Hungry For Power

My sister lives in a mobile home park in West Chester, Pa, and she lost power for 4 hours during the blizzard yesterday. She called me at 1:15pm, when the power had been out for 2 hours and 45 minutes, about to lose her mind.

Amy: I'm dying over here! I had such a great blizzard day planned, and this power outage is ruining everything!! How am I supposed to enjoy this blizzard without electricity?!?! I've got no internet, no TV, no hot water...The worst part of it is that I'm missing out on a great snow day. Relaxing on the couch, watching TV, surfing the internet; that's what's SUPPOSED to be happening today. This blizzard is not turning out to be like I wanted it to be, can I get my money back??! I mean really, I'd rather be at work now. If I can't enjoy this blizzard the proper way, I might as well be making money.

Amy: Ugh, I just need to get out. Ed (her boyfriend) is shoveling his car out so we can at least get out of the house. (now mind you, our entire area was in the middle of a blizzard at that point, and the blizzard conditions were only supposed to worsen as evening approached.)

Me: You do realize that even if you get out right now, and are able to make it to a location, the chances of being able to drive back home later tonight are slim to none.

Amy: There's got to be a restaurant open or something...I just want to take my laptop and go sit somewhere that has wi-fi. Google some restaurants in West Chester, see what's open. And don't complain about having to Google for me, just be happy you CAN Google!! And check to see if any movie theaters are open, even that would be okay.

Amy: I'd go drive to someone's house to spend the night, but that REALLY spoils my snow day. I just want to be in MY house relaxing. If I go somewhere else, I'm guaranteeing that my snow day is officially over. And if I found out that my electricity had come back on while I was gone, it would kill me. I don't care about how cold I am, I just need my entertainment! I can pile on blankets, or eat dry cereal, but I can't take the stillness!

Me: Yeah, you'd make a great homeless woman, as long as you had your internet and your cell phone...

Amy: What I really want to do is go to a hotel, but the Holiday Inn is charging $140/night!! This is where my frugality kicks in...if it were $80, I'd be there in a minute. That's the only other place I'd feel like I could enjoy the blizzard. I just can't enjoy it when I'm in someone else's house.

Me: Eric just said to check with your homeowner's insurance company, maybe they'll cover a night at a hotel.

Amy: Um.....I guess that means I have to actually find that paperwork to get their phone number? And does he not remember that I live in a trailer? How good can my homeowner's insurance possibly be?? The total value of my house might be less than a night at the Holiday Inn Express.

Me: Yeah, it's true. You always see on the news that when natural disasters occur, the trailer park people are the ones who die first and last. Nobody cares about them, or their wretched little houses...

She hung up at that point, as Ed was coming in from shoveling and trying to back the car up. She was afraid he was going to tell her that there was no way they could drive anywhere.

After I hung up, I called PECO. Knowing Amy uses her cell phone for everything, I was able to report her outage using her cell phone number, and when they verified that I was Amy, the automated message told me that they were working on that specific problem, and expected to have it fixed by 2:30pm.

I called her back to tell her the news. I heard Ed yelling to me in the background, "Do you have some Ritalin for your sister??". After I told her the ETA for getting her power back, she let out a huge shriek. The power had come back on. "I'm hanging up now, I don't need to talk to you when I can IM you!"

Five minutes later I get an IM from her.....

Amy: I am now in my home instead of a house.