fox: arctic fox:  time to hibernate (hibernate)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2010-07-26 09:27 am

this just in: CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL

You may remember that just over five months ago we had a massive fucking snowstorm in which I (and tens of thousands of my neighbors) lost power for days on end.

Ten and a half days ago (i.e. last Thursday), my power went out for no apparent reason, and was out for a couple of hours - you'd think it would be an overloaded grid, but that was actually a (relatively) cool weekend between weeks of record-setting heat, so I don't think that's it. The following day the power went out around 1pm and flickered back on and off all afternoon and evening, finally being restored for keeps around 11:30. This doesn't have to do with climate change in particular, but it does mean I've had it up to here with power failures already.

Yesterday there was a nasty but very brief storm in the middle of the afternoon. The power went out at 3:30 pm and, long story short, it's still not back and they don't know when to estimate it might be back. When I first called the automated line to report the outage, the computer voice told me they estimated they'd have my power restored by approximately August 14, 3am. Later estimates went through August 18, August 6, and 9pm last night. Then 10pm last night. Then they stopped giving me numbers. At one point I waited on hold for an hour and a half to speak to a real person before giving up. This morning I only had to wait on hold for a couple of minutes, and the very sympathetic woman I spoke to said there's no estimated restoration time on my account. I can't get the map to display on the website. The man on the radio seems to be suggesting it might be tomorrow (tomorrow!), but I don't see how anybody can really predict anything, given that a crew has not yet been assigned.

Two knock-out storms in under six months, at opposite ends of the temperature scale? Not that I know what can be done about climate change, but the next person who looks at a big snowstorm and says "so much for global warming, lol" is going to get my fist in his throat. (Side note, dear Pepco, yes, there are a lot of trees in Montgomery County. SO WHY THE HELL IS YOUR SYSTEM STILL ABOVE-GROUND?!)

All of you whose power has been restored already: I love you, dudes, but I hate you right now.

I don't have much in the refrigerator that can't handle being un-chilled for a bit (fruit, for example, doesn't really need to be refrigerated in the first place), and what there is, I can toss. My freezer is pretty full, so assuming the power does come back tomorrow everything in there should be okay. I also don't have hot water. I bought two more flashlights on the way to work this morning. I am miserable.
cinco: Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes facepalming and shouting "No!" (c&h: facepalm no)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-07-26 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
If you want some air conditioning and a hot shower tonight, let me know. I'm about a mile and a half north of you.
cinco: Spock looking doubtful: "O RLY?" (Default)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-07-26 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
No cat, you're quite right. I'll be home after about 6:30, and my exciting plans for the evening include doing laundry and being in bed by 10 to make up for all the sleeping I did not do last night. Do you have my number?
cinco: The Middleman and his logo (mm: smoking logo)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-07-26 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Will email with general directions (if your class is at UMD, take University west, left on Piney Branch, right on Manchester) and my number. Any news from Pepco? Is it just me or are they utterly incompetent?
cinco: Spock looking doubtful: "O RLY?" (Default)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-07-26 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I think that's what I mean, that their estimates are so unspecific. When I lived in Indiana we rarely lost power (but almost always if there was a storm, just generally for less than 4 hours), and in Washington State we lost it constantly, but in both places you just called the electric company and they'd have a good estimate for when it would be back. Pepco seems pretty clueless about repair time, which makes me think they they don't have anywhere near enough crews.

They do have a Twitter here, but it doesn't seem to have any info. :(
alpheratz: (Default)

[personal profile] alpheratz 2010-07-26 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
You should really run a cooling center out of your place. :D
cinco: Spock looking doubtful: "O RLY?" (Default)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-07-26 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I think I am! ;-D
abka: painting of daffodils and pear (Default)

[personal profile] abka 2010-07-26 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Right there with you. I'm worried it's going to take until Thurs. or Friday for us. It is the suck :(