Getting Loose

Nick Chopper

Well, Oz never did give nothing to the Tinman that he didn’t, didn't already have. Probably true. But we all feel at times as though there is something essential that we lack, and spend a lifetime looking for completeness in this or that activity, desiring this or that relationship.

My church in one of the Villages of Houston is putting on The Wizard of Oz, and I play a character whose first name was Nick, but you’d never know it from the play, because he goes by the name of Tinman. There are a lot of lines to learn, and one of these days I’m going to get them under my belt.

I’ve got a really neat costume and people will love it when they see me in it—axe and all. It will appear the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October.

Pray for me!

Crab Cake

You know, I have never really been a fan of crab cakes. I always thought they were a terrible way to eat crab which I happen to like very much as un Kosher as those critters are.

My wife announced to me in no uncertain terms that I was taking her out to eat last night, and oftentimes I try to find a new place that neither of us have ever been to. So I chose the Chanterelle Bistro and Wine Bar on Bellaire Avenue in Bellaire, Texas.

On a lark, as the waitress was asking for our drinks, I said, "Go ahead and bring to us the Crab cake," always open to visiting once again things that I think I am not sure I really like just to make sure.

Well, this was unlike any crab cake I have ever had before. It wasn’t just crab, there was also crawfish in it as well. And let me tell you, it was hands down, the best crab cake I have ever had in my life. I could not believe what I was tasting. Absolutely incredible, and a wonderful presentation to boot. I highly recommend this place. I knew we were in for a treat when we walked in and I saw not just table cloths on the table, but double table cloths. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Chin-Ups

You know, I try to keep this from just being a brag sheet . . . But I don’t try that hard . . . heh.

Well, as most of my readers know out there in the blogosphere, I try to work out at least 3 times a week. And lately, I’ve done pretty well at keeping to that schedule.

Well, I hit another milestone for me. I was able to do 5 chin-ups in a row. And I am not talking about the kind where you do one and then just get your head below the bar and do a second, etc. No, I mean I started out at a dead hang, did a chin up went back down arms fully extended, did a second, third, fourth, and then a fifth. Do you realize (or maybe I should say, "Do you even care . . . ") that it has been literally decades since I have ever been able to pull off that feat? In fact, I’ll bet it has been over 40 years since I have been able to do that. Was I impressed or what? (And anyone who says, "what" is in trouble with me).

72 Hours

It was initially my fault, I admit it.

In transferring power from one house account to another, I had to pick a termination date.

Rather than deal with a real, live human being, I attempted to do it on-line. After all, that’s more efficient for the company, right? That’s where the world is going, isn’t it? Let’s give old fashioned service a swift kick in the posterior.

I picked the date to turn off power at the house where we are living to be the last possible date that the Internet program would allow. Trouble is, we were still living in the house. And August 1^st rolled around, and out came the Center Point Energy truck (I thought to read the gas meter) and the dude cut off the electricity. (Yeah, as their mission statement says, "Center Point Energy is always there" IF it happens to be on a Monday through Friday).

At first I could not fathom what had happened. It was about 5 in the afternoon, and I knew it seemed quiet, but I did not know what had happened. I turned to look at a clock, and the LED face was blank. I looked at another LED clock, the face was blank. It dawned on me what had happened. It was August 1^st and I had neglected to tell them to keep the power on.

I called Center Point Energy and explained. They are the people who take care of the lines and the hookups and the terminations.

Well they sure were sorry to hear my story but there was nothing they could do or were gonna do till they heard from my service provider un Reliant Energy.  (Look at their ethics statement--committed to doing the right thing--what a scream!)

So I call them up and after several attempts finally got to a resolution team member that had about as much empathy as a stone wall. I explained my plight, food in the freezer, triple digit heat, no fans. Well, . . . I might as well have talked to my dog. Their attitude was loud and clear: "NOT THEIR PROBLEM!" NEXT?

I was shocked. I said, "I have overpaid my account for several months. I have a surplus in my account!"

NOT OUR PROBLEM!

I was incredulous.

They said we don’t work on the weekends. And the implication was, just be glad Monday wasn’t a holiday to boot. They were going to do nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. The null set. What part of NO did I not understand? NOT . . . THEIR . . . PROBLEM!

On top of that, they were going to start charging more than 3¢/kilowatt hour higher once the service got restored and charge me $42 because I wanted it cut back on expeditiously.

I screamed, "But I was your customer just a half hour ago, and on my account is the house to which the service is being transferred to!"

NOT THEIR PROBLEM . . . NEXT?

I swear the people they put on the front lines to interface with the customers have ice in their veins. I could have walked into their office and keeled over dead, and they would have ignored me and taken the next call from the next idiot who just doesn’t seem to understand the rules by which the power companies play.

I can’t help but wonder if this is all the result of deregulation.

I said, "What if my house was burning down? Would you send out a crew to cut the lines?"

Maybe . . . maybe not. NOT THEIR PROBLEM. Just what part of NO did I not get? They were not going to lift a finger to help me. They were not even going to lift a little finger to help me. They had no sympathy for my plight. They would just as soon I interface with an automated call system which would have sent me around in endless loops. Really, I think a machine might have had more compassion for my plight than what I received from either Center Point Energy or un Reliant Energy. They never heard of 24/7 with respect to helping out the customer in his or her hour of need. Theirs is a 40 hour work week, unless of course, there is a major hazard to life. But a Joe Simpleton like me? Pfffffft. They can afford to blow me off. I don’t matter. I’m a nothing. A nobody. If I get mad, there are other power companies out there; go cry on THEIR shoulders. We’ll never miss your business!

And they are right. I used to think that Reliant Energy cared. I used to know some great people who worked for them. But it is a very different, cold world where the bottom line is not service, but the almighty dollar.