Holy shit!
I can’t believe this! Yesterday, at about 4:10PM, the Detroit area, as well as other areas from here to the East Coast. I was sitting at work, programming away, as we approached our Friday (today) cut-over for co-managing network operations. I am responsible for getting up the NetOps website, within Ford. Well, the cut-over, obviously, wasn’t going to happen on Friday (today). My computer, as well as the lights and all the computers around me, flickered, buzzed, hummed, and made all sorts of noises. No big deal, we thought, but after about 2-3 minutes, we started to get concerned. I heard my phone ringing, and was surprised, as I didn’t know the phones were still analog. The ring was different, as it wasn’t the fancy ring I have on it. It was Michelle. She was calling to tell me that she lost power at home, in Shelby Township! WOW! At work, I let everyone know that not only did Dearborn not have power, but Shelby Township, nearly 40 miles away, didn’t have power, either! Quickly, others started to get a hold of their family and friends, and it was soon discovered that power was out all the way to the East Coast! Some people still had their laptops and internet connections (batteries). They dashed to national news websites, but the only thing they had was a tiny headline about power black/brownouts. They said that details were coming soon. We waited, nothing. We only knew what we already knew, no power! After about an hour and a half, Yogi and I decided to head home, and fight the traffic. It took me about 1 hour and 45 minutes to make it home. It normally takes about an hour, or a little more. The only problem, I was near empty. I didn’t want to run out, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to fill-up. Yogi followed me all the way to 696, just in case he needed to take me home or to his house. Nice guy, that Yogesh guy! Thanks, Yogi!
Part 2
After I got home, the blackout continued! Michelle and I actually had a good time last night. We hung out at home, got the lantern (battery) out, lit some candles, and visited with Chris and Bahia. Bahia came here first, with Zoe, and then we went over there and played. We had some Labatt’s Blue, BS’d, and hung out. It’s always nice to have friends nearby. Chris was supposed to go to Las Vegas today, and we were concerned that there wouldn’t be power or flight activity so soon. His flight was to leave at 8:10AM. Anyway, we went home, and were still kind of bored and restless…
Let’s go to our brother’s house!
We knew that if we went to Dino’s house, we’d find something exciting there! Even though we were tired, we wanted to make the trip, in the darkness, to Dino’s. It was awesome! As soon as we got there, Dino was in the kitchen, pistol on his hip, one in the pipe! We ate some ramen noodles