Edison would be proud

I am happy to report that we are now functioning at 100% efficiency levels following the correction of our small electrical incident of 2 days ago.

Having decided that calling in a professional would be the wisest choice of action, I contacted an electrical contractor and scheduled a repair. As I couldn't seem to convince any of the local electrical contractors that this was a major, code-red emergency in need of their immediate attention, the best I could come up with was a home visit 24 hours after I made the initial phone call. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Degrees of emergency are subjective. Obviously, electrical contractors in this area are quite adept in ascertaining the difference between true emergencies and "vanity calls".) I thought I would attempt one more repair before the electrician showed up by purchasing a new breaker switch for install in the panel box in lieu of a visit by a true professional. Still no change in status. Completing this task, I quickly realized my problem was much bigger. Now a professional would have to trace each outlet in the area in question to determine the open source. That task would require some time and also, in Dickey the Peap terms, moolah, dinero, funds, cashola. If nothing else, I have learned from the little miser that these valuable resources are best left to joyfully dive into and repeatedly counted rather than transfer to an electrician. In one last gasp of an attempt, I plugged in an electric clock into each outlet and found one that behaved, like our staff, oddly. The clock suddenly flashed to life, then just as quickly went dark. Basic electrical knowledge dictates that there should be no current at all if the circuit is open. Yet, I was getting an intermittent flashing of the clock by wiggling the outlet itself. Removing the face plate and then the outlet, I discovered a lead that was not securely attached to the plug. I reattached the said wire and everything once again functioned as designed. My world was complete. And I just saved 200 bones. The Nerve Center once again is in operation.

I called and canceled my appointment with the electrical contractor. I think the receptionist was as happy about the cancellation as I was, though I am sure, for different reasons. I am happy to be up and running all at the cost of a bit of minor inconvenience. I think she was happy she didn't tie up a half a day's time to address a problem that was noted on the job order as "Description: Doesn't Make Sense".