blue artichoke

There's no gas crisis for the car. I run it on diesel fuel, and there's plenty of that. And at 50mpg (well, just 40mpg in the city), and prices the way they are... let's just say there's no crisis as I've never put more than $36 into Otto von Bismarck. Yes, you read that correctly. Otto von Bismarck. I named my car after the 19th century Prussian Chancellor that united Germany.

Otto only met Blue Artichoke's car Njiri once, but they got along well. He was saddened to hear of her demise, but reminisces about the good times in the parking lot that one night.

But I digress.

We, my roommate and I, have no gas at the house. We haven't had any for awhile now. It's become a game we're playing -- and in an odd way winning -- with the gas company.

When mail arrives at the Momo/Chocolate Challah (actual gourmand name pending) residence, we quickly separate it into three "buckets:"

1) Red Momo's mail -- this includes credit card bills and offers for still more credit cards, plus cards from my parents and White Mackerel's parents (why they send me cards I don't know, but I enjoy it).
2) Blue Chocolate Challah's mail -- this includes his random bill (most of his stuff is done via the internet) and offers from Subaru for him to buy a new car, because surely after six months he's tired of the one he bought.
3) Occupant/Resident/former roommates' mail -- this goes IMMEDIATELY into the trash with the exception of mail addressed to Purple Reluctant Vegetarian, who is not only my best friend but BCC's former roommate.

One envelope finally caught BCC's attention, however, and he opened it. It was addressed "occupant" and we have no idea how long we'd been throwing it out. But in the previous two years, there has been no gas bill for the apartment, and all of a sudden we had one for all that activity. It's only used for the stove/oven, so it wasn't too much, I suppose, but the fact of the matter is, we didn't feel we really owed them.

Blue Chocolate Challah decided he was going to call and tell them he would pay for the last lease period (eight months of the bill) and that was it, as he couldn't really be expected to pay for a bill that wasn't addressed to him. I agreed. However, before he called the gas company, they turned off the gas. It had been about four days, which is why we think they may have been sending bills to "Occupant" for some time.

In the meantime, we've purchased a hotplate. I'm not a big fan, I'll be quite honest, but it does the job (eventually). So we are not going hungry, but we do eat out a lot more. We also can only have one-dish meals.

Blue Chocolate Challah is moving out, however, at the end of the lease, and I will transfer everything to my name, plus call the gas company and get set up. And I will not -- repeat, WILL NOT -- be paying them when they can't get it right.

I was going to post a recipe but BA is back. YAY!