ComEd engineer goes off grid

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I'm in the lawn care biz in Northern Illinois. This spring one of my customers, an engineer with ComEd, canceled service to his back yard. He planted a 10,000 sqare foot garden. (not exactly a hobby garden) When I was there six weeks ago, his wife was horrified that he was putting solar pannels on the roof. Today I had the chance to speak to him. He explained the garden by saying that he grew up on a farm and wanted to get back to the earth. As for the solar pannels, his wife's idea. A storm left them without power for a few days last summer, and she didn't want to go through that again. I didn't tell him I'd spoken to his wife. I did say, "I thought maybe you knew something about this Y2K thing the rest of us didn't". He looked at me and said, "don't you read the papers, Y2K is fixed". Maybe everything he said is true. Maybe his actions have nothing to do with Y2K. It just strikes me as odd that a man who earns his living at ComEd would take his house off the grid during the summer of 1999. Any thoughts?

-- Anonymous, July 02, 1999

Answers

brad... put on some anti artillery gear and be prepared to be blasted off the face of the earth.

the engineers that post to this forum are *not* i repeat *NOT* going to like your little tale of woe.

as my father always said... don't listen to what they say... watch what they do. take this as a sign to get prepared.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 1999


... don't listen to what they say... watch what they do

The June 30, 1999 news release from my power company here in Saskatchewan, Canada sez:

http://www.saskpower.com/html/releases99.html

They are going to add another 150MW of generation in partenership with other businesses btwn now and 2002.

nothing about their readiness/compliance remediation etc. I suppose they'll be asking for help from folks with solar panels, like the engineer in Illinois for that 150 MW ;)

spiff

-- Anonymous, July 02, 1999


marianne, Thanks for the warning. I'm just wondering how many of the optimistic "insiders" on this forum decided to take up gardening this spring. You know, coincidentaly.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 1999

marianne,

I'm going to Walmart tomorrow to buy fresh Coleman fuel (1 can) and some batteries and paper towells to put in my camper for its first camping trip of the season tomorrow. Does this count.

Gardens aren't for me. I'm gonna help test and remediate the pizza place up the street.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 1999


uh, cl... is this kinda like a dry run? i mean, like, uh, are you, uh, practicing?

-- Anonymous, July 03, 1999


No dry run. I'm at 100% Critical Ready, my company's the same, my internal audit was passed with flying colors, I may get to back to my real job soon, and I'm taking Vacation. Gonna check to see if photosynthesis is in danger of not being compliant. Have a happy 4th!!!

-- Anonymous, July 03, 1999

Good observation on watching what they do. Note on coleman fuel and shelf life. Coleman fuel is actually pure napha. No problem on shelf life. I once put a coleman stove in "temporary" storage, with fuel in the tank, and a can of fuel. I forgot about it. 9 YEARS later both worked fine, in the can and in the stove.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 1999

I live near a midwest capital city with its own electric/water utility, and a nearby university with 40,000 students. The university has its own on-campus water/electric generation plant (coal-fired). Several years ago, the director at the university plant went to the U's board to request a large amount of money for Y2k repairs. They blew him off, telling him that he was exaggerating, and to not worry so much. He's stayed with it, and recently went back to the board to tell them that he might have a 2 1/2 hour water reserve if the power goes out, and that he does not feel at all confident that there will be power at his plant. At this, the board wanted to give him a lot of money to fix the problem, but he told them that it's too late for that. He wants to resign, but feels that he has a moral obligation to stay. He used to work at the capital city's elec./water facility, and is a good friend of the Y2K man there, who just took an "early retirement" in April. Two Christmases ago, the Christmas bonuses for the upper level management at this facility were generators, but the whole story was supposed to be kept quiet. The management people were told to "just pick up your generator off the semi in the parking lot as you leave for your holiday vacation." This is a relatively small utility, serving approximately 100,000 people. The man who is in charge of Y2k repairs for the U. is the neighbor of a very Y2K-conscious friend of mine. Does anyone have any similar stories? A. Mc.

Rick, Does this need to be posted in its own question?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 1999


Rick, I just posted a fairly long commentary, and it posted just fine for a few minutes, then was cut off to the first two or three sentences. Did you get the whole thing, or should I re-post it? A. Mc

-- Anonymous, July 06, 1999

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