Idly poking through the "Recent Used Arrivals" bin at the record shop, I picked up a couple of interesting records and hummed a few bars from I Zimbra, but couldn't find something that really grabbed me. And as I walked up to the register, I saw a CD of The Name Of This Band. Yo!
... this beautiful record (the series of photographs on the inner sleeves are as imprinted in my memory as are the songs themselves: David Byrne with a big guitar in a living room; Jerry Harrison waving energetically from behind a keyboard; and Eno's name, everywhere) has always been a record to me: but the CD has such beautiful, clear sound, and it's not like yesterday anymore.
It gets better: next to the Talking Heads reissue was a CD copy of Caroleen's Taking Tiger Mountain cover CD. Hot diggity!
All in all, an eno-riffic mid-day. And all I meant to pick up was a salami and baguette for lunch.
A few weeks after I had filed yet another complaint with the CPUC, the Chronicle ran a great article on how PG&E sends estimated rather than actual bills to its customers. Morally as well as fiscally bankrupt.
Utilities should not only fall under public oversight, they should be a completely public -- owned and operated -- service. Free enterprise is for beer and house-painting services, not for critical civic infrastructure. I'm going to go watch Brazil now.
PG&E says it sends out almost 70,000 estimated bills each month -- frequently for amounts higher than actual usage would warrant -- because customers' meters are inaccessible.But current and former insiders say the utility deliberately bypasses some neighborhoods to save itself the expense of hiring enough people to handle the workload.
State regulators worry that ratepayers are being overcharged on a routine basis. They said an investigation into PG&E's billing practices already is under way and that the utility could face significant fines or penalties.
PG&E spokesman Ron Low said that while meters in a particular neighborhood may go unread due to employee illness or traffic conditions, no policy exists to estimate customers' bills as a cost-cutting measure.
"Our policy is to read every customer's meter each month," he said. "We have the proper staffing level to allow us to do so."
Depending on the person I speak with at PG&E, I am told, variously, that my meter has not been read in eighteen (18) months, that the meter readers cannot find the meter, that the meter reader was unable to find anyone at home, that the dog ate their homework, etc., etc.