The Blackout Blog - Day 3

12:48pm

“I’m in the dark here! I’m in the DAARRRKKK!” – Al Pacino, “Scent of a Woman”

Okay, I’m out in the daylight, but it seemed an appropriate quote to start another powerless day in weather-spanked Sacramento. I’m on the patio. Nice out. Some clouds, some blue, not really cold. We got a good chunk of rain last night, but it’s giving us a break today so far. I’d see how long that’s going to last…but I can’t exactly go to Weather.com and find out. Looking forward to getting to work tomorrow to get some internet access back! Sadly, I won’t be able to check my home email, as my work blocks AOL’s site. Didn’t get around to doing that at Tim’s last night since we left so late, and we started the movie almost immediately when I got there.

The generator’s going again across the way. As I’m typing this, two of my neighbors are walking by. From what I can see on the bags, they’re coming back from Wal-Mart. He’s carrying a box of firewood on his shoulder. She has two Wal-Mart bags in one hand and a lantern in the other. No one’s clinging to the “maybe we’ll get power back tonight” hope anymore. We’re all prepared for the long wait.

My folks are here. Not RIGHT here. They got here about an hour ago, and are currently out trying to do my laundry. I feel kind of bad because they came all the way down the mountain to try to help me out today, but there’s not much they can do. As I said, we have no reason to hit the store. Still can’t store any food. Jack (my stepfather) is completely baffled over why I’d be getting the minimal juice that I am. Did I mention he’s been in construction for decades? It’s a mystery to him, but I’m not complaining. That’s really the one thing keeping me from getting a motel room (if any are even open in the area, come to think of it)…I don’t mind sitting in the dark and the cold as long as I can write. If I wasn’t able to accomplish anything, I’d be going insane.

So since laundry can’t be done at my complex, Mom was wondering where there’s a Laundromat (why did my Word spellchecker just automatically capitalize that word? Didn’t know that was a trademark. Interesting). I let her know there is one on the corner, where they have power, but it occurred to me that it’s not only Sunday, but it’s a Sunday where big chunks of the city don’t have power – including everyone in this complex, and they’re probably all there since it’s walking distance. It’s probably standing room only. They went to give it a shot anyway, and are brining me back some lunch. Before they left, I had another hit of good fortune. I told you my house phones are dead and don’t work, and the cell was down to one bar this morning and charging really slow with the wall socket, and I was telling my mother that I may not hear them if they try to call. Suddenly, I remembered that, for no really good reason, I had kept my old non-cordless phone that I used to have in my bedroom back in San Diego, and had shoved it in a drawer in my kitchen. At least, I was pretty sure I was remembering that. I checked, and sure enough, it was there, and I plugged it in and it works fine. No answering machine, but now I have a home phone that I can use, so I’m not as worried about cell power. Another one in the “score!” column.

And that phone rang before I came out here with the laptop (and a cigar). Mom, telling me I was right. That Laundromat (tm) has a line going across the mini mall. They’re now out driving around trying to find another one. I’m thinking they may not be able to do laundry today. But then again, this IS my mother, and queen of finding a way, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it all comes together. Mom is on the job, yo! She should write a book, and you should all read it.

Sitting here listening to that generator, I’m starting to have issues with “I Am Legend”. Will Smith had a big one going. I know it was inside his house, but come on…all of New York was dead silent. Like the zombies WEREN’T going to hear it. Though I can’t remember if he turned it off after sundown, come to think of it. I’ll have to see it again.

Mom just called. Twice, actually. I heard the ringing, and didn’t want to leave the laptop sitting out here to be snatched (maybe by zombies….), so I closed it up and tried to get me and my chair back in there and grab it. Got as far as the kitchen when it stopped ringing. No caller ID on that phone. Was it Mom? Didn’t know. I waited a couple minutes, didn’t ring again. So I went back out. Started typing, and it started ringing. Got me, the chair and the laptop back in again…stopped ringing again. Decided I’d call Mom, but realized I have no idea what her number is. Don’t know ANYone’s number in this day and age. It’s all speed dial in the 21^st century. Didn’t want to unplug the cell, but I have my life set up with backups for this kind of thing….got my address book in my palm pilot. So called her. They’re at Jack in the Box right now. Told you Mom would find a way….they called my step-brother-in-law, Rick, and he’s home this afternoon. He and my step-sister Wendy live nearby, and that have power (theirs came back on late last night) so we can do laundry over there. So looks like I’ll just wait for the folks to make it back here, eat my stuff they’re bringing, and follow them over. Haven’t gotten a chance to hang out with Rick since Thanksgiving, so this’ll be a nice break in an otherwise dark day. I’ll be back.

