The Big One-Oh-Oh-Oh!

To the applause of a few and probably the dismay of even more, this is my 1,000th post here on Blogger. 

I hope that I haven't offended many of you (unless you're a crooked Ivory Tower banker or a thieving politician).  I enjoy writing, even though my chosen subject matter is usually off everyone else's radar.  I have strong opinions on some things and, while I'm not necessarily trying to change any one's mind, I do hope you'll at least consider my positions and perhaps see things from a perspective you hadn't before.

The last time I looked 198,883 pageviewers had done just that.  Many agreed with what I wrote and many didn't, but those who didn't disagreed politely.  I like that.  Thank you for reading my drivel.

I'd also like to give a big shout out to the NSA....hey guys!  SUP?   Any good gossip you can share?  Brad and Angelina doin' OK?  Ted Cruz still doing vile things to farm animals?  NOOOO!  Pictures??

Thanks again everyone.  Party on!  (Sorry, but it's a cash bar.  Retirement income doesn't go as far as it used to, you know.  :)

S

Statistics don't lie. Well, SOMETIMES they don't lie.

Recently several of my friends...Stephen at Chubby Chatterbox and Bruce at Oddball Observations....looked back on their blogging stats and shared what they found.  They both are a pleasure to read and deserve their success.  I never paid much attention to mine, so I thought I'd peek and see what lurked in my numbers.

This is my 824th post here at Blogger.  Up to this morning I've had 96,385 pageviews.  Almost all were from the US, with Germany, Canada, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, China, France, Ukraine, and Serbia rounding out the rest.  I suspect the ones from Russia, China, Ukraine, and Serbia were those who just spread spam.  I think the rest were probably legitimate.  

My most read post was one titled "Reality TV....the race to the bottom" with 483 pageviews.  Like everyone I throw out some fluff pieces, too....you know, posts about cars and clouds and such.  But I also like to put out some discussing current events and editorial pieces that hopefully make people think....and disagree.  I enjoy hearing differing opinions.  They make ME think.

Before this I participated on Journal Space, which contained a remarkable group of writers and readers.  It went abruptly kaput so I have no idea what my numbers were.  As best I can recall they were up in the several hundred thousands.  One in particular stands out:  It was the first "conversation" I ever had with my future wife, K.  :)

I also read and post on Facebook, but frankly, that site is pretty bland.  It seems to me it's the site people go to who don't want to think.  But if you want a killer cupcake recipe or a picture of a cute puppy*....  ;)

Thanks to those who put up with me.

S

*Don't get me wrong, I like eating a good cupcake and playing with a cute puppy, but it just doesn't make for very stimulating conversation.

Wanna see my vacation pictures?

It's odd to me how politics is all the talk around the water cooler, yet here on Blogger people seem to be going out of their way to talk about the weather, the grand kids, what they had for lunch, anything BUT politics.  This seems like a very non-confrontational group.  I'm not looking for "confrontation", but just a good healthy discussion and exchange of ideas.  I guess I'll just have to have that exchange with myself.  So be it.  Y'all can relax.  I've got this.

Anyway, I thought last night's presidential debate was a good one.   Both candidates came prepared and it showed.  Neither fell on his face like Obama did 2 weeks ago.  The consensus this morning is that Obama narrowly won the night, and I guess I wouldn't argue with that.  It seems pretty obvious that these two don't like each other....it's become personal.  

I'm guessing Romney thought it a good thing that he got to go first, based on a coin flip.  Trouble was, it meant Obama got to speak last, with no time for rebuttal.  Obama in essence had a closing statement, and Romney didn't.  This is where Mitt's 47% quip was brought up again and eloquently hammered home, and was left in the audience's mind to ponder overnight.  Shrewd or just luck, I think it will show up in this coming week's polls.

Speaking of polls, have any of you ever been polled by Gallup or ABC or CNN any of the more prominent companies?  I haven't, nor do I even know of anyone who has been.  Part of that might be because I live in Texas, which means the pollsters just consider me and everyone else here a Red Stater, so why bother polling me?  Because of the fairly wide discrepancy in results, I'm thinking polls get waaaaay more attention than they deserve.  That's what I think.

S

Me vs TXU Energy....Epilogue

To clarify, that would be me (metaphorically speaking) on the right, foreground.  ;)

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I posted a rant here against TXU Energy over the final bill they sent me saying that for just 12 days service I owed $153.34, nearly 3 1/2 times as much (average daily consumption) as I used the previous entire month.  NO WAY!  I called TXU's 800 Customer Service number and spoke with a guy whose training apparently consisted of little more than learning to say "NO" in several languages.  I kept demanding to go upstream and was finally told a higher-up would call me the next day.

In the meantime "Lauren", a TXU social media service rep (many large companies have such people who monitor Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, etc, looking for mentions of their company) commented that I could contact her and she would see if she could help.  I did, forwarding the facts and also photos of evidence of "meter room" door tampering, which raised yet another red flag in my mind.

The bottom line:  TXU requested a meter re-read from Oncor, the electric distribution company who actually owns and reads the meters, and guess what?....I was right!  They notified me yesterday my revised bill is $29.69.  BIG difference!

So what have I learned from this experience?  First, as the old saying goes, "Never accept 'NO' from someone not authorized to say 'YES'".  If you honestly feel you're right, and you have some logic / evidence on your side, KEEP PUSHING!  Principle matters.

Second, TXU Energy is firm, but fair.  They probably have hundreds (thousands?) of scams aimed at them every day, and their natural instinct seems to be to just say "NO", but if you're adamant, they will listen.  Thank you Lauren.  :)

S