The answer to a letter where an old friend asked what I was up to 
now that I had moved to LA.
-------------------------

The only thing that has really occurred is that my Arch-nemesis is 
no longer the phone company, it's the power company. LADWP must 
be destroyed!

They turned off my power yesterday because the guy that was here 
before me was delinquent on paying the bill that was still in his 
name. The landlord told me that it had been turned over to my 
name, so I didn't think anything of it until a guy from the electric 
company came looking for "Taylor" (the guy that lived here before 
me). He told me to call this number ASAP. Being a working class sod 
that meant in a day or two (I work through lunch Wednesday 
through Sunday). I run home yesterday on a lunch break I forced on 
my boss, to make a phone call only to find out there was no power! I 
called the dips**ts and they told me that I had to drive down there 
and show them my lease and sign up for service.

The story of my time at the Dept. of Water and Power is a story 
written by Dante and the guy that wrote Dumb and Dumber. It's an 
episode in my life I hope not to repeat. At the end of it all, the 
wench behind the bullet proof glass told me that they'd turn it on 
tomorrow. Apparently they can turn it off with the blink of an eye, 
but to turn it on takes a lot of book work and a visit from a voodoo 
priest. At that moment I realized that the bulletproof glass wasn't to 
protect them from being robbed, it was to protect them being shot 
out of pure spite. I said, "Tomorrow!? I've got food going bad in my 
fridge!" Not to mention a resume to fax from a modem that needed 
juice. The b**ch told me to keep my refrigerator shut. It was a good 
thing that there was an inch of polycarbonate between us.

So today I get back from work and therešs a notice on my door. 
They turned the power back on but I needed to flip the main 
breaker. The main breaker I might add is outside. The guy even left 
me directions on how to find it on the notice. Why the hell would 
you come out and not flip the breaker? Like I would rather have my 
food go bad and my lights not work than miss the momentous 
occasion of the main breaker being turned on.

Dip s**ts all of them! I always got d**ed around by the phone 
company in Tallahassee, so previously they were my arch-nemesis. 
But now the crown (or should I say the cross hairs) have been 
moved to the LADWP. 

Next time I write, I'll hopefully have good news and some better
stories.

Catch ya on the flip side, Bride.