MDWpilot:
Sorry for you that you don't believe the fuel story.
I flew charter flights with the 737-800 from center Europe to the sunny south. During winter, you start with an OAT of around 0°C , take-off and climb to FL390 and then after 3-4 hours flight you land with lots of eco-fuel (sometimes fuel is 50% more expensive at the destination - I don't think you have this in the States) at a destination with 10-15°C OAT.
What happens with the upper surface of the wing : ICE (and sometimes very thick) - and you can see where the fuel in the tanks ends !! We had several cases at our company, where they had to ask the de-icing truck to avoid a delay of several hours. Since then, it was forbidden for us to take extra fuel when the OAT at destination was around 10°C.
For the rest, I don't mind to fly the 737 NG (it's a nice aircraft to fly when you compare it with the 737 EFIS) but it is an aircraft with a lot of mistakes ...