National Grid’s response to my letter:

Dear Online Customer,

Thank you for your inquiry. The reason that the gas service was shut off was National Grid must change the gas meters every 17-20 years and since the service tech was at the property he changed the gas meter for your apartment. The landlord of the property was notified of this and should have advised you that this was going to be done, we also installed an automatic meter reading device on your meter at no charge. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused, please contact National Grid at [removed] to schedule an appointment to your best convenience.

Sincerely,

National Grid Customer Service.

So many problems with this… sigh

[nb: they did respond quickly.. just took me a bit to post]

Here’s a letter I’ve just sent off to National Grid.

Hi,

I’m writing to complain. Tonight when i got home from work, I had a notice letting me know someone had been by, and to call you back regarding a gas meter. To my dismay, you had turned off my gas without my knowledge or consent! When I called, you dutifully & expediently sent someone out to fix the problem, but since I’m a mere tenant in an apartment building, I don’t have access to wherever these gas meters are! I called back, but there’s nothing you can do for me at this point. The onus is on me to coordinate between my landlord, myself, and you to setup a time where we can all be here, so we can let you in to do your work. The only one who gets screwed in this scenario is me! I’m stuck here without gas — in a single swoop, you’ve rendered my stove & oven completely useless. And when I talk to any representative of your company, I’m blocked by the sheer mass of your bureaucracy. Since this isn’t the fault of any particular person I talk to, none of them care about the fact that you removed a basic service from me today.

The question I pose to you is: why would you ever turn off a basic service without my knowledge or consent, especially where there’s the real, distinct possibility that the process of re-enabling it is so difficult?

I’m upset at your company & your impersonal bureaucracy, but I’m especially dismayed that in the morning, I can’t make my coffee.

Sincerely,
Robert Tolar Haining

8/2 deerhunter + dan deacon @ east river park
8/9 simian mobile disco @ east river park
8/11 tv on the radio @ prospect park
8/15 animal collective @ prospect park
8/16 del tha funky homosapien @ east river park
8/23 girl talk @ east river park
8/30 beach house + grizzly bear @ east river park
9/2 cocorose @ highline
9/9 sondre lerche @ music hall of williamsburg
9/16 ira glass @ 92y
9/21 fanfarlo @ bowery
10/10 major lazer @ terminal 5
10/13 dodos @ music hall of williamsburg

Here are some of my favorite songs from albums released so far in 2009.
[in alphabetical order, as that's how my itunes looks...]

Animal Collective – My Girls from Merriweather Post Pavilion

Beirut – My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille from Realpeople Holland

Bon Iver – Babys from Blood Bank

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks from Veckatimest

Passion Pit – Little Secrets from Manners

Sara Watkins – All This Time from her self-titled debut

If you like these, check out WOXY, my favorite internet radio station, and Pneumes Radio, a little mixtape side project i have.

Purchase these albums from Amazon & support both the musicians & this blog!
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Beirut – March of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Passion Pit – Manners
Sara Watkins – Sara Watkins

RedBeardAwareness.com

increasing awareness of my brown-haired,
red-bearded brethren, one page hit at a time

SexyOffender.org

not a sex offender, but a SEXY offender!

The always fantastic @criminalrecords linked to this coverage of Beirut’s February 2009 show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. I really dig the original version of “My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille”, but here’s an equally compelling ‘unelectro’ version:
Beirut – My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille

check out the original

Watch the full show:

Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

Here’s an amazing cover of Passion Pit’s Sleepyhead. love the violin for the synth part!

listen to the original

Most of the past few months, I’ve been developing the Epicurious Recipe & Shopping List iPhone app for my employer, Condé Nast Digital. It’s finally been released to the public! You can download it here. It lets you search the entire 25,000 recipe database, plus a special cooking mode & also create shopping lists! If you like it, leave us a nice review in iTunes — it goes a long way!

If you like, read this recent press:
New York Times [app of the week!]
Epicurious
Gizmodo
Wired [disclosure: another Condé Nast Digital property]
Twitter

beirut- my night with the prostitute from marseilles

amazon: buy March of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland