Explosions are not good wake up calls
For some weird reason I fell asleep last night at about 930. I woke at again around 1am, watched some TV and went back to sleep. I was half asleep in my bed when I hear a lound *boom*, and all the car alarms going off, and realize that my A/C (and therefore my power) was off. Half asleep I had a weird thought that I was back in Florida, before I manged to get up, find my robe and my flashlight and walk outside to see what in the hell was that noise.
So of course most of my neighboors are out and about since the explosion woke most people up or they had been awake already. I walked around a bit asking people what they had heard, and then walked around the complex a bit to see if I could figure out what happened. I quickly realized that only the back half of the apartment complex didn't have power, and the casio that's next door to us did. So I walk around some more and over to the fence that seperates us from the casino parking lot and ask one of the bike guards what they know. They had actually seen a flash along with the boom and had thought it was fireworks. When I told them that we didn't have power, he told me that he had called the fire department out to investigate. I walked back to where several of my neighboors were standing and relayed this and by now we could hear the fire trucks.
So we walk back to the fence to watch the firemen walking around the car sales place behind us since we all thought the explosion had come from there. I guess they didn't find anything because they left fairly quickly. So my neighboors and I stood around talking in the parking lot (since there was light from Arizona Charlie's). Apparently one of my neighboors is an electrician since he was describing what he had thought had happened fairly accurately. Generally we all thought that a transformer had overloaded. With nothing better to do, we all stood around talking about the recent rash of car thefts out of the parking lot and other things. It was after we were standing there for a while that the power came back on (we had seen a NV Power truck drive by earlier), much to everyone's surprise, especially the electrician.
Its funny how after living here for eight months that I'm just starting to get to know my neighboors, I realize that I came into the complex with a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the area and now I'm just starting to appreciate how nice everyone is. Guess I'm not immune from sterotyping either. It reminded me a bit of being in Florida after hurricances because you suddenly get to know your neighboors very well when there's nothing better to do than sit in the dark and talk. In a while it can be kind of nice because it brings some feeling of community (or hatred if you were one of the damn people with noisy generators). But yeah, now I'm seriously awake. Adrenaline rushes tend to do that to you I guess. Its almost late enough to call back to the east coast, and I think that's what I will do.
So of course most of my neighboors are out and about since the explosion woke most people up or they had been awake already. I walked around a bit asking people what they had heard, and then walked around the complex a bit to see if I could figure out what happened. I quickly realized that only the back half of the apartment complex didn't have power, and the casio that's next door to us did. So I walk around some more and over to the fence that seperates us from the casino parking lot and ask one of the bike guards what they know. They had actually seen a flash along with the boom and had thought it was fireworks. When I told them that we didn't have power, he told me that he had called the fire department out to investigate. I walked back to where several of my neighboors were standing and relayed this and by now we could hear the fire trucks.
So we walk back to the fence to watch the firemen walking around the car sales place behind us since we all thought the explosion had come from there. I guess they didn't find anything because they left fairly quickly. So my neighboors and I stood around talking in the parking lot (since there was light from Arizona Charlie's). Apparently one of my neighboors is an electrician since he was describing what he had thought had happened fairly accurately. Generally we all thought that a transformer had overloaded. With nothing better to do, we all stood around talking about the recent rash of car thefts out of the parking lot and other things. It was after we were standing there for a while that the power came back on (we had seen a NV Power truck drive by earlier), much to everyone's surprise, especially the electrician.
Its funny how after living here for eight months that I'm just starting to get to know my neighboors, I realize that I came into the complex with a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the area and now I'm just starting to appreciate how nice everyone is. Guess I'm not immune from sterotyping either. It reminded me a bit of being in Florida after hurricances because you suddenly get to know your neighboors very well when there's nothing better to do than sit in the dark and talk. In a while it can be kind of nice because it brings some feeling of community (or hatred if you were one of the damn people with noisy generators). But yeah, now I'm seriously awake. Adrenaline rushes tend to do that to you I guess. Its almost late enough to call back to the east coast, and I think that's what I will do.