Burbank Water and Power - Fail?

December 28 2011 I received my utility bill from Burbank Water and Power.

I was somewhat shocked that nobody had called me or visited me from BWP earlier in the month.  I would have thought that with the hourly metering they have in their system it would have triggered some sort of alarm.

Clearly there must be a geyser at my house or some sort of major event where water would be noticed flowing down the street in a river.

My average yearly consumption went from 45 gallons per day to over 545 gallons per day.  My usage for the year went from 1,466 gallons to 18,011 gallons.

I called them.

Dinner and a show - typical Friday night?

I copied this review from Yelp.  I wanted to post links in the review but felt the Yelp folks might not approve of links.  The band was terrific and I talked to a lot of technical people and guitarists through the evening about guitar amplifiers so I felt providing links was anything other than contra-indicated.

Jon McNaughton - an artist with a gift

Jon McNaughton - an artist with a gift and a message
  

More at http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/

Yahoo Customer Service

I have noticed that Yahoo has had more problems in the last six months that all the problems I have had with them over ten years.  Their service used to be top notch.  Not so anymore. 

I am currently having an issue with them which I will be tracking.

More below.

Thanksgiving 2011 at Union Rescue Mission

The photos in this album were taken on November 19, 2011 at Union Rescue Mission in Downtown Los Angeles. This was the 120th Thanksgiving event by Union Rescue Mission.

Hundreds of volunteers served in excess of 3,000 meals.  It took a lot of help to feed thousands on this special day.  Many of my friends helped directly and I mentioned all of you that I knew about on my blog post which has been active since 2010 at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2010/11/help-me-provide-thanksgiving-meals-at.htmlOnce again, thank you all very much.

The even was more than just a great meal. There were hot showers, free hygiene supplies, fresh socks, live entertainment and more.

More below.

A few hours at 65 Amps

These photos are the raw files.  No cropping, enhancing, editing etc.  Typically I at least tend to look over the shots and perhaps crop a bit or color correct.  Not so this time as I used a small camera rather than my cellphone camera.

More below...

Occupy L.A.

* Other than this shot

These photos and videos are the raw files.  No cropping, enhancing, editing etc*.  Typically I at least tend to look over the shots and perhaps crop a bit or color correct.  Not so this time as I used a small camera rather than my cellphone camera.

More below...

One diverse week in October 2011 in pictures

One week this month.  Diverse to say the least.  I had friends in from out of town.  Ludo Pierson from http://www.pierson-amps.com/ stayed over for a few days and made some of his killer steak tartare.  There was cheese, wine and some pretty darn diverse things going on all week.

Mostly my cell shots but there were a few from somebody that knew what they were doing with a camera, and in the kitchen.  Slideshow below of some parts of the week.

Dan Boul over at http://www.65amps.com/ on his weekly noon webcast.  This week was The Producer, the newest model from the folks at 65 Amps.  Rather than explain this new model take a look at the videos as Dan records each webcast (Wednesdays at noon PST generally).  Ignore the 1-26-2011 date on the most recent video as it looks as if the "0" got dropped from 10-26-2011. 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/london-pro-info

Below:  Some more of the week in a slideshow

And the stupidity continues

In middle September of this year I wrote a piece on the Tea Party debates held in Florida.  It was a pathetic showing on the part of most of the participants.  If this is the best America has to offer you might as well trade in your coins of gold for bullets of lead as the revolution is coming.

My original post can be read at 

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/09/republican-tea-party-debate.html

After seeing the story below I felt that a post that will follow some of the headlines which lead up to the next election was indicated.  The Rick Perry piece below is the first of what may be many as this post is updated in the future.

More below.

The Streets of Los Angeles

IMG_1076a, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Two years ago. September 2009.

Things have not gotten any better and in fact the number of homeless seeking help at http://www.urm.org/ increased 50% in the last year alone. The donations to Union Rescue Mission have decreased 50% over the last year.

Consider giving the folks at URM a hand. Follow the link - http://www.urm.org/ where you can help.

Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles is the largest in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the highest homeless population in the nation.