Perhaps a little power outage is just what the world needs.

It was dusk when the power went out in our neighbourhood last night. At first, the kids were excited when I started lighting just about every candle in the house. But once the last rays of daylight were gone and the house took on the shadows of the dark, the novelty began to wear off. They stayed close: from downstairs, where we’d finished a cold picnic dinner, to upstairs to put on pyjammies. We moved in a pack.

I felt a little like Lady Liberty walking up the stairs, carrying two large candlesticks, lighting the way. The kids stayed close as I moved from bedroom to bathroom, lighting tealights and trying to put them safely out of the two-year-old’s reach. Then I lit the big iron candelabra and placed it in the decorative nook set into the wall on the landing. Five thick pillar candles shed a warm glow. Immediately the girls ran into their room and brought blankets and pillows, pretending to have a sleepover on the small patch of carpet in front of those five pillar candles. I watched them circle in on the light.

My children often show me the very basics of our humanness. The not-yet-redeemed parts: how we are innately selfish, greedy and impatient. But also how we can play and pretend. How we move and make up stories. How we love to be held close.

I watched my children, their inner GPS honing in on the light. That’s where they stayed. Nothing desirable about going out—beyond the landing and the light—where it seemed cold, dark and scary.

So there we were, camping out on the carpet in front of five pillar candles.

It made me think about Light. How it’s attractive, magnetic, beautiful.

But then I was reminded of that USA Today article that said: “Majorities of young people in America describe modern-day Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay.”

That doesn’t sound like the Light anyone would want to circle closer to. Did we miss something?

In the absence of power, last night, our light was comforting, warm, inviting. That’s where we gathered.

It struck me that, with great power, we can create great light. But is it beautiful, warm, comforting, inviting? Is it magnetic? Perhaps the Light in that US Today article looks too much like the big, almighty fluorescent light. Powerful, yes, but pretty obnoxious. And, in my aesthetic opinion, fluorescent light is plain ugly.

On Friday nights during our messianic shabat meal, I light two candles and say, amongst other things, these words: As we light these candles to give light to all who are in our home, light our lives with the great Love of your son, Jesus.

And we repeat the words of Jesus who said: Let your light shine before (people) in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I believe the Light Jesus was talking about was the kind that soothes anxious hearts and draws people close. Light that should be safe. Inviting. Beautiful. Magnetic.

Maybe we all need a little power outage some time. I know I did.

Reflect:
One word: light
Activity: Think of the kind of light you want to be today … and every day during this season of waiting.
Prayer: Lord, make my light warm, inviting and comforting. May the broken and beautiful find rest in the Light that is in me.

For two weeks it rained, and rained and rained. The sunshine was no where to be found. This did not mean to much until Sunday night when the bottom fell out but not just for a few minutes it was hours it rained and the lightening was so bad none of us could sleep. So we were all up all night long praying and hoping it would pass. Finally, at 5 AM it did and I fell fast asleep. I found out at 8:30 that schools were delayed then cancelled due to the flooding conditions in our area. My 7 year old slept until 9:30. It was unreal. I have lived here all my life and I have never seen anything like this. It rained all day Monday and stormed then our power finally went out. I realized when my 3 year old was cranky that she had a 103 temp. I started to panic because the roads around here were closed and our power was out and it was pouring rain. I cried out to God. I gave her tylenol and motrin and finally the fever started to come down. Our power came back on and I watched her through the night. The next day I made my way over to our pediatricians office through many round about ways and after waiting a long time found out my baby had an ear infection. This is our story but so many people lost their homes or cars or their life. It was very sad and eye opening at the same time. My heart and prayers go out to all those who lost something whether it was their home or their life.  The Flood of 2009 in Georgia will not be forgotten.

If your home’s power is not secured, you seriously need to reconsider.  According to the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), 53% of respondents admitted that they know little or nothing about standby generators.  Based on that fact we feel it’s important to address the issue and hopefully educate you on the importance of standby generators.

