Personal Y2K Test to begin shortly...

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Well, we thought we'd be prepared for our first 'off grid' test by mid-January but like so many other project schedules, it slipped. Of course we were always 'on track' to be ready by the scheduled date but there were some unforseen circumstances ;-)

Anyway, Mrs. Rimmer and I are spending this weekend (48 hours) without electricity just to see how ready we really are. Lights out by 6pm CST - 40 minutes from now. In case you are wondering, no, neither one of use are looking forward to it -- but we both feel that this personal testing is important.

We almost canceled due to good weather. The lows are only expected to be in the low 20's here over the weekend - not really a true test but it's a start.

I get back to you all on Monday and let you know how it went. We hope the last 8 months of hard word begins to demonstrate itself this weekend.

BTW, ordered Ishmael from Amazon and got it yesterday. I was going to read it this weekend but found it so interesting that I'm already halfway through it. Quite a book.

Thanks for all the recommendations and assistance and moral support. See you all on the other side....

-- Arnie Rimmer (arnie_rimmer@usa.net), February 05, 1999

Answers

Good luck to the both of you. I will be very interested on what you learn on your preliminary test without the juice.

-- Duane (Duane24062@aol.com), February 05, 1999.

I'm eager to hear about your experiment. We too plan to try it in the near future. I always enjoy your informative and interesting posts. And you've gotta' love a guy that refers to his wife as Mrs. Rimmer, instead of "the wife." Good luck.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 05, 1999.

My family of 5 was thrown into an unexpected "y2k type situation" when hurricane Fran came to NC. We are 3 1/2 hours inland, so no problem, right? Wrong. We were a full 9 days without electricity, frozen foods thawing, not much water stored (the regular 3 day amount). We weren't really "prepared", but did great, except for the 100 degree temps and losing about $400.00 worth of frozen food (no generator at the time). The kids were a little punchy, but hey, we got along great. Hope this prepared test shows you that all of your prior planning is a tremendous success (meaning you'll make out with not much troubles).

-- Mr. K (right@home.now), February 05, 1999.

Arnie: You can't do this to me, I'm going to have Arnie withdrawals for the next 48 hours! I guess I'll have to get my Arnie fix on Monday. Good Luck! And I can't wait to see how things went.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), February 05, 1999.

We just went through a harrowing experience during our recent ice- storm. At around 2:30 am we heard a loud crack followed by a thunderous crash. It was followed by another in a matter of seconds. At the same time we lost power and were thrown into total darkness. I say thrown in total darkness because we have street lights that shine through our windows at night. After a few minutes we ventured out of our bedrooms to try and find out what happened. Outside our living room window in the back yard two huge branches had fallen from a large canadian maple we have standing majestically approx. 15-20 feet away from the house. One branch had fallen and missed the house by inches. Another one had landed on the roof. Then we heard another loud crack and several other distant cracks and all ran downstairs to the basement. We heard another loud crash and crashing going on nearby and in the not too far distance. We stayed huddled in a corner in an indoor room of our basement and hoped for the best. I can't remember how many cracks and crashes we heard but it went on for a couple of hours. It was so eerie like the end of the world was happening. We just all crouched there expecting the majestic tree in our back yard to fall on the house. We contemplated on venturing to a neighbors but could hear tree branches falling all around. It was surreal. We just sat huddled together waiting for the next crack to sound when we would say, "There goes another one".

Anyhow when daylight dawned and the freezing rain had stopped and the sound of crashing had more or less stopped we cautiously crept upstairs to discover destruction and devastation the likes of which we had never seen.

Altogether we had five huge branches fall from our tree alone. One landed right between our house and the neighbors and prevented us from getting outside our front door. Another landed in an upright position leaning against the house looking like a tree growing out of the ground unto itself. Another one had landed on top of one of the original two that we saw before we escaped to the basement.

When we managed to venture out into the neighborhood it was incredible and sad to see all the fallen branches and damaged trees.

Tree branches on vehicles, on downed electric lines, on houses. It was incredible.

We lost power for close to four days. Many others lost power for six days.

Apparently people are now suing our electric utility for taking so long to respond.

