Woke up this morning at about 6:30, as the lights and air conditioner stopped running, so I unplugged all computers (avoid power surge when it comes back on), grabbed my trusty Blackberry, and tweeted and Facebooked inquiries. Then looked up Xcel's number, called, and waded through automated messages - yes, I am calling about a power outage. Okay, here's my phone number. Xcel already knows about the outage and predicts that it will be fixed by "about 11:33 a.m." Right. And they'll call to tell me if that time changes by more than an hour and call to tell me when power is back on. Now that sounds like a good system—I'll see whether the calls actually come.
MORE »