First off, I want to say that we didn't prepare for Y2K in the least.

We had no loss of power here, or in my neighborhood. We had gas, electricity, water, etc. with no interruptions. We do have a couple of friends staying with us who were prepared for Y2K, but found their generator simply didn't work. They're not sure why, but are welcome here while they wait for the lights to come back on at their place.

I stayed home today because my office was closed due to power loss of power. I have a laptop, so I worked from home today. I went out to the grocery store during a brief snow shower. It snowed some in the early afternoon here, but it didn't stick and the grocery store was about as quiet as you would expect for that time of day.

The sun came out this afternoon and helped dried up some of the rain and melted ice that caused such problems on Saturday night. The news says it's supposed to get very cold this evening, but it should stay dry, which is good news. We may get some more ice and snow toward the end of the week, just in time for the Super Bowl, so the DOT is preparing truckloads of salt and sand for the roads to keep them clear for the big game. There are still 75,000 people in the metro area who are without power, Georgia Power says that they'll have power by tomorrow evening.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000

Answers

You do know that the reason for your work's power outage was the little-spoken-of "Y2K Snow Bug" that a lot of areas in the country are experiencing. From some of the "rugged individualists" that I also know, it seems that one of the unspoken effects in the Y2K catastrophe that we're all living in denial through as we type was that it would snow this winter, as opposed to what it normally does, and when it would snow, it would help strip power and convenience from the entire world.....

Must be nice to have a quiet grocery store. I don't believe such an animal exists like that here in Seattle.

-- Primping Polly (pollywanna@cracker.net), January 24, 2000.

Ya, so?

-- Opus (Opus@Bloomcounty.net), January 24, 2000.

How stupid you are. Stuff happens in life and you are part of the problem, not part of the cure.

-- How (stupid@youare.com), January 24, 2000.

To: How Stupid You Are

And I suppose YOU are part of the solution, sitting around, flaming strangers on the net, right?

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspenda dime.net), January 24, 2000.

Pretty... Some folks did prep in Georgia, and are feeling pretty smug right now :)

Y2K Preps Come in Handy in Atlanta

-- Carl (clilly@goentre.com), January 24, 2000.

Hey Carl-

Your link doesn't work.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

Hey Pretty Polly....

The link worked for me.

-- Kat (kat3@crosswinds.net), January 24, 2000.

Hey Kat-

It wasn't the first link, but the link on the page that the link in this thread linked to. (Wow, that's a lot of linkage!)

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

Scroll down a little Polly... the first link went to an Altavista host that didn't work, so I linked it to the AP....

-- Carl (clilly@goentre.com), January 24, 2000.

That's the one that doesn't work.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

Hi Polly .. why don't read the other "north GA" thread to actually see what happened a few miles further north of Atlanta.

With several hundred thousand still without power overnight just north of you....you should simply express thanks that you too are not freezing in the dark - as they (who like you didn't prepare three weeks ago) are doing now.

Unlike you, those who did prepare for troubles three weeks ago - but who are in the blackout are - are safe, warm, and dry.

You are simply incredibly lucky. Atlanta could itself have still been iced today, with widespread blackouts throughout.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

Robert Cook-

I'm in Kennesaw, so I am familiar with the situation to the north of me. I don't regret not preparing for Y2K, not for an instance. However, I know several folks who DO regret preparing. For example, my husband's boss, who had to take his new born son to the hospital on Sunday night because they couldn't afford a hotel room after blowing all their cash on Y2K preps.

-- Pretty Polly (unprepared@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

However, I know several folks who DO regret preparing. For example, my husband's boss, who had to take his new born son to the hospital on Sunday night because they couldn't afford a hotel room after blowing all their cash on Y2K preps.

Exactly what did they spend the money on? Since the first elements of preparation are food, heat, water, and light, why would they need to go to a hotel? This is obvious nonsense; you're clearly just another troll with nothing better to do.

