The Cost of Driving

I drive a lot, and so the cost of gas is a subject that's very near and dear to my heart. So, when I just saw a report on CNN about the average American's annual cost of driving, my ears perked up. Here's how they broke it down on screen:

Average Annual Cost of Driving

12,000 miles

600 gallons of gas

$,1968

I put a lot more miles than that on my car every year, but let's conservatively say I do 25,000 miles annually. Gas currently costs $3.15 at the Breadbox up the street from my house and I get roughly 22 miles per gallon in the old Volvo. Keeping in mind that my only real math skill is calculating what 6% of anything is, that would mean my breakdown looks something like this:

Average Cost of Knoxville Realtor Driving Old Volvo

25,000 miles

1136 gallons of gas

$3,578

And unlike these guys out at Watt Rd, going on strike isn't going to do me any good.

If your car doesn't tell you how many mpg you get, you can use this nifty miles per gallon calculator to determine what your monthly or yearly gas costs are.

After you're done, come back and let me know what your gas cost breakdown looks like.

Things Look Sunny for K-Town

What's with Knoxville and lists? Not only did we make all those Forbes lists, K-Town was just named one of 12 solar cities. According to WBIR.com:

The city of Knoxville is one of a dozen cities nationwide receiving federal money to boost solar power use.

It was selected as a Solar America City by the Department of Energy.The designation means a $200,000 grant plus technical assistance.The Tennessee Valley authority plans to chip in an additional $100,000 over the course of the two-year project.

A Little Too Close to Home

Just saw this story over on KNS:

Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies serving an arrest warrant Wednesday night uncovered a methamphetamine lab in a West Knox County subdivision, authorities said.

Deputies from the KCSO Narcotics Unit arrived at the home, 830 Kevin Road, in the Crestwood Hills subdivision off Walker Springs Road around 5 p.m. after getting a tip from a local neighborhood watch member, KCSO Assistant Chief Deputy Robert Sexton said.

Yikes. As if that weren't bad enough, one of the comments on the story was making fun of this happening in "toney [sic] west knox."

You see, that kind of makes me nuts.

The scary part about this story is not that the meth lab was discovered in West Knoxville, but that it was discovered in a nice, quiet, well-populated subdivision at all.

The question to ask is not how could this happen in West Knoxville, but could this possibly be happening in any other otherwise respectable neighborhoods, be they North, South, East or West?