Swelter In Place

First, still feeling unbelievably lucky. My power did not go out, and there's no damage to the building.

I've also got hot/cold running water and working plumbing. 

In 2008 and 2012 I lost power after storms, and really appreciate the work the line crews did then and are doing now restore it. The outage map shows some progress here in BR. 

And in the spirit of, I dunno, whatever, am going to assume that, if for no other reason than outages stop the meter from running, Entergy wants to restore things as fast and as safely as possible. 

That said, once the immediate crisis has passed, it would be an excellent time to discuss hardening/modernizing the grid. 

Would make for good infrastructure. 

And would make for a lot less suffering. 

Right now even people with portable generators are dealing with miserable heat and humidity. 

Portable generators will run lights, fans, and maybe keep food in the fridge from spoiling, but not a whole lot else. 

Standby generators run more stuff, but you pay -- a lot -- for installation and use. 

Hell, I'm so old I remember the outcry when Jimmy Carter wore a sweater during a televised White House speech to emphasize energy conservation. 

But these days the better, faster, cheaper private market wants people to freeze in the winter and boil in the summer, even in the absence of storms (like in Texas). 

Doesn't have to be that way.