Blackout!
Yes, it's true. For the second time in a week, there was a blackout at my place. In fact, this one - which started at about 5:30am today - was almost enough of an excuse for me to call in “late” sometime around noon. But alas, after an hour of semi-consciousness and checking my Palm's World Clock application to make sure that I didn't miss my ride, I'm up and here at work.
As a kid, we all loved blackouts. At least I think we all did. They were super-cool things where your parents would break out the candles, you'd get to eat cereal for dinner, and - if you didn't get sent to bed early - you'd get to play Monopoly or Clue or something. This is all assuming that it happened in the evening; nothing sucked more than an afternoon blackout on a sunny day.
Nothing except for a blackout when you're working... or more specifically, trying to sleep before getting up to get ready to go to work. Now, my friend assures me that we're not living in the boonies (like the phone company thinks I am) and we're not going to continue to experience blackouts throughout the winter, but I'll believe that when I'm still cozy-warm in the depths of a February freeze.
The weirdest part of all this is that I haven't really been in the house long enough to recognize all its sounds and quirks. Every house (just like every car) has its own “signatures” - sounds and bumps that you recognize and come to ignore day after day. Also, being the first blackout that I was home for, I didn't know quite what to do. Should I check the breaker panel in the basement? Should I be turning something off? Should I turn something over? I dunno! In the end, I did what was easiest: I staggered, still half-asleep, to the front of the house and confirmed that it was the whole street that was out (and learned that some of my neighbours leave for work very early in the morning). Having determined that it wasn't just me, I grabbed my Palm (the first clock I could think of) and went back to bed.
So there you go, a slightly rambling retelling of the first blackout (that I was there for) in my new place. As for the sporadic posting here, between the holiday season and television pre-holiday cliff-hanger episodes I haven't been making enough time for this blog. Once all of this insanity is over, some sort of regular posting schedule should emerge.
Just in case I don't get to post again before the weekend... Merry Christmas!
As a kid, we all loved blackouts. At least I think we all did. They were super-cool things where your parents would break out the candles, you'd get to eat cereal for dinner, and - if you didn't get sent to bed early - you'd get to play Monopoly or Clue or something. This is all assuming that it happened in the evening; nothing sucked more than an afternoon blackout on a sunny day.
Nothing except for a blackout when you're working... or more specifically, trying to sleep before getting up to get ready to go to work. Now, my friend assures me that we're not living in the boonies (like the phone company thinks I am) and we're not going to continue to experience blackouts throughout the winter, but I'll believe that when I'm still cozy-warm in the depths of a February freeze.
The weirdest part of all this is that I haven't really been in the house long enough to recognize all its sounds and quirks. Every house (just like every car) has its own “signatures” - sounds and bumps that you recognize and come to ignore day after day. Also, being the first blackout that I was home for, I didn't know quite what to do. Should I check the breaker panel in the basement? Should I be turning something off? Should I turn something over? I dunno! In the end, I did what was easiest: I staggered, still half-asleep, to the front of the house and confirmed that it was the whole street that was out (and learned that some of my neighbours leave for work very early in the morning). Having determined that it wasn't just me, I grabbed my Palm (the first clock I could think of) and went back to bed.
So there you go, a slightly rambling retelling of the first blackout (that I was there for) in my new place. As for the sporadic posting here, between the holiday season and television pre-holiday cliff-hanger episodes I haven't been making enough time for this blog. Once all of this insanity is over, some sort of regular posting schedule should emerge.
Just in case I don't get to post again before the weekend... Merry Christmas!
