In and Out

I'm back . . . for now.  And boy, do I have a story to tell you!

As explained previously, my electricity went out early Monday evening.  It was out for six whole days, coming back on just after 7 P.M. last night.  My mother and I braved cold overnight temperatures, two working gas stove burners instead of four, no heat, no electric oven or microwave, no cable or telephone service, and no connection with the outside world except for battery-operated radio receivers that stayed tuned to the local news radio station.  

The cold bothered my mother more than the darkness; the opposite was true for me.  I spent a couple of evenings at a local coffeehouse reading a book while charging my cell phone; I urged my mother to get out of the house and join me, but she didn't feel like it, and she was mostly able to stay warm at home.  (It didn't get really cold until toward the end.)  When not at the coffeehouse, I sat in total darkness save for a flashlight and began listening to The Beatles Anthology collections, each collection spread out over two CDs and each collection the equivalent of three vinyl LPs - one CD a night to save battery power on my portable stereo. I made it through all six CDs, of course.  I was on my way to listening to entire box sets from Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Crosby, Stills and Nash - not to mention the Beatles' Live at the BBC (again, the equivalent of a triple vinyl album) - before the electricity finally came back on.

The ordeal may not be over, though.  There's another storm headed up the East Coast for Wednesday, and while it won't be as bad as Sandy, it could trigger a second electrical blackout on my block. :-( And, there's still no cable service at my house (this was written at my local library), a factor possibly caused by the fact that some wires are down in the avenue behind my house, along with a diagonally leaning utility pole and a splintered pole bent over backwards.  (Three adjacent trees fell simultaneously on these very wires.)  I stress, though, that this may not be the reason for my ongoing cable outage, but I hope it gets resolved soon, if only because my affected neighbors are still in the dark.

Anyway, after having gone through all that and with still a cable outage and possibly more than that to go through, I don't plan to return to my blog before Friday, November 9; I already have a Music Video Of the Week lined up before then.  The election? I don't want to talk about that any more, I'm getting sick of hearing about it and I'm just glad Nate Silver gives President Obama an 86 percent chance of winning tomorrow (yes!), and that it will all be over by Wednesday . . . and that the next storm will be over by Thursday.  Don't worry about me, I'm fine, and so is my mother.  I'll be back. 

I didn't have that much to do last night after the power came back on because of the cable outage.  So I listened to the Beatles' Live at the BBC.  Disc 1. :-) Then I took a hot bath.  I missed those.

I turn 47 today. Happy birthday to me! :-)