PAR
Still here. Still in semi-blog-retirement but not ruling out future content that I often have promised but as yet failed to deliver.Just in case anyone was wondering.Hope your holidays and new year...
View ArticleRule Breaking
It was 03-something in the morning when the Minitor chirped.Engine, Engine, Engine, Tanker, Tanker, etc.... chimney fire being upgraded straight to a full structure response. This could be interesting,...
View ArticleRestoration
It has begun.34 posts reviewed and restored so far. Still over 200 left to sift through.Kind of amusing reading over my own stuff from when I was much more of a grump than I am these days.Stay safe,...
View ArticleEmails from the Crazies
At the power company, we responded to a routine outage, about 20 people were out due to the failure of underground cable.I've always been a little annoyed at the physics involved in faulted cable....
View ArticleEmails from the Awesome
Counterpoint to our previous post, this gem arrived recently from one of our end users.---I am unsure if this response is automated or not, either way I am going to leave you with a slew of compliments...
View ArticleMaybe I should start a sister blog about crazy emails
Got this one shared with us by the customer service friendlies today.They got this message first.From: [name] [mailto:[handle]@hotmail.com]Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2013 2:30 AMTo: [custsvc]Subject:...
View ArticleBeyond Amusement, to Sympathy
We heard back from the crazy character mentioned in the previous post.[name, address, phone]. [email name] is my cover email because someon intercepts all emails communications and phones some im...
View ArticleThe Y2K Tale
In commemoration of the new years observance.Thirteen years ago I was on duty at my first power company gig, and although there was a lot of hoopla leading up to the rollover from 1999 to 2000,...
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THWS: Life Hacks
Been a while since I posted a Totally Handy Web Site, and I'm bending the rules slightly with this one.Strictly speaking, instead of posting a specific site that is handy, I am posting to a specific...
View ArticleLook again, you probably missed something
There were four of us working that night when the tones dropped for a police assist. They were asking for scene lighting for something. It was about 0230, and I was the junior guy on a very cold...
View ArticleFrom Hero to Goat in ten minutes
Engine 56, Engine 51, Small City Engine, Tanker 56, Tanker 55, structure fire.....E56 arrived first with the duty crew, running short handed with just two guys. Had a fire going in the attic of a...
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What you don't see will still kill you
We got a call at the power company early one morning during the commute, reporting a broken power pole. Before we arrived, several callers had notified us directly and many more had called it in to...
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Well, now ya gotta do it anyway
Over four years ago I first told you about the bowling alley.Within a year of that tale, the bowling alley was torn down. It has been a gravelly rubble-strewn vacant lot for years. The only thing...
View ArticleThe return of the Grumpy Dispatcher, again
Following another hiatus, I have returned. Just a touch over a year since my last post.I have some new ideas about where to go with this blog, some personal stuff going on that I will share about, and...
View ArticleNo guarantees!
We got a single call for power trouble from a place with three-phase service, some of their stuff wasn't working but they weren't totally out. According to the mapping data, they were served from...
View ArticleWould you like it gift wrapped, too?
Power company tale here. Several months ago we got a request from our GIS department. Seems that at the time of transition from AutoCAD feeder drawings to GIS drawings over ten years ago, a lot of...
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You wouldn't block a hydrant, but . . .
The internet is filled with fun pictures of what happens to cars (especially police cars!) that block hydrants, but we in the fire service are all very familiar with bane of overgrown and hidden...
View ArticleLesson Learned, Lesson Passed On
I was riding with Gary in 579 when we got a call for arcing wires near downtown. It got slightly more interesting when the dispatcher told us the feeder breaker had operated once and then closed...
View ArticleFool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...
It started out small enough, and by the time the first scout unit arrived at the request of the Forest Service, it was still only about 10'x30'. Unfortunately, the scout unit wasn't a suppression...
View ArticleSeasons
It's been a good long time since I've been on here.Things at my fire agency went absolutely to crap a couple of years ago after a change in leadership. That's why the fire stories dried up. No joy in...
View ArticlePostcards and tales
Hey guys.Lots of life changes, that I may or may not go into on here at some point. We all go through them, we all have drama. I'm still at my power company job, though, that hasn't changed....
View ArticleEchoes
My mind comes back around to thinking about this blog from time to time. But most days it feels like I've already told the best stories, and then of course it also seems like the golden age of blogging...
View ArticleCulture
There have been a few challenges in this great reset. But it seems to be working out so far.Let me just say, though, that in many ways it is a hell of a lot easier to be a new guy who knows nothing,...
View ArticleThe Bygone Golden Blogging Age
While trying to spin this place back up, I've been looking over my old blogroll, and found so many of them more or less abandoned. Others are still "active" but have been.... hijacked. Someone bought...
View ArticleHell Day
Hey faithful readers. If you are still here, know that I appreciate you still checking back once in a while, I know it is a long dry spell between posts.Been here at my current power company gig now...
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