I have often joked in the blog about how my little section of town is like Third World Country. Part of that I am sure is due to the large number of college kids that live here. It is harder to get public services for a population that is made of people who may or may not be paying local taxes. Far better to use those resources on the more affluent, or at least grounded communities, places where people live and work here, thereby at least contributing to the tax base rather than spend a few months here and then moving back home, only to see the process repeat itself once a year.
Today was one such day. I left work around 3pm, caught a bus about 15-20 minutes later and was home somewhere around 3:30 in the afternoon. I hopped online and hit the on button for my TV remote only to see that the converter box was off, apparently the power was out when I was gone, because I never shut off the box. Oh well I think, I doubt there is anything on TV anyway, so I just shut it off and get to working on my laptop. I had a few things I wanted to take care of before I got a chance to talk to that special someone (see yesterday's entry) later in the evening.
Then it happened, the lights went out. At first I wasn't sure if it was my place or everywhere, so I went across the street and tried the lights in the basement of the laundry room. Nothing. This was a definite outage. So I came home and called the electric company, an outage that would be fixed by 6:30pm. No problem I think. Well, okay, maybe a little of a problem, but I can live for two hours without electricity.
I decide to kill the time by taking my camera out and snapping some pics instead. So, ladies and gentlemen I present Third World Oakland.
Yep. lots of darkness. Not the ideal setting for my ancient digital camera, but you work with the tools you have in such a situation. Anyway, what was supposed to come back on at 6:30 didn't. Not at 7:30, when they offered their second assessment. Not at 9:30 when they offered their third. Instead the power didn't come back until 10:06 according to my clock, after doing the math on my clock (it is still set three hours ahead, just to make sure I get out of bed in the morning). And I pretty much missed my window for talking to anyone, which just pisses me off even more. Enough so that here 5 hours after the fact I am still to angry to sleep. Grrr.
Of course there is always one way to deal with my aggression. Go play some Diablo and kill stuff. So beware Diablo, here I come.
I have done the urban camping sans power many times. I live in one of those stable, established bedroom communities so you would think the electric company would get us back up ASAP. But no. Everything in this house is electric. So it's cook on the grill, eat it raw and cold or go out for food. There have been a couple times we were out for more then 24 hours. Glad you survived the black out.
ReplyDeleteIt was what it was, it sucked more than anything else because I had plans and electricity was somewhat necessary for those plans. Sitting here reading a book by flashlight and listening to the hockey game on my MP3 players was not part of the deal.
ReplyDeletePretty much. For me the worst was dealing with food. Of course the times it was really hot or really cold sucked too. Once again electric heat and AC. I can live by candle light but hated grilling in 4 feet of snow.
ReplyDeletewell my stove is gas, but I had actually grabbed a sandwich before I left work (roast beef and swiss) so cooking wasn't a problem. and when the sandwich was gone and I got hungry as the hours passed, I used my old hunting lessons to go to the kitchen and track down some coffee cake.
ReplyDeleteThere ya go. Which reminds me. I should do some baking today because there's nothing in the house. I feel like crap and have pretty much been in bed for 4 days. There's stuff I have to do, just no physical energy to do it right now like laundry. Not that some would complain if I went out naked, it is just getting pretty cold in the morning when I get up.
ReplyDeleteI am just glad that when the lights went out, no crazy Scientologists were out there snatching people up.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the image. This time with Tom Cruise as the Vampire LeStat swooping down and carrying off his prey.
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