Vacation Rants
 

Just back from a week trip from North Carolina to New England, where we had a great time. But discussing great times isn't what we do here, so some rants from the trip:

New Jersey is self-serve gas only? How about something other than a little tiny black sign on the side of the pump so I know it before getting out of the car and swiping my credit card? Last thing I want to do these days is hand over my credit card at the gas station.

Can Massachusetts pave a road, or do the construction crews spend all their time taking off the asphalt and leaving the chewed up base surface to drive on?

Why is everyone in Massachusetts so upset that the government wants couples to present proof of residency to get a marriage license? Shouldn't you get married in the state you live in? What's the deal? This dominated the news while I was up there.

But overall it was a great trip and we had a great time. Found a nice little Hampton Inn on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge with a Cracker Barrel next door that made a great halfway stop going up and coming back. Family and friend visits were awesome. And the 16-month-old was very good to her parents and got to pick out her own stuffed animal at the Cracker Barrel on the way home as a reward (she chose a piggy-back frog).

I found out long ago (ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
It's a long way down the holiday road (ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
Holiday Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooad.
Holiday Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooad.

I love credit card paranoia. I wonder why people who have such phobias about using them even own them.

Was going to New England in the near future, Massachusetts changed all that. Now boycotting it for good. New Jersey is 'attendent pump only' at the gas stations. Some deep-thinking liberals there figured it was dangerous for motorists to pump their own gas and would cost gas-station jobs. Another real good state to avoid.

I don't mind the 'attendent pump only' requirement at all , considering that its about .15-20 cents cheaper a gallon to get gas in South Jersey than it is in the Philadelphia Metro Area.

I agree. Without doing any scientific research, you probably have a better chance to get in an accident on the way home than to have a gas station attendant steal your cc info.

I'd guess this is because of the new law to allow gay marriages. Out-of-state gay couples were probably looking to commute up to Mass to get married.

That's precisely why the fuss was raised, but was a poor tactic IMNSHO. I can see the arguments on both sides of the gay marriage issue, but haven't heard a valid reason yet why the state should be forced to marry out-of-state people. Gives them that much less credence in my mind when trying to argue other points, and thus weakens their pro-gay-marriage stance in my mind.

Sorry, shouldn't have really dragged the credit-card bit into it. I was far more annoyed that I had very little warning about this. Note that I was pumping gas along the Garden State Parkway, which seems a fairly common place for out-of-state travellers such as myself to pump gas. So maybe a bit more notice about the fact that the state hasn't joined the 21st century yet? Best part was the pump had the self-serve payment setup.

Note that on the trip south, I also filled up in New Jersey, but the station had the "Full Service" signs at the pumps and no self-payment system attached.

Not to sound like a dick or anything, but when that sniper was terrorizing the DC area, there were plenty of people wondering why they had to leave their cars to pump gas.

Just feel the need to defend my state...

We're the most populous state in the nation. The law is in place strictly to create jobs.

I wish I could afford to pay extra for someone to pump my gas....

What does that even mean? It's not like you tip the guys, and based on gas prices across the nation it's tough to argue NJ motorists are paying their salary in any way.

Agreed, prices were no higher in New Jersey.

well, you see, full-serve (HAHAHA) gas costs about 10-12 cents more per gallon than self-serve.

Usually - but it's well known in the area that New Jersey gas prices are always lower than Pennsylvania and New York. Therefore, you get cheaper gas AND "full" serve. Personally, I hate it for a different reason: usually there's about 2 guys servicing 6 to 8 cars, so it's very likely you get to sit in the car and pick your teeth/check for nose hairs for about 5 minutes before you even get someone's attention. It's a waste of time.

except that's clearly not the case in New Jersey... Should I laugh now?

Being originally from New Jersey, I must say, the 'full-serve only' law is CRAP! In Georgia, I love just pulling up, swiping my card, pumping my gas and then leaving. I hate going back to NJ and waiting for the freaking attendant. Bah! Just let me do it myself!

Who would have thought that New Jersey and Oregon have something in common?

If you don't think that is the case, you are fooling yourself.

NJ has lower gas prices than NY and PA because they have less taxes directly on gas. They still have to pay the labor to have people pump gas, which costs money. If they did not have that cost, their prices would be lower than they are now.

That's true, Samdari. It's a hidden cost increase. After all those workers must get paid somehow.

Certainly. Get married in Hawaii? Nope, you better live there for 6 months first, so you can qualify for it. Let's just put all those Vegas chapels out of business, as well.

They should just create a license for it. You demonstrate that you can do it safely, properly, and pass a written test. Then, after a $50 or $100 fee, you are now licensed to pump your own gas in New Jersey. ;)

I think you are way overestimating this cost. They don't pay gas station attendants very well, and you don't need many of them because once the pump is started, the attendant can walk away and help someone else. I'm guessing it costs a station somewhere around $10/hour in total costs (not salary) per attendant. At that rate, maybe a typical station has $500 a day in extra employee costs (based on what I've seen when traveling in Oregon). That's miniscule compared other costs. I doubt it amounts to even a penny a gallon in real extra costs.

Theres still full-serve gas pumps? I haven't seen one of those since the mid 80s.

Well first off, no you shouldn't necessarily get married in the state that you live in. For example, Render and I got married in New York because that's where all my family is, rather than Massachusetts where we've only lived for a couple of years and have no ties.

The main problem that people are having with this proof of residency issue is that the governor went and grabbed on to a 1913 law that hasn't been enforced in ages and was originally written to curtail interracial marriages. The essence of the law is that if it's illegal for you to get married in your home state then you can't come to Massachusetts to get married. However, this law is ONLY being applied in the instances of gay marriage. Each state has its own laws regarding at what age you can marry, how close of a relation you can marry, and what medical requirements there are to get married. No checks are being done on heterosexual couples getting married in Massachusetts to ensure that it is in fact legal for them to marry in their home state. Thus, this law is being enforced unequally. There's also questions regarding the law's constitutionality.

Seeing how people in other states can do it properly, that is all that is needed, IMO :p.

They are forcing another legal battle over this law, to buy them some time to find a way to close the gay marriage loophole. This is why it is bad when a 'bad law' is still 'on the books', regardless of whether it is currently enforced or not. You never know when they will start using it against a minority. It used to be black/"African American" people, and now it is gay people. Who will be next on the list?

Obviously they aren't feeling comfortable with the deregulation of the industry in these other states.

Thanks for the explanation. I figured there had to be more to it, since all you get are those quick news bites that never tell the whole story, as they are more interested in the sensational bits.

Thus continues that rarest of animals, the "gay marriage, pump your own gas" thread...