Powerless

Dark Night

The day after posting on Ebola in Dallas, we had the mother of all thunderstorms roll through the city and in the span of fifteen minutes, wipe out electricity for a good part of the metroplex.  From my office window, we watched several power lines snap due to falling tree limbs and patio furniture from the high rise apartment complex next door fly off balconies and cause some serious damage.  Luckily, there was no catastrophic damage to the office, particularly as, at one point, there were 10 of us in the room with our noses pressed against the glass.  However, when I went home that night...

... I was greeted by a pitch black parking garage and emergency lighting in the halls of my apartment complex.  The entire block was out and there was no estimate as to when we would be getting power back.  By the flickering flame of the one candle that I own*, I took the fastest shower known to man and read by the same weak light for half an hour before conceding and going to bed absurdly early, convinced that power would be restored in the morning.

Which it was not.

It's a good thing I do pretty much zero things to get ready for work in the morning except wash my face, brush my teeth and brush my hair because #fellasleeplikethis and #wokeuplikethis.  Luckily, everything was restored at around 3 pm on Friday afternoon whereas for some other Dallasites, they still don't have power and are not sure when they'll be getting it back.

Moral of the story?  Prepare for emergencies.  I now own a maglite with backup batteries (still no can opener though).  And make friends with your neighbors.  You never know when you need to run over and borrow a cup of electricity.


*Perfect start to a spooky October.  I almost gave myself nightmares that night, thinking of all the creepy crawly ghosties that would start stepping out of the shaky shadows.