from Runaway Thoughts in the Dark
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In LA where I lived for 20 years, power was mostly all electric. Even though it was shut off during earthquakes, I cannot remember a time the power lines were ever broken because palm trees had fewer heavy limbs. In LA everybody sailed through earthquakes, but panicked over 2 inches of water. Nobody in LA planned for real rain.
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Sunday about 8:35 am
MLGW Power Returns
‍77 hours without electrical power and frozen in place makes you realize how connected you are to just about every modern necessity, let alone convenience and entertainment source. (Personally, I did miss 1883, Billions and The Righteous Gemstones that satirizes Memphis working class culture hysterically. More on that one coming up.)
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The power popped on as I was brushing my teeth in front of the sink mirror. I didn't like what I saw. Ironically enough, I turned off the  light. Now to clean up the damage, I had transferred the perishables into the coldest room. Speaking of cold, X-finity internet still down.
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Observation: Now the perishables were smelling like vinegar. Out.

Lesson: Get a freezer large enough to store several days of food. Someone told me you can get a gas burning generator so you don't have to handle gasoline. I'll look into that. Then get the food.
Lesson: Additionally, you might want to take a look at small room portable generators that could be powered up by solar. I was in the process before power went out of looking at one for lights at photo/video  locations. Cost: about $900 to 1900 depending on output.
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With power back on, I wanted to see what production/marketing queries I had missed, but that information was inaccessible without the internet. X-finity lines were probably broken with the MLGW lines. In another outage, or temporary outrage, a utility repairman told me MLGW guys were supposed to contact X-finity when they ran across downed X-finity lines. I'm sure they're on it.

Observation: X-finity in my experience is slower in restoring delivery after its lines are down than MLGW. Essential for a utility is enough personnel to hit the streets for repairs after mass weather damage. X-finity cannot(?) have the number of repair staff as MLGW.
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Lesson: Switch to communicating via text for business during internet downtime. Up till now I've avoided text except for the simplest messages. My problem: I hadn't stored numbers exterior to my business computer. How dumb was that.
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Random thought: why couldn't MLGW repair crews work on X-finity lines during power emergencies? Predictable answer: training, legal agreements, labor issues, jurisdiction, not my problem, insurance, etc. All irrelevant to the people.
 
A strong  administrative leader would break that type of thinking with the objective of getting the internet back in operation for constituents as soon as humanly possible. Would voters transcend the old issues to vote for an innovative mayor or city council person like that? I think so. His or her theme: The Break-Through Mayor (or council member, etc.)...
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Random thought ll: When I was working communications in LA years ago for the AARP, companies would come to us for help in getting city cable licenses. The point: cities LICENSED cable companies. It was a community issue and people showed up to voice their opinion over it. Surely, ('and don't call me Shirley'-Leslie Nielsen-Airplane) tele companies like X-finity had/have to go through the same process for Memphis and/or county?  
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Therefore, if my assumptions are correct, Memphis and/or county could set feasible rules for those companies about things like emergency repair, tech support, rates, refunds, etc. BTW, I once wrote then Councilman Harris about exactly who did cable contracting for the city and never got an answer. Finally, here's something: City of Santa Monica next to LA, had or was, as I recall from years ago, talking about two cable companies serving the city at once so the city could get a read on which one worked best for the people.

X-finity is still down, despite the fact a text saying it would be up at 3:09 pm. It was but again disappeared within minutes.
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Observation: Both MLGW and X-finity send out messages that exacerbate the customer experience when power is not fulfilled when they say it will be. Bad. Both give a repeat generic message that that it will be fixed as soon as possible. No details. That's annoying but understandable given the work loads of the field techs.  Can you imagine live operators answering thousands of irate calls? Best to back away from that. Robo input operators at least make the caller feel they have connected but to what? To whom? Is it the nether?  Then both sides should hold their mud. Lesson: Stand down. Relax. Lose money now. Make it back later. For now, believe nothing. It is more frustrating to expect results when they say results are coming. Expect nothing soon. Hope is for later.
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Monday
Verizon-- sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Why? Can't even call back to people about an order. A call to Verizon. A bot fixed the issue by saying to turn the WiFi off at studio router. Duh, of course.
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10:00 pm

X-finity still not up. Worrying about power connection is one thing but internet is all together different. It wears you down waiting for it. Programs like Black Magic editing and Adobe Creative let you work and edit locally, but with my web program of choice Webflow I have to wait for internet connection to publish. Not all is lost. I can still build video and assets for websites but can't upload at the moment.
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Tuesday 8:37 am
X-finity Still Not Up
This is beyond serious. Call and get the same automated message. Thought: Could it be X-finity cannot go up until ALL of MLGW areas are fixed? Bigger issue: as of today, some people have been without power 5 days.
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1:30 pm
Taking a kitten to a vet for checkup. I see 3 big MLGW trucks on James and Range Line Rds.
First time to see any MLGW trucks since driving around starting Sunday. I've talked to people who still don't have power, much less the internet. This really is an emergency, but I get the feelling MLGW is letting it ride, but that's not true because you can't see all the crews working at once. At vet's clinic in Bartlett, all the staff say they have no internet at home.
Didn't ask about the office internet.

