We go out for about 90 minutes, on for 15, and back off. This sucks. Tried to go to work but the roads were still awful.

Eff this. It's out again. Oh no. We can't have wind power or solar power.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... kouts.html

Q&A with The Electric Reliability Council of Texas who is responsible for the blackouts

Good news is that the NFL experience is with power. Officials requested that the power not be cut there. Good thing our priorities are straight.

It's 45 inside my house.

holy shit. I hope you are running some water so your pipes don't freeze.

news for you:
ERCOT said more than 50 generating units have tripped, and “additional units are continuing to trip offline due to the extreme cold temperatures.” The grid operator couldn’t predict the plant problems, and couldn’t offer advanced notice for the rolling blackouts.
ERCOT urged everyone to use as little electricity as possible. Wednesday February 2, 2011 1:05 Courtney Keys / DMN

FYI Jerryworld is also exempt from blackouts.

It's a balmy 72 in my office and we still haven't had a outage today. I'm thinking about sleeping here tonight.

http://www.oncor.com/news/newsrel/detail.aspx?prid=1288

FROM ERCOT: Power Emergency – Conservation CRITICAL--Rotating Outages Have Begun


no shit sherlock

It's getting a little warm in here. I think I'll turn on a fan.

In case you were wondering:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Burst water pipes at two coal-fired power plants forced them to shut down, triggering rolling power cuts across the state, the lieutenant governor said Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said this is something that “should not happen.”

Dewhurst said he was told that water pipes at two plants, Oak Grove and Sand Hill, forced them to cut electricity production. Natural gas power plants that should have provided back up had difficulty starting due to low pressure in the supply lines, also caused by the cold weather.

The lieutenant governor said the demand placed on the Texas grid was nowhere near peak capacity. He said he was frustrated by the situation.

The statewide electricity authority ordered cities across the state to start rolling power outages to cope with the crisis.

per DMN:Just in from writer Christy Hoppe: ERCOT has announced that it is ending the emergency rotating blackouts.

we'll see

we have a generator now, so blackouts can't touch us.

But I bet you are still buying the blackouts lunch.

are you at work today?

they didn't come to work. any excuse


yes. those that bring lunch pales, and have a good work ethic, went to work

The roads are much better now. I kinda feel guilty for staying home today.

I made it to a Walgreen's. I now have coffee. Life is better. The roads are still iced over with random clear patches or ruts. If you get out of the wind, it's not bad out there.

Drove to Wal-mart to get food, side roads were really bad. I-35 was clear.

Denton ISD is off Thursday. Hopefully Hoob ISD will be, too.

LEISD closed tomorrow.

DISD = closed tomorrow. WTF? Doesn't seem like it's that bad out there. There isn't any new precipitation predicted so the sand crews should be able to hit all the hot spots (see what I did there) by the morning.

I'm not that busy at work so I don't mind not going in. Plus is HEB is closed tomorrow I'll have to stay home with the squid.

The side streets, where schools are typically located, are still pretty bad. The only place I saw anyone lose control today was on side streets.

Went to the store. It was still pretty bad. It was a bitch getting back into the garage. Got what we needed and was told to stay at home again tomorrow. Season 5 of NCAA 11, here I come.

I just spent an hour using an old Titleist 2 iron chopping holes in the ice on my driveway.

Wylie ISD is closed tomorrow which fucks up everything since both Mrs Tit and I need to get to work. Anyone up for babysitting?

Just took the dog outside. The street, driveway, and sidewalks are all clear. Yet school's off tomorrow. Buncha bullsh.

How is it that the Corinth roads are so bad?

There's no one there to drive on them to melt the ice.

817 isn't bad at all. Ruts are big enough to drive in easily and bridges have been sanded down almost to beach levels. The only real problem is people who still feel the need to drive 15-20 mph on 287. I'm not even hitting the speed limit, but if everyone is doing 40-50, and you don't feel comfortable above 30, stay the fuck home.

My driveway and street are a skating rink. I almost killed myself walking to the mailbox earlier.

Almost doesn't cut it, soldier! You get back out there and get the job done!

Bug eyed Junior Leaguers residing in "The Bluffs at Corinth" dropped their cookie sheet sleds immediately and gathered the children in an attempt to shield them from the neighbor who was suspected to be a man with a notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.

I just got an email from my boss asking for a status update on my jobs.


?

Spent 2 1/2 hours in the car today driving from Wylie to Frisco to Richardson. Pain.in.the.ass. But at least I'm at work now.

Watching Mickey Mouse Christmas for the 1000th time. I will drive through anything to work tomorrow.

Let me first point out that living in Texas I have little to no experience with driving on ice. I got out of the house yesterday and yes it was pretty bad out there but there were also some clear patches with ruts forming.

I got out of the house today to drop off the little one (hard as hell to play CoD while watching a 19 month old) and yes, there was still ice out there. But there were also ruts with clear dry pavement that you can drive normally on. I'm not saying normal speeds but you don't have to go 25mph. I'm not saying don't be mindful of patches but stop driving as if you would be catapulted into 360s if you speed it up a bit.

Just sayin.

Took my elderly neighbor to the grocery store this afternoon. Observed the following:

1. Slick roads. Really dangerous.

2. Really slick parking lot at Albertson's. It was dangerous to walk on.

3. An old, fat man, mad because he fell in the parking lot. They said he was cussing the management. If I had been there when he was doing that, I would have interfered like I usually do.

4. Albertson's appears to be following the government request to turn the heat down. It was cold in there.

5. Attempted to help push a guy out of the snow on the way home. He was wearing thin shorts and a t-shirt. He said he was on his way to get a hair cut. This guy was dumb.

It made me think that maybe I need to buy a tow rope. It could be me that is stuck tomorrow.

That's like commuting to Round Rock. Fuck that shit.

LEISD is closed again

I'll be home tomorrow again. How long does it take to get cabin fever? I could get used to this.

Ask all of the other folks who we're supporting on unemployment. They don't seem to have any desire to get out of the house either.

I just took a look outside. Completely white. I expect I'll see Dennis Quaid trekking across my parking lot soon.

Snow in-little elm

Frozen pipe in master bath.