Binding on a Budget

ust phoned my utility company yesterday. By means of deduction through hold music I would have to guess they are located in Sherwood Forest. Oh, Robin Hood, in this time of economic recession if even you are reduced to dolling out electricity through a third party middleman, what chance is there for the rest of us?

My TV seems to receive an unconventional number of gospel and static themed networks. Anyhow, last night number 22, gospel not static, was having some sort of pledge drive. It felt very much like the ones on OPB, except rather than withholding the second half of Red and Green they withhold your eternal salvation. If OPB had that kind of leverage they wouldn’t have to feign enthusiasm for totes.

The drive was not without its mystery. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen along a thin, black bar, hiding the inappropriate portion of the program, were the following words... 100 dollars plants 500 trees. 200 Dollars Plants a 1000 trees. Accompanied by a phone number. I like to think that “trees” is slang for something else. Perhaps by “planting” they mean converting the citizens of Nepal. A demographic of whose viewership they seemed particularly proud. Something is fishy about this tree business. And it isn’t stuck to the backs of their American luxury sedans.

While I’m on this media kick I only got two of my Netflix movies today, not three. I was flipping through my mail on the elevator ride up to my apartment when I became aware. It was supposed to be there, not just Boston Legal Season 3: Disc 1, but Disc 2 as well. Thank god it was Disc 1 that showed up and not just Disc 2. Then I would have know whether or not James Spader slept with Murphy Brown, but would have missed all of the suspense leading up to the moment... or lack of moment as it may be.