The good news: A couple of months ago, I found out that my car's rear license plate was not merely faded, but was so badly faded that it would fail the state safety inspection. Fortunately, I could order a replacement plate online, and the receipt therefrom was enough to pass the inspection. Today, the replacement plate finally arrived, and I once again have a rear license plate that is both legible and legal.

The bad news: Gasoline prices at the local el-cheapo stations were $3.97 on Monday (the last time I passed through that particular intersection). They're now up twenty cents to $4.17. Yikes.

(And those prices are only likely to go higher, courtesy of our particularly idiotic President and his particularly idiotic war-of-choice which has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being closed for the last two months.)