How I spent “Power Outage 2011”

Yesterday afternoon there was a giant power outage.  It affected people from Yuma, AZ all the way to San Diego, and as far south as Baja Mexico and as far north as Orange County, CA.  This means there was no electricity.  Also if you had Sprint or AT&T cell phones you had no bars.  However, if you had Verizon, like I did, people were still calling you about work stuff.  You would think the advantage of a blackout would be that you get to leave work early.  I was not so lucky because my work has generator backup and my stupid Verizon phone was working like a charm.

At first, if you took a poll of the office, these were the primary concerns that people had:

1.  The bubbles for my fishtank won’t work!  My fish might die!
2.  Am I still going to be able to watch football this evening?

Later, people realized there were more important concerns, like:

1. My tank is on empty and none of the gas stations can pump gas.
2. How do I get ice and water?
3. What am I going to have for dinner?
4. Where can I find a generator?

Since I happen to live with a bunch of rednecks, ahem I mean boys who are very skilled at construction-type stuff, it turns out that I spent the power outage quite pleasantly.  The boys hooked up the generator and we listened to music while we grilled bacon-wrapped asparagus, potato skins with cheese and onions and cilantro, and bbq chicken wings.  We also had plenty of ice, coolers, water, and beer.

So I spent Power Outage 2011 surfing the internet on my phone, listening to music while sipping on a cold beer, and actually talking to my roommates and friends instead of zoning out on the TV.

Next time, however, we need more beer.  We only had enough to last us the first night.