NotStyro
Shared on Sun, 03/04/2007 - 09:23Nothing like a rude Sunday morning wakening to really get you going.
Awoke around 7am and thought 'Too early, more sleep...' and proceeded to doze, perchance to sleep, and the rub – to dream, again.
Chance flipped, destiny called, and fate laughed... Boom!
Jump out of bed to... pitch black. Turn on lights... No power. Damn. Off to the bathroom to find a flashlight from last known position. Then use barely working bathroom flashlight to find a better flashlight on the nightstand next to the bed (d'oh!).
Rush to computer room! UPSes are active and chirping. Mac is sleeping, but that doesn't fool me – off it goes. Main PC is on, check backups – done, so off it goes. Then the laptop – hibernate. Whew. Still have enough power on UPS to use phone to call FPL (speed-dial 3).
Call FPL. Automated system finds and confirms my account via caller-ID (which is cool, when it works). Asks if I want to reports a power outage (why else would I call?), then goes through power troubleshooting tips (check fuses & breakers – who still uses fuses? This is 2007, not 1957!). Are neighbors without power? Dunno, FPL, you call them and ask. Gated community? How do I answer 'Yes, but the gate is almost always locked up'? Q & A from hell, but at least it is in proper American English, instead of Indian English.
Anyway... Estimate for repair – 10:45am. Great. So maybe get power back by 2pm (you always pad FPLs estimated time by several hours, or weeks if outage is caused by a hurricane). I spent the next hour researching & finding the neighbors affected, helping the maintenance crew get people out of elevators (aka 'death traps' or 'mobile urinals').
Amazingly, FPL gets power restored in just less than two hours. It seems some small animal, most likely a squirrel, decided to play 'short the transformer' and 'won'. Crispy critter removal complete, power restored (largely). Now I can... go to work. Damn.
Awoke around 7am and thought 'Too early, more sleep...' and proceeded to doze, perchance to sleep, and the rub – to dream, again.
Chance flipped, destiny called, and fate laughed... Boom!
Jump out of bed to... pitch black. Turn on lights... No power. Damn. Off to the bathroom to find a flashlight from last known position. Then use barely working bathroom flashlight to find a better flashlight on the nightstand next to the bed (d'oh!).
Rush to computer room! UPSes are active and chirping. Mac is sleeping, but that doesn't fool me – off it goes. Main PC is on, check backups – done, so off it goes. Then the laptop – hibernate. Whew. Still have enough power on UPS to use phone to call FPL (speed-dial 3).
Call FPL. Automated system finds and confirms my account via caller-ID (which is cool, when it works). Asks if I want to reports a power outage (why else would I call?), then goes through power troubleshooting tips (check fuses & breakers – who still uses fuses? This is 2007, not 1957!). Are neighbors without power? Dunno, FPL, you call them and ask. Gated community? How do I answer 'Yes, but the gate is almost always locked up'? Q & A from hell, but at least it is in proper American English, instead of Indian English.
Anyway... Estimate for repair – 10:45am. Great. So maybe get power back by 2pm (you always pad FPLs estimated time by several hours, or weeks if outage is caused by a hurricane). I spent the next hour researching & finding the neighbors affected, helping the maintenance crew get people out of elevators (aka 'death traps' or 'mobile urinals').
Amazingly, FPL gets power restored in just less than two hours. It seems some small animal, most likely a squirrel, decided to play 'short the transformer' and 'won'. Crispy critter removal complete, power restored (largely). Now I can... go to work. Damn.
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Comments
Submitted by TheCrazyPerson on Sun, 03/04/2007 - 22:17
Submitted by NotStyro on Sun, 03/04/2007 - 22:52