Is This Thing On?

Ugh... 89 hours. In some ways, not a long time. But when you're up against a monolith of non-help, it can seem like an eternity. This time, the monolith was Puget Sound Energy, a true Prince of Darkness.

On Thursday night we had a wicked, wicked windstorm. I guess I knew it was coming, but I had no idea. Depending on who you talk to, it was a 10-year storm or a 100-year storm. New wind records were reached at Sea-Tac airport and at least 100 flights were canceled, delayed or diverted. Many poorly constructed (or neglected and in need of replacement) fences blown over. One well constructed fence (by my dad and I, only about five months ago) was all twisted out of shape.

Hopefully it was only a 10-year storm because there were also 10-year storms in 1993 and 1994. (Though one of those might have also been a 100-year storm. Again, depends on who you talk to.)

Anyhow, it was an amazing storm to listen to and we knew, laying there, that it was only a matter of time before we lost power. And then we laid there listening to the thunder, rain, wind, trees falling and watching the flashes of lightning. Work was optional for the next day with our corner of the second floor being one of a few spots in either building that was operational on generator power. I opted to stay home and they kicked everyone out at noon.

We thought we could just head east and find a place beyond the storm's path, a small town where we might get a meal, and as it turned out, get some gas. We instead found a small town with no power and huge lines for the town's single gas station, who had the intelligence to have a generator running and who fortunately still had working phone lines (with which to take credit cards). Unfortunately, we weren't sure we had the gas to wait in the line so we bought a gas can and I stood in line. Well, all three of us did, but the sympathy vote didn't play out and no one offered to let us sit in their car. Turns out the sympathy vote had played out, it just took a nice couple from Ellensburg awhile to move all their luggage so by the time the guy had crawled into the front seat and rolled the window down, I was there alone. But, a really nice gesture.

I got gas, went back and put in the gas and we headed back to the Super(ha)Mall which had power. We had a nice meal, walked around a lot, had Blizzards and walked around a lot more.

We then went home. My parents suggested we come to their house, but it was after dark, we were without power and didn't have enough gas in the car to go looking for a working gas station. That night we all hunkered down in the living room with lots of blankets in front of the fireplace. We burned through all the wood we had and still woke up to 45 degree temperatures. It had been a long, long, long, cold and dark night.

to be continued tomorrow... (There are still people out there without power. If you know anyone who needs a place to stay, please call us.)

Brrr....

We've relocated to warmth... yes, my parents on their dead-end street off a dead-end street in Silverdale never lost power. After trying it one night and burning through all the firewood and still waking up freezing, we bundled up the baby and the dog and headed out. The cats will have to fend for themselves. Kudos to Brad at PSE for being calm and polite and not trying to rush me off the phone as he looked up information about our outtage. E-mail's the best way to reach either of us at the moment.

Smokin'

This morning when I got to work, I didn't have much to do. So I decided I was going to get all my stuff off of my hard drive and put it on the network. You know, do the responsible thing. I've never had a computer die on me, I've never lost any files because they were on a computer that died. But it had been piling up, so I decided I ought to get them off of my computer, be a good little computer user.

So I was working on that and then it was time for devotions. After I came back from devotions, my computer was off. Odd, I thought, since it had been on when I left. I tried the power button. Nothing. I got under the desk and unplugged it and plugged it back in. Nothing. So I unplugged it and plugged it in to a different outlet, thinking that was maybe the problem.

My cube-mate (we're running out of space) says "woah. smoke." I looked up to see smoke coming out of the computer. Not little wispy stuff. We're talking full-on, hope the sprinkler system doesn't kick in dirty gray smoke pouring from the vents on the top of the computer. I hastily unplugged it and tried to dissipate the smoke by waving my hand over the opening.

Well, the computer was fried. They couldn't even swap out the hard drive into another machine so I could get my data. It was all gone. Done for. The guy who came and took it from my desk asked me what I had done. I told him the story, then told him about how Dell had been pushing the little tiny computers on my boss at the last place and after a few test machines overheated, he had said no thanks and gone back to the larger sized machines. The guy looked pretty panic-stricken and said that he had just deployed 200 of them across the campus.

I guess my area won't be the last place to smell of acrid smoke for days to come.

Bang 2

Today started with a bang. It was rather cool. I woke up a split-second before and then I heard the boom and the sound waves actually shook the bed. I thought leaving L.A. meant being woken up by the bed shaking was a thing of the past. But there was thunder so loud and so close this morning that the bed physically shook. That was wild. Car alarms were going off and I lay there waiting for Rachel to cry, but she never did. The water was being thrown at the windows at such a way that would give some of those L.A. rainstorms a run for their money. Unlike an L.A. rain, though, it was all over and quiet again in under 20 minutes. But, it forced me to get up a little earlier (I knew I wasn't going back to sleep after that) and so a little more leisurely getting ready for work. That's kinda nice after oversleeping yesterday.

People are coming tonight to meet Barkley. Please pray it will go well and that they'll be the ones to adopt her.

Bang

On Sunday Lori and I did a lot of chores, getting the house in really good shape. Then on Monday, I took the day off from work in order to give Lori a "day off." Rachel and I packed into the car and headed to Bellevue for the day. It was a dark and stormy day, but we headed for Bellevue Square, an upscale mall with the foresight to have built plenty of covered parking. We started at The Lodge, a parking-garage wrap-around with a bunch more stores, including a Starbucks off of a three-story atrium with a three-story rock-faced fireplace, a two-story Christmas wreath and a smattering of leather couches. Rachel and I took a table at the Starbucks music store and watched people burn CDs and hang out with their laptops while I enjoyed an Eggnog Mocha (not my favorite, I'd order any number of other things before trying that again), us a piece of coffee cake and she peaches and milk.

Then we wandered the mall aimlessly looking for gift ideas for Lori and specific items I had written down as ideas already. I got some great photos from that mall.

Then across a skybridge to another place which really should be better described. Turns out it's a hotel, some more restaurants, a bank and a The Container Store store. There was some Chihuley there, including plants twisting and growing out of a fountain that was fed by four story sheets of glass with water cascading down them. There was a really big piece installed separately where you'd miss it if someone else didn't point it out to you. I got yelled at and told photos weren't allowed and that I should hurry up and snap one more photo and then put the camera away.

Then back to the car for a drive in the dark to the Southcenter Mall. (I love the carpool lane!) The rain had been off and on all day and it was pretty on for that drive. I had the classical music turned up so that Rachel would sleep and we cruised along in the dark with the windshield wipers going steadily.

At the Southcenter Mall we wandered around, had a cookie and the waited for Lori. We had dinner together at the Rainforest Cafe and then headed home. It was a really nice day and I wouldn't mind if I could do that everyday. Maybe I should be some rich person's "away nanny" who takes kids on outings. I wish I were rich so it would be Rachel.

I did not want to work the next day. I was singing "I don't want to work, I want to bang on the drum all day." in my head as I went down to my car. I got in the car, opened the garage, turned on the radio and heard "I don't want to work. I want to bang on the drum all day." Gotta love Jack. They might play what they want, but they often seem to play what I'm thinking.

Unwritten

Wow, it's getting really bad this year. It's already December 8 and we've collectively completed 3 Christmas cards, I think. I would like to come into the season once where I'm not wishing it were over and done with long before Christmas ever arrived. I'll have to think about that for the rest of this season and see what I can possibly do differently next year to avoid that. (1) Do my Christmas cards in early November. (2) Do my Christmas shopping in July. (3) Take more random single days off. I'm sure I can come up with others. Readers, please hit that button below and add your own suggestions.

Disney, kickin' it Dimension-style

Thanks to Chris.