I can't fault our utility companies at all. This storm damage, while predicted, could not have been prevented. We live in an area where old trees are common and there are simply too many people in one region. Some people are still without power today, though the crews are working around the clock. They're doing their best, and in this case, we have to be patient. It's like the rangers at the park say — if you don't like deer eating your shrubs, don't live next to the park. 🙂

When the storm's so bad and I'm entirely cut off, I do what I can.

We have one fireplace, so when it got bad last year and we were without power for a week, we moved down, bundled up, and had the fire on. It got down to 40 degrees in the house.

The power company's response was to tell us that we "should" have a generator, because "everyone" does. Um, no, and not in a rental. Besides, if we all have generators, then why should we pay a power company?

The state forced them to pay huge fines for that one.

John, I agree. Study rooms are great. Ours is a very small library, and sadly the only rooms are reserved for ESL tutors. And the worst offenders are the librarians! It's pretty awful.

A note about libraries: try to get a study room. They are usually very quiet because you can close a door on all the noise.

A microburst about 11 years ago knocked power out here for several days for most of our city. Luckily it didn't interfere with work, since it hit around 5 AM on July 5th (I want to say it was a Thursday or Friday) and power was restored for me late Sunday night. As with your ice storm, power crews from across the country came to our aid.

The good news was my landline still worked, which was great since I didn't have a cell phone at the time. (One perk to hardwired landlines: while cordless phones need power and cell phones need charging, corded landlines don't need electricity to operate so as long as the phone lines are working, you have contact with the outside world.)

It was extremely hot that weekend – no fans, no AC. So I cleaned the basement to pass time. I don't think anyone had a generator around here. Neighbors across the street had a freezer full of meet and by day 2 they were cooking out several times per day. Another neighbor shared foods that wouldn't keep well in a cooler. We all helped each other with whatever we could. Some people grabbed chainsaws and helped clear streets. The frustrating part wasn't getting calls from friends whose power had been restored when mine was still out, it was having my power come on for ten minutes before going out again for another hour or so. Somehow we all managed to survive….and at least we weren't freezing!

Cathy, you know normally someone would be understanding, especially given the severity of that earthquake. I'm just going to say it — that client was an ass. If he can't figure out why and has no sympathy, he's not anyone I'd want to work with. Ever.

Jenn, you're right. I don't know of one place near you that would have WiFi. There's that pizza place a few miles away, but I'd bet they don't have it.

Generators have been a topic of conversation here. My husband enjoyed way too much being out of power. Then again, he was able to go off to work all day in a warm office. But by Saturday night when the neighborhood behind us had power, I saw some cracks in his resolve. 🙂

Anne, I know what you mean about libraries. I can't get a thing done in them. They're supposed to be quiet, but I had a better time of it in McDonald's than I would have at the library here in town — too noisy! I'm with you — most people are flexible. My clients certainly were, as was an interview subject who was not just flexible, but sympathetic.

Nothing in our world is that critical. 🙂

We actually have poor wifi here at the zen center where I live… better, way better at the library north of me, tolerable at the library south of me and Starbucks scattered all over.

Very little I do these days requires extremely tight deadlines… and overseas clients are pretty used to weather etc. delays.

I doubt if I would have been willing to drive far to complete work… not sure.

I'm envious of the fact that you actually have places nearby to go. When we lose power, that's not really an option. The closest McDonalds, Starbucks, or anything else with wi-fi is probably a good 20 minute drive. And with this area so rural and hilly, getting to them after an ice storm would be an impossibility. Heck, we're lucky when the township gets our little community plowed (which admittedly they've been better about this year).

My backup plan is to go with the cell phone as hot spot first. So far we've never lost cell service up here. Worst case, our next door neighbors have a generator so if I really needed to send something off to a client, I'd just run over and ask them.

Things like this make a generator seem like a smarter idea. We're going to go with a portable one (don't want to invest in a whole house one if we might not stay here for very long). This way we can at least keep the computers and wi-fi up and running.

We'll probably wait until after the winter rush only because selections seem to be pretty limited (I guess everyone's having similar ideas with this neverending string of storms). But hopefully we'll get one before hurricane season. The rain and wind actually takes down more tree limbs here than snow.