It's Starting Already

I couldn't believe what I saw on my way home: gas lines. At every station I passed. The radio was airing a Rangers game, so I hadn't heard any news for a few hours, but I was doubting that they had some big news item about knowing exactly where the hurricane would make landfall 24 hours from now or anything. So why were people all buying gas tonight? Hadn't they heard that the best way to create a gas shortage was for everyone to top off their tanks like this?

Obviously not. But I didn't succumb, not yet. I have a little over half a tank. Yeah, I've heard the stories that gas deliveries might be messed up for a few weeks, we might see $3 a gallon again, and so on. And I definitely need gas for my work. Still, I don't see the need to top off tonight, though I may venture out right before bed, just out of curiosity, because I haven't seen lines like this since 9/11. I would feel like a dork if prices shot up 50 cents by morning or something. But I can't imagine using real gas to sit in a line to get more gas.

So...quick straw poll: Did you succumb to temptation tonight, or drive confidently on? Or was this even an issue in your neck of the woods?

UPDATE: I did in fact do my little "curiosity drive" a little after 11:30 p.m., just to see if the lines were gone. They were, but two stations I checked had also run out of regular gas. Gah.

Operating on the theory that the prices might rise sharply, I went ahead and filled up, thus assuring that I won't have to pay an inflated price for at least the next four days. I bet this won't be as bad as people are thinking, at least in terms of gas, but I guess one can never be too careful. I just hope tonight's little frenzy didn't add to the problem too much.

Catch of the day: There have been reports of all kinds of unusual things caught by fishing boats near the area where Katrina went ashore, but the best one I heard about today was the boat that caught an ATM in its net. I'm looking for the link to that story now...