Blackout

Sunday, Dec. 21, 2003 - 10:44 a.m.

Hi folks. Sorry this is so late. Had a bit of an adventure overnight.

Yesterday afternoon, the lights went off.

I was in the middle of making enchiladas; John was in the middle of using iTunes to make a mix CD.

At shortly before six p.m. a fire in the Mission District PG&E substation caused a lot of equipment damage. Burning insulation caused a lot of smoke, and because of the way the power company's building is built -- no windows -- the fire department had to bring in generators and fans to ventilate the smoke.

We lit a bunch of candles and waited it out; I have several battery operated radios, and a battery operated television and a batterty-operated laptop, so we were able to find news when we wanted it. At one point I was even able to use the laptop and log in to AOL for a few minutes, because the phone system is on a different grid, separate from PG&E.

At around ten minutes to nine, our power came back on. I was able to finish making and baking the enchiladas, and they turned out really well. But at about 9:30 p.m., the lights went out once again.

This time, they stayed off until nearly two this morning.

---

A reliable source in the insurance industry informs me that when PG&E had a similar outage several years ago due to an employee not following proper procedures (a worker left a wire grounded after doing maintenence on that line; when he switched the juice back on after the maintenence was complete, everything shorted out) that error was found to be PG&E's fault, and the business interruption claims filed against PG&E were all valid, down to the last cent.

That means that PG&E already knew what might happen. This time it's being blamed on mechanical failure. PG&E should have been aware of their equipment limitations. There is no reason for them to have been so unprepared, in light of their history with the blackout five years ago AND the events of 9/11.

Once again, PG&E will be taking it up the ass, with no KY and no flowers afterward.

---

I can't stand pitch dark. But it is exponentially worse if I don't have the option of being able to turn on the lights if I need to.

The only upside to this whole thing, at least to me, was being able to DX properly for the first time in many years. even at night when the distant AM stations come in clearer, there's still so much clicking and buzing and chirping caused by miscellaneous electronic equipment that it's just not easy to pull in the far away stations. But with the power out, there were no electric bus lines, no cordless telephones and no flashing Christmas lights in the middle third of the city. So last night I had a lot of good luck in that respect. I pulled in WOAI out of Texas -- and for a few moments I heard WCCO out of Minnesota.

---

This morning we are back to normal, or at least what passes for normal in this household.

Except for the fact that I am in charge of resetting clocks and whatnot, there were no ill effects.

---

Wowsers. This time tomorrow I'll be meeting Todd Thalimer.

Gee, that sounds so weird. But in a good way.

---

what you missed - what's next - leave a note
first post - cast page - diaryrings - top ten

THE LEGAL STUFF: All content on this site that was created by me is copyright 2003-infinity by Brin Marie McLaughlin. Steal my stuff and I'll squash you like a bug. All incoming email or any other form of communication with me is subject to publication or other distribution by me in whole or in part at my sole discretion. This diary features the sole opinions and experiences of one person, namely me, the person who is paying for this space. In the interest of safety and accountability, no anonymous input will ever be allowed here, ever, for any reason in the entire history of ever. Whenever there is a comments section appearing in this diary, it's to be considered part of my paid presence on the web, and shall be used by my readership to supplement the things I have written here with relevant information in a polite manner. Comments that do not fall in that category are subject to deletion at my whim. Your visit to my diary along with your use of my comments section constitutes the understanding of this statement. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. All external links are current as of the date of the entry in which they are first featured, but at no other time. News excerpts used here are for educational purposes and are permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hold hands when you cross the street, and play nice.