[nancyminusone]

Am I alone in thinking it's a bit silly to be concerned about breathing in 6 extra days of naturally occuring radon, of all things?

It's cool that we can get these air sensors things, but they sure give people who worry about numbers some additional ones to worry about.

[reillyse]

I really wonder if there is something else at play here. None of this is normal behavior and it's very strange for it to be normalized.

Day 4 no more deliveries but we still have takeout! For real, you can still order food from your local restaurants and you are in a panic about things. Instead of spending $4,500 on a generator you'll never use again maybe just pack the kids in a car an go to the beach for the weekend. Seriously.

When I was a kid I enjoyed the days we lost power. Grab a candle and have a laugh in the dark. It was fun.

That said, I don't want to be mean. I do think there is a generalized anxiety that is very much enabled on the internet. Like this kind of behavior - basically prepping - is encouraged.

I read analysis that suggested that prepping behavior is a way of coping with feelings of inadequacy by imagining a future world where all the person's capabilities will be fully appreciated. "All my guns and dried rice and my underground bunker will make me the most relevant person in the future". Most prepper's visions of the future are unique to them and focus on their skills. E.g. one of us tech types might think we could create a connected network and support wifi for a region and be a source of knowledge or something. Obviously if something did happen all of this would go to shit in seconds but that isn't the point..

Maybe it's all just a fantasy of feeling relevant.

[itronitron]

I think this is fairly recently normalized (although not the norm) in the US, the trajectory being facilitated by big box Costco stores where people buy their food in bulk for 'cost-savings' and then have an extra fridge or freezer, the next step being to buy a generator.

Many of my aunts and uncles grew up in Appalachia without indoor plumbing or electricity for most of their childhood. A cellar is more important than a generator, as the cellar doesn't require refueling and it also doubles as a shelter when there is a tornado warning.

[rconti]

And $600 to rent a pickup (!!) to haul a generator that looks like it would fit in the back seat of a Civic.

[decimalenough]

OP had two cars, but they were both trapped under downed power lines.

$600 is still ridiculous though.

[mindslight]

If I wanted to come out balls-swinging like half the comments in this thread, I'd point out that those are likely just 170 volt power lines, and you could just take a length of dry plastic pipe and maybe some improvised arc flash protection and just move them. But there are damn good reasons why we repeat the mantra to not go near any downed power lines, especially in emergency situations where ad-hoc solutions tend to compound problems.

I'm thankful for OP writing up his experience. Did he do some ridiculous things due to stress? Yes! The whole point of writing it up is so that others can learn from it with cool heads, to avoid repeating those mistakes.

[rconti]

Ah, thanks. I saw the photo of the car with lines on it and naively assumed it was part of the restoration, not the initial problem. Of course it's not surprising that "price gouging" (or, supply and demand, whatever you want to call it) is going on when lots of people need vehicles. and there aren't many available.

[prmoustache]

You don't even need a car to transport a small generator. A hand trolley bought at the same place is enough. I saw some people carrying generators to their shop that way when we had the global electricity outage in Spain nearly 2 weeks ago.

[000ooo000]

This absolutely reeks of privilege