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October 27, 2005

I THINK THEY DO THIS ON PURPOSE

Today, for the second time this year, at a time when we have no electricity and no idea when we will get electricity, the mail carrier brought... our electric bill!

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I think they call that "irony".

You mean it's not the FIRST time it happened?
You need to get FEMA on top of it! Please note sarcasm.

I think they call that "irony".

I think they call that "redundant". Sorry. Oh, and Cadgeek, I think they call you "TOO SLOW".

Neither rain, nor snow, nor lack of electricity...

that's why it's called a 'futility'...(short for 'f-ing utility'.

well, double duh. a relative of a relative lives up in lake worth - no electricity. they all were told to boil their water.. oh guess what - they all have electric stovetops. right.

My little Buttercup...
Has the sweetest smile...

If memory serves me right, Dave, you wrote a column about receiving indecipherable bills from the electric company and paying them anyways because of their absolute power over us. (I know - bad pun) On the plus side you do have snail mail delivery, proving that the US postal Service motto is correct:

Neither wind, nor rain, nor flying trees, lack of electricity, gas or ice shall keep this courier from his appointed rounds of delivering bills at inconvienent times.

So, if you don't have electricity then you can't READ the bill, right? You can't READ the bill so you can't make out the check. Guess they'll have to wait until next month...

It's times like this when the Amish are laughing at us.

In California they provide cyanide along with your electric bill.

Dave, since you still have your mailman in service I'll ship you a can of gas to run your generator. What's your address?

Mark

I think it's a public service from the government personally. Most people are feeling helpless and despondent, but receiving that bill in the mail gives you a place to focus your rage. They're only thinking of you. They're selfless that way.

I think they bill you on purpose too, Dave.

Dave - switch to online billing so that when the power goes off you won't get your electric bill and when they try to charge you for not paying you can say "It's not my fault! I had no electricity, so it's your fault!"

Sic 'em, Dave!

A.N., I like your thinking!

*snork* at Bryce.

Excellent problem solving Aunt Nancy!

Here in the "north" (north being Kentucky which thinks it is in the south but gets too much snow and was, contrary to popular local beleif, on the Union side of the Civil War, but I digress)...

Any, here in Kentucky, we get our heating bills BEFORE winter actually begins.

This is an effort to save us money. The kind folks at the utility companies (they are not electric companies here since we use gas as well as electric) actually decide for us how much of thier product we will use in the coming months and then, again, kindly take our money and deposit it in their interest-earning accounts in order to ensure that us poor morons here in the hills don't run out of money and heat in the dead of winter.

And if they over-estimate? Well then they just kindly hold on to our money until summer when we'll be running our A/C (since we are in the South) and will most certainly be facing a high electric bill...and if they again over-estimate, well, we all know gas prices will be rising again next winter.

I'm pretty sure the Western Kentucky utility companies earn more money in interest each year than most subscribers make in a lifetime just by "kindly" handling our finances.

Does irony conduct electricity?

I'm willing to bet that even with no power connected to it, your electric meter is still turning (or digitally counting up all the Kilowatts you could have been using all this time). Do you think they're going pay for all these bucket trucks by holding a bake sale?

Hang in there!

David,
I zink zee 'lectic bill rreprrrezents zumpzing else. Are you projecting again?

The electric meter only turns when the tide comes in and pushes it.

Yeah, it's just like that old saying about how, right after you wash your car, it gets blown into your neighbor's backyard. Every time.

Is anyone else wondering how Dave can post to his blog when he has no electricity?

Generator? Is his broadband connection still up? Very long battery life on his laptop?


Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night.....
but try getting your mail on a NICE day once.

Michael -

I really don't worry too much about HOW he does it ... I'm glad he's able to do it ... HOWever, mebbe Dave has one of those cigarette lighter adapters that lets one to plug in their appliance (computer) and run it off the car battery ... hence, Dave's need for gasoline ... to run the car, to charge the battery, to keep us all happy with the blog ...

OAN: After Gulf War I, some of my (photojournalism) colleagues told of how they would link a number of car batteries together, in order to run their laptops to uplink to satellites so that they could send photos (and stories, presumably) back to the USA for their newspapers and magazines ... IANMTU ... (tnx4 the acronym, A.N.)

We just got a letter from the power company explaining what our charges were last year, and what they would have been had we gotten into their special program. They even gave projections for what the bill would be for this year with and without the program. They included a nice little application form so we could join.

One problem: Their program would cost us about $300 more per year to join.

...yeah, great deal!

So, if you DIDN'T pay the bill and they cut off your service, how could you tell?

What can I say? I have a sense of humor.

U.O. - You can also get a small, portable solar cell with an AC adapter that I understand works very well for laptops.

Sally -

Tnx 4 reminding me ... I'm thinking of getting one (for backup) when I get back out to SoCal, where I can shop @ Fry's ... I missed them while in Oregon, not enuf time to explore ... after my visits in Corvallis, I only got to Powell's in Portland, and then headed home ...

Hmmmm......

No gasoline. No electricity. But the USPS delivers.

Your Daveness, Sir, why don't you mail order some gasoline & electricty? You could order it over the internet.

Oops!!! There's that no electricity thingy again, isn't it....

Thanks, but no thanks... Takes too much electricity to send a message to eternity.

Ish.

Another spaminator ...

The thing I hate most about spammers is that when I see their work, it's about as personally and emotionally offensive to me as if someone had broken into my house and shat upon the carpet, just to show they'd been there ... just sayin' ...

U.O, - It has been a long time since I read anything by anyone educated enough to use the past pluperfect form of that verb.

We're not worthy!

G'mornin' Pogo --

I've been stalling, and gotta go to work asap ... but tnx4 the compliment ... I dunno how long I've "known" that proper (?) usage ... but it's been a pretty much long while ... somethin' I picked up along the trail ...

talk @y'all later

Dave, save your power for this show!!!!

Vampire Bats!

Annie Where-but-here Does irony conduct electricity?

Sparks are generated when irony strikes flint.
Wits are sharpened when irony strikes irony.

Jacki, not to pick nits or anything, but the government of Kentucky never officially supported the Union or the Confederacy. It is probably the one border state that best exemplifies "brother against brother" in the war. Kentucky was a slave state, so there is a good basis for calling it a southern state.

[Civil War buff and a Kentuckian]

new word: spamalanche - to describe the copious amts that we are allegedly going to get over the holiday season.
off topic completely. just random ...

Yes Q-bee?

I used to work at an electric company. I worked in the cash department which means that I processed bills and checks all day. You would be surprised how many people sent in angry notes stating that they "were not going to pay for a (varying amount) of their bill because their power was out." DUH. Power out = meter NOT running = NO charge. We also received a lot of checks made out to other creditors. My favorites were people who sent their mortgage payments with their electric bills.

MOTW - thanks for shedding light on that.....maybe the electric company has a huge 'clap on, clap off' power switch.

The electric company has the clap?????????????

Surely not here in Iowa. The flow (of electricity) remains steady.

Hey, here's an idea you might like.

I've suggested before that electric meters should run in reverse when the electricity goes out (yes, Dave, they'd have to have a battery back-up to actually run when the electric's out).

The "credit" you'd get would compensate you for all the Sterno and candles and batteries and matches and stuff.

Your blog is very motivating. When I was reading it, I get drawn in. I am totally agreed with your thoughts. Thanks for sharing this beautiful thoughts with me.
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