The Blackout Blog

01/04/08

Northern California got its ASS kicked today.

As I’m writing this, it’s Friday night, around 10:00pm. I’m outside on my patio. And my laptop screen appears to be the only illumination in about a two-mile radius. Okay, it just seems like that from where I’m sitting.

You may have heard that we had a big winter storm hit Northern Cal today. And if you’re not from California, you may have laughed. On the radio tonight, I heard a DJ talking about being a transplant here in California. And he’ll often hear other transplants from other states get attitude whenever Californians whine about their weather. “This is nothing,” they’ll scoff. “Try a tornado sometime. Try a hurricane. This is nothing!” After saying this, the DJ said, “This? This is not nothing. This is SOMEthing.”

I woke up this morning and turned on the local news right away, knowing what was blowing in today. Already they had reporters stationed for live cut-ins from different trouble spots – the Donner Pass, the Yolo causeway, the airport. The Sacramento valley, itself, was getting sustained winds of 35mph at the time, but they were getting up to 60mph. Rain was coming hard, and coming horizontal. Power lines and trees were going down. Multiple—MULTIPLE—big rigs were just plain blowing over on the freeways. Flooding was beginning. Power outages everywhere. And it wasn’t even 7am yet.

I got up to prepare myself for what was sure to be an adventurous drive to the office. I had to clock a little “library time” (sorry), so as I often do, I took my laptop with me. I had just gotten on and signed into my work email to see if there were any office weather warnings of any kind when my power went out at home. Oh, well. At least I had my laptop, right? Oh…no power means no cable modem. My connection cut immediately. So much for getting any work done BEFORE work. There in the dark I could hear the roaring winds outside, the rain pelting everything, the occasional ruckus of something breaking loose and skittering away in the wind. At least my power was back after a little bit, allowing me to get a hot shower. And my power was still on when I headed outside.

I had my umbrella in hand, but one look at the wind made me realize it was useless to open. I’d just lose it. So, since the brave man likes the feel of nature on his face (wisdom from the great Egg Shen), I braved the rain and got into my van, pretty soaked. I got the radio on right away to get what reports I could, and they already sounded pretty scary. Lights down all over, they said. Sounded bad, but I didn’t realize how bad until I got out onto the streets. Branches and limbs in every lane. And the strength of the storm really hit home when I got on Winding Way and to the side street I use to get over to Manzanita. I couldn’t use it today…because of the entire TREE that was lying across it. By the way, driving a van in 60-plus MPH winds? Not a good idea. Driving one with a REALLY touchy steering system in it? A feat of daring best left to professionals, like myself. Do not try it at home. Seriously, my van would not fit into your home… So I harnessed my veteran driving skills and faced the sways of the storm, and expertly dodged one obstruction after the next on the streets. Limbs. Shrubbery. Signs. A colorful variety of trash. And I dealt patiently with the fellow drivers out there. We’ll call them the dip****s. You know, the ones who don’t seem to notice there’s a major near-hurricane storm going on around them and drive at their normal 50-60? The ones who blow through intersections where the lights aren’t working, because if there ain’t no red there, they must not have to stop? I passed a couple of them on the side of the road, standing in the rain next to their now-dented cars, and wondered if I’d be the one to end up handling their claim later.

I managed to get nearly all the way to work. I was waiting for my turn at an intersection (where the lights weren’t working) when my cell phone started vibrating (my ringer is busted, so my old-ass phone only vibrates now). It was Tim calling from the office. He asked where I was, and I told him just about ready to turn in. He let me know that the power was out in our building, and had been for about 40 minutes. And, therefore, the elevator didn’t work, and since our office was on the second floor. In fact, our intern, Justin, was actually STUCK in the elevator and waiting for someone to get him out…just as I would have been if I’d been a little earlier, probably. As he was telling me this, he paused and told someone that he had me on the phone, and I was just pulling into the parking lot. Turned out to be my boss. Oh, good. Now my boss KNEW I was 10 minutes late. Thought today, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

