Well, here's my take on this, seeing as I'm in Springfield, VA, so about 60 miles from Stinky...
After Snowmageddon in 2010, I told my hubby "we should buy a generator". We didn't.
After the ice storm in January 2011, when hubby and kids (I was out of town on business) lost power for 24 hours, I said "We should buy a generator". We didn't.
While waiting for Hurricane Irene last August, I said "We should have bought a generator". We didn't.
In hour 30 of our power outage this weekend, as I threw out a freezer full of meat and veggies, I dropped the drippy, stinky mess on the patio in front of him and said "Go to Home Depot and order a #&%@ generator TODAY!!" It will be delivered to the store this coming weekend.
My neigbhors have generators, but it didn't occur to me to ask for a few amps, because we didn't get off our lazy asses and buy one when we should have. The house stayed quite comfortable (thanks to the new windows we bought last summer), and we were able to stay in communication via my business BlackBerry, which I kept recharged in my big ass, gas-guzzling, Earth-killing SUV.
Power came on at the 37 hour mark, and all is well, except we'll be eating tuna and peanut butter until I get to the store (waiting for roofer right now).
I never once felt that I was living in a third world country, but I did, for a very brief moment, want to send my hubby to one.