I haven’t posted in a few days because we have been busy hosting my mom, who visted for awhile. I picked her up at the airport about 2 UTC on Wednesday and dropped her off at the airport today at around 18 UTC. In the time in between (which I took off of work) we ate out a few times, watched a couple of DVDs, saw Amy’s school, saw my work, visited Pike’s Place Market and the Crossroads mall, visited a college roommate of my mom’s (and her family), visted two of my cousins (one from my mom’s side, one from my dad’s), drove around some, walked the dog a bunch, went to a couple of museums, saw a symphony performance, and went to the top of the Space Needle. It was a busy 4 days and 16 hours. And a good time for the most part. My mom is now heading back home to Ohio.
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A couple minutes ago it officially became 2007 (UTC). So Happy New Year’s everyone! Amy’s having a sleep over with one other girl from school tonight. She should arrive in about an hour. I’m not sure what exactly they have planned as it turns midnight in the various time zones tonight, but I’m guessing it involves the Disney Channel.
Last weekend and the weekend before, Amy had concerts. They both went well. There was supposed to be another concert in between, but Amy was sick for that one, so didn’t go. There are no concerts this weekend. No more practices either until January. Amy is having a sleepover at a friend’s house instead.
A little over two weeks ago we went to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. It was a blast. I had a lot of fun. The first half got a little slow at times, but the second half just kept cranking. If you happen to be in the mood for a Rock / Classical / Christmas fusion combined with a kick ass light show, then you definately should check out a TSO concert. They put on a very good show. There are still shows left on their current tour including in New Jersey, Connecticut, and DC to name a few areas where I know I have blog readers. Also, at the end the whole group sat outside at a table and stayed until everybody who wanted to meet them and get autographs and such had done so. It was late, and we were tired, but we waited in line and eventually Amy got to meet all of them and get a t-shirt and a program autographed by everybody. She was so excited. It was a good night. OK, we’re at Denny’s now, but I can see on my webcam that the power is back already. Hooray! OK, we’re at Denny’s now, but I can see on my webcam that the power is back already. Hooray! And here we were getting all smug. We had our power back after 18 hours. Meanwhile a quarter million folks still had nothing. So of course a few minutes ago the power went out again. In the distance we heard a huge pop as some transformer (or something) exploded. So it will probably be a bit before the power comes back again. We’re going out to get ice cream. Power came back on at 02:50:29 UTC (minus the time it took my computer to reboot). So it was out almost exactly 18 hours. Not too bad at all. Woo! It is good to have tricity again! Just a couple other notes about the storm though… In my last post I forgot to mention that on the way home, as I was crossing the bridge on the interstate in the poring rain, my wipers stopped working and I couldn’t see a thing. Not even two inches in front of me, let alone more. I drove the rest of the way across the bridge poking my head out the window every few seconds to make sure I was not going to hit anything, and going 20 miles per hour with my blinkers on. It was quite nerve-racking. In any case, I got to the other side of the bridge, got pulled over onto a side street, and then was able to fix my wipers… they had hit each other and gotten jammed such that playing with the controls inside the car hadn’t been able to free them. Then I went the rest of the way home. Tonight as I left work I knew I needed gas. I went past my normal exit by a bit to the next gas station. No electricity. Closed. Went back in the other direction where I had seen an open station… but with a huge line. I ended up waiting in line at the gas station almost an hour to fill up my tank. I just finally got home, an hour and a half after leaving work. But the lights are on. Woo! For those who may have been heading about the wind storm in this part of the country last night (article here)… we are indeed fine. Like about a million other people, we have no power. The fence separating the house we are renting from the neighbors also partially fell down, and we have some fallen and in danger of falling branches on trees, but that is about it. Apperantly this is the worst wind the area has seen since at least 1993, and perhaps 1962. Of course, after 2004 and 2005 in Florida, we just lift up our heads and go “Ha!” cause this is nothing compared to any of the storms that brushed us then. But it is still going to be a major pain. Judging by the last thumbnail from my webcam which was uploaded to abulsme.com the power went out within five minutes of 08:48:53 UTC this morning. Which means so far it has been out about 11 hours. The news is saying it might be around a week before everyone has power back. Right now Brandy’s biggest worry is our skink Mike, who is of course cold-blooded and will not do well at all if the temperature in the house falls much below 65 and stays there. And if we are without power for days, the temperature may well fall into the 40’s or below in the house before we’re done. The two remaining birds will also have difficulty in the cold. So we’ll have to resolve those things. Anyway, I got into work today… two hours late or so between talking to the neighbor about the fence and the tarffic caused by no traffic lights and one of the two bridges to Seattle from the Eastside being closed. I am now at work. Looks like about 50% made it in and the rest are trying to work from home if they have power. I’ve got some stuff to do, and will get onto it momentarily, but I thought I’d put the “we’re OK” update for anybody checking in. |
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