Electricity is good. So is unplugging for a while

So the world is powered again. I have cable (Yay! Three hours of Boston Legal tonight thanks to Ion tv!). I have internet! (Yay I can write on the internet about how I have the internet back!) I have lights, I have hot food and most importantly, I have coffee.

It does a body good sometimes to unplug and listen to the quiet. To see the dark outside without spotlights and streetlights and flashing lights. To read quietly and slowly by candlelight, hearing only the tiny snuffs of a sleeping kitten. To slow down, stay home, safe and warm.

Then, when the power returns, it's great to rev back up!

It was light. Then it was dark

The power went out suddenly here at 10:00 Saturday night. I'm sitting at the table, typing on the laptop, half watching and listening to My Cousin Vinny, five minutes away from the end of the movie mind you, and in a split second everything went dark. No crash, no boom, no storm, not even a flicker. Just black. Huh. Very disconcerting to have light and then the lights go out for no apparent reason.

I have an emergency protocol set for various situations: electricity outage, first aid, and tornado, so far. I have an emergency light and it has fresh batteries in it, and the light got me to where the matches are always stored, which got me to the candles that are always ready. In about thirty seconds I could see and move around the apartment without crashing into anything. Next step is to grab the weather and emergency radio which also has fresh batteries in it and I had already taught myself how to use the functions and had it pre-set to appropriate stations. No sense fumbling around with buttons in the dark trying to turn it on or get to the relevant stations. There was no emergency broadcast nor a tornado warning so I turned it off and decided to go to bed. Left: need more batteries.

I went around turning off all the lights that I had on before the outage so when the electricity came back on it wouldn’t cause a surge. I turned off the AC and raised the windows. There was enough water left in the pipes to brush my teeth.

The outage (reason still unknown) offered me an opportunity to practice my emergency protocols. How did I do? I see I need to buy more batteries. The flashlight was bright and helped a LOT but would chew up batteries pretty fast if I needed to use it for longer periods. I think I will also buy a mega-lantern, as well. And I need to learn how to store water properly. If the outage had lasted until morning then I would have no way to wash up or brush my teeth.

I was pleased to see that the three tea lights in a glass candelabra threw enough light to get around the apartment and do most things except read. They lasted a while, too. This is good. I have a huge store of those already. Left, tea lights illuminated more area than I thought.

I believe it is important that a person should have a set of emergency plans in place. Knowing what to do if you get cut, having a second egress in case of fire, etc means you will be well-prepared in case of emergency. Does your family have a plan?

A writer's guide to procrastination

The funniest commercial now on television is the one for this week's episode of South Park. A guy is holding a laptop. There's no electricity. The group panics. Other guys says, "We're out of power! Check Drudge report!"

"Oh, nooo! We don't have the internet to find out why we don't have the inernet!"

I laugh every time I hear that, because it's so true. We've become so used to having electricity that when it goes out we become unglued. I've become so used to using the computer I don't know what to do without it. Shaking my head on these thoughts last night, I went to bed.

This morning at 5am, the power went out. Sleepily I thought, "When I get up I'll check Drudge to find out why." Doh! Art imitates life.

The power came back half an hour later, so here are some productive and worthwhile things to do with that precious electricity, like watch "An Engineer's Guide to Cats."