Power Shortage

On top of this, California is currently implementing deregulation of its electric companies, on the theory that market competition will lead to better service and lower prices. Parts of California are deregulating slowly, and you might have heard that San Diego got socked this past summer with massive rate increases, as much as 200%, and the rest of the state is scared.

As far as I've been able to tell, all of this is the result of almost-unprecedented poor planning on all fronts. Supply of power is short even as California's population continues to grow (with, of course, a high power requirement due to all the high tech companies in the state!), and differing political interests have made it difficult to build new power sources. On top of that, the Pacific Northwest - California's backup power supply - is itself suffering a power shortage (I think due to colder-than-usual weather) and therefore can't supply us with the extra power we need.

As a result, deregulation looks set to be a colossal disaster for consumers, which power companies seem likely to use to rack up huge profits by charging far more than they actually need to to cover their higher expenses.

Deregulation is always a mixed bag. It's been my feeling that airline deregulation has been a bad thing and that some regulation of the airlines is very badly needed. Deregulation of the phone system has been something of a no-op, since there's relatively little competition for local phone service, long distance services are somewhat cheaper but AT&T still owns most of the physical lines, and many of the former "Baby Bells" have merged again in the last 20 years anyway. And, of course, deregulation of the savings and loans was an unmitigated disaster no matter how you slice it.

As always, capitalism works best with significant government oversight, particularly in those areas of the economy which we can't live without.

It's a lesson the conservatives seem never able to learn, and it looks like we Californians will be paying for them to fail to learn it again in the next few years.

Anyway, I've been paying a little bit of attention today about how I'm using electricity in my home: Turning off some (but not all) lights I'm not using, setting the heat marginally lower (I'm still not quite used to where to set the thermostat in this apartment, anyway), etc. But it's a pretty marginal difference. I'm somewhat indignant that I would need to change my habits because of the poor planning on the part of the state government and power companies (I like to think I'm already doing a lot for power conservation by owning a Honda Civic). Of course, if it substantially hits me in my pocketbook then I'll consider further, but otherwise, probably not.

In other news, Apple today announced that this quarter it will post its first operating loss in three years, due to the ongoing computer hardware industry's sales slump, and various other factors. It's pretty much gotten to the point that my friends and I at Apple laugh about this; "our stock's down a couple more points, ha-ha!" What can you do? You either just realize that this is the reality of the situation and you either find a way to deal with it, or you leave.

On the bright side, if things really do look up next year, then give it a year or two and we ought to be fine.

Always, of course, hoping that I can continue to afford to live in the area that long. Must try to buy a home early next year...

I got a little feedback about my encounter with the dude in Menlo Park on Saturday. My friend Rob's response was, "You escaped being conned", and that the guy was basically running a scam by trying to appeal to my sense of "white guilt". Seems plausible, given that his story didn't quite add up overall.

Did I mention that I cleaned my kitchen this weekend? Ooh, I bet you really needed to know that. My home is really organized, but gets pretty dusty since I don't sweep or dust regularly. So I really scrubbed my counters and stove, and rearranged the stuff on the counters too, so it looks neater and I have a little more space for things.

I started looking through my Cooks Illustrated magazines tonight and might start cooking again sometime soon. I haven't done much cooking since I moved out here. It's tough to cook for oneself, and I don't get many visitors...