The Best of RealMoney: Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

Christopher Edmonds has been way ahead of the curve when it comes to covering the California energy crisis. His coverage of the conundrum has been so thorough, in fact, that he has even offered himself up as a victim.

One day last week, while waiting to participate in a TSC/RealMoney chat with Brett Fromson and Dave Gaffen, Edmonds was left idle in his office in Atlanta when the California-based company organizing the chat lost power as the result of a rolling blackout.

But that is just about the only time lately that Edmonds has been left in the dark.

A regular contributor to RealMoney.com and, sadly, an Atlanta Thrashers fan, Edmonds authored five stories over the past week about the Golden State's power struggles. But, really, he did more than that. Since this Web site is geared toward investors, Edmonds reported not only what was happening, but what kind of an effect it could have on the market.

In a pre-Inauguration Day piece on the Bush administration, Edmonds wrote that the president-elect favors initiatives promoting energy production to bring power supplies more into line with demand.

That suggests Bush & Co. will be bullish for independent power-generating companies such as AES (AES Quote - Cramer on AES - Stock Picks), Calpine (CPN Quote - Cramer on CPN - Stock Picks), Dynegy (DYN Quote - Cramer on DYN - Stock Picks), Mirant (SOE Quote - Cramer on SOE - Stock Picks) and NRG Energy (NRG Quote - Cramer on NRG - Stock Picks).

No offense, but I don't believe that you heard the latter part -- the part that is really key to investors -- on CNN.

In other pieces this week, Edmonds wrote about the California utilities that have been brought to the brink of bankruptcy, the unprecedented rolling blackouts that were ordered Wednesday by the California Independent System Operator, Edison International's (EIX Quote - Cramer on EIX - Stock Picks) announcement that it would suspend $600 million in payments due last week in an attempt to ease its growing cash crunch, and the contentious talks aimed at ending the crisis.

One note, here: He took the time to write the story about Edison International while on an unrelated trip to Toronto. And he never missed a beat upon his return, although he was suddenly using the term eh? with amazing frequency.

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The energy fiasco in California dominated the news last week, but there were many other important developments in the financial world. First, there was no major damage reported as a result of that massive earthquake that struck Gotham on Wednesday. And there I was thinking a soft-drink machine had ejected a soda can too exuberantly, causing those tremors that rocked the offices here at 14 Wall Street...

A heavy-duty earnings week was topped Thursday by reports from Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks).

The news from Microsoft, which beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates, was generally well received. The news from Sun, which reported second-quarter earnings in line with estimates but lighter-than-expected sales, received a mixed reaction.

Jim Cramer liked what he heard about those stocks [as well as Nortel (NT Quote - Cramer on NT - Stock Picks)] on Thursday night, and he wrote about it in Shaking Hands With Mister Softee and Friends. He liked what he saw in Friday's trading action even more, and Mister Softee Hits a Homer was the result.

For a contrary opinion, SiliconStreet.com writer Adam Lashinsky, was less cautious in his appraisal of Microsoft's news in Everything Rosy in Redmond? Take a Second Look. Said Lashinsky: "All Microsoft really succeeded in doing was climbing over a bar it lowered a month ago."

And for a more humorous look at Mister Softee, take a peek at the drawing Richard Cline did on Thursday shortly after the software giant made its announcement. (The cartoonist does drawings and then matches them with live comments from readers, bulletin boards and chat rooms. That cartoon was one of three he did on the day, and the others can be found by looking at the thumbnails at the bottom of that same page.)

In one of his new Heads-Up columns, Jim Seymour on Thursday noted that there was a lot of news on the tech agenda in addition to the big Microsoft announcement. Vignette (VIGN Quote - Cramer on VIGN - Stock Picks) and Verizon (VZ Quote - Cramer on VZ - Stock Picks) were the focus of Seymour's attention in one piece. The nugget of notice in there: Unhappy Verizon customers in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic are planning to sue the company over its DSL service.

Lastly, a word of support for Dave K., who is mourning the Vikings' performance, or lack thereof, in last Sunday's National Football Conference Championship Game. While the upcoming Super Bowl contest against the Baltimore Ravens is of excitement to a relative handful of regional fans, it is easily the biggest bummer of a matchup in many years. Hope you have plenty of No-Doz handy. (I'll take the Giants, 5-2, on a field goal that grazes an upright in sudden death.)

Who Do You Think Will Win the Super Bowl? I don't care, this matchup is a game only their mothers could love. I don't care, I'm betting the "under." The Giants in a blaze of glory The Ravens (just because) The Tampa police, who will make more arrests for lap dancing than the number of points scored.