Imaging spending thousands of dollars on your home networking, security, and a home theater setup, then a week later a storm knocks down your power for five days.  During this time, you are unable to use computers and telephones, not to mention you are vulnerable to theft or worse.  In addition you are going to be scrambling to save food before it goes bad.  Having a standby generator installed prior to the incident would have negated all of these issues that have become a reality.  In Colorado, we live in a dry climate with many thunderstorms on a frequent basis, making it more prudent to have a generator system in your home.  As with anything else, a generator is an investment, but an important one nevertheless.

Generac Guardian Series 8KW standby generator

What is a standby generator?  A standby generator is a self-contained enclosure installed outside of the home in a similar fashion to a central air conditioning unit.  It is wired into the home’s electrical system then powered via propane or natural gas, much like a barbeque grill.  When the power grid in your city goes down or your home’s power is killed from lighting, the standby generator provides immediate energy to the home so the security system, telephone system, computers, heating and air conditioning, home network, refrigerator, and other electrical appliances can continue to run as if nothing happened.  A standby generator can be installed in both new and existing construction homes.

Think you’re not vulnerable?  According to the Electric Power Research Institute, about 3,500,000 people in the U.S. lose power each week.  Another one in three consumers is worried that severe weather will affect their community within the next year.  And for these reasons, automatic standby generators are becoming a common request by homeowners analogous to central air conditioning in the 1980’s.

The truth is virtually everyone is interested in having a standby generator installed in their home and for many, price is a concern.  The good news is prices have come way down and there are now more choices than ever before to ensure the right generator can be matched to your home and families energy requirements.  Standby generator prices have dropped 13%, making it an attractive and affordable option for anxious homeowners.

A few common consequences of not having a standby generator:

• Food spoilage
• Loss of air conditioning and heating systems
• Loss of computers and phones
• Mold growth
• Inability to use at-home medical devices
• Security system failure
• Damage to photos or other media stored on computer systems
• Waiting out the power outage in the dark increases security risk

In short, every homeowner wants to be prepared for unexpected weather, unstable power grids, or even terrorist threats.  At the same time, the average homeowner has also become more dependent on multiple computers and TVs, larger refrigerators, and sophisticated whole house electronic systems.  The same is true for home-based businesses, valuable electronic data protection, and digital assets that simply cannot be replaced once damaged or destroyed.

Quality Audio Video
Denver, Colorado 80111
www.GoQAV.com

Last weekend, in anticipation of a power outtage -I’d say everyday with the power cut off is clue enough- I went out with my hosts to buy dinner because they have an electric stove that is completely useless when the power’s gone and so to date, there had been some evenings without power and thus without supper.

I got to pick what we had for supper and feeling a tad nostalgic, I went for pizza. We get into Debonairs, the pizza place, and I order 2 large pizzas for a group of 4 people. I wasn’t sure it’d be enough as back in L-town, my sister and I typically ordered 2 large pizzas for ourselves for supper. Now we didn’t normally eat it all, but we always came close.

So back to Debonairs, we wait for about 15 mins and then go up to pick up our pizza’s and the attendant hands me these two smallish, maybe almost medium size boxes. I was certain that he had mixed up my order.

My friend quickly came to my rescue before I made a fool of myself and let me know that here in Zambia, that was a large. Now remember, that these 2 pizzas would be shared by 4 people. I rushed quickly to the deli at the gorcery store, Spar and bought other fringe items for our meal because the pizzas would not be enough. I also made sure that I downed a glass or two of coke before I began eating, that way my body would belive it had eaten a lot.

It is interesting to me that even in such small things, it would all be so very different.

The power was out AGAIN today. From just before noon till 7.30 pm.  What on earth????

I wish I was making this stuff up. Honestly, I do. The good thing however, is that I was out for most of the afternoon. The bad thing, we’ve only just started to prepare dinner and I am hungry!

When I first got my phone, I was a bit apprehensive about whether I would take to it. It was the cheapest phone. As I said previously, nothing fancy, a brick nokia with a black and nothing (as it’s not really white) screen that had maybe 3 lines of text on it.

My regular phone is a smartphone that serves as my wingman and so this new phone was a rough re-introduction to my very first (archaic) experiences with a cell phone.

