Of course, “STFU” means “show the fark up”. Almost 36 hours with no power and no fix in sight for days. Met Ed has helpfully updated their 800 number with a recording advising customers that some of us may have lost power, and that this is due to the storm.

Met Ed seems to update this announcement several times a day. But since it’s the *exact same message every time*, I don’t think they understand what “update” really means. And it’s a stupid and insulting message to boot. There’s a power outage? Really? Because I was just sitting in my 28-degree house for shits ‘n’ giggles, and I’m only calling you out of sheer boredom.

I’m driving up north in a few minutes (as soon as my hot water tank is done draining) to pick up the family generator. Might as well fire up the stove, burn through whatever meat is still frozen, juice up the TV, and invite the neighbors over for a party. Cover charge will be two gallons of gas.

EDIT:  Met-Ed can’t possibly have their collective head any further up their collective ass.  According to their website, there are currently “less than 2,000″ customers without power locally.  According to a recent update from PennLive, there are currently about 11,000 customers without power in Lebanon County alone.  There’s a definite correlation between the ability to count and the ability to properly estimate the workforce necessary to perform repairs, so I think I’m beginning to understand why we’re being told it will be Thursday evening — almost a week — until our power comes back on.  PEMA is saying about 70,000 households, or about 500,000 people, are still without power.  The paper up here ran a story pointing out that the 400 or so Columbia County residents who lost power were “a much lighter toll than the … 25,000 customers without electricity PPL reported in Harrisburg.”  Maybe Harrisburg proper, but the region actually peaked at about 84,000 households without power.

EDIT EDIT:  The backup battery on my alarm finally gave out about an hour ago.  That’s 40 hours of runtime without a UPS.  Not bad for a 3-year-old online battery.