Petroleum Day??

One day when I hadn't been working for very long, I suddenly needed to know the date of some holiday. Or perhaps I needed some excuse to celebrate on some random day... I don't remember. However, my Google search that day yielded a site I've often revisited: EarthCalendar.

This morning, what with it being a Monday and all (and in the misery of seasonal allergies that drain energy and make the morning just that much more enjoyable), I surfed over to that trusty old resource. Lo and behold, today (in Texas, at least) is Petroleum Day!

So, let's see: everybody hates oil companies for making giant profits while gas prices are near/over $3 per gallon, the talk around the nation is of needing to get independent of foreign oil and move to alternative fuels, I still (many years later) can't think of Exxon without thinking of oil-drenched birds, and I generally view oil executives as either Monty Burns or the crazy Texan from the Simpsons.... hey let's celebrate oil!!

Now, to be fair, I have to throw a couple of modifiers in here. First, everybody hates oil companies *except* for all the people who benefit from their huge profits. That includes not only the rich but probably anyone at all who has a 401(k) or any other chance to own mutual funds. After all, the financial folks get paid to make us money for our retirement. So, really, I can't stay mad at oil companies.

And who knows? Maybe Texas is only celebrating its own petroleum, and not that of others. And when I think of all the other petroleum-related products out there like... um... petroleum jelly and .... well, you know what I mean - maybe we all need to take a little time-out to appreciate petroleum and all it does for us.

Finally, a quick quiz: without using the Internet to get the answer, what two countries are the top single suppliers of oil to the US? You may be surprised when you see the answer.

(The previous link is from the Energy Information Administration of the US gov't., which has more interesting info on oil in the US.)