Hey Drivers! Gas Going Up to $2.15/gallon

How lovely... get out of one hole to step into a ditch. Between taxes and gas it's a tough road ahead.

By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices will hit a new record high this spring, reaching a national monthly average of $2.15 a gallon, the government said on Tuesday.

During the busy 2005 driving season, which runs from April through September, gasoline will average $2.10 a gallon, up 20 cents from the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly energy forecast.

The record high U.S. gasoline price was $2.06 a gallon set last May. However, when adjusted for inflation in today's dollars, the highest price for gasoline was $3.08 a gallon in March 1981, according to the Energy Department's analytical arm.

Read on: Reuters.com

Bushes seek chef who can do Tex-Mex, barbecue

Poor guy can't barbeque a brisket. Well, I guess I could apply. ;-)

Bushes seek chef who can do Tex-Mex, barbecue: "Bushes seek chef who can do Tex-Mex, barbecue
Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Feb. 20, 2005

Posted on 02/20/2005 6:34:05 PM PST by bayourod

Fancy state dinners aren't all the new White House chef will need to do -- the Bushes are looking for someone who knows barbecue and other good old American fare.
Laura Bush told Newsweek she doesn't expect that any of the celebrity chefs with books or television shows will be interested in becoming head chef at the presidential home. But she's looking to fill the job with someone who 'can really showcase American foods.'
The previous White House chef, Walter Scheib III, has left to pursue new opportunities after nearly 11 years of cooking for two presidents, and the first lady is looking for a replacement who can cater to the first family's native Texan palates.
'We like spicy food of all kinds,' she said in the magazine's Feb. 28 issue. 'We like, obviously, Tex-Mex and barbecue. ... George is a very good eater.'
The chef will have ample opportunity to make dinner for the first family -- the Bushes are known for staying in most nights rather than socializing like their predecessors. Laura Bush said they do go out to friends' dinner parties when someone thinks to ask them.
'We don't actually get invited to that many dinner parties,' she said. 'I think people think we're going to invite them, which we do.'"

Restoration Hardware Announces the Resignation of Stephen Gordon, Founder and Chairman of the Board

For those who worked for "Resto" before the public days, you'll know what I mean. For others, I'm not quite sure.. but you might. Somewhere in that transition from private to public company I think Resto lost a lot of it's "soul". This press release just tells me that Stephen probably thought something too.

Even, post-Resto employment, some 7 years later, I'll never forget the day we had the conference call announcing "we were going public". The employees we all astir with questions like: "Should I take a loan out to buy shares?". But, I can honestly say that I considered the buy and then remembered what happened at Office Max...

I had been working at Office Max, at a similar period in the company history. I was younger than I was at Resto (and even more inspired to make a purchase) but, never did... Being an hourly employee has it's financial limits. In both cases, shortly after the open the stocks took their tumble.

In Resto's case, I had heard more news too... of the Williams Sonoma CEO appointment and saw the impact on the store in '01- '02. More bath assortment, less gadgets and gizmos...no books...fewer employees and that feeling of something missing. It had become commiditized,McDonald's-"ified". In short, less than the company I found when they opened two stores in Houston, TX.

The '01 - '02 version of Resto confirmed for me what I suspected, the soul was gone and now in '05 I learn the mind has left too.

Good luck, Stephen... you've got quite a talent. It was good working for an authentic company when it was one.


Restoration Hardware - Investor Relations - Press Release