Preparedness keeps my fuel tank full. Topped off before the snow and haven't moved the car since. I walk to work and have a couple bicycles and bike trailers so am less dependent on the car than most.

I'm more worried about our overall economy that's already weak and limping along.

Pity we can't exult in an oppressive regime's toppling, for fear an even more oppressive, anti-American regime will take its place and our oil imports will be threatened. This is quite a different reaction in western countries compared to the Berlin Wall's crashing down in 1989.

The fellow in Tunisia who ignited this wave of Middle East unrest by igniting himself is no less a symbol than the brave student who stood in the path of a tank in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Best wishes to the Middle Eastern people whose ambitions do not revolve around the Caliphate. And God, Allah or whoever, help the Egyptian women who may face a future under the rule of Islamic fundamentalists.

Let's hope U.S. officials are up to the task of navigating this situation to our best near and long-term interests.