So, best I could do was just pull in to the parking lot and wait. Hey, at least I got to sit and listen to the radio while the storm rocked my van back and forth (go ahead…knock…it’s not what you think). After a bit, Tim came out and ran through the rain and jumped into the van with me. He would have called but he lost cell signal (probably due to a tower going down). He let me know that everyone upstairs was basically doing nothing. Our boss, Debbie, had let everyone know that the cutoff was two hours. If there was no power after two hours, everyone got to go home. So at this point, we had just under an hour to wait. Tim hung out for a while, then, since he couldn’t get anyone else upstairs to answer their cells (they probably lost towers, too), he decided to head back up and see what was happening. I mentioned that since we were about 45 minutes to deadline, with my luck, the power was likely to go on in about 20 minutes. Tim chastised for jinxing us and then jumped back out into the storm.

I had some time in the van, and realized I had just recently added something to my 2008 to-do list, something I’d been meaning to do for about a year and a half—figure out how to program my car stereo and do station presets. I’d just never bothered to take out the manual and figure it out, since I was usually thinking of doing do right when I was needing to get out of the van and didn’t have time. So I pulled it out of the door pouch, figured it out (I waited a year and a half for something that took about two minutes? I think there’s a lesson there), and set up my six stations. Cool beanage. I also checked in with my mother, who’s living up in the Lakeport area. They had no power (and no heat…and it’s COLD up there), and the pond next to their house, thanks to the rain, was now UNDER the house (the house is raised for that very reason). They had headed into town for food (and my Mom to find a public restroom to put on her makeup in, as she couldn’t at home). She and I talked for a bit, and as I was looking up, I saw the lights pop on upstairs at the office. I noted the time. Almost exactly twenty minutes. Damn. If only my sister hadn’t made me listen to the “Secret” CDs. Look what I manifested! I don’t know the limits of my own terrible power! Tim beeped in almost immediately and blamed it on me. And he also let me know that an elevator guy had come in and rescued Justin. Me, not wanting to meet Justin’s fate, I decided to wait in the van for another ten minutes or so. The lights stayed on, so I decided to risk it.

I got upstairs (and let out my held breath once the elevators doors opened) and headed inside, where everyone was bitchy, both because they had ALMOST gotten to go home and because the servers were slow coming back, so some systems were working, others not. I got booted up and seemed to have pretty much everything working. I started working a couple of files. There was an attorney I needed to call back asap to finalize a total loss deal on their client’s vehicle and request a fax of the title so I could issue payment. I got her on the line (“Blanch” was the paralegal’s name. Refreshing, isn’t it, that there are still women in this world named Blanch in 2007? I wanted to ask her if a Stella or a Rhoda worked their, too) and got most of the details out. I was just telling her about faxing in the title when our power went out again. Both my monitors went black, and, on my phone headset, Blanch started sounding very far away and her voice faded to almost nothing. Then the power kicked back on. Blanch started to return. I started to tell her about our power problems. Then it went out again. Blanch again faded, and by the time I figured out how to switch from headset to handset, she had already hung up. I would have called her back, but her number, of course, was on my now-lifeless computer.

I rolled around in the dark (not total dark – we had the windows, thought it was gray and stormy outside) to get an idea of what was happening with the office situation. And it seemed the two-hour clock just started over, which didn’t make people happy. This was around 11:00. People were very frustrated, and a lot of them (if not most) were just going to take lunch then and hope that there was power when we got back. People started getting on cells to call food places to find out if they had any power. A buddy of mine got Togo’s on the phone. Their power was out, but they were still selling cold sandwiches only. Tim, himself, had run out to get lunch at that same Togo’s and had just come back in the door with his sandwich, and he said they’d had power five minutes before when he was there.

