The Power Went Out

posted at 11:01 am
on Aug. 29, 2003

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An SBC phone worker came to our door earlier this week.  He wanted access to the pole in our back yard.  I said, Uh, OK.

He climbed the pole and I went back to reading email.  Until the power went out.

Going back outside, I heard one neighbor yell at him, “Hey, did you know our power’s out?”  Then another neighbor did the same.

I figured he knew the score at this point, so I headed back inside.

It was quiet.  I mean, it was really, really quiet.

Why was it so quiet? Because the devices were all dead.  All the wonderful magical boxes that bring color and sound and truth and lies into this house, were all dead.

Then I heard about Cwm Brefi, which in June was wired to the electrical grid and became the last village in the U.K. to be connected.  They ran things on personal generators before that.

I came home and decided to make a list of the things that often use electricity in this house.

These are the things that are ALWAYS on and drawing electrical current of some amount:
The pool timer
TiVo
The cable box
The television
The VCR
the DVD player
The drink refrigerator
The main refrigerator
The motion detecting light switch
The cat’s drinking fountain
The Dust Buster
The microwave and its power strip
The stove
The stereo
Another motion detecting light switch
The computers (4)
The monitors (5)
The router
The wireless access point
The cable modem
The external CD
The printer
Speakers (2 bass units)
The radio alarm clock (2)
The toothbrush
The razor
The alarm system
The thermostat
The cordless phone
The regular phone (2)
The answering machine (with phone)
The caller ID box

These are the things that are usually drawing power:
The AC / fan
The lights
The dishwasher
The washing machine and dryer
All of the electronic equipment above in a higher state of use
The toaster
The cradle for my PDA
The digital camera
The cell phone (2)
The iPod (via the computer)
Speakers (4, via the computer)
Susie’s MP3 thing

So, when the power went out, we lit some candles and showered and got ready for work in dim light.  And left the poor SBC to explain to the power people what he’d done.

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