glh's Journal: Power Outage Fun

Yesterday I was in the middle of a code compile when the "blackout of 2003" hit, slightly after 4:00pm at my company. Most of Toledo was hit. It was kind of wierd- at first we thought it was our new company (that recently purchased us) testing our emergency backup procedures. After going up front I found out that it was all over the eastern US. Many people were questioning whether it was a terrorist attack or something (me included). I ended up leaving about 4:30 so I got out of work a little early...

Went home and our power was off. Amazing how hot it gets in a house that isn't insulated when the AC is off :) We ended up going over to my in-laws since they still had power (who live on the East side). Funny thing was, the radio/TV told people to turn of their AC's to conserve energy. I bet my in-laws were the only ones that did that.... (coulda stayed home and sweated!) :)

It kind of brought me back to the days I spent in Guam. We used to have brown outs pretty much every other day.

I was hoping my Lord of the Rings trilogy would be on my doorstep (ordered from Amazon.com)... but I just ordered it yesterday, so that was wishful thinking!. Kind of makes you wonder what people did before electricity. We really take it for granted now!

One thing that really bugged me, when the power came back on, was the stupid news headline: "Blackout 2003..50 million people affected! The worst since 1960 something". Like it was some kind of huge tragedy. Sure, it sucked, but it wasn't anything like 9/11! And there are still many people w/o power in the nearby area, including Toledo and Detroit which is about 45 minutes north. I feel sorry for those people, especially if they had just went to the grocery and stocked up their fridge.

Not much else exciting going on. My cabinet project continues... one cabinet left to be roughed in, and this weekend I plan on putting a few more screws in everything, and then doing the facing. Going to use a biscuit cutter to join the facing together, will probably use white pine trim boards (cheapest, look nice, can take a decent stain). After that I'll have the doors left, which I'll probably use birch for. Then I've got the ceiling tile to put in (grid already up), the drywall to prime/paint, a new banister for the stairs, two doors to paint and put hardware on, and finally carpet to get installed. My original goal was the end of the month for everything to be finished, but I don't know if I can make it now!

So what is everyone else doing this weekend?

Weekend plans

[cyranoVR]

I was finally allowed to go home...but I'm still on call.

Meanwhile I am re-watching an interesting Frontline episode on PBS.org [pbs.org] (click on 4).

Dependency on power

[dthable]

I feel sorry for those people, especially if they had just went to the grocery and stocked up their fridge.

I'd throw one hell of a block party. :o)

I've pondered the dependency of power. In December, the public works company had some issues keeping my apartment connected to the utilities. Life is pretty boring without electricity or running water. I even had the gas cut off so I spent a couple of days with my parents.

This weekend is more of the same....pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, ped

Re:Dependency on power

[glh]

I'd throw one hell of a block party

No doubt that would be a good idea! Gas grills are still going to work...

I have some friends up in Detroit, and right now it sounds like they are going to be out of power (at least their part) for another day or two.

Pedaling? Are you doing a bike marathon or something?

Re:Dependency on power

[dthable]

Pedaling? Are you doing a bike marathon or something?

I signed up for a mountain bike stage race next weekend. I figured I should spend some time training so I don't get lapped. I was thinking about 60 miles tomorrow and maybe a nice 20 mile recovery on Sunday.

What I thought was pretty funny...

[Empty_One]

was how the national news outlets covered the story. You would have thought only New York was affected. The other cities were mentioned as an after thought. I saw many of those scrolling headlines at the bottom of the screen saying things like "the mayor had this comment" and "the city is calm, no looting reported". In all those headlines, there was no mention of which mayor or city though. :)

Re:What I thought was pretty funny...

[glh]

Yeah, NY was definitely getting the attention. In Toledo, the power outage really wasn't an issue because most of our power was back on within 3 hours or so.. So we got to see all the news reports from Detroit, Ontario, and Cleveland. Of course, the prime time news was covering only NY (some Detroit I think). It just cracks me up with the "Oh my gosh!" tone that they use when reporting it... It really seems funny.

fun and sucky weekend

[gmhowell]

Fun part of the weekend is tomorrow. Me and the boy are going to a toy train show at the Dulles Expo Center.

Sucky part is Sunday. Going to the 'rents to clean out some stuff from my old room. Even though there is only one room in the house they are less likely to show, they insist on beginning the cleaning there. Whatever.