-- Steve Heller (stheller@koyote.com), January 24, 2000.

Steve-

Spam, bottled water, and a kerosene heater won't help you when your baby son goes from having a cold to pneumonia because he's cold.

Your concern and compassion have been duly noted.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

Pretty Polly,

Please make sure your contributions contain some INFORMATION so that everyone here can make an INFORMED conclusion about the validity of your post.

-- noppy (nope@noway.net), January 24, 2000.

What would you like, Noppy? Our home address? How about my home phone number? Tell you what, you post yours and I'll post mine.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

Not sure Steve ..... if this boss prepared for anything related to y2k-induced failures, he'd (first off) certainly have alternate heat. Water was never disrupted - no problems there. It's cold, anything in the frig (milk, formula, wahtever) would be okay for the limited time problems happened.

If this boss did prepare, and obviously he knew had small kids, then he must have planned for disruptions affecting the kid (extra heat, al lights, alt food/prepared food, canned/bottled baby food.

If he "blew" his money preparing ... as stated, he could have only gotten a generator (or prepared foods, or something equally expensive.) Anything he got would have been useful (except a water filter or dried foods - and if he is stocking up on dried foods without heating his house - then he DIDN'T READ ANY BOOK on preparing.)

Why even try to go to a hotel? There's nothing ther that anybody would want or could use...IF the family actually prepared for anything.

I'm assuming that Miss Polly was simply badly misinformed by her boss. There is no way his comments - as she either understood them, or as she transcribed them - make any sense.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

"However, I know several folks who DO regret preparing. For example, my husband's boss, who had to take his new born son to the hospital on Sunday night because they couldn't afford a hotel room after blowing all their cash on Y2K preps."

LINK PLEASE!

-- justwondering (justwondering@prettypollyisatroll.com), January 24, 2000.

... or the "boss" simply and unforgiveably screwed up how he got ready for disruptions.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

"Spam, bottled water, and a kerosene heater won't help you when your baby son goes from having a cold to pneumonia because he's cold."

Being cold causes hypothemia.

Pneumonia is caused by bacteria or a virus. Not being cold.

A website you might find useful is webmd.com.

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 24, 2000.

My husband's boss had a couple of kerosene heaters which proved to be insufficent. His plans to buy a generator fell through due to other purchases (in his words, Brigade Quartermasters has a lein on his house). His son was sick to begin with, but his illness was exacerbated by the temperatures. He delayed going to a hotel because of his money concerns, which he blames on Y2K preparation. Once he and his family tried to get to a hotel, it became obvious the baby was very sick, so they headed down to the hospital.

We have another couple staying with us who DID buy a generator, and even tested it. When they tried to fire it up on Sunday morning, it failed. I'm not sure why.

-- Pretty Polly (unpreparedpolly@didn'tspendadime.net), January 24, 2000.

That's why testing of the preparations (trying the heaters, trying the generators), is needed before problems occur.

Based on his comments, his preparations were perhaps well-intentioned, but remain ineffective in practice.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

I donno RE Cook sounds like a bs post or troll to me...

-- plain 'ol joe (kennasaw@ga.net), January 24, 2000.

I excercise my 20kW genny twice a month, under load. I have a 500 gallon propane tank in the backyard as an alternate fuel source for both the genny and the gas furnace. We can live off the grid for up to 6 weeks at "full power". Obviously, the unprepared boss didn't have his priorities straight. And the guy with the DOA genny probably bought a Coleman or some other cheap piece of crap. (Aren't the lives of your family worth more than a $500 generator?)

Bottom line: when your life depends on your preps, better make DAMN sure they're sufficent, and that everything WORKS. Anything less is just poor planning.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), January 24, 2000.

Stephen Poole, is that you hoaxing again?

-- Smells (like@a.troll), January 24, 2000.

Don't feed the TROLLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- .-.. (bah@humbug.toyou), January 24, 2000.