I find this incredible to believe. I for one appreciated all the efforts that the workers out in the field did in risking their lives underneath the ice-laden branches that could at any time have come crashing down on them.

I think people can be very unreasonable and it just goes to show how spoilt we have become as a society when we expect instantaneous restoration of power and roads to be completely cleared within a matter of hours.

There is a plus side for us though we now have about $500-$700 worth of firewood for Y2K.

One thing that happened that gave us an insight as to how people can react. A neighbor of ours that is leaving the area in the spring decided to have her whole tree cut down and she offered all the wood to us. When the guys were dumping the logs onto our front yard a woman driving by stopped and shouted across at us, "That isn't my wood is it that your taking." She got out of her van and came up and started insisting that the wood belonged to her and that we had no right taking it. It took several neighbors to assure her that the wood wasn't hers. Anyhow she left reluctantly and we never saw or heard from her again. Very bizarre.

Good luck Rimmer's and I too shall look forward to hearing how you fared and what advice you have for us.

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), February 05, 1999.



My husband works for a major utility company and it just irks me to no end that people are pissed because they have to wait in the dark for several hours or a few days! Think about it people, they risk their lives climbing the poles, running the wire, and trying to get people back on line! Yes, I married a pole doctor! Do you know what a pole doctor is? In severe weather, he's gone 7 days a week, 24 hours a day so you can can curl your friggin hair, have your Cappucino, your toasted bagels and cream cheese, and all the other "must haves." My husband choose his profession because it was a stable job and it helps people, and all utilities need people to get the power to you. So, the next time you feel the urge to blast a lineman, remember, you are with YOUR family NOT risking YOUR ASS, he's on the pole risking all of his. Fuck the lawsuit, be glad there are people like my husband, fireman, policeman, and all other people who jeopardize their lives to make yours a little easier.

-- PoleDrWife (PoleDrWife@power.com), February 05, 1999.

uh, Mrs.Dr.PoleSitter, do you feel better now?

It's good to vent, but try doing it on someone that may have been trying to insult you or something. Carol was complementing the power folks. She isn't the lawsuit nutcase she only "mentioned" in her post.

Sounds like you are resentful of your spouses job. Long hours away, danger, bad conditions, etc.

Just think, after Y2K rolls on up, he'll be able to spend some quality time with you while the IT's push buttons inside the Power Plants....

Mr. K

By the way, after we were out of power for 9 days from hurricane Fran, when the power guys got here, I went to town 20 minutes away just to get them 4 dozen fruit filled, fresh made pastries. We weren't mad....we were grateful to see them.

-- Mr. kennedy (humm@er.org), February 05, 1999.


I didn't mean to lash out on Carol, and I apologize if I offended you, but I do feel better. I am not resentful that my husband is a pole doctor, because when everyone else is in the dark, so are we. And I thank you for buying doughnuts for the lineman, I wish more people like you would do that instead of people threatening to sue. Just venting my anger....we're in the mist of a big storm now, gotta go!

-- PoleDrWife (PoleDrWife@power.com), February 06, 1999.

Mr. Kennedy,

Thank you for attempting to set PoleDrWife straight.

*******************

PoleDrWife,

I certainly didn't mean to offend you or your husband. I think you misread my post. I was very appreciative of all the people who worked through our last ice-storm to restore power. I was concerned for their safety having to work under such dangerous conditons.

I wrote to our utility company, Pepco, to let them know that I fully appreciated all the hard work that their technicians had done especially under such dangerous conditions.

I most certainly DO NOT AGREE with the chosen few ungrateful souls that have made a very misguided decision to sue.

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), February 06, 1999.


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-- Arnie Rimmer (arnie_rimmer@usa.net), February 08, 1999.



Arnie, would love to hear how your y2k preparation weekend turned out, but your message isn't on the thread you indicated. Something there about weapon assembly. Would you mind reposting? Thanks.

-- Pam G. (Pam95818@aol.com), February 08, 1999.

Oops! Never mind -- it worked fine the second time around. What a great post. Thanks for letting all of us learn from your experience. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on "Ishmael."

-- Pam G. (Pam95818@aol.com), February 08, 1999.

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