I was all prepared to go to work on Friday morning, but the weather had other plans for me. I woke up a little later than usual, and began my morning routine only to have the power go out on me. Not once, but twice. The first time happened while I was brushing my teeth and it came back on… but it was long enough for me to know that all my computers were turned off (except the laptop, of course). Once back on, I figured I would wait it out a little longer before starting a boot up of all my other systems. So, I took a shower and while drying off, the power went out again.

It’s a little creepy being in the bathroom with the door closed, toweling yourself off in the dark.

I waited for the power to come back on, and by this time, Julia was awake and wondering what happened. The time was getting short, and I had to leave. I hopped in the car and pulled out and got to the gate…

Which could not open without power.

I got on the phone and called work and told them that my gate was locked, I was without power, and there was nothing more I could do at this point. I went back upstairs and sat in darkness. I got bored, read a little bit, watched a movie using the remaining power on my laptop’s battery. (For the record, it was Superbad, which was awesome.) And then I got hungry. When you don’t have any power, one of the rules I recall from growing up was you never opened the fridge, because it automatically halves the remaining chill within it. I didn’t know how long we would be without power, and the fact that the food could go bad if we were without it for more than a day led me and Julia to seek food elsewhere.

We wandered across the street to the mall, which only had half power. The stores on one side of the mall were all closed, while the other side were open. It was really weird. But at least Fresh Choice was still open, so we could grab a salad and stuff. I had a Caesar salad with some garlic chicken, but the preservative they used made it taste extra oily and salty. It kind of ruined the salad for me a little bit. It also kind of reinforced why when I go to Fresh Choice, I typically avoid the salads because the lettuce usually tastes wilted or about to wilt. I groove on the soups, baked potatoes, and muffins… oh, and the sugar-free Jell-O with the sugar-free whipped topping. While we were there, my mom called to tell me that they had their power restored and would we like to come over there to enjoy their company while we enjoyed the lights being on and everything. It had been a long while since I’d seen them or sat down with them and talked, so we took them upon their invitation.

Around 5:30pm, the power came back on and we weren’t there to see it. I called my apartment manager a little before 7pm and he told me. By then, we’d already made dinner plans with my mom and sister, so we all went out to the Elephant Bar in Cupertino (we figured, far enough out of the area to still have some power, as some places were dark and closed). I highly recommend the lemon herb chicken with the garlic cheddar mashed potatoes and the steamed spinach. Man, it was awesome! We came home to a powered apartment, which was nice, because we put that power to good use, immediately.

The storm has reminded me to put together a disaster preparedness kit of some kind. We had like a few candles, but no flashlight or any supplies. I know it doesn’t happen often, but I would rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.

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Now playing on iTunes: Shifo – Real (acoustic)