Around 2 pm I was happily typing away on my computer when the power went out.
First on my list when this happens... make sure I paid the power bill... second thing... go outside and see if there are any other people on their porches looking confused as well.
That to me is the funniest element to a power outage. Everyone home at the time all go out the front porch and look around to see if anyone else is out there looking around a bit curious and confused.
I see my neighbor, who works at the WAWA, across the street.
"Is your power out?"
"Yeah, my power's out! There was an accident at the end of the street. I think an SUV hit a utility pole."
"Oh crap! That means it will be out all day and most of the night for sure! CRAP CRAP CRAP!"
"I'm going to ride my electric scooter up and take a look." she says.
Okay... electric scooter? I didn't know they had electric scooters for people under 80. She comes back later with one of those stand up 3 wheel thingies. Goes ten miles an hour. She bought it on QVC.
"How far can you go on that thing?"
"You know where the GM plant is?"
"Yeah."
"I got that far... and had to call my brother to pick me up with his truck."
I would have tried to find a less inconvenient way to determine maximum distance but I wasn't going to mention it. She buzzed away while I started chatting with the guy down the street who cuts my grass. We talked a while and then suddenly he pointed down our street.
"Holy cow look at that! You NEVER see that!"
Three DART (DE public transportation) buses went by on a cross street. This is a small neighborhood with narrow streets... DART buses NEVER come through here. It's like when you see those videos of a huge airliner landing on the highway. Apparently the accident was pretty bad and in that short time they were already redirecting traffic.
I knew the power would be out for hours and hours so I decided to go to the mall and cool off in the air conditioning. On my way I of course stop at the WAWA near my house to get coffee and hear any info on the accident. The main highway my street connects to was already backed up. Fortunately only in one direction. I went the other way.
"Dang SUV was going 70 and plowed through THREE utility poles! I think he was killed!"
That was the fish story I heard from some old guy in the WAWA. By the end of the day it would probably be a mac truck smuggling weapons and illegal immigrants being chased by the FBI.
The manager at the WAWA was freaking out and yelling at everyone because the ATM machine at the register stopped working. Strangely this was totally unrelated to the accident. The computers crashed and they were cash only for the moment. The ATM machines were working so there was a line of people getting their "yuppie food coupons" to buy munchies.
I went to the mall... but... I was distracted by the CompUSA on the way... <sigh>
Okay dangit. I have not bought a "new" monitor in ages (I bought a used CRT for $50 for my PC). Everyone has a shiny new flat screen computer monitor and I wanted one dangit. I just got paid for a big project. My current CRT monitor is really starting to go. If I draw a square box... it is a vertically oriented rectangle on one side of the screen and if I slide it over to the right it becomes a horizontal rectangle.
I can't draw circles... they are always ovals. I have to check measurements constantly because things shift and change as I move the view. It's a bit "red" on the left side as well.
As I walk out with my new 22" viewsonic flatscreen monitor it is around 5 pm. There is no way in heck the power is back on yet but I go home anyway to make sure...
... uh... I try to go home... but... er... I can't quite get there. They blocked a bunch of the roads and I am not one of those people who know every single back street to get from A to B. The downed pole is right at the street I have turned at for ten years to go to my house.
I eventually found a back way in by randomly driving down streets from the other end of the highway... and of course no power. I decide to go visit my parents and while watching TV with my dad I see my street, the SUV and the utility pole on the 6 o'clock news. Estimated time for power to be back on is 10:30 pm.
It was only one pole hit. The driver hit the curb and... over corrected... good grief the dang car was sideways on the highway. Talk about "over correcting".
On my way home I stop at the WAWA again. Some one mentioned the full moon.
"Of course! The full moon! That's what caused all this!"
"Vern? What are you talking about? This happens every other month!
Remember the car that hit that house down the street? And what about those guys the police were chasing and they hit the fire station and punched through the side of the barber shop and knocked that kid across the room?"
"Yes, but none of those accidents caused my power to go out. Full moon I tell you."
I arrive home at about 10:30 and the power is on. I hook up the new monitor in about 15 minutes...
.. it is... glorious... huge... I barely squeezed it between the PC monitor on the left and the PC on the right. It has built in speakers... <sigh> I'm in heaven. HEAVEN I tell you.
I plan to leave the plastic on the screen for a while. It doesn't distort the view and will keep it nice and shiny for a while. I had a cell phone for two years once... The screen was old and scratched... I realized one day that I never peeled off that film covering the screen when I bought it. It was like getting a brand new phone.
Strange day...
Dang dog next door is barking again. I should have gone to that Pet Smart store instead of CompUSA and bought one of those hand held "Barking stopper" gizmos.... oh well... I can just crank up the volume of my new monitor and watch Rambo again.
-vern
