Electricity is Neat

I like electricity.  I like it a lot.  I think it all started when my friend got a Nintendo.  The crazy way those volts and amps all worked together to continually stop me from getting the third warp whistle in Super Mario Bros simultaneously fascinated and frustrated me.  I like electricity so much I spent seven and a half years studying it college.  So when a storm rolled in and wreaked havoc on the DC power system, it was a pretty rough 48 hours.  Being without power also conveniently combined with one of the hottest spells of the summer.  The following is a chronicle of the events that transpired during that time.

Friday, June 29th 10:32 pm

Jenn and I are startled awake by wind blowing incredibly hard and rattling the windows such that we're worried they might actually break.  We lose power almost immediately.  We stay awake for another hour assuming power will be back on any minute.  Little do we know (because we can't get cell phone coverage, and because we just really had no clue) that over four million people in four states had lost power in that last hour.  I fall asleep grateful I had saved my place in Batman: Arkham City 30 minutes earlier.

Saturday, June 30th 5:30 am

Kids wake up sweaty and uncomfortable.  They then wake us up. We are also sweaty and uncomfortable.  We check the fridge and everything is still nice and cold.  We start drinking milk like we might never see the stuff again, then decide to head into the city and see the outdoor monuments while we wait for power to come back. 

Saturday, June 30th 9:15 am

Still no cell coverage, still no power, still ridiculously hot and humid.  At this point, Jenn remembers her iPod has radio and she listens to a station that finally tells the full scope of the problem.  Three million people still without power.  Cell phone coverage has come back so Jenn's iPhone becomes our link to the outside world.  We go buy ice to save some of the things in the fridge.  News says freezer should be good for 36 hours, so we postpone that worry, despite the 20 lbs of fish we have in there.  That would smell awesome.

Saturday, June 30th 3:00 pm

Kids are up from a short and sweaty naptime as the temperatures hit 102 (felt like 106).  I checked and pool isn't open either.  Funny thing is almost all the businesses in our area are open and have power.  The line to McDonald’s is ridiculous.  It's like everyone is worried the power outage will affect the supply of Big Macs to the greater mid-eastern shoreline.  I have a brief panic attack as I wonder if that could actually be true.  In the end, my head prevails over my stomach and I get back to inventorying our canned goods.

Saturday, June 30th 9:00pm

Kids are in bed downstairs to keep cool and we're upstairs by the window reading books by candlelight.  By 9:15 my eyes are aching and we fall asleep by 9:30...or try until Brynn realizes we're sleeping downstairs with her and she decides to keep getting out of bed and come see us…repeatedly. (Editor’s note:  Not really sure how Philip remembers this, since he fell asleep in about 15 minutes, and I got to lay in bed with Brynn for the next HOUR AND A HALF, until she fell asleep.)

Sunday, July 1st  5:15 am 

Still no power, and the power company's website has not shown a lot of progress.  We decide to take up my sister's offer and go visit her in Charlottesville.  This saves our sanity as they have air conditioning, hot food and cold beer.  Steph and Peter opening their home to us is especially gracious since they had just come back from vacation the day before.  I find a place that has ice, buy two packages and bury the fish in it before hitting the road

Sunday, July 1st 6:45 pm

We’ve had a great day with Auntie Steph and Uncle Peter.    Steph puts a candle in my birthday pie and as I blow out the candle, there is one obvious wish on my mind:  "Please let me be able to play Batman Arkham City tonight."  Though we didn't know it at the time, power was restored to our house one hour later.  Thank you so much S&P!

All-in-all it was an exhausting weekend, but in the end we only lost a package of chicken nuggets, some blueberries , two frozen pizzas, but not the fish.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy a 4000 W generator and play some Batman (not in that order).