Sunday, July 24, 2005

Power, Electricity

I am in no way talking about excitement or the ability to command people here. No, I'm talking about actual electricity and the power company.

Yesterday, there was a storm here in Minnesota. While I slept, the winds and rain came (I think I actually slept through the tornado warning - oops). I did wake up, oblivious to the recent storm and got ready for work. Once I stepped outside, I thought, "Hey, the heat broke a little. It must have rained." The water droplets on my car helped in my theory.

When I arrived at work, I noticed a tree was down near the parking lot. That must have been a heck of a storm. The people inside told me that our call center had been evacuated to an inner hallway on the bottom floor and wild stories of lightning and sheets of rain were told. It did not rain after I got to work.

Leaving my apartment, the power was still on. Since there was no more rain or heavy winds, one would think that when I arrived home, the power would still be on. This is a fairly logical assumption. Not true, but a logical assumption.

Once I finally was able to go home from work (Andy's new team lead takes a long time to get off of supervisor calls. After a 50-hour work week, I was not looking forward to being there putting in more time waiting for her to finish a call that should have been 5 minutes long, not an hour, but I stayed) I went home, thinking I'd heat up some lasagna my mom sent home with me.

My apartment building was black and there were people hanging outside the front door, walking tenants to their apartments with a flashlight. My plans of dinner (electric stove), blogging (need power for the computer - the cable modem still worked though!), and watching a couple of movies (you guessed it, needs power) were thrown to the wayside.

Luckily, my iPod still had quite a bit of power left and I was able to have music and then I scrapbooked by candlelight. Then I read a book by candlelight. When I awoke today, the power was still out and I scrapped some more. The power has finally been regained now at 3:30 in the afternoon.

I had forgotten how quiet it is when there is no power. The air conditioner was not humming when I got home. The refrigerator was not making its rattling noises and the little sounds did not come from my computer.

At least the lights are back on and I don't have to take a shower in the dark!

I do also have to say how wonderful it is that plumbing and electricity do not work together. That's a happy, happy thing.