try to analyze it and figure out what makes the writing good. There is one problem with that. Often, If I really like someone’s writing a little voice inside of me says “You’ll never write that well, you might as well just give it up now”. I quiet that voice by reading blog posts about writing blog posts!

But then I’m off into the World Wide Wasteland, reading this blog and that blog. It is so much easier for me to read than to write. (You don’t know it but I just spent the last twenty minutes away reading about writing!) Plus the advice is either contradictory (write short posts, write long posts, post every day, don’t post more than three times a week) or painfully obvious. (Write something your readers will want to read)

What helped you learn how to write? Let me know your best blogging tips here.

Thanks,

Katalina Mau Signature

It’s the Simple Things

After weeks of rain and snow, yesterday was a sunny day. My husband and I managed to drag ourselves away from the TV and computer and we went for a walk. Just a simple walk. There are some nice forested trails near our home that are mostly level and away from traffic. The dirt paths are soft and easy on the knees. My husband and I walked and talked, and talked and walked for a couple of hours.

It made me think. Sometimes it is the simplest things that bring the most pleasure. And the most benefits. While enjoying our time together we got the benefit of exercise and the pleasure of rare winter sunshine. Our activity was totally environmentally friendly and it was free! I had more fun just walking with my husband, than I would have gotten watching a movie, or going out to dinner, or even going to the casino.

I don’t know when I started thinking that simple meant second class. We had unexpected company for dinner one night, and I served what I had planned for the day. Turkey soup and bread (both homemade). We eat this frequently at my house. It is cheap and filling and easy to make. I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t have time to  go to the store and buy the ingredients to make a fancy dinner for my company.  Guess what, they loved it, and over a year later they still comment on how much they loved my simple meal.

Sometimes the simple things really are the best!  What are your simple pleasures?

PR -0- AND PROUD OF IT!

PR Checker

It is that time again. The forums and blogs are all abuzz. Google is updating pagerank, and bloggers and webmasters everywhere are rejoicing… or groaning. I guess I should be in the second category. The pagerank of this blog has not changed, it was PR0 before and it is PR0 now. But my other blog, My CFO on the Go was a PR1 and now is a PR0. What changed? My page views went from 200 to over 4,000 per month. Backlinks from 3 to almost 1000. Alexa rank has gone from a 3 month average of 850,000 to 213,000. Yesterday’s Alexa was 82,000. So except for Google PageRank, every statistic for MyCFOontheGo shows dramatic improvement. Still the drop in PageRank isn’t really a surprise for me. You see, I made a few changes last month, and I knew that Big Daddy Google wouldn’t approve.

I began accepting paid posts, (which is fully disclosed) and I removed all the nofollow tags and made my blogs do-follow blogs. I am very happy with the changes. I am earning a little money, and the people that comment on my blog get a link back to their blog. It seems only fair.

But this does put me in a bit of a predicament. The advertisers who pay for posts are looking for high PR blogs. Page Rank is easy for them to check, and it is supposed to give an idea of how popular a web page is. If I had gotten my expected PR3 (according to the Iwebtool.com PR predictor) I would have plenty of advertisers wanting me to post for them. With a PR0, not so many. It becomes a catch 22. High pagerank causes more advertisers… which lowers page rank… which lowers advertisers… which raises pagerank. Do see the problem?

I have given it some thought and there are a few things I could do. I could remove all the paid posts, make all the links on my site no-follow, and then I could grovel back to Google and ask them to reconsider if I promise never to do it again. But I didn’t create my blogs for Google. They are for me, for my readers, and for my advertisers. I don’t want Google telling me what I can or cannot do on my blog. Plus, from my own experience, PageRank is not that great an indicator of readership. (See the chart later in the post) My other choice is to keep doing things the way I do now. Accept paid posts, while making sure they provide value to my readers as well as to my advertisers. Keep my links do-follow links, so when someone is takes the time to make a thoughtful comment on my blog I can be nice enough to give them a link.

I have decided to run a little experiment, just to see how important pagerank really is. I have four active blogs right now. Two that I am very active with, and two that really could use a little more attention. Here is a table showing the stats on those four sites right now.

Sorry, not sure what is going on here. Please scroll down for the table.







Site PageRank 3 Month Alexa 1 Week Alexa 30 Day Page Views BackLinks
MyCFOontheGo.com 0 212,919 112,533 4048 981
KatalinaMau.com 0 680,441 314,639 1496 561
NinjaSuccess.com 2 851,145 568,953 1079 662
GetRichGeek.com 3 1,500,785 435,730 880 34

As you can see, the sites with the highest pagerank, actually have the lowest page views, and the lowest number of backlinks.

Which is why I believe that maybe Google PageRank isn’t the best indicator of how much traffic (quality or otherwise) a website gets.

Which leads into my experiment. From now, until the next pagerank update I am going to keep KatalinaMau.com and MyCFOontheGo.com the way they are. The way I want them to be. But for NinjaSuccess.com and GetRichGeek.com I am going to comply with Googles requirements. No paid posts and nofollow links. It will be interesting to see what happens and I’ll report back to you after the next PR update.

Do you have a blog or a website and you think your PR isn’t what it should be? I am planning on putting together a directory of quality sites with traffic, and low or no pagerank. If that sounds like your site, leave a comment with your stats. If it all checks out I’ll add you to the directory as time permits.

Blog Review – UpstartBlogger.com

pic of macbook airpic of macbook air

I am not usually big on posting about blogging contests. Most of of the blogging contests I have seen want you to review a blog that may not be very good, for a prize that is just so-so. Then there is all the linking and stumbling and favoriting. It all really gets to be too much.

But there is always the exception to the rule. Ashley Morgan’s UpstartBlogger is having a contest and the prize is pretty sweet. A brand new Apple MacBook Air. The new laptop that is crazy thin. From the commercials I have seen, the Air looks like it might just be cool enough and thin enough to make up for it being an Apple! I certainly wouldn’t mind having one.

And then the blog itself is an exception to the rule. The theme is light and clean and loads fast. It is practically free of ads. (Something I have been thinking about for my own site!)And the content is worth sticking around for. Even though I have been blogging for over a year now I found myself enjoying Ashley’s post on 25 Steps to Launching Your Blog and Making $100+ A Month in 30 Days. While the post is definitely geared to rank beginners, I found some useful information relating to WordPress Plugins. He also has a post on SQL Backup Strategies that I am going to read when I am done here!

The contest ends Feb. 29, 2008 so if you want to enter you are going to have to be quick. Even if you are too late for the contest Upstart Blogger is worth a look.