Anyhow, determined to accept this phone as mine, I set about understanding how it works and blah blah blah.

Guess what I discovered just before the power went out (the first time)? This previously considered “brick” housed a fairly solid, really bright flashlight on the end of it.

So while my phone may not have microsoft office, or play music from windows media player, or allow me to check my email whenever I please, it gives me light when the power’s gone and that may trump its shortcomings.

I have got to give credit to Nokia. Whoever thought of putting a flashlight in a cell phone?

I just got done with the first team yesterday which meant that my uber-comfortable stay at the hotel was up….at least for the next 4 weeks or so. I am staying at a friend’s house right now. And as it to be expected, drama ensues.

I get to my friend’s place and she’s looking after 4 kids of another friend who had lost a family member and was gone for the funeral. 4 boisterous and opinionated children, the last of which, the 2.5-year old was headstrong and stubborn. I decided that a good movie might help facilitate a calmer evening. We all then  trucked to the mall to Blockbusters to get a movie. It took us probably an hour to select movies and get all the paperwork sorted. But we did it. We got back in the car and headed home, satisfied with our selections. All of us that is except the 2.5yr old, who I think was just pissed all night.

Anyway, once we get home, we realize that we..no make that I, must have lost one of the 2 yr old’s shoes as I hauled her back to the car- she was fussy and I wasn’t having it. At home, I figured, pop the dvd in and all will be well. As we try to pick out the one that we’d watch, the lights went out. No power for the rest of the night and we couldn’t watch the dvd on my laptop because we had drained the battery while the power was on. I know, smart. We decided to do the next best thing, and all went to bed.

I woke up this morning and bathed out of  a bucket. My shortest bathing experience this year to date. I then used the water left-over from my bath (clean un-used water) to flush the toilet by bucket. Apparently, I still have the touch, 7 years in the US, did nothing to hurt my flushing arm.

NOTE: The flushing arm perfected in Nigeria at the age of 5. When I lived in Zambia, at school and with my parents, we always had plumbing.

I am regaining respect for the conveniences of my life that I had grown accustomed to.

Thankfully, we didn’t get the ice as badly as other parts of the state, or as bad as Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They were declared in a legit state of emergency – not good. But, we do still have 10,000 people without power in the state today. It’s so bad for some (due to the extreme cold and the fact that the wind chill is dropping the temperature by 30 degrees in some place) that they’re sleeping in shelters to keep from freezing to death in their homes that are without power and heat.

Send some positive vibes to those of us in New England and hope that this isn’t a glimpse of what our winter is going to be for the next few months.

Last night my power definitely went poof at around 9pm.  First I thought my new amazing heater blew a fuse, but nope it was my whole building.  Actually, it was this whole side of the loop.  But, building 11 and all of the buildings on the other side of the loop only got a slight glitch.  So, I went to the kitchen and talked with my corridormates a bit, a snowball fight of like…300 people were outside and that was fun to watch, I probably would have went out if I hadn’t already gotten ready for the night.  Theeen at around 12 Alex got his laptop and we watched Chapelle Show.  Yeah…lol.  According to the girls in class today it didn’t come back until around 7am this morning.

Speaking of class.  I went out to catch the bus and it never came.  Like there could have been three bus 2’s that went by before my actual bus 2 came.  I was kind of sad about that.  So, I was late for class…but whatever.

After class I got food with Suyin and Per and then we went to the movies.  It’s weird, you like get “assigned seats” or something.  Like a play, definitely different.  And the Uppsala theatre is so tiny.  The chairs are kinda squashed to the back wall only a few, and yeah.  It was strange, but okay haha.  We went to see Twilight.  I’ve never read the books, I’ve heard from many people that they’re amazing, but people who think like me have called it a “really bad fanfiction”.  Well, the movie was at least entertaining, though extremely corny at parts.  I chuckled at times I shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t too bad I guess.

