Glad everything worked out for your brother! I'm sure he won't forget this opening in a hurry, no? What a story to tell his kids, if he has any!
I've talked to a few people who were in the blackout areas...they mostly said it was very weird, but kinda fun, too!
yeah, it was an adventure for my folks too ... they tried to fly home (fla) and the plane schedules were all screwed up and they sat on a plane on the runway for 5 hours and were VERY tired when they got home late saturday nite..
a weekend THEY won't soon forget either!