Tim started eating his lunch and I just hung out there at his desk (with nothing else to do) when we heard a commotion at the end of the aisle. Turns out Debbie had officially called it, and told everyone to go home. Woo hoo! Hey, if it’s got to happen, might as well be on a Friday. Early start to the weekend. Plus, that meant none of us were going to have to deal with rush hour storm nightmares. People started streaming out. I waited with Tim while he finished his lunch, as I was going to have him get me down the stairs (elevators, not an option. Just ask Justin, who’s probably claustrophobic now). One person after the next kept coming over and asking me if I needed help, to which Tim kept answering, with attitude, “Please. We’ve been doing this for 30 years.” And we have. Even under sometimes challenging circumstances (Margarita Village, Tijuana, Mexico, 1986. A story for another time). And then Debbie came by and wondered aloud how we were going to get me down. Tim gave her the same answer. She said she wasn’t comfortable with that (keep in mind we ARE an insurance company…). Which offended Tim. I told her that likely I’d just hold onto the rail and walk myself down (I can still manage that…as long as the direction is down) and Tim would carry the chair. She said she wasn’t comfortable with that either. She’d feel better with someone helping me walk down while Tim carried the chair. Well, okay. We had a number of volunteers right there. So we all went to the stairs. I was ready to get up, but Tim, stewing at the lack of confidence in his skills, looked back and said, “She here? No. Fine.”, and proceeded to just quickly and expertly get me and my chair down two flights of stairs in fluid, practiced motion, and in seconds. Yes, folks…we know what we’re doing. And Tim then headed back upstairs, satisfied, to finish his lunch.

Me, I went back out in the rain, again not bothering with the umbrella, which just would have ended up turning inside out in seconds. I loaded up and strapped in behind the wheel, turned on my radio, drunk on the luxury of being able to just switch between six FM stations instead of clicking up and down the dial, and drove back into the chaos. There was plenty. More accidents, more trees down, areas of flooding, and the wind still tearing everything up. But my spirits were high. Hey…I was going home early on a Friday, and my apartment still had power. I started building a mental list of things to accomplish with this found time. I also decided I could use some lunch (which I usually skip when I’m working), and a hot mail in a rainy day sounded like a fine thing. I hit a drive-up window at KFC and got a Mashed Potato Famous Bowl (do they give out Nobel prizes for fast food creations, because whatever genius came up with the idea of shoving mashed potatoes, chicken, corn and gravy into one bowl needs some kind of recognition. THAT’s good eatin’). I made it into my complex parking lot, relieved that I’d made the journey back with no collisions or blown tires. I got inside and turned on the TV and watched more live weather reports while I ate. More ugly, more ugly. Delays at the airport. Blizzards in the Sierras. Power company crews running all over Sacramento trying to get service back on. Freeways being closed. Quite a circus.

As I finished my lunch, the power went out for a moment—then came back. Seemed okay for a while, so I hoped for the best. I went and turned my computer back on (it had been off since the outage this morning) and found I had no internet service. Everything on my end seemed to be working fine, so I assumed it was a cable company thing. And while I was in the middle of that, the power went out again. No flicker this time, though. It just went, and directly AFTER it went? I heard a very loud noise somewhere outside. Uh, oh. That didn’t bode well. Transformer blowing? Tree taking down a line? No idea. But I was definitely without power. That was about 1:30 or so. And my complex is STILL dark.

I waited for a while, thinking it might come back up. I got on my laptop and got some non-internet stuff done (some writing) for a while, but then realized I might be without power for some time and finally shut it down with the battery about half gone. So now, I could pretty much do nothing. Too dark inside to read. Not able to watch TV. Not able to write. It’s moments like these that remind you how much we depend on electricity. My crappy cordless phones in my apartment just plain don’t work without power. This left me with my cell only – and the realization that I would now not be able to CHARGE my cell. Oops. And this led to another realization – my fridge. I had just been planning out things until next payday, as Christmas and the trip involved really drained me. I had done an inventory and found that I wouldn’t need to worry about food for about nine or ten days (one of reasons I went ahead and bought the fonts mentioned in the previous blog). And, as mentioned in another previous blog, all my meals at home consist of frozen dinners. Guess what? They ain’t that frozen anymore. My fridge has now been without power for ten hours. Wonderful. Kiss all the yogurt goodbye, too. Looks like there’s a shopping trip in my future after all.

