Well, that was, um... fun.
I was home, IMing Jeff at 4:11pm yesterday, when the AC just sort of fizzled and then cut out. I figured it was just a hot day and the local grid was overloaded. So I called 311 and waited a couple minutes. I finally got an operator and informed him that my power was out. "We're experiencing techinical difficulties throughout the system," he said.
"ConEd or 311?" I asked.
"We're experiencing techinical difficulties throughout the system," he repeated. I tried a couple more times, but got the same reply.
I threw on an orange polo shirt and some Gap cargos and walked outside to see what was going on, and when I saw that it was not just my block, I started to get weirded out... then my cellphone failed and I started hearing people say how widespread it was. I used a payphone on the corner to call my mom (1-800-COLLECT. Like I had quarters?) who informed me that she, in Toledo, Ohio, was also without power. That was when I started to freak. And the fact that I got cut off from mom and couldn't get her back on the line didn't help.
I didn't know what else to do, so I went to the hotel and helped out there all night. Our back-up power generator was working - but then it failed. What a crazy night to spend in a hotel. Walking up 10 flight of pitch-black stairs with just a flashlight is not my idea of a fun time, and I hope to never repeat it. Yes, I stayed in the hotel. I figured I'd rather deal with 10 flights of dark stairs than 20 blocks of pitch-black Manhattan streets.
And I stayed at work until about 7pm today. For me, in the hotel, I would have to say that the blackout was more trying on the staff of the hotel than 9-11-01 was. On 9-11, we had power, we had internet, we had (some) phones, we had information of what was going on, and even though we were terrified, we knew what was happening. Last night, though, we had no information, no control, no knowledge and we were having problems with as basic of things as water. And some other stuff that for proprietary work reasons, I can't really discuss here in the blog. Let me just tell you it was not fun.
Good God, I need something to eat. And a cocktail. Or 8920.
Posted by Jon at August 15, 2003 08:10 PM | TrackBack