7:18pm

“Leave your cares, right on the stairs…”

(That’ll make sense in a minute. To some of you. Mostly those of you who are old and are down with Bing Crosby…)

Well, no power here, as per usual. But looks like that’s not going to be an issue tonight.

Had a nice time visiting with Rick over there. Very nice of him to let us use their washer and dryer. Wendy was out of town until later in the evening, so we unfortunately didn’t get to say hi to her. Rick, a musician, has this AWESOME recording setup. In that it’s all on his dining room table. They’ve pretty much used up all their room space in their place, so for him to get his new gear set up, he had to improvise. He took over the corner the dining room table is in. Their table is covered with soundboards and mixers and such, and at the one end, in the corner, there’s his guitar on a stand, a mic on a stand, and his PC next to it. Pretty slick stuff. I respect a man who knows how to set up a recording studio with limited space…

Okay, some excitement happening here. As I was just sitting here in the blackness, flashing lights began to brighten the parking lot. And what would come into view but a SMUD truck! Yes, they know where we are! This is one of those power trucks with the gondola things on them and the long arm to lift it up. Yellow and white lights are spinning on it, lighting things up, and it just pulled slowly though our small parking lot, inching its way along, then backed up. Like it’s looking for something. This, of course, has brought several neighbors out to look. A ray of hope? Adding to the strangeness of this is the endless sound of sirens, as, for some reason, no less than five cop cars have just sped by. And I think I just heard one stop nearby? Oh, and now a copter just flew by overhead. Okay, I know the idea of us getting our power back is pretty cool and all, but I didn’t think it was THAT big of a deal…

The truck is now gone, maybe out to the street. I assume this means they’re working on it…finally. How they’ll do with it is anyone’s guess.

Anyway, had a nice visit with Rick while Mom did laundry, with interesting background video. Someone has passed him a movie to watch on DVD, and he’d just started it before we showed up, and left it on. So as the family’s sitting around chatting, Milla Jovavich is flipping through the air kicking/shooting/stabbing zombies in the background. Your typical Norman Rockwell scene, you know. After this ended he popped in “Help!” (I know it sounds like a horror film, kids, but it’s a film featuring a band we used to have called “the Beatles”. You might have learned about them in history class). Way too much fun seeing that again. It’s horrible! But in such a great way! Rick has a few years on me, so that was much more his era, but I was close enough to it to have the appreciation. I might have to pick up that film myself sometime. Horribly fantastic.

We headed back here after (in separate cars…I took my van, as I recently found that trying to climb in and out of their van is a workout I’d prefer to avoid), and I got home as it was just getting dark. They followed a few minutes after…Mom stopped at the store to get me some stuff (non-fridge stuff). And Mom would not stop worrying the cold. I kept telling her it’s really not all that cold (even sitting outside right now is fine), but she also knows there’s a cold front coming in, and could not stop worrying about me freezing in here tonight. I finally convinced them to get on the road, and that I’d be fine, and I left at the same time, as I figured I was going to kill some time this eve and finally see that Charlie Wilson’s War. But as I got to the theater, my cell phone rang. Well, I ALMOST had them convinced. They were calling from the Holiday Inn near me, where they were getting me a room for the night. I think the problem is that they were here when the sun went down and actually saw me sitting in a dark cold apartment. There’s a point when you know arguing’s not going to work anymore (like, the point where they’ve already got the room) so I gave in and accepted. I decided to skip the movie and get back here instead, as I’d have some final things to do. Like shaving. I haven’t shaved in several days and I look like shoe bomber Richard Reid. Since I have to work tomorrow (I’m assuming we have power there…), I figured I’d better. Shaving in the dark. Not an easy feat. With my whole goatee thing going, shaving for me requires a trimmer, a clipper, some small scissors and a razor. Didn’t want to cart all those to the hotel. And I need to pack up a couple of things, since it doesn’t make much sense to get up in the morning and come back here to get ready when I can do it in the light at the hotel. So figuring out everything I’ll need so I can get out of here.

