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Playing Games

Since energy is deregulated in Texas, residents select their providers. It takes time, effort and skill to ensure you’re not getting into a plan that ultimately hurts you in the long run. Ours always comes up in August… and every year I have to figure out who has the best deal at that moment. In years when prices rise, we come out ahead. In years when prices fall – like, oh, say, the past 12 months – it hasn’t worked out so well. There are several tricks to playing this game.

You have to be sure to: 1) Do the research; 2) Leave your current provider – because, like satellite TV, cable and mobile phones – the best deals are ‘for new customers only’; 3) Read the fine print; and, 4) Switch on the day after your existing contract is up, so you don’t get hit with a cancellation fee after 364 days of loyalty.

Companies offer lowest rate discounts when you utilize the sweet spot of 1000-2000 kWh. Miss it and you pay a penalty that greatly increases your charges. It’s a marketing approach providers say prevents them from incurring out-of-line administrative expenses for underutilization. Of course, another way to look at it is you are penalized for conserving energy. That seems rather inconsistent with the world’s needs these days.

Nevertheless, I figured out how to beat the system. We’ll sign a new three-month agreement (with another provider), because our usage will be above 1000 through November. Then we’ll switch for six months… during which we’ll be under that magic kWh number. And then do it all again in May to get back on the other side of the usage total.

If I were in charge, this would be handled differently. Our best customers would receive a premium for staying – and no one would be penalized for being energy conscious. Alas, I’m not.

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Honor Code

Two weeks ago I facilitated a training session over three days at a popular golf resort about 45 minutes from our home. Since we worked late into the evening, I stayed on site. The final morning, I tossed my travel bag in the trunk and moved my car from the sleeping rooms side to the conference center lot at 7 a.m., so I could leave as soon as the last session ended.

At 4:20 p.m., I got in my car, drove home, pulled into our garage and popped open the trunk. Arriving at the back of my 2009 Honda Accord, I saw the damage. Someone had backed into me – messed up the bumper and trunk – and, disappointedly, failed to leave a note. I asked the resort to check their video cameras; however, those didn’t capture the incident.

I filed an insurance claim and today took my car to a collision center. The total repairs will be more than $1,000 – all except $100 in labor costs. In Texas, we have uninsured motorist coverage, and since this was a hit-and-run my deductible will be $250.

Many years ago I stopped holding grudges against people … and definitely believe it’s better to forgive and forget. That said, there is a small part of me that hopes the offending person hits five lottery numbers this week and misses the Power Ball by a single digit.

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Flood Control

The past many weeks in Houston were filled with rain… as in bucket-loads nearly every day. For weeks… as in pretty much seven days times seven weeks. One of the rainiest springs ever and the largest May downpour on record. Did I mention there’s been a lot of rain?

Of course, when you’re at 43-feet above sea level, a deluge onto saturated ground leads to flooding, which is what happened five days ago. You may have seen the headlines and television reports. I know a lot of our clients from around the country did, because they emailed to ask if our family is ok.

With an eight county metropolitan area of nearly 9,000 square miles – just smaller than Massachusetts and larger than New Jersey – this is a really big area. However, when the CBS Evening News leads with Scott Pelley saying, “Deadly Flooding in Houston,” many people think the entire city is underwater. In fact, the major damage occurred in a few isolated areas where rivers and bayous overran their banks.

The biggest sadness of the Great Flood 2015 is for those who lost loved ones. For others, the challenge in the days ahead is to rebuild the hundreds of ruined homes. For everyone else, we’re thankful this time the waters missed us… and praying the hurricane season that begins tomorrow takes a holiday from the Texas coast.

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Golden Tale

During my recent sojourn to St. John’s, my co-facilitator and I journeyed downtown the last night for dinner at world famous The Duke of Duckworth, where you, too, may feast on some of the best fish and chips this side of London. (Cod was Newfoundland’s greatest export before that whole offshore oil discovery.)

Departing from the restaurant around 7:45 p.m. – while the last stages of daylight loomed… and having had nothing to drink (key point!) – we walked three blocks to where I had parallel-parked our gold Chevy Cruze rental some 90 minutes earlier.

I pushed the key’s remote button to open the doors, the locks made that noise they do, and we hopped in the car. I put the key in the ignition, the engine started and I placed the car in reverse. Looking back over my shoulder as I backed up gently, I said: “Where’s your briefcase?” which Tony had left on the back seat. Then I said: “Where’s my bag?” Then I turned off the key, opened the door and jumped out. It took him about five seconds to do the same.

“Wrong car!” I said quite loudly. We looked at each other… and noticed the vehicle right behind us was also a gold Chevy Cruze. I pushed the remote door lock twice. Both cars made that beeping sound and their headlights flashed. I pushed unlock and we got in the trailing car. Our stuff was on the back seat.

I have no idea about the randomness of keys and remote control codes. I’ve rented a bunch of cars and also have the auto-opener on my Honda. That had never happened before. About five minutes after we drove away – and following a lot of, “Do you believe that?” comments – I looked at Tony and said: “You think the owner of that other car was in the pub right there? If so, we’re lucky he didn’t see us.”

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Sleeping Lions

One of the stories our youngest likes me to tell is the one about the time I inadvertently sang a song across the PA system to my entire high school. During the sound check for that afternoon’s pep rally – and thinking the gym’s speakers were self-contained – I belted out “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight” and a bunch of “Dee dee dee dee’s”. (This was 1977, so I was in the Robert John soprano style…  right smack in the middle between the Tokens’ 1961 chart topper and when Timon and Pumbaa introduced “Awimbawe” to a new generation in 1994.)

After a couple of minutes, I turned and noticed there were many people peeking through the small door windows on each end of the building. Among them: our principal. The redness in my face upon realizing why he wasn’t smiling served in sharp contrast to the blue Viking painted on the south wall. At senior honors ceremony the following May, the freshman class joyfully presented me a plaque for its Foot in the Mouth Award. I still have it.

There have been moments since when something slipped off my tongue that deserved similar recognition. The time in a restaurant when I took a bite out of a sandwich, spit it out, and said much too loudly: “Uh, that’s meat.” It was my brief vegetarian period. I don’t think the three ladies at the table next to me finished their meals.

The time when our young niece, her new husband and his mother visited our house. Wanting to engage with the one I didn’t know, I asked Sandy several questions: “Where did you grow up, Sandy?” “How long are you in town, Sandy?” “Where do you work, Sandy?” She answered each one with a smile. After about five minutes, Kathy sat down beside me and said: “I made reservations at the restaurant we discussed.” Wondering why she needed to tell me that right then, I glanced at the paper she was holding. On it, she’d written: “Her name is Wendy.”

The time when we were newlyweds and Kathy heard me say: “Marriage is hard.” She didn’t appreciate my perspective that day… and reminded me of it many times over the ensuing years. Then around our 10th anniversary – probably right after I’d blurted out something else I shouldn’t have – she said: “You know, you were right.”

Marriage is hard… and recognizing that upfront is important to having a lasting relationship. When two people who grew up in different families and situations – having different experiences and perspective – bind their lives together, it would be naïve to think everything will be be a rosy path. There are going to be challenging days, and the best way to survive is to address the issues as they occur, instead of sweeping them deep under the rug only to have something explode like a volcano somewhere down the road.

While I didn’t understand the significance of my remark a quarter century ago, those three words might be my legacy: much more so than – alone in a gym – trying to hit the high notes on a doo-wop song.