And I thought my electric bill was too high.

The wife of a New York City VC was talking about a gallery charity event she went to which was suffering from over popularity, and had plunged in value. Instead of spending the evening looking at work from emerging artists, picking out works that were appealing, and purchasing one or two after reviewing the showing; it had turned into some kind of assembly line nightmare--long lines to get in, long lines to purchase art, and when it got to your turn, you could pick the artist, but you got whatever "piece" was on the top of the pile.

So this time around, she passed on making a purchase. She had this to say about it:

$300 is a nice chunk of cash. You could buy a cashmere sweater, have an incredible dinner in NYC, you could pay part of your electric bill or phone bill, buy 25 new cd's (based on the price), you could even buy an ipod. So, i basically said, thanks but no thanks.

A (one) sweater?
Dinner?
Part of your electric bill?
Part of your phone bill?
Egads.

I complain when my cell phone + land line + electric + water adds up to $300. And electric is a big part of that. It goes from $75-80 in the summer to almost double in the winter. I was looking at putting in some solar just to get that down under a hundred (and be able to use the electric heat in the basement without feeling so guilty). I'm beginning to suspect that a normal year's income wouldn't last me a month in New York.

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Original Article from Gotham Gal.