Now for something completely unrelated...

Times are tough. The economy sucks, people are doing what they can to cut back on expenses, trying to scrape by, others are losing their jobs. Times are tough. Which is why, given our current environment, I find stories like this so incredibly hard to believe.

I know a lot of people try to conserve energy and reduce their monthly expense, things like driving less, letting the house get a little colder in the winter or warmer in the summer, yelling at the kids to turn off the lights when they aren't in the room, simple things to impact the bottom line. Now that impact is being felt by someone else, someone who doesn't like it, and has a better idea on how to pass that buck onto someone else.

It seems that the local utilities in Orlando doesn't think much about the little guy trying to save money. People cutting back on power consumption is impacting OUC's bottom line. Their answer? Raise the rates! So, by cutting back on consumption and lowering their utility bill a mere 10 - 15 percent, OUC customers are rewarded, with a 13.7% rate hike!

I guess the lesson here is, why bother? Why try to cut back on your power bill, the company is just going to get theirs any way they must, so go ahead Orlando, leave your lights on! OUC is going to get theirs, you might as well make them 'work' for it, the alternative could leave us all in the dark, with the same monthly bill.

OUC, you are not punny.

A Green Stuff is Making Me Blue

Ok, I'll admit that I might just be suffering a bit from the loss to the Celtics last night, or more accurately, I'm still a bit raw about the number of Celtics fans in attendance. But seeing all that green in the audience made it all the more noticeable that our very own most loved mascot (except for me of course!) is actually the same color!

Can someone explain to me why Stuff has to be green? Could Stuff not be a blue dragon? Wouldn't it make more sense if the mascot had a similar color scheme as the team? What's that you say? There is no such thing as a blue dragon? Only green dragons? Oh, my bad, I forgot that mythical creatures only come in green.

Or maybe he's green in keeping with the play on words of "Stuff the Magic Dragon" instead of "Puff the Magic Dragon" who was green. But come on, that song is well known to be a metaphor for um, well, some other green "stuff." So, shouldn't a fan friendly mascot such as Stuff want to distance himself from such associations.

So, call me crazy, rail away at my audacity for even suggesting something so sacrilege, but I think it would be great to have a blue Stuff.