Just the Gas Ma'am

I was listening to the news on a local radio station this morning

I pricked up my ears when they started talking about gas prices.  Their report stated that gas prices had risen again.  The average was up 11 cents this week.  That made me a little curious as I had bought gas late yesterday and noticed that the price was the same as I had previously paid.

I've recorded every gas purchase I've made for my personal vehicles since the early seventies.  In recent years I've kept a spreadsheet.  Anyway, segue aside, I took a look and found that the current price is at its lowest since over 7 months ago.  As you can see below, I typically buy gas 1 to 2 times a month.

So are the prices so volatile that they are hopping up and down frequently and I'm just not seeing this because I'm not buying every other day?  Or is something else going on?

Just wondering

Here's what I've paid over the last 8 months.  You can see that you have to go back to last May to find cheaper gas.  All fill-ups were at the same gas station except for Nov 5 and July 28 (this one the same brand but different place).

Jan 31, 2013	3.39
Jan 14, 2013	3.39
Jan 08, 2013	3.39
Dec 24, 2012	3.39
Nov 24, 2012	3.59
Nov 05, 2012	3.63
Oct 10, 2012	3.79
Aug 31, 2012	3.67
Aug 08, 2012	3.55
Jul 28, 2012	3.69
Jul 20, 2012	3.45
Jun 20, 2012	3.35
May 12, 2012	3.75

Voodoo Rituals in Toyota Land

Consider the following.  A Voodoo ritual?  The secret code to find an Easter Egg in some new video game?  Nope.  Read and try to figure this out.  Then scroll down for the surprise answer.

1. Start with the driver door open and unlocked. Key out of the ignition
2. Insert the key and remove 2 times in 5 sec. Just insert and remove, do not turn the key
3. Close and open driver door 2 times in 40 sec.
4. Insert the key and remove it again from ignition. Just insert and remove, do not turn the key.
5. Close and open driver door 2 times in 40 sec.
6. Insert the key in ignition,
7. Close the door,
8. Turn to on and back to lock in 1 second intervals. 1 time for add, 2 times for rewrite, 3 for confirmation 5 for prohibition. (yes, there is no “4”)
9. Remove the key
10. Power lock will cycle to confirm
11. For add or rewrite mode within 40 sec of the confirmation,

Mouse over me for the answer

Here is the rest of the ritual. I hid this so it wasn't too obvious.

A. press “lock” and “unlock” buttons of the FOB at the same time between 1 and 1.5 seconds.

B. within 3 sec press “Lock” button for more than 1 sec and release.

C. If it’s correct, the power door lock will cycle once. If it’s wrong the door lock will cycle twice.

Ok, so here it is. Remember the Captain's Camry? Off to the great car wash in the sky. Well he found the key fob that locks/unlocks/opens the trunk etc. So he gave it to me. Mine is older but is the same platform so it seemed likely I could use it.

After a bit of internet searching, I came up with the above. Of course I was skeptical, but I gave it a try anyway. Voila! Now I have an extra remote that works with my car. Of course it is a remote I don't really need.

So my question is "Does Toyota really need to make it this complicated?" Perhaps so. But it seems to me that 1/2 the steps would be random enough to prevent accidentally entering this add a key fob modes.