I remember when there was a big one in Houston. Was that maybe Ike? Houston is 1300 miles from me. 2 days after the actual devastation in Houston, the winds from it came this far north and we had 80 mpg gusts with sustained winds of 50-55. That wind blew a tree over. That tree landed on a power transformer and caught fire. That fire burned a large amount of wiring that fed the building that was nearest to it. That building happened to be where the multiplexers and switches for my internet provider live. I was down for three days while they made those repairs. And that was 1300 miles from the event.

I was working for an internet provider then. The day after the hurricane I got a call from an irate customer in Sugarland. She ranted and raved for a solid 10 minutes about how she pays us for service and why are we down and when are the repairs going to be made. When she stopped yelling I said "Are you done ma'am? Okay. Yes, you pay us for service. However, you are calling from your cell phone. Why is that? Because your home phone is down? The data for your DSL internet travels on the same wiring as your phone. You were just in a hurricane YESTERDAY. Your house is likely partially underwater. Is your internet really a priority at the moment? As soon as FEMA lets our trucks into the city, the repairs can start. Right now your streets are closed and many of the equipment boxes are on the side of those closed streets. Do you think we WANT you to be down so we get these angry phone calls? Our people will get you back up and running as soon as the flooding subsides and FEMA lets our trucks in. Beyond that I have nothing more I can tell you other than I am glad you are safe and able to call us."

That customer then called the business office and canceled her service. Because apparently it was our fault there was a hurricane.

Reason number 27 I like retirement.