Then I went to catch the bus home and I saw this cute little old lady walking towards me.  I tried to avert my eyes so she wouldn’t come asking me questions in Swedish.  Well, she came anyway.  Haha~  So she asked me something that I completely didn’t understand so I’m just like, “Jag talar inte svenska” (I don’t speak Swedish) and she goes, “Huh?” then realizes what I said and starts chuckling trying to ask again in Swedish, and this other lady answered for her.  After about 30 seconds, the old lady is still standing really close to me.  And she looks up at me and starts talking in Swedish some more.  So, I try to listen more carefully and I basically had a really broken conversation with her.  I could get most of what she was saying, but I didn’t know the words or phrases to answer, that’s always my problem.  But, I still tried with my broken Swedish and mix of random English. Haha~  Oh, not to mention the accidental German before I realized I was saying the German word for something and not Swedish…so that was…amusing, but at least I could quickly change that.  But yeah, our conversation consisted of her asking where I was from, and I said USA, and she was all, “Oh you understood me?” in Swedish…and I understood that too so I kept nodding and going “ja ja ja” and she kept asking the question until Im like. “*BIG NOD* ja!” she was so cute.  And then she said more stuff in Swedish like if i spoke English, which is an of course haha.  But she said, “English…I speak…English….little little.”  She was so adorable~! Haha.  And then she said it was cold and I was like in broken swedish again something like, “Yeah it’s cold.  I live in Ohio. Ohio is cold too.” Then she asked if it snowed, and I was like oooh yeah. Oh my goodness.  But, it was so bad SO BAD for me haha~  But I at least tried.  And yeah.  So she asked how long I’ve been here…I think.  And  said 3 months and she was amazed and then asked when do I go back to the US…I think.  So I answered June, and she was all amazed and stuff. Oh man I couldn’t get over how she was all cute and amused.  I’m actually really happy she spoke with me, it really made me feel better, like I’ve at least learned a tiny bit, even if it’s really crappy broken Swedish.  She was so cheerful when she had to leave so she was all like, “Oh, bus five is here!” and then in english she like bounced away with, ” byyye bye!” haha so cute!

So yes, I was pretty proud of my Swenglish skills.  Though after I said I didn’t speak any Swedish, she still kept asking everything in Swedish, which amused me.  But I am happy I could answer.  I guess I can understand a bit more than I thought…

Amusing times!

Conculsions I Have Come To Today:

• Final Fantasy X is an old game, as far as video games go (a whopping six years!). I am also a nerd for playing it and I really don’t care.
• Exes are not nice people. End of story.
• When you put six girls (plus two of their boyfriends) into a three-bedroom dorm, drama will ensue.
• I miss home. Like crazy whoa.
• Kids doing illegal shit in the dorms never set off the fire alarms. It’s always some innocent activity like making popcorn.
• I should seriously reevaluate my money-spending habits.

Things I Like Today

• Playing Final Fantasy. And being a nerd. Bite me.
• The radio station. Duh.
• The fact that Lipstick Jungle may not be canceled.
• My friends back home.
• My friends here.
• Mocha Fraps & pizza that isn’t from Liberty or Gilroy’s.
• Thanksgiving Break!!!!
• The non-denominational season between autumn and spring (because I don’t celebrate winter.)

Things I Have Distaste For Today

• “Scheduled power outtages” = screw you McConnell.
• Working at Abercrombie. It’s really not that bad. But it’s boring, it pays almost nothing, and I feel terribly unproductive at the end of my shift. I need to see results, damn it. I mean, besides having “shirts folded to standard.” (And P.S. I want a better discount.)
• Roommate Battle Royales that turn into Let’s-All-Cry-And-Share-Our-Feelings fests.
• Exes. Because they aren’t nice people. On that note, my mother and I have a theory. Our thought is that you should do that Eternal Sunshine thing and just have your exes erased from your memory. Because they aren’t going to be nice to you afterward. Oh, no. It doesn’t matter how badly they screwed up your relationship or how incredibly nice you are to them. No, they are going to find every excuse to behave badly, and find some way to blame it on you. Ah, well.
• When you offer to contribute to the someone’s gas for taking you home with them for Thanksgiving (and you’re on their way) and they assume you’re buying ALL the gas. Riiiight.
• Class.