3:00 pm
‍Internet still down...
Signed up for texts from X-finity. But they just confirm what I already know. NOINTERNET!
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Around 6 pm

‍Receive an X-finity text saying internet will be up at 7:45 I guess meaning tonite?
I sit by my computer with self-excusatory email messages to my people. Thinking...really backed up with web projects & email marketing...Waiting...waiting...waiting...No activity. Wondering...
Its not like I don't think X-finity is trying. They've got to be getting thousands of calls from increasingly frustrated if not angry customers.
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So, why predict power on when there's a chance its not going to happen? It only adds to the frustration. X-finity WANTS this nightmare to come to an end. So it finds comfort in announcing what they think will be the time power connection goes up. I shift off into Photoshop to design an ad card.
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10:42 pm
Still no internet.

A Technical Stockholm Syndrome?
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This situation is settling into a low groan funk. Will the internet ever come back? I shut the computer down, grab a book and head for bed. Will I wake up and have internet? Will a Santa Clause line repair figure have fixed the X-finity lines by then?
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Now I'm thinking there is a kind of psychologic pattern here...
Its technical...while you have the problem you are in its your personal problem but also X-finity's. But when its solved and everything is back to normal I at least tend to forget about that specific problem and it fades into the past.

I think tech companies rely on this behavior. I've experienced it with just about all the software and browser based products I've ever worked with. In a way, its like a technical Stockholm Syndrome. Once back working, the emotional frustration of your situation evaporates into a fading memory. All's well now. Forget about the pain of the outage itself...
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With power and internet utilities you are neither in position nor can you give feedback other than if its working or not—and usually you're not even talking to a real person. You cannot go out and climb the poll even if you've been told how to climb and fix the problem once you are at the top of the pole.

Theory: without that interaction, the customer feels ever more isolated, hostile and likely to make bad remarks during or soon after the bad event. But again, the memory fades. I bet internet utilities would want the customers who are wont to to get emotional get their negative rants out sooner rather than later so such comments go away in a vapor.

Observation: MLGW reportedly (CA) has a few cell phone charge stations that can only be
accessed during the day. I hear you can recharge your phone at McDonald's.

Lesson: Everybody should have a USB power charger in their vehicle. They are cheap.

Thought
MLGW Promotes Power Home/Business Generators
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Even if it wanted to, MLGW would have to get past private/public objections to get this one done: In association with private businesses—insert into MLGW web and physical mailing announcements information about deals on generators and other items people could use during a power outage. The utility could take a percentage of funds from this program for further emergency energy items during blackouts. Yes, it would be an admission MLGW cannot stop blackouts but such a program would provide temporary solution to many.
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Also Standard Operations like..

* Organize and have ready emergency neighborhood teams to phone and knock on doors for community welfare checks. Other than actually seeing physical evidence of power line repair, the sense of isolation (and vulnerability) increases each night. I remember County Mayor Harris touted his China virus volunteers. Perhaps that could be a start but I don't remember anything significantly happening thereafter. (?)
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*For the long term set up one of those "study commissions" to find out how outages happen in Shelby County. Some questions:
--I spoke with several people and not one actually saw any MLGW vehicles on the road. Isn't that anomalous in a broad weather related power outage? This is anecdotal and may not reflect anything, but still...
--In Memphis, where we have “unpredictable” ice storms, freak winds, tornadoes and unskilled drunk drivers, power can be tenuous. However, everyone knew of the approaching ice storm days in advance. How is it thousands can be without power for so long? Not enough available repair personnel? If that's the case, why weren't other personnel from other cities put on standby?-If there is a limit to cost. How much more is the utility willing to spend in emergency situations? Is there a dollar amount?

MLGW: again, didn't you get the news an ice storm was coming?
Everybody else did. So how could this weather event have been unplanned for? As if to make me feel better the outage map reassuringly reported 84% of customers had power.
As of this writing on 2.10, there are still many who don't.

Power Lines Underground?

They seem to be talking about it.
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Observation: Such a study should look at the feasibility of incrementally putting power lines underground. Amazingly, 40% I read is already underground. The cost would of course be enormous--$6 billion somebody said. Maybe they could work out a formula over time that included cutting trees in some streets while laying, say, 5% annually with some sort of bond and geo centered tax hikes. Nomatter what, very political, and trees make it emotional, very long term and expensive for a town that has legacy lines and lots of trees and not a great tax base like more recent towns. Not like even our neighbors in newer towns like Olive Branch (?). Maybe the people are ready to talk about it, but 5 years in laying lines still going on, that would probably get pretty old with most people.
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Final lesson:
Like an EMP attack...
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A total blackout is what an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack looks like—from what I've read no country has yet experienced an EMP attack. If we were ever to have one, most likely it would come from China. EMP attacks are designed to kill electricity. It would throw us back about 100 years. No lights, vehicles, technologies, communications, police and welfare coordination, food delivery, let alone national defense if properly executed by an enemy.
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All that brings up what local governments should be doing independently of whatever the feds are doing to protect its cities. How?
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To some extent, Memphis and Shelby County already may have done some this: Put every main computer in a leak proof lead enclosure (Faraday cage) and explore ways to protect police and fire vehicles in similar ways. Then turn to hospitals, businesses and homes to do the same, again, as suggested above, perhaps in a public/private relationship.

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Wed. 2.9
around noon
Internet is up. Programs have to be tweaked and restarted. I return to the edit. Technical
Stockholm Syndrome works. I've forgotten already about the whole thing--until the next one
hits.

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Even if we are prepared a little bit, such could go a long way for the next ice storm or tornado that might exceed the previous ones in destruction and individual isolation.
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EMP's another thing...
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