Sitting in near darkness...

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The electricity is out. I'm sitting in my room. Lighting provided by a lone flickering candle...

We've gotten quite a bit of snowfall today and it seems that a tree fell on the main powerline somewhere. Our entire neighbourhood is dark. Luckily the phones still worked, so I called BC Hydro. They said that it would take an hour to repair...

And that was over an hour ago.

Sigh.

Sans electricity meant no TV or Internet. I couldn't read (not enough light) or listen to music (discman was out of batteries), so I ended up calling friends. After managing to bore two friends to tears with my inane banter (*ahem* call it skill), I felt this sudden urge to write. I decided not to let the opportunity pass especially with this month's drought in updates. I pulled out my trusty Handspring Visor. Why my Visor you ask? Well, I can't use my laptop because it blew up last year...not like I'm bitter or anything.

Anyhoo I'm blogging this by candle light. Heh. Now that's classic! Well, I guess I'll upload this once the power is back on. How geeky is that? :P

As a true geek, I have my computer hooked up to a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). It's main function is to provide and regulate current to the computer via a battery. In the event of a blackout, the UPS is supposed to continue providing current to the computer so the user can safely shutdown the computer. I bought my UPS before we upgraded all the electricity wiring in our house...back when our electricity was extremely unreliable.

Anyway, I've upgraded my computer twice (since then) and it seems like my current computer draws too much current for the load grade of my UPS. My puny UPS provided current for a split second before it ran out of juice. My computer died with the rest of the electricity in the house. The UPS started beeping alerting me of the obvious--no electricity. Ironic. I suppose you could call it a IPS (interruptible power supply).

When the power went out, I got up and promptly stubbed my toe against my desk. Grrr. Clutching my hurt foot I hopped around and groped around in the dark for the door knob. I managed to find the door and opened it only to stub my other foot. Muttering a German curse under my breath, I felt my way into the living room. My parents had invited eight people for dinner and I could hear (and sort of see) the guests who were talking excitedly about the outage. I went through the drawers searching for candles...

A cozy candle lit house. Hmmm. Sounds romantic? I guess. But I wonder how long I could really last without electricity. This also reminds me of natural disasters and disaster readiness, and how unready I am. Living on the west coast means that we live with an ever constant and looming threat of an earthquake. Of all the natural disasters, I would argue that the unpredictable nature of an earthquake makes it the most pyschologically distressing. Nearly every other natural disaster exhibits prior symptoms or signs that warn of possible or imminent danger. Not so with earthquakes. Well, not quite...

Apparently you can buy a device that detects earthquakes waves and gives you ten to thirty seconds of warning before the more devastating shock waves come. Even still. Thirty seconds. That's not much warning time. I just wonder how I would react in the event of an earthquake. Would I remain calm? Hmmm...

Last week an irrate customer was talking to my father in the office. I just happened to walk in at this time and I could tell both parties were getting upset and angry. After talking to them, I was able to calm both of them down and arbitrate a quick deal. At the time, I was proud of my accomplishment because I thought it proved that I could control my own emotions, remain calm under pressure, all the while keep other people calm.

Yet I wonder if I could keep myself calm in a real disaster (as opposed to just a high pressure situation). Hmmm.

Tough call. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out...

Posted by Dave at January 28, 2002 01:09 AM