Ekeltricity

It is the classic saying "You don't know what you got till it's gone" that applies to my Tuesday night. There were severe thunderstorms/microburst winds/etc. throughout the area on Tuesday night, and my electricity went out at 6:30 pm. I knew that it was out before I got home, because I saw a downed power line around the corner from my house being watched over by a fire truck.

Life without electricity is miserable. We had two lanterns going when it got dark, but there are really limited ways of entertaining yourself when the lights are out. We played board games until it got dark, and that was fine, but then what? Sing songs? Practice interpretive dancing? Scrapbook by candlelight? No thanks. I played monopoly on my cellphone until the battery died, then I laid there in the dark/heat/humidity and did absolutely nothing but get angry at the power company and attempt to sell my soul to the devil if he would turn my bedside fan on. (It didn't work.) My wife had gone to work, and my kids had gone to bed, so there wasn't even anyone to talk to.

I used my iPod to get to sleep, but without my fan, I was sleeping restlessly and overheated. The power did not come on again until a little after 2am, and when my lights and fan kicked on, I was a happy boy.

I think it's a little bit crazy that my power should be off for nearly 8 hours in the year 2007, and that I couldn't get any sort of area specific update from the power company's useless telephone system, but what are you gonna do.

Electricity, I love you.