What a week
Like so many others in Ohio, our power went out in the high winds Sunday. The funny thing was that after duriyah bought a bicycle Saturday that was just a little too big, on Sunday we were seriously going to try to buy a new one and then go riding for a bit together. I'd seen the weather report saying that wind was expected, but the severity of wind predicted didn't really sink in. Luckily the bike shops were closed on Sundays, so we went home after grabbing a late lunch....
And on the way home there was more wind than we would've wanted to ride in, complete with corn leaves blowing across the freeway. The power was out when we got home -- no surprise, since the power to our house goes out for a few hours whenever the weather gets severe. The computers are on battery backup, and I shut them down shortly before the batteries gave out. We read together for a bit, then as it got darker we lit candles, then got decadent and pulled out some wine and cheese and crackers.
No big deal, and kinda fun... except that no power at our house means no water. There was still pressure in the pipes, but we tried to conserve that.
So when there was still no power Monday morning, things got interesting. Life without lights is no problem; life without computers is fine; but life without running water gets rather difficult....
Since the radios are all on AC power, we still didn't know the extent of the damage until getting in our cars. Since I normally work at home I had to pack up the laptop and go find a place to get on the net. I went for Cup O Joe instead of the usual Panera; turns out they'd just regained power 20 minutes before I arrived, and were still getting everything running. From there, my SMS posts to Twitter seem to be the best way to help summarize the next few days:
Mon 09:08am - powerless at home, but Cup O Joe has a speedy connection
Mon 12:09pm - power company's website is down. Not a promising sign.
At lunchtime I decided to leave Cup O Joe for someplace with lunch food. The nearby Panera was packed, and I ended up going to a drive-through. From there I thought maybe the Upper Arlington library might be a good place to go for net access without having to buy anything... but as I approached it I saw how hard-hit that neighborhood was, and it was no surprise to see zero cars in its parking lot. It looked like everybody in Upper Arlington was off work and school, mostly trying to clean up the mess of downed trees. From there I headed for the UA Panera, which turned out to be packed, so instead I went north to a Dublin Panera where my sister is manager. Also packed, but I found a spot and also got to chat with my sister, whose family was also without power and water.
Oh yeah, and throughout this whole day, when I did have a network connection I was limited in what I could do because my network security was apparently too tight and I couldn't login to any of my work computers.
Tue 08:17am - off to Canton for 2 days so I can get work done, not to mention get power and running water.
Tue 11:45am - made it to Canton, got power and net. Next, find a place to stay tonight, or else give up and just drive home tonight.
Tue 04:45pm - Got room reservation at a hotel with wifi. Puzzling over Dell rack rails. Power company website is finally up. 74 w/o power in our county.
Tue 10:18pm - figured out why VPN failed yesterday; re-enabled firewall rules. Dell rails simpler than first appeared. Got hot shower & food. Sleep soon.
Tuesday evening I had dinner with a co-worker and his wife (and their baby); they didn't have power either, though they did have water.
Wed 10:24am - Woohoo, our answering machine just picked up!!
Wednesday I also dropped off my car at the Saturn dealer for some maintenance, including replacing nearly-bald tires, one of which was having trouble keeping air.
I headed home to a lit house Wednesday evening.
Thu 08:48am - back home, with power and water. Now trying to get computers back up properly.
Things seem to be basically back to normal now, and we're trying to use this as a learning experience to plan for next time, which may not happen during a balmy September week.
(By the way, I've discovered that one use of Twitter is easy posting via my texting from phone, and easier posting from the iPod (or iPhone) than LJ has.)
And on the way home there was more wind than we would've wanted to ride in, complete with corn leaves blowing across the freeway. The power was out when we got home -- no surprise, since the power to our house goes out for a few hours whenever the weather gets severe. The computers are on battery backup, and I shut them down shortly before the batteries gave out. We read together for a bit, then as it got darker we lit candles, then got decadent and pulled out some wine and cheese and crackers.
No big deal, and kinda fun... except that no power at our house means no water. There was still pressure in the pipes, but we tried to conserve that.
So when there was still no power Monday morning, things got interesting. Life without lights is no problem; life without computers is fine; but life without running water gets rather difficult....
Since the radios are all on AC power, we still didn't know the extent of the damage until getting in our cars. Since I normally work at home I had to pack up the laptop and go find a place to get on the net. I went for Cup O Joe instead of the usual Panera; turns out they'd just regained power 20 minutes before I arrived, and were still getting everything running. From there, my SMS posts to Twitter seem to be the best way to help summarize the next few days:
Mon 09:08am - powerless at home, but Cup O Joe has a speedy connection
Mon 12:09pm - power company's website is down. Not a promising sign.
At lunchtime I decided to leave Cup O Joe for someplace with lunch food. The nearby Panera was packed, and I ended up going to a drive-through. From there I thought maybe the Upper Arlington library might be a good place to go for net access without having to buy anything... but as I approached it I saw how hard-hit that neighborhood was, and it was no surprise to see zero cars in its parking lot. It looked like everybody in Upper Arlington was off work and school, mostly trying to clean up the mess of downed trees. From there I headed for the UA Panera, which turned out to be packed, so instead I went north to a Dublin Panera where my sister is manager. Also packed, but I found a spot and also got to chat with my sister, whose family was also without power and water.
Oh yeah, and throughout this whole day, when I did have a network connection I was limited in what I could do because my network security was apparently too tight and I couldn't login to any of my work computers.
Tue 08:17am - off to Canton for 2 days so I can get work done, not to mention get power and running water.
Tue 11:45am - made it to Canton, got power and net. Next, find a place to stay tonight, or else give up and just drive home tonight.
Tue 04:45pm - Got room reservation at a hotel with wifi. Puzzling over Dell rack rails. Power company website is finally up. 74 w/o power in our county.
Tue 10:18pm - figured out why VPN failed yesterday; re-enabled firewall rules. Dell rails simpler than first appeared. Got hot shower & food. Sleep soon.
Tuesday evening I had dinner with a co-worker and his wife (and their baby); they didn't have power either, though they did have water.
Wed 10:24am - Woohoo, our answering machine just picked up!!
Wednesday I also dropped off my car at the Saturn dealer for some maintenance, including replacing nearly-bald tires, one of which was having trouble keeping air.
I headed home to a lit house Wednesday evening.
Thu 08:48am - back home, with power and water. Now trying to get computers back up properly.
Things seem to be basically back to normal now, and we're trying to use this as a learning experience to plan for next time, which may not happen during a balmy September week.
(By the way, I've discovered that one use of Twitter is easy posting via my texting from phone, and easier posting from the iPod (or iPhone) than LJ has.)