Dan Savage, who writes the Savage Love column, posted this on SLOG…

Savage Love Letter of the Day

Posted by Dan Savage on January 1 at 1:35 PM

Please disregard my previous e-mail. As of the new year, my girlfriend is no longer a virgin.

Ah…love…

So I’ve finally plugged in all the register chits from my Key West road trip, and the total bill comes to $2,119.39.  The bulk of that being hotel costs, and the bulk of That being the high cost of lodgings in the Florida Keys…at least during Christmas week.  I paid $746.99 for lodgings in Key Largo and Key West over three nights…one night in Key Largo at $222.95 and two in Key West at $524.04 and those were the best rates I could find in AAA rated two-diamond minimum motels with Internet connectivity.  By comparison, the motel I stayed at in Orlando only charged me $57 for a night, and the Microtel I stayed at in Georgia on the way home only cost $78.39.  Btw…I Highly recommend Microtel.  The beds are comfortable, the rooms are very small, but sensibly laid out…and Quiet.

Total gas bill came to 324.36.  Food was a total of 303.67, but I ate well while I was in Key West, and since I found out someone very special to me works as a waiter nowadays, I’ve been tipping pretty extravagantly.  Normally while on the road I’m splurging if I spend more then $15 a day on food.  I just don’t eat much.  But the eating was just wonderful in Key West. 

There were some miscellaneous expenses that all told came to $361.76.  I had to buy a new camera strap for the 30D when the old leather one I had on it suddenly broke.  Luckily the camera itself was undamaged.  I bought several new caps…some sandals when I finally saw a pair I actually liked in Key West…and the cutest little Gay Rainbow Micky Mouse pin you ever saw at Disneyworld.  If Disney isn’t officially supporting Gay Days, they’re sure making us feel welcome there nonetheless.  And there was this really eyeball burning tye-dye hooded sweatshirt I saw in Key West that I just had to have…

So…about a week and a day, and it cost me just over two-grand.  That’s about a grand more then I was hoping to get away with.  I have to start planning these things a little more carefully.  But note, the cost of gasoline was still not a very big factor here.  In fact, gas and food Combined were less then the hotel costs.

And this trip I didn’t spend anything on photographic film, because I still have a lot of unexposed black and white and color film I haven’t used yet (and didn’t either on this trip…everything I shot this trip was digital…)

I need to turn one of my savings accounts into a road trip kitty…and just not go anywhere until I’ve got at least two-grand in it… 

This quote from last January, pretty much sums up the state of the union as of this January…

"There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there’s a prohibition against taking it away."
–Alberto Gonzales