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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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".
Posted by: Brad | October 27, 2005 at 04:09 PM
You mean it's not the FIRST time it happened?
You need to get FEMA on top of it! Please note sarcasm.
Posted by: Cadgeek | October 27, 2005 at 04:10 PM
I think they call that "irony".
Posted by: Brad | October 27, 2005 at 04:10 PM
I think they call that "redundant". Sorry. Oh, and Cadgeek, I think they call you "TOO SLOW".
Posted by: Brad | October 27, 2005 at 04:11 PM
Neither rain, nor snow, nor lack of electricity...
Posted by: Lardog88 | October 27, 2005 at 04:12 PM
that's why it's called a 'futility'...(short for 'f-ing utility'.
Posted by: insomniac | October 27, 2005 at 04:17 PM
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.
Posted by: queensbee | October 27, 2005 at 04:19 PM
My little Buttercup...
Has the sweetest smile...
Posted by: Crash | October 27, 2005 at 04:21 PM
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.
Posted by: ArcticAl | October 27, 2005 at 04:22 PM
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...
Posted by: Nicholas | October 27, 2005 at 04:38 PM
It's times like this when the Amish are laughing at us.
Posted by: Bryce | October 27, 2005 at 04:39 PM
In California they provide cyanide along with your electric bill.
Posted by: gray davis | October 27, 2005 at 04:46 PM
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
Posted by: grandfunk | October 27, 2005 at 04:48 PM
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.
Posted by: KOW | October 27, 2005 at 05:07 PM
I think they bill you on purpose too, Dave.
Posted by: Christobol | October 27, 2005 at 05:07 PM
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!
Posted by: Aunt Nancy | October 27, 2005 at 05:17 PM
A.N., I like your thinking!
Posted by: Eleanor | October 27, 2005 at 05:49 PM
*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.
Posted by: Jacki | October 27, 2005 at 05:59 PM
Does irony conduct electricity?
Posted by: Annie Where-but-here | October 27, 2005 at 06:05 PM
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!
Posted by: Bill | October 27, 2005 at 06:07 PM
David,
I zink zee 'lectic bill rreprrrezents zumpzing else. Are you projecting again?
Posted by: Dr. Sigmund Freud | October 27, 2005 at 06:11 PM
The electric meter only turns when the tide comes in and pushes it.
Posted by: Annie Where-but-here | October 27, 2005 at 06:16 PM
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.
Posted by: Lairbo | October 27, 2005 at 06:50 PM
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?
Posted by: Michael | October 27, 2005 at 07:52 PM
Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night.....
but try getting your mail on a NICE day once.
Posted by: louis gehrig | October 27, 2005 at 08:45 PM
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.)
Posted by: U.O | October 27, 2005 at 08:52 PM
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!
Posted by: Dean | October 27, 2005 at 09:04 PM
So, if you DIDN'T pay the bill and they cut off your service, how could you tell?
Posted by: Mr. Completely | October 27, 2005 at 10:56 PM
What can I say? I have a sense of humor.
Posted by: God | October 27, 2005 at 11:03 PM
U.O. - You can also get a small, portable solar cell with an AC adapter that I understand works very well for laptops.
Posted by: Sallyacious | October 27, 2005 at 11:54 PM
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 ...
Posted by: U.O | October 28, 2005 at 12:15 AM
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....
Posted by: George | October 28, 2005 at 02:01 AM
Thanks, but no thanks... Takes too much electricity to send a message to eternity.
Posted by: AllieKat | October 28, 2005 at 07:09 AM
Ish.
Another spaminator ...
Posted by: U.O | October 28, 2005 at 08:16 AM
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' ...
Posted by: U.O | October 28, 2005 at 08:32 AM
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!
Posted by: pogo | October 28, 2005 at 08:58 AM
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
Posted by: U.O | October 28, 2005 at 09:26 AM
Dave, save your power for this show!!!!
Vampire Bats!
Posted by: insomniac | October 28, 2005 at 09:31 AM
Annie Where-but-here Does irony conduct electricity?
Sparks are generated when irony strikes flint.
Wits are sharpened when irony strikes irony.
Posted by: MOTW | October 28, 2005 at 09:50 AM
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.
Posted by: LabSpecimen | October 28, 2005 at 09:59 AM
[Civil War buff and a Kentuckian]
Posted by: LabSpecimen | October 28, 2005 at 10:01 AM
new word: spamalanche - to describe the copious amts that we are allegedly going to get over the holiday season.
off topic completely. just random ...
Posted by: queensbee | October 28, 2005 at 10:12 AM
Yes Q-bee?
Posted by: random thunking | October 28, 2005 at 10:30 AM
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.
Posted by: Jessica R. | October 28, 2005 at 11:20 AM
MOTW - thanks for shedding light on that.....maybe the electric company has a huge 'clap on, clap off' power switch.
Posted by: Annie Where-but-here | October 28, 2005 at 12:03 PM
The electric company has the clap?????????????
Surely not here in Iowa. The flow (of electricity) remains steady.
Posted by: louis gehrig | October 28, 2005 at 04:10 PM
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.
Posted by: Steve | October 28, 2005 at 04:26 PM
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