xtcian

2/6/03 Day 47 of the

2/6/03

Day 47 of the Zero-Emissions From Both Cars and Wealthy Scions Road Trip of "Oh, The Ironing"

Dallas, TX

We had dinner tonight with a billionaire. Yes, that is someone who actually has more than 1,000,000,000,000 pennies that he could put in a giant pile somewhere, look skyward at it and pronounce, "verily, I say unto you, that this mountain is MINE." It's hard to imagine a billion dollars. I've been trying all day, in fact, tried all dinner to look at him and see the vast google of zeroes extending behind him in an infinite mirror loop of endless fluttering bills, but alas, it was beyond my comprehension.

Oh yeah, and he wouldn't give any to our production. The money we need to finish this movie - $30,000 is equivalent to .00003% of his net worth, so I could see how that might pinch.

Anyway...

Being in dreary Dallas has pushed me to the limits of my tolerance for the Rich and Unstable. Moreover, I just can't stand the number of SUV's being driven by single drivers that litter every shopping center by the thousands. Escalades, Yukons, even that giant yellow COCK SUBSTITUTE Hummer 2 are docked in front of every Starbucks. Seriously, nobody in Texas has a real car. I know I sound like a whiny, granola-snorting bark-eater, but this shit has really been getting to me lately.

In response: as of last week, our apartment in Brooklyn in powered entirely by wind. And no, it's not some sort of wealthy liberal fantasy, it's an actual company called 1st Rochdale Cooperative that provides windpowered electricity into ConEd's grid, and it's just as cheap or cheaper - than ConEd's regular price. Take a look if you don't believe me. I think it's so fucking cool I can barely stand it – my iMac, Cuisinart and Fisher-Price record player are all being powered by a windmill somewhere outside of town.

On the car side, we might - might - get a pretty substantial tax refund this year, allowing us to think about a new hybrid car. Currently, the only gas/electric hybrid cars available in America are the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid. Both get about 50mpg in both the city and country, have four doors, tons of horsepower, and both use the brakes as a way of constantly recharging the batteries (no, you never have to plug them in). In fact, the only difference between these cars and their petrol-guzzling compatriots is your desire to be an Ugly American and keep troops in the Arabian peninsula so they can be gassed by Muslim extremists.

Other little details for those who care: the Prius is about a half-foot shorter in length than the Civic, making it something of a dream for parking in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Civic goes farther on a tank of gas (650 miles!) but only because the tank is bigger. And the cargo space, confusingly, is roomier in the Prius. I think the Prius looks cooler, but Tessa likes the Civic style.

Personally, I'd rather have the Beatles-in-Yellow-Sumbarine-esque quality of the Fiat Multipla (which looks like Dali designed it) or Ford's SUV hybrid (available in 2004), but we can't afford to fly to Milan, and we don't have a time machine. In the meantime, the only way I can assuage my anxieties in this wicked world is to keep my side of the street clean, and hopefully a 21st-century supercar and the quixotic dreams of windmills will go a long way in that direction.

visiting Salem's sister Katie today, I put the camera on a timer, and then her dog stepped on my nads