San Diego Goes Dark

For those of you who don't live in the San Diego area, did you hear that we had a massive blackout last night? The entire county (100% of San Diego Gas & Electric's customers) lost power! More news here.

Poof

Yesterday afternoon when I was at work and nose-deep into analyzing August sales data suddenly POOF! The power went out. Oh no!! When did I last hit Save? ARGH! We all stood around chatting for about 10 minutes before we were told to go home. We have generators but the power was all going to our cleanrooms and freezers to keep all of the goods frozen. It was about 3:45pm and I thought whoo hoo! I get to go home early! Oh wait, I had a 5pm bike date with Tara. Cool, we can bike early!

 Lights Out at Work

I tried calling and texting Tara but the calls wouldn't go through. WTH? I called David and we were able to talk, must have been because she didn't have Verizon like we did. I got a message from her right as I was about to head home that she was headed to our bike spot to meet. I turned North to bike instead of South to go home, and got stuck trying to make the turn.

Massive Gridlock

Um, I didn't just get stuck trying to make that turn, I got stuck trying to move at all! We managed to email while stuck in traffic (funny that data worked but not phone service) and decided to head home. I tried to turn back the the other way and spent the next hour going ONE BLOCK towards the freeway. Well, another hour passed before I even got near the freeway which was only 2 miles away. Holy moly. 

Traffic Was Miserable

I work in an area with the highest density of office buildings in San Diego, and everyone was trying to leave work, and none of the street lights were working! :o( It crossed my mind several times that I could probably bike home in less time (only 13 miles!) but I had no idea which roads were bike safe and then I'd end up having to bike back to get my car. It also crossed my mind that I could have RUN home in the  amount of time I was stuck in my car. Sigh. 

Blackout Priority - Liquor?

When I finally got onto the freeway and started my crawl south I felt bad for all of the cars I saw stranded on the side of the road. Poor people must have run out of gas! Hmm... maybe I should make a point to never let my tank go below 1/4?

Lucy I'm Home

Three hours later I finally made it home. O M G. I was a bit worried about getting home to my dogs and thought about how scary it must be if you're a parent and you can't get to your child at daycare. Yikes. My dogs and I went on a quick walk and then I made dinner. Luckily David talked me into buying a propane grill this summer and he was able to get me over my fear of lighting the grill. I grilled some chicken and ate that and chips and salsa on my back patio. I don't have AC and not having power meant that my fans didn't work. My apartment was boiling inside! Even with the windows open. :( My poor dogs were panting for most of the night.

Grilling in the Dark

Kindle to the Rescue

After finishing dinner I thought okay, now what? What can I do in the dark? Aha! My Kindle! It has a booklight!! I spent the remainder of the night reading Tina Fey's Bossypants until it was time to go to bed. At some point in the night I was startled awake by a loud sound and lights coming on outside ... but then everything went dark again ... then came on  ... and then ... Zzz... I fell back to sleep. 

Kindle w/Booklight

Vandalism in my Neighborhood

3-Day Weekend

Because of the power outage and the concern over keeping the freezers cold and conserving energy my office is closed today! Whoo hoo! Two 3-day weekends in a row? Yippee! I had a long list of errands that I was going to take care of tomorrow, but now I can do them today! So excited. My friend Jenna from AZ is also coming out this weekend and is getting into town this afternoon. Can't wait to see her too. Guess the blackout wasn't all bad!