Here’s my prevailing theory, by the way, since the helicopter’s still circling. A couple of dangerous felons escaped, jacked a couple of SMUD workers and took their truck. SMUD still doesn’t know where we are, but the cops are looking for their truck.

Okay, just heard a police radio loudspeaker, from the copter. When everything’s quiet, you can hear that kind of thing well. It said that the suspect they were looking for is now in custody and they’re giving the all-clear. And since I just saw the truck come back in the lot for a minute and leave again, I’ll assume those are actual SMUD workers, not the whole cast of Fox’s “Prison Break”. So they seem to be working our area, but, as the folks insisted, I should do the hotel anyway, just in case they don’t actually get it up and going tonight, or in case they only get it up temporarily. So I’d better get moving, since it’s now getting close to 8:00. Thanks to the generosity of the folks, guess I won’t be eating Pringles in the dark tonight.

10:30pm

Ahhhhhhh.

Writing from my room at the Holiday Inn. My plan was to check in and then head to the hotel bar and write this from there, but I found out the internet access I have is Ethernet only, not wireless, so I stayed in here. Where I could check email!!! And there’s light!! And it’s warm!! And there’s TV!! And where things are sanitized for MY protection!

By the way, here’s another score for the mother-knows-best theory of the universe. I finished typing that last section and went back into the apartment, only to find that my temporary juice was gone for good. Guess SMUD’s out there working, since they took the last of my power away. So I’d have been stuck there tonight with no way to charge the cell and no more laptop. That would have been a long evening, to be sure.

Grabbed some clothes for tomorrow, and threw some things into a backpack – shaving kit full of toiletries, laptap, socks, jockeys, power cords, breakfast bars, one book, one umbrella. As I got outside, it was just starting to sprinkle – the rain’s coming in again. I got in the van and left my still-dark complex. I made two rights and started taking a residential street that would get me back on Madison. I could see more storm remnants still here – a street sign on one corner was lying on the sidewalk on its side. Fences were down. More branches were scattered. And the street was totally dark, part of my same blackout region. As I made my third right, I found the SMUD truck. It was on the side of the street, rolling slowly. It turned to make a u-turn, and I waited and let him do so. He passed, and I could see the SMUD driver (in his hard hat) behind the wheel. It was dark, so I don’t know if he saw me, but I gave him a big thumbs-up as he drove by. He can cruise my neighborhood ANY time.

So I’m all checked in here, and have a warm, nice room. Have to crash here pretty quick, but I might see if I can actually get this thing posted up while I have a link to work with. Going to drive by my complex on the way to the office tomorrow and see if I see lights. Hope so, hope so. Then I can go home and order some groceries. That’s cool – I’ve been meaning to replace that ketchup anyway. I think it’s been there in the door for two years or more.

So hopefully this is the last of the Blackout Blogs. Hopefully back to business as usual tomorrow. That’d be nice. You know, as annoying and inconvenient as this has been, part of me is kind of glad it happened. I think we all need a reminder, once in a while, that our safety and security and comfort is really all an illusion, and can be taken away just like that. Big, serious disasters can drop on us at any time, not just ones like this one. We need to be prepared, and experience is the best preparation of all. So I think it’s a good thing that a few (okay, a LOT) of us NorCal folks got to get this drill. We now know what to stock, what to prepare for, what to do and what to expect. Every bad experience is nothing more than a lesson to be learned. I learned a lot from this one.

Things I’m grateful for – free movie passes, hot water, barely-there electricity and a laptop that worked through the whole thing, not having thrown out an old phone like I really should have, Ron Popeil for inventing tiny lights you can stick anywhere, an electric company that actually answers their phone at three in the morning, tires that don’t pop even after running over miles of road debris, strangers, friends, and most of all, family.

See you on the light side.