Power restored (but only thanks to Voodoo Engineering!)

Another day, another power outage. For no apparent reason (no storms, and it’s cooled down since yesterday), the power went out at around 8:50 p.m. I called DTE and was told that it would be off until tomorrow night. I called again an hour later and was told the same thing again.

So were other um, customers:

DTE Energy officials were not immediately available Saturday night to provide information on the extent of the new outage or its estimated duration.

The campus-area outage includes bars and restaurants on South U and near Packard and Hill, though traffics signals are functioning.

Employees at one business in that area said DTE gave them an estimate of 9:30 p.m. Sunday for the repair.

Joshua Sanchez, manager of the Little Brown Jug, said he expects to serve customers for cash only for a short time, then close by about 11 p.m.

Other businesses also are winding down operations.

“We’re just trying to survive for tonight,” Sanchez said, “then we’ll worry about tomorrow.”

Champions Party Store on South U was the only store open at 9:30 p.m., due to a generator providing full power to the business.

When I heard I’d be out until tomorrow night, it was haul-out-the-generator time again. Figuring on an extended problem, I ran out and filled the five gallon gas can, came home and started the generator which sounded fine. I have been keeping an eye on it and running it from time to time — assuming that keeping it in running order is the name of the game. Little did I suspect that the thing developed an electronic problem, so when I plugged in, there was nothing. Suspecting the breaker switch, I took it apart in the dark with a flashlight and tested it, but it was OK.

That was “oh shit” time. I figured I would not be able to really dig into it until daylight, so I called M. Simon to let him know that there would be no posts from me, and to pick his brain about what might be wrong with my generator. Instead of telling me how to fix the generator in the dark, my mention of the flashlight triggered an interesting reply. Simon was spouting some mumbo jumbo about flashlight technology which was quite over my head, and all of a sudden, VOILA! The power came back on.

I yelled with joy into the phone, and the other person who was present and helping me out while listening to the entire exchange exclaimed that Simon is obviously a “voodoo engineer.”

I couldn’t agree more. I told him to send me a bill.

BTW, DTE (a company said to be “worse than Comcast“) should be afraid. Very afraid.