The Night The Lights Went Out
I have only myself to blame for my schedule this week but I have only one night where I don't have plans to go out. That night was last night and I was looking forward to some home time.
Here's what I had planned: catching up on hours of TV off the DVR, updating book reviews on www.goodreads.com and IMing with Finnegan since he was trapped in his truck in Utah.
All of those things require a critical component.
It's not been a stress free week by any means. I was worried about my A/C, I have some people at work who are testing the last little bit of patience I have left in my cynical soul and I've got lots of stuff that I need to get done for the weekend and next week's Vegas trip. So, I'm a bit on edge.
I got home to a message on my answering machine about our group's Buffett concert tickets for Vegas. I'll spare you the details but I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in Vegas trying to meet up with people to give them their tickets because the venue didn't print them earlier. Time that I could be spending on the blackjack table so I was pretty worked up about it.
I started IMing with Finnegan…it was pretty much a rant about the tickets and how I felt really sorry for the ticket coordinator up there when I heard a pop and the lights went out. My laptop was the only thing lit up because it went to battery.
I went outside to see that the pool/clubhouse next to me was dark and my building and three others were dark as well. Across the street? Totally lit up. Apartment complex behind me? Ditto, still had electricity.
Ah, electricity. That would be the component required for all of my planned activities.
My anger level immediately went through the roof. I usually deal with stuff pretty well and it takes a lot to get me going but the outage was the proverbial straw and I was the proverbial camel. I mean, I was nearly spitting mad. (Not that I would spit because that's gross.)
I called Finnegan to explain that I didn't just bail out on our conversation. He'd been in the middle of typing a message when he got a notice that I had logged off. That would have been pretty rude if I'd done it intentionally. I think he felt sorry for me.
I know he listened to me rant quite a bit. So did Steven when I called him and I left a vm for Julie bitching about it, too. That's how I get over being angry...I compulsively talk about it until I have no energy left to sustain my anger level.
Since my plans were shot and I certainly wasn't going to sit around and read by candlelight, I called The Rocket Scientist and asked him to take pity on me and do something. He suggested we grab dinner at Four Peaks which I thought was a great idea. I've been in Tempe for nearly two years and have finally found someone who lives near me and is willing and able to do things at the last minute. That is nice.
We had dinner and beers and I wondered if my power was back on. The thing about Rocket Scientists is that they're pretty smart so he suggested I call my answering machine and see if it picked up. Clever. I did and it did so I was a much happier camper.
Based on the times blinking on everything when I got home, it looks like the power was off for an hour and 20 minutes. Right during prime time, too, so I recorded 8 minutes of one show and a partial block of another show. I didn't look to see what else I missed.
At least my house was cool so I got that going for me.
Here's what I had planned: catching up on hours of TV off the DVR, updating book reviews on www.goodreads.com and IMing with Finnegan since he was trapped in his truck in Utah.
All of those things require a critical component.
It's not been a stress free week by any means. I was worried about my A/C, I have some people at work who are testing the last little bit of patience I have left in my cynical soul and I've got lots of stuff that I need to get done for the weekend and next week's Vegas trip. So, I'm a bit on edge.
I got home to a message on my answering machine about our group's Buffett concert tickets for Vegas. I'll spare you the details but I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in Vegas trying to meet up with people to give them their tickets because the venue didn't print them earlier. Time that I could be spending on the blackjack table so I was pretty worked up about it.
I started IMing with Finnegan…it was pretty much a rant about the tickets and how I felt really sorry for the ticket coordinator up there when I heard a pop and the lights went out. My laptop was the only thing lit up because it went to battery.
I went outside to see that the pool/clubhouse next to me was dark and my building and three others were dark as well. Across the street? Totally lit up. Apartment complex behind me? Ditto, still had electricity.
Ah, electricity. That would be the component required for all of my planned activities.
My anger level immediately went through the roof. I usually deal with stuff pretty well and it takes a lot to get me going but the outage was the proverbial straw and I was the proverbial camel. I mean, I was nearly spitting mad. (Not that I would spit because that's gross.)
I called Finnegan to explain that I didn't just bail out on our conversation. He'd been in the middle of typing a message when he got a notice that I had logged off. That would have been pretty rude if I'd done it intentionally. I think he felt sorry for me.
I know he listened to me rant quite a bit. So did Steven when I called him and I left a vm for Julie bitching about it, too. That's how I get over being angry...I compulsively talk about it until I have no energy left to sustain my anger level.
Since my plans were shot and I certainly wasn't going to sit around and read by candlelight, I called The Rocket Scientist and asked him to take pity on me and do something. He suggested we grab dinner at Four Peaks which I thought was a great idea. I've been in Tempe for nearly two years and have finally found someone who lives near me and is willing and able to do things at the last minute. That is nice.
We had dinner and beers and I wondered if my power was back on. The thing about Rocket Scientists is that they're pretty smart so he suggested I call my answering machine and see if it picked up. Clever. I did and it did so I was a much happier camper.
Based on the times blinking on everything when I got home, it looks like the power was off for an hour and 20 minutes. Right during prime time, too, so I recorded 8 minutes of one show and a partial block of another show. I didn't look to see what else I missed.
At least my house was cool so I got that going for me.
