Dear Friends:
As I type this I am STILL in the dark (going on three weeks). Presently, I am forced to use the computers on my job to blog and attend class.
Everyone, I implore you to NOT believe the hype about the oh so fabulous job the city of Houston, Texas has been doing to get it’s resident’s lives back to “normal”. The response has been absolutely horrendous. Actually, it has been worse than horrendous. The job has been shoddy and incompetent at best. This is the 4th largest city in the United States of America; 
home of NASA; and one of the energy capitals of the world, yet, as we speak, 249 of us (at last count) are STILL lighting candles and using flashlights.
At this point I often wonder will I recoil from the light when it comes back on (like a vampire fleeing from daylight)! I am so used to the darkness now that I don’t even have reflex reactions to flick a light switch anymore.
The hurricane itself was not that bad in hindsight. It is the aftermath that’s abysmal! Finally, today, I’ve conceded that I need to make my life as normal as possible in spite of this because the imbeciles at Center Point Energy could care one iota about my quality of life, in spite of my paying them a bill every single month (heh, the bright side is that I won’t owe them shit this billing cycle). Yeah, they can’t get your power back on within a month; but if you are late a day on a payment some bumbling buffoon will turn your lights off within five seconds.
Yes, your boy has grown quite accustomed to: canned ravioli, green beans, red beans, sweet peas, canned fruit, and gatorade! I swear if I don’t see another can of Ravioli in my LIFE it won’t be too soon…Hell, if I eat another one I am going to turn into fuggin Chef Boy Ardee.
Now, whenever someone tells me that they have lights in their house I literally want to commit felonious assault upon their person. Fortunately, I am pretty pacifistic and that won’t be happening anytime soon. Be that as it may this whole thing has been FUBARed(F__ked Up Beyond Any Recognition) from the jump. I try to be positive; however, it is getting difficult. I hate going home every night because I am sick of lighting candles, forreal.
This has made me want to relocate to another city as well. Well, I am going to do that anyway, but now sooner than later. Yes, I know that every city has it’s own set of problems but I would rather cope with blizzards and tremors than deal with hurricanes in this city. Again, it isn’t the natural disaster that is bad it is the bureaucratic B.S. you have to deal with. Moreover, I would personally prefer a city where you don’t need a car (an urban cluster if you will). I would rather ride a subway than have to drive 100 miles just to get to a local corner store(or run back and forth from house to house to avoid sweating while I sleep)…
Maybe if all of our mayors were less concerned about transforming Houston’s downtown district (where no one lives and everyone works) into a tourist attraction and MORE concerned with making sure that ALL of it’s denizens technology was up to code MAYBE such a fiasco could be avoided? Or here is a novel concept…When you know your customers are going to be in the dark for damn near a month MAYBE you (looking at Centerpoint Energy) should be kind enough to provide generators! Oh wait, when you have a monopoly on every phoneline in the county you really don’t have to do shit until you are good and ready, right? Must be really nice to know you have us all under your thumb!
Don’t be surprised if they find something on Centerpoint like they did Enron. The excuses their employees (who all talk like their eating their faces) give range from insanity to complete and utter lunacy. The latest is that fallen tree limbs are the reason they can’t fix my neighborhood. There are NO fallen tree limbs in my neighborhood as the city has already collected them…
Alright, I am done hatin on my city for the day. For what it’s worth H-Town is a great place to live. But this situation sucks, forreal.
But before I go it would not be like me to NOT have learned something from this. What I’ve gathered from this experience is to always try your best and when you’ve done all you can just sit and be still…The rest will take care of itself. I’ve done everything, including throwing a series of bitch fits, now I am going to rest in the knowledge that eventually the lights WILL return. And once they do I will be so much more grateful for the luxuries they provide. To that end I really am grateful for this experience. Think about that next time you’re going through something that you believe is so horrible…In the end it will be worth it. ::smile::
Anyway, I am thankful that we fared better than Galvestonians. Galvestonians I salute you. Peace be unto you.
With Love,
Sincerely…
Toddy English