So you now you have my rants, raves, general thoughts, clues, and announcements. Whatever. I’m tired. I’m burnt out on school, and on life. Five months until I turn nineteen, ladies and gentlemen. Eighteen is nothing like I thought it would be, nothing like what it should have been. Bad decisions were made early on that shaped it. Nineteen will be good though. It has to be.

of course a giant storm would knock power out during the hottest couple of days of the year.

i really wish we had our own solar grid right now.

     Today certainly started out ordinary enough;  turned on us a bit though.  While driving my kids to school, a volunteer emergency service vehicle went flying by as i pulled off to the side of the road.  Later this afternoon, i found out that a young amish man was injured by an exploding propane tank that hit him in the head.  He needs our prayers.

     Then, after the kids had been in school for an hour or so…we lost our electric.  Then it came back on…then it went off again and stayed off.  All thoughout town it was the same.  The schools had a hard time of it.  Fast food restaurants weren’t so fast…in fact…they weren’t open! 

       Some of our school buildings are old and dark.  The high school dismissed because the upper levels of the school were completely dark.  They tried to hang in for a while to see if it would come back on.  It did…15 minutes after they dismissed the students.

     In this day and age, everything is run by power.  My husband couldn’t work here at home on his computer business.  I couldn’t do alot of housecleaning…nor could i work on my blog or any of my other electronic writings.  (Pen and paper still work though…believe it or not )

      This experience is a reminder though for all of us that we need to take precautions for unexpected emergencies.  Have extra water on hand, cell phones (if you have them), food that can be prepared without heat or electric, gasoline, flashlights, kerosene, all manner of emergency items.  I am glad to say that i was mostly prepared.  Yeah for me!

      On the other hand, i realized how really paralyzed we are as a nation when we loose our power.  The town becomes almost frozen.  The schools don’t know how to teach the children without the computers and all of the electronic devices we have come to depend on.  I admit, i found it more than a little frustrating myself.  We could all benefit from some back to basics here and there in our lives.

     My parents have it going on.  LOL….people think they are nuts to live out in the woods with a generator to power their electric…a hand pump for their water….wood stove for heat…..but let me tell you…when you are without the things that we all take for granted in 2007….it might not be such a bad idea!!!

Yes, I did in fact eat a hunk of cheese, two pepperoni sticks (think Slim Jims) and a triple scoop of chocolate ice cream for dinner.

Horrified?  Me, too.  But don’t worry. That’s NOT what I fed my kid.  He had leftover fish, some rice, and green beans with a healthy dose of ketchup (it counts as a second vegetable – so said Ronald Reagan).

Actually, maybe Snags only had the aroma of dinner for his dinner.  It looks as if he hardly ate anything, perhaps a bite of ketchup, before he declared that he was “full” and wandered off to play the Star Wars Lego game on XBox.

My husband, having finished all of the rotten steak he cooked a while back, ate leftover spaghetti and ratatouille before wandering off to a physical therapy appointment for his bum knee.  An appointment that he had canceled last night and rescheduled for tonight because last night he needed to go to the chiropractor for his bum back.  He wondered whether the PT exercises for his knee had caused the back pain, but his Chiropractor and I both voted no.  The sudden back pain was more likely tied to the hours spent with his body curled into the shape of a poorly written letter, perhaps a C or a U, or maybe an S, as he played one too many games of XBox over the past week with Snags.

So all this left me with cabinets full of healthy healthy food everywhere, but not a drop to eat.  Or something like that.  And I was too lazy to cook anything and too lazy to reheat anything, so I took the easy way out.  Besides, if I didn’t binge on this junk tonight, it would still be around here tomorrow, and I’d end up eating it then instead of starting to eat healthier, like I’d planned.  And also, I deserved this junk (that’s a lie I tell myself; don’t call me on it). 

After all, the day just started off bad.  As I was about to step into the shower this morning the power went out!  Which meant that after my shower I couldn’t dry or style my hair.  And I couldn’t iron my clothes for work.  So I had to let my hair air dry and hope for the best which didn’t turn out very best looking.  And then I had to find something to wear that looked like I’d only slept in it half the night.

