LIPA responds to change in billing statement

I love how EVERYTHING they do at LIPA costs us more money.


"Internally, it will require substantial changes to its computer software and will take months to implement. Cunningham also conceded there were costs associated with the changes"

The customers are upset because of the skyrocketing "fuel surcharges" since Hurricane Katrina hit last August. My $200 electric bill had a $90 fuel surcharge added to it this past month. Meanwhile, we're in my house walking around in the dark, huddling to keep warm just to keep the bills as low as possible. The fuel surcharge one year ago was like $5. It has been going up ever since.

LIPA adds this fuel surcharge to avoid raising their base rates, which would require approval from the Public Service Commission. Nice scam they have going. Yeah everyone is paying more for fuel, but not everyone gets to add a surcharge. Imagine buying an apple for 80 cents, and then being charged another 40 cents as a "fuel surcharge" because it was delivered by a truck. Ridiculous.

So now in order to appease the customers, they want to change a few words on the bill, and it will take months and cost God knows what to do! Don't they already have people working in the billing dept? Why can't these people just make the changes? How does changing some words around and typing in a new line incur a cost? This is the problem with Authorities.

Six Degrees of Philip Seymour Hoffman

I'm sure you've all heard of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Everybody knows you can connect actor Kevin Bacon with pretty much any other actor in Hollywood in six moves or less.

Tim Karan does the same with Philip Seymour Hoffman, otherwise known as "Brandt" from one of the great films of our time, The Big Lebowski.

Vanity Fair

Scarlett and Keira get naked, but Rachel McAdams ducks out.

Happy Holidays

A little holiday cheer.

Grammar Cop

Banterist.com is one of my favorite new spots on the internet.

From New York, a weblog of original humor by Brian Sack.
Subject to all the flexible quality standards of internet self-publishing

One of their regular features which I find very amusing is called Grammar Cop. It's amazing to me how people will incorrectly spell words relating to their own businesses. And just when will people learn the correct use of apostrophes?

Photography is cool

I am always fascinated by good photography. I like pictures. I like taking pictures of things. My pictures never seem to come out the way I want them to. This guy Fred Miller has a site that I really like called longislandwallpapers.com. Most of his pictures are taken around Long Island. He captures things you might not normally see or notice. Plus he does some awesome tricks with the camera. Like for instance this picture of the Southern State parkway overpass at Belmont Lake State Park was taken at 1 am. It's a 16 second exposure that makes the shot look like an eerie, surreal daytime shot. Simply amazing.

Ho Ho Ho...

The picture on the back cover of today's Newsday was a nice early morning treat. It's Mets pitcher Kris Benson and his wife Anna as Santa & Mrs. Claus.

The latest debate...Christmas

There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the holiday otherwise known as Christmas this year. More than ever, from what I can recall in my lifetime anyway. And it's starting to get on my nerves. It seems some people have become a little too sensitive about Christmas decorations, like Christmas trees for example, and also about greetings, such as "merry christmas," and "happy holidays."

At a recent tree-lighting ceremony in Manhasset, NY, the local reverend Nick Zientarski was giving a blessing in front of the gathered crowd. The North Hempstead town supervisor Jon Kaiman was heard angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony."

This apparently pissed off many in the crowd, prompting some angry emails to the town supervisor.

A little uptight, are we supervisor?

Then in Huntington, a lawyer got his feelings hurt because the menorah was dwarfed by the Christmas tree at the village green display. He wants to put an end to this, and it's now in court.

This guy must have a lot of time on his hands. Business must be slow. Don't you have something more important to worry about? I understand the public town places should not be adorned with giant crosses and jewish stars, but I don't think some holiday decorations should be pissing people off. Lighten up a little. Pun intended.

I've also seen some angry letters written to newsday in response to a feature on how some people are now paying professionals to install their christmas lights on their houses. Here is one letter:

I was appalled by "Decking the halls ... for a price" [News, Dec. 6]. The displays pictured were beautiful, but the waste was sickening. The prices listed for just six displays totaled $23,000 to $24,000. What better uses could have been found for more than $20,000? More than 200 people could be given winter coats. Holiday meals could be served to hundreds of hungry families. If donated to animal shelters, that money could have given another precious week to hundreds of little lives. Long Islanders, even if not Christian, should ask: What would Jesus have wanted for his birthday? A pretty light show, or the hungry fed, the poor clothed, the homeless sheltered, the lonely cheered? Nicola PalumboHolbrook

My thought is that it's none of your business, Nicola Palumbo from Holbrook. If these people choose to spend inordinate amounts of money on christmas lights, that is their right. If you want to make donations, go right ahead. No one should tell someone else they need to make donations.

Imagine a holiday party with the town supervisor, the lawer, and Nicola from Holbrook. What a swell time that would be.

I think everyone needs to try and relax a little. The holidays are stressful enough without all of this controversy.

John Lennon vs. Pearl Harbor

December 8th was the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death. I'm sure everyone knew this already by now. The media coverage was inescapable. My buddy Frank pointed out an interesting note to me Saturday. December 7th was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. He didn't see any mention of this. I didn't either. This is kind of sad.

Taxing Times

After spending their entire lives living on Long Island, my parents are selling their house and moving to Delaware. My Dad is sick of the high taxes and the local village police department because they are always giving people traffic tickets. After buying a house in Suffolk county in January, my wife and I are struggling to pay the bills. Who is to blame for the current tax crisis that is driving people to move out of state? I put a lot of the blame on the residents and voters (including my Dad & myself). Raymond Keating of Newsday agrees.

But guess where ultimate blame lies? If you don't vote, you're to blame. If you buy into the baseless spin that more must be spent to get better results in government, you're to blame. If you voted for school budgets hiking spending andtaxes, you're to blame. If you ignore widespread government waste, you're to blame. If you vote for candidates who love government more than taxpayers, you're to blame.

Too many Long Islanders have mindlessly voted over the years for government that most of us cannot afford without extreme sacrifice. Will the people and politicians come to their senses and cut government? Or will they play the avoidance game, like shifting and ultimately increasing burdens by adding on other taxes? Or maybe it's easier to move and leave the mess for others to clean up.