This morning I went to work with my umbrella. The walk from my car to the main gate was a torrential downpour… and the rain was coming in sideways. My umbrella was about as useful as a fishing boat in the desert. I was soaked… my bag was soaked… my electronic toys were soaked (but fully functional).
On the way home there were several traffic signals without power… and in New York negotiating busy intersections freeform - without any signals or traffic cops - is always a social experiment worthy of its own 500-page exhaustive commentary featured in Psychology Today. When I got home my pool was an inch from overflowing! Several branches (the big kind) had been knocked down off my neighbors’ multiple maple-leaf machines.
And as I feared, when I walked in the house - no power. Of course, I’ve been without power before… but this time it was cramping my routine a bit. I’m used to hopping on the ‘puter and catching up on all my emails I can’t read at my top secret laboratory job. But the power was out for a little while and I actually had to occupy myself with other household diversions… odd.
My modern-day electro-junkie dilemma reminded myself of a quote I like:
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
~Susan Ertz, “Anger in the Sky”
Web designer and developer. Loud discerner. Software engineer and 
love that quote, thanks. sometimes i miss the opportunities afforded when presented with something like lost power, such as something as simple as reading a good book. thanks. D
just reminded me … i need to buy myself a dartboard
My favorite quote, from the times union online, from a clifton park woman who “counted five neighborhood-wide outages in the week after the storm, some lasting as long as seven hours:
“‘We had nothing, of course. No air conditioning, no refrigeration. It was extremely inconvenient,’ she said.”
My heart really goes out to this woman and her family. They must have suffered so much without ac. And all the ice cream in her fridge must have melted, what a senseless waste.