I had to use the emergency release to open the garage door so I could back the car out  rather than it drive through the door itself.  Then I had to park the car and get out again to close the garage door and lock it, by hand.  Because, folks, the door won’t respond to the remote when the power’s out!  Also, closing a garage door by hand isn’t that easy when you are kind of short and have to resort to jumping to reach the door handle over your head.  See what technology has done to us?  We love it when it works but oh how it makes us me bitter when it doesn’t.

Next came the battle of the traffic as stop lights near and far were also out and drivers suddenly forgot how to drive when the lights weren’t working.  Here’s a hint:  treat the intersections as you would a four-way stop.  Got it?  Thanks.

Then… THEN, I arrived downtown to find the anime convention had arrived.  Really, I have nothing against those that want to “celebrate all anime, manga, and all facets of Asian pop culture!”   But OH!  How that convention MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because the conventioneers dress up as their favorite cartoon or video game character then parade around town crossing against lights and stopping in the middle of the street to adjust their fish net stockings, or their wig, or pick up the sword or the dungeons and dragons cards they’ve just dropped.  Many of them have wire antennae on their heads, or devil horns, or tinfoil eyeglasses, or bunny tails fastened to their back sides and I guess I just don’t understand any of it. 

Every year I moan and wail and complain to my friends and co-workers about this convention and every year I swear to myself that NEXT YEAR I will be forewarned and take a vacation day the day the convention comes to town so I won’t have to witness any of this and spare myself the agony of watching geeky teens and young adults dress up in ridiculous costumes and think they are suddenly cool. But then here I am fuming again because nobody warned me this was coming to town today and I got stuck in the freak show.

Mostly I think I get so irritated because the costumed, uh, people take up all the parking spots in the garage where I pay $150 a month to park and at that price I really expect to find a parking spot without having to resort to creating my own in a fire lane. 

A friend suggested we should eat lunch at an outdoor café and laugh at those in costume, but I declined because watching all of this on purpose would surely sour my mood even more.  And you see, I want to be in a good mood this evening because I am going to the midnight release party for the final Harry Potter book tonight! 

Okay yes, I realize that sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, me whining on about the anime fans gathering together, all the while planning to attend a fan event myself.  HOWEVER, I am not dressing up for the Potter release.  In fact, I am only going because if I don’t, some 8 year old will, and then he or she will be interviewed on the TV news tomorrow morning and will spoil the entire book for me.  So I have to get the book first thing tonight then take it home where I shall lock myself in the house and not turn on the TV or radio until I’ve finished reading it! 

To make matters worse, I had a long day on a conference call where the speaker on the phone kept cutting out and the people on the other end couldn’t hear me.  So I spent most of my day asking “Can you hear me now?  How about now?” and feeling like the star of a Verizon Wireless commercial (albeit one harboring much anger from a power failure and an anime convention).  Which reminds me, I ought to call and tell Verizon how I acted out their commercial for hours on end.  Because if they get sudden new business tonight or tomorrow from folks who mention a long, bad conference call, then I think they owe me a referral fee or at least a free month on my cell phone service.

So all that stress, you see, led me to eat the junk in the first place.  And now as I sit here stuffed, I feel like I’m one of the actresses in a Lean Cuisine commercial, the one where various women are describing what they had for dinner – a bowl of popcorn, a freezer burned popsicle, or in my case, two pepperoni sticks, a hunk of cheese and some ice cream – only to hear Miss “I Ate Healthy” spout off about how she ate the chicken with roasted vegetables and penne pasta with ginger sauce.  But oh!  It was a Lean Cuisine!

So I’m left kicking myself and thinking I might have to unbutton these pants and how I need to go running only it’s still 90 degrees out and I’d get all sweaty and have to take another shower and get dressed again so I can head over to the local Barnes & Noble to get my copy of  Harry Potter.  Or  maybe I ought to put it all off until tomorrow because I think if you exercise on the day you start over with healthy eating and a good book in hand, that’s doubles or maybe triples the points you earn.  Collect enough points and you can eat more pepperoni sticks.