I decided I’d just lie down and grab an afternoon nap, and I hoped to wake up to a flashing 12:00 on the alarm clock LED screen on my nightstand. I started waking around 5:30pm (though I had no idea what time it was when I did), and no such look. I was now totally in the dark. Soon my cell started to vibrate. It was Mom, checking in, and I let her know the score. She was immediately concerned about my having no heat, but I assured her it wasn’t cold here like it is where they are…though it’s going to get real cold this weekend (when storm #2…the less powerful but much chillier one…rolls is). I shouldn’t need the heater tonight.

So it looked like I’d have power no time soon, and I made some evening decisions. I have one flashlight, and it seems low. And I have no candles. What I do have, though, is some free movie passes in my wallet. So I figured instead of sitting in the dark, I’d go get some storm gear and then see if the local theater had power. Man, am I dependent on the internet. That’s where I always get my movie times! I also wanted to get on and check my money and see if my rent check had been cashed yet. I was in a world gone mad!! So I called 411 and got a 7:20 movie time for Walk Hard, one of the three movies out there I want to see (the only one of the three still in theaters. Isn’t it amazing how fast getting multiple Golden Globe nominations (“No Country for Old Men”, “There Will Be Blood”) gets you booted out of theaters to open more screens for multiple showings of National Treasure II? I got back outside, and the worst of the storm had passed us. The wind was all but gone, and there were only occasional sprinkles coming down. My drive gave me more radio time, and more news about how jacked up things were around town. There were power lines down in the middle of the Madison/Auburn intersection, a major one right by my place, and they had closed it down and were routing heavy commuter traffic through residential streets. I avoided that. I went to a shop I occasionally go to for cigars, as I know they also sell candles (and gun replicas and wacky license plate rims and these odd framed posters with blinking lights set into them). I grabbed a couple of cigars and asked for a candle, and the guy sold me some apple-scented one in a jar. I also went next door (as I’d planned) to Ace Hardware and looked for a new flashlight, preferably smaller than the one I already had. I found the right aisle…and it was all but empty. All the cheaper ones had already sold out. I managed to find out smaller Ace brand mag light for about twelve bucks.

So I got my blackout goodies (hoping I wouldn’t actually have to use them) and headed to the theater. They did, thankfully, have power, and I figured since the winds were gone they’d probably keep it for the night. I found out in line that a lot of people were there for the exact same reason I was…their power was out, and they had nothing else to do. I got inside and immediately ran into someone who recognized me, but I was at a loss as to who he was. For a reason, turns out. It was Mark, younger brother of my pal Kevin. I’d known him years ago…when he was a KID. Now he was there with his new bride (whose name I’ve already managed to forget. My brain needs a bigger hard drive), and they, too, were without power and just passing time. So that was fun and random. They headed off to see National Treasure II (having many times to choose from…), and I headed for Walk Hard. I’ve been wanting to see this film for several reasons. The main reason is that one of my current main creative heroes, Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks, 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) co-wrote and produced it, and I always want to back his stuff. Also, one of my favorite character actors EVER, John C. Reilly, was getting his first major starring role! I needed to support him, too. Finally, I’d heard that though the reviews were good, it was tanking in the box office. So I wanted to drop my $9.50 and help out (or in this case, drop my free movie pass, but at least that would help make the box office figures look better, right?). I got into the theater 15 minutes early. And I was the ONLY one in it. That’s not boding well for the film, considering it’s a Friday night.

