tekHedd – the blog

Some neighborhood dudes came by wanting signatures on a petition, supposedly to the mayor. From their attitudes, I immediately got the idea they were on a “pay per signature” basis. The petition demands that the mayor subsidize making homes more energy efficient through a tax credit. OK, so I can kind of see how that’s a good thing, maybe.

And, this tax credit will be paid for by the power company. This is because, and I quote, “it will save the power company money”. What? Wait, if they really stand to gain money, why do they need the government to force them to? Why haven’t I received a letter from Xcel Energy talking about how great this will be? Hmm.

Curious, I asked them to show me how that would work, and they explained how it’s costing them to build power plants. And they showed me numbers. I think one of the numbers was 2.4%. Two point four percent, now there is a convincing argument! Sign me up! Wait, what do these numbers mean. “Well, they’re right from the power company’s web site.” Yes? And? Ok, seriously now, you have to provide something more substantial than that. I’m sure it’s costing the power company money to build power plants, but, ultimately, they make more money when we use more power. It’s kind of a “duh” situation really.

Why should my neighbor, who already bought his own new windows with his own money, have to pay higher power bills so I can have free windows? I already have plenty of incentive to make my home more energy efficient: power is expensive! My neighbor said his heating bills dropped 40% just from the window upgrade. If that isn’t enough inspiration to upgrade, I can’t imagine what would be.

I need new windows, and I’d love free money to help install them, but this is lame. You don’t have to be conservative to be pro-capitalism. Forcing the power company to pay for it is silly, and it’s the work of a second to see how the power bills of poor people will be paying for middle class window upgrades. Whether you’re conservative or liberal, it’s a clear no-go. If you’re a middle class freeloader who needs new windows, well, I’m sure it sounds great. But I don’t live in that kind of country, do I? I sure hope not.

Maybe there’s math to back up this measure, and that math makes perfect sense. But, nobody made any effort to show me this, they just gave me attitude like “you have to sign it because it’s for the environment”.

No. I don’t.

This weekend I bought a bass in a hurry in a pawn shop, as I had (ahem) forgotten to bring a bass to a show in another state.

Ibanez DB700 X-Series And Happy Bassist

Score!

I am so ready to ROCK now.

Well, actually, that statement is generally a lie. It’s not just that I have really no way to read your mind, it’s that we probably don’t even use the same referential framework to have thoughts with. How would I know what your thoughts mean? If we grew up speaking the same language, there may be some common ground, but in general it’s fairly pointless.

I’m willing to bet that if I could know what your thoughts are, you’d be thinking something along the lines of “Tom has abandoned his blog”. Nothing could be farther from the truth! There’s simply nothing happening. Oh sure, I’ve moved my home to a different house, my web host was invaded and rebuilt, and I’ve made some miracles occur at my job. In boring, non-noteworthy ways I’ve been very active. But, in all the ways that are important, there’s nothing happening.

I haven’t found a new video game to play. No arrests. Same cat. Everything is pretty much the same.

I guess it’s time to post a rant.