Blackouts

Seems like wherever I live the concept of frequent and long lasting blackouts seems to follow me. Spent some time in the Seattle area and because of tall trees or just bad karma it seemed that the power went out in my apartment complex every time the wind blew. It had been for fairly short periods, so I went and bought a little UPS for some of my computers. Wouldn't you know it, the blackout started lasting longer and the UPS became mostly useless.

Then I moved back east, never really had that big of a problem with blackouts, yes there are blackouts but if the power went it was usually for the whole town, or big sections. Now, though, the illustrious Con Edison has was we can only figure out as an old or undersized transformer for our block. If the wind blows or there's a heavy rain the power goes out. It then takes 5-6 hours minimum for ConEd to come by with a "Power Stick" to re-enable the damned transformer. This stinks (needless to say a generator is in the planning stages, but I digress).

With this latest blackout thanks in part to Ernesto (and ConEd) we had a lot of crews nearby. They decided to keep the whole neighborhood off until everything was cleaned off. Thus we were the first out (as usual) and resulted in essentially the last on. I asked one of the linemen how to get the transformer replaced. It was suggested to complain to ConEd. I asked if taking it out with water or a car would help. Best lineman came up with other than the complaining, was to shoot the damn thing. Seems failure gets ConEd moving faster.

Now I don't know about you, but I'm in a neighborhood of fairly close houses, a gun going off would draw attention. However given the rest of the neighbors are just as annoyed, I'm considering floating a petition to see if anyone would complain. What's the best gun to take out a pole transformer with?