Fill ‘er up, %$#&%

As gas prices hit record highs, Americans are doing a lot of griping, but not a lot of cutting back (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/16/100bus_gas001.cfm).

Experts think prices aren’t yet high enough to shock now-inured consumers into driving less. We think that instead of a stick, drivers might like a carrot. So here are a few things you could buy for the price of gas:

For $3.43, the average cost in Washington for a gallon of regular: a 12-ounce iced white chocolate mocha. Just think of it as fueling yourself up instead of your car.

For $83.89, the amount a Chicago man spent to fill up his GMC Yukon: an iPod shuffle, which you can use to block out that person on the bus who just HAS to tell you about their mysterious foot fungus.

For $1,181,029,000, a rough estimate of the amount U.S. drivers spent on gas Tuesday:

A small country. Either Monaco or Belize would come in right under budget.

A chip off the old Flintstone. ABC announced its fall lineup and gave the green light to “Cavemen,” a show featuring the Neanderthals on Geico’s TV ads (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/16/100ae_e5abc001.cfm).

Geico’s gecko and the AFLAC duck were on the phone to their agents Tuesday, demanding to know why their pilots weren’t picked up.

If you can’t wait ‘til fall to see “Cavemen,” here’s a preview: http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=262163&GT1=7703

— Katie Mayer and Jon Bauer, Herald staff