As for the film? Won’t go into a whole review here, but it was fun. Wasn’t perfect, and was a bit too silly, but the majority of the gags in it worked for me, and it had a lot of my favorite people in it (Apatow regulars), and I was in the right mood for light entertainment. What did annoy me was that half the stuff shown on the trailer was NOT in the final cut of the film. I’m not kidding about the “half” part. No Morgan Fairfield. No Cheryl Tiegs. No Patrick Duffy taking a punch from Dewey. No commercial for Cox Sausage. Those looked like some of the best gags. But after seeing the film, I can kind of understand the reasons for the cut. At 90 minutes, the film was already a bit too long for the little foundation it had. But I look forward to picking up the DVD and seeing all the cut scenes. If the film keeps doing numbers like it is, I may be able to get it on DVD by the end of the month… But don’t get me wrong about the film. I laughed a lot more than I cringed. There’s some really funny stuff there. John C. Reilly is just amazing. I think my favorite part about the film experience, though, were the trailers. I got to see trailers for two new Apatow & company films coming out in the spring, and this was the first footage of them I’d seen. Both look great, to me. I just can’t get enough of this mess of Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen films, man. There are just so my sense of humor. I hope they keep cranking them out.

So drove myself home, hoping I’d see my complex all lit up. Nope. The strip mall with the liquor store and the Vietnamese restaurant next door? They have juice. My complex was totally shrouded in darkness. I would have driven right past it if I didn’t already know it was there. I parked and sat there and looked around at the blackness, and felt, suddenly, like Charlton Heston in Omega Man. All I needed were zombies with big afros coming after me and I’d have been living the dream. I got out and really took note of what a nice night it had turned into after all the abuse earlier in the day. Not very cold (I can’t tell HOW cold without the internet, damnit), and suddenly, all the clouds are gone, and it’s stars everywhere. Very nice and peaceful.

Got into my apartment (with my flashlight out) and noticed something weird. I have this old PC set up on a stand between my kitchen and dining room. The idea was to have one out there for people to use when they dropped by to visit (so they wouldn’t be in my bedroom checking their email), but I rarely have visitors, so it just sits off most of the time. In the darkness, I spotted something odd – a slowly flashing green light on the PC’s monitor. I looked around. Nothing else was working. Then I took a look at my laptop. I had turned it off but plugged it in to the adapter, figuring if the power came back on while I was away it would charge up. Well…the charge light was on, and it was green. I turned the laptop on and, after it booted, unplugged the power source to double-check. Sure enough, it was 100% charged again? Huh?

As it turns out, though I have no other power in my apartment, and my complex, and the one across the street, are completely black, for some reason I have ONE OUTLET that is SORT OF working. I found out the sort-of part when I came back in from the patio. I plugged the laptop back in to charge. And it’s sitting here switching itself back and forth from outlet power to battery power every few seconds. Which is annoying, because the screen brightness drops several notches each time it goes to battery, and then goes full bright again when it jumps back to outlet. But, hey…better than having no laptop at all, right? That’s awesome. So I was able to at least come home and get some writing done instead of just laying in the dark or trying to read by candlelight. So very happy about that. And I don’t have to worry about watching the battery, because though it is now charging much slower than normal, it’s still charging. So I got that going for me. Taking away my ability to write is just evil! Glad to have it, even if I’m not able to check email or check election news. Or find out what’s happening with Britney and her ambulance ride. You know, the REAL news? What can’t they just LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE?!!! (Sob)

So, I have no idea how long it’s going to be before I have power again. Sure hope it’s this weekend. I’m so used to falling to sleep with the TV on that this is going to be tough tonight. What…just sleep? Who does THAT? I’ve got my girly candle if I need it, but so far just the (varying) light from my laptop screen has been fine. So, those of you living in places with “real” weather can feel free to laugh at our whining here in California tonight. True, we don’t know what real storms are like (I would offer that we’re not dumb enough to live places that have hurricane and tornado SEASONS), but we’ve certainly had our taste today. It’s been an adventure. Hope wherever you are, Mother Nature’s treating you kindly. And if you’re here in Cali, hope that you have the juice to sign on and read this.

And I hope Blanch isn’t already filing suit against my company for my hanging up on her…