I'm sure somewhere there is a study on the five phases of tragic inconvenience, something parallel to the five phases of dying -- denial, bargaining and then finally acceptance among them.

While I have never denied the pain in the ass that is this Oklahoma ice storm, I have come to grips with its reality.

Look, I ain't going to lie to you like power outages affecting 1.5 million Oklahomans are something akin to Hurricane Katrina. In terms of property damage across the state, the effect is similar to that of a hurricane. However, at worst, we Okies will be out a few hundred or thousand dollars, catch a cold and have to replace spoiled food.

I won't be able to make any progress on YouTube videos this week, nor will I be able to help out my primary Web client with her business. On the other hand, I will work about 80 hours this week, sleep less than six hours per night and eat nothing but fattening food.

But that's what you sign up for in the news business, and to a certain extent, the pain in the ass event turns into a slew of great stories down the road.

However, as I sit here typing this in the comfort of a Best Western motel room, I can't help but feel a tinge of guilt. I'm pretty damned lucky. I'm worn out after three days, but I'm lucky.

For the first time in three days, I got out of the newsroom for an hour. Took a trip to Norman to see the damage and my cat, who is being fed by friends while I'm gone. It's desolate. Large trees down everywhere. No lights. Frozen houses. A cat who couldn't be of the best disposition in general was excited to see me as if the rapture had just occurred.

Friends sleeping in frozen beds. Co-workers with trees in their ceilings.

So, I definitely feel inconvenienced and lucky at the same time. And to my northerner friends, this type of thing just doesn't happen that often to you because you get snow. Blizzards.

Freezing rain is a whole other mess. In terms of damage and danger, it's worse. And while I would commend the crews working to get this disaster rectified, I have to expect that they will be called on to upgrade Oklahoma into the 21st Century.

At a news conference on Tuesday, OG&E spokesman Brian Alford said it would cost $1M a mile to bury power lines underground. Well, considering the bevy of line-damaging possibilities in the Sooner State, I say it's money well spent. A solid infrastructure is what attracts business and draws talented people.

Alford said it just didn't add up when the electric company does its cost-benefit analyses. I think he'd be surprised what Oklahomans would pay for in the name of real progress, although I think it would have to come with punitive damages against utilities for outages.

Makes me think we really need competition.

However, I don't doubt for a minute that the good folks with OG&E and PSO aren't hustling. I think they're working on this disaster at a very deliberate, organized pace. Unfortunately, I think they're dealing with a problem that could have been dealt with 20 years ago.

We Oklahomans should expect better, and while there is no guarantee that underground lines wouldn't cause other problems, there's every bit of evidence that Oklahoma's current set up isn't working at all.

Officials say some Oklahomans will be without power for 7 to 10 more days, and I would bet money that some will be out for two weeks or more. It turns this inconvenience into a real burden, one with health consequences. One with major financial consequences. One with no available recourse from the constituency affected.

That's why I really, firmly believe we need to throw a royal fit when this event is over. Demand at the highest level that OG&E and other Oklahoma electric companies get their collective acts together.

It's not that we don't appreciate their efforts today. They're busting tail to try to get power back on. It's just that our electricity shouldn't go out everytime the wind blows.

Labels: ice storm, life