More Power To Ya - More Money From Ya

Happy New Year!

2004 has started off fairly low-key for me, though it ended with the bang of seeing The Return of the King a second time on New Year's Eve. We were never able to decide on a party to go to, hence the movie. Turns out New Year's Eve is a good time to see movies, as the theater was about half-full. My opinion of King is about the same, though I have a better appreciation for the music, which helps lift some of the weaker scenes (like the final one) above what they'd be otherwise. I think a lot of people don't appreciate just how valuable good music is to a dramatic presentation.

Debbi enjoyed it, other than the really big spider, since she hates spiders.

Other than that, we snacked and stayed up 'til midnight watching Dick Clark, who's been doing New Year's Eve since the Hoover administration. Not bad at all.

We spent Thursday and Friday alternately shopping and hanging out. For me, the big purchase was a rod and some curtains for my bedroom's sliding glass door. The vertical blinds over it - which I hated just because I think vertical blinds are ugly - had broken some time ago, and opening and closing them by hand was a real pain. The curtains are a nicer color and open and close much more easily. Maybe they'll hold in the heat a bit better, too! (And a good thing that would be, as it's been close to freezing here at night lately.)

Speaking of heat, I got I nasty surprise when I went to pay my utility bill the other night: My gas bill had jumped to $500! That's about fifty times what it usually is, since the only gas-powered things in my home are my hot water heater and my fireplace starter. Now, I know I got my water heater replaced last month, but that's still ridiculous! Moreover, the bill for some reason didn't include my electric charges at all.

Well, a quick call ("quick" meaning 7 minutes on hold) revealed the reason: Apparently the meter reading indicated I'd used about ten years of electricity during December. Obviously, the meter reading was wrong, so I went and did a reading myself, and called back and gave them the new numbers. The electric bill sounds about right as a result. The gas sounds a bit high, but since replacing the water heater meant heating 40 gallons of winter-cold water from scratch to over 120 degrees F, it seemed at least plausible. I'll keep an eye on the gas bill to see if it returns to normal levels.

Debbi's theory is that the meter reader entered some other home's data for my home. Makes sense to me; if they'd only transposed a digit, I'd expect only one of the two would be way off, not both of them.

Still, it was definitely a shock, if one that seems to have been easily resolved.

Debbi received a couple of puzzles for Christmas, and we spent part of the weekend working on a Mickey Mouse "photomosaic" puzzle. Some of it is pretty easy, but some of it is very hard! The pieces are a little larger than the image clips which make up the puzzle. It helps that there are sections of similar color, and sections which have linked images, but putting together the big swaths of blue and black is still pretty challenging. Fun, though. I'd forgotten that I enjoy a puzzle from time to time.

And, finally, my holidays came to an end today. We took the tree out today - it had gotten very dry, and didn't seem to be absorbing more water. And the cats were all chewing on it (and then throwing up). Well, Jefferson didn't chew on it, but he's smarter than the average cat. I vacuumed and put the papasan back in its usual location.

And now Debbi and the kittens have headed home after our long weekend. We've had a good time.

I don't think I'm quite ready to go back to work, but the vacation I think had basically done what I hoped it would, and I should be able to face the new year with renewed energy.

Maybe I'll even hit the gym.