>>>>It's not something I am going to get worked up over. Not only is the power back on after being out most of the past four days -- always fun in mid July -- I found a job. What a relief. VFP, SQL Server, C#.NET. Beautiful.
>>>
>>>Why no power ? Was it a widespread outage (horrible american word :-} )
>>>Congratulations on the job (No WPF though :-{) Will it entail much travelling (or even relocation) ?
>>>
>>>One of the companies I work for is currently beginning the process of looking for an additional developer working primarily with WPF - it will be interesting to see the type of applicant we get......
>>
>>I was out of town when it happened so didn't experience it directly. In fact I was almost all the way back home before I knew anything happened. 75 mph winds swept through Chicago at around 8 Monday morning, The electric company said 865,000 customers were without power, a record. The physical damage was not that great, just lost power and a lot of dead trees. Everywhere around here downed trees and branches are stacked by the side of the road. No loss of life, so we were a lot luckier than the the tornado and earthquake zones. Nobody died. It was actually somewhat interesting living unelectronically for a few days. When the sun went down that was it, that was the end of the day. No wonder everyone had 10 kids back then.
>
>Weird how we forget how much we depend on electricity. Every time I get a power cut and I've shut down whatever is neccessary I go down stairs, put on the electric kettle to make a cup of tea, and then sit watching it for fifteen minutes before it clicks that I'm wasting my time.
>
>I was in NYC years ago when they had that power outage that went on for 24hrs or so. Staying in an hotel on Central Park with a flight out to London in the morning. Was in the bar when the power went. They lit some candles and continued serving even though they couldn't charge stuff to the rooms. A whole street party developed on 57th. St behind the hotel. Had a great time 'till it was time to go to bed and I remembered I was on the 27th floor. Filled all my pockets with book matches and set off on the long trek.
>The electricity was still out when I left in the morning so I never got charged for the (substantial) restaurant and bar tab :-}
>

This was a surreal experience. You don't know how attached you are to electricity until you don't have it. The strangest time was after the sun went down. There was literally nothing to do. During the daylight hours I made the best of it, doing some studying and general reading, running errands at the few businesses that were open. It was like the aftermath of armageddon, everything closed. After dark I couldn't even do that. Out of ideas, you try for sleep.

Emily's boyfriend AJ told her that the McDonald's on Rollins Road was mobbed at dinner time on Monday. It was the only business of any type still open. It is adjacent to the old Wal-Mart location before they opened a new store a couple of miles away. AJ said half the W-M parking lot was full and the line went out the door. When you're hungry and you know the food in the fridge is dodgy, a Big Mac sounds great.

Monday evening I drove the girls up to their mom's place in Wisconsin. She had power. I had to stay here with the dogs but there was no reason for all of us to suffer. (Kennel? Forget it. They were booked by noon on Monday. Everyone with a pet and any sense dropped the pets off and got out of Dodge). Very strange driving back here, entire towns dark and closed down.

Fittingly, it was a full moon.