Day two opens with me in a 50 degree apartment and still no power. The three blankets and feline heating device had done there job and I was plenty warm. Some text messages had come in on my phone so I figured out that if I stayed away from it, it could actually get a signal. So I called Jen and used the speaker phone to check in. I flipped on the radio to get an update on the world and not much had changed.
Luckily there was enough warm water left in the hot water heater to squeeze out a quick shower with it cranked all the way up. With no hope of power soon I figured I had better check in with the world and see what was going on. I knew from the radio downtown Seattle was fine and had never lost power. So I headed over there to find a coffee shop.
Living up to stereotypes I didn't have to walk more than a block from my parking spot to find a Starbucks. I got some coffee and started digging thru 36 hours of email. Had an interesting conversation with an recovering heroin addict in a wheelchair about laptops, drugs, and suicide. Turns out his 10th suicide attempt was the one that put him in the chair. I heard from most of my coworkers that they were coping as well. George won by finding a bar that has WiFi and food. Mike lost with 3 trees on his house and still no power. He was at the Kirkland library recharging his laptop and using their WiFi.
My parking spot was up at 6 so I figured I would head back and see if I had power yet. Keep in mind it gets completely dark by 4:30 these days. So I get to the bridge and I can see lights in Kirkland. So I start getting excited. I take my exit and drive through south Kirkland and all of the lights are on. Getting more excited. I get to the last turn before my place and everything is dark. There is light south of Kirkland Ave, but none north of Kirkland Ave. So I parked and went in to my place just to double check and yep still cold and dark.
Fifteen minutes in the dark jogged my memory that there was a Starbucks just up the road that should have power now. Of course I got there 5 minutes after they closed, so I tried to steal use their WiFi from the parking lot. The signal was pretty weak so I gave up and went to get some dinner. Encouraged by the thought that power was only a block away I went back for another check after dinner. A couple blocks away I could see the Christmas lights on Park Place and I knew we were in business. This was about 9pm. So I was out of power for roughly 45 hours.
Just to keep things interesting as I'm walking into the building a fire engine shows up. I guess the alarm was going off again. I helped the firefighters find the sprinkler room and headed back to my place to check on what was working.
Heat and lights were already going and I plugged all of the electronics back in. Internet and cable were already working. I was getting a better cell signal. So everything was pretty much back to normal. I can still see that the other side of 85th was still dark, but I was warm and out of the dark. I settled in to enjoy some TV and internet. I wrote up the first part of this story and got caught up on email.
If I haven't mentioned our fire alarm system is really sensitive or buggy or something. It went off again and the combination of someone running their dryer (vapor looking like smoke) and the whole town smelling like wood smoke from people's fireplaces everyone was freaking out. The plumber was still there and silenced the alarm so at least the fire department didn't show up this time.
So thing are pretty much back to normal now. I heard today that they got the office cleaned up and we won't have elevators right away, but I can go to work tomorrow. I just spent today catching up on email and basically enjoying all of the modern conveniences I was missing.
I'm sure some more random stuff will pop up over the next couple days, but wanted to get this out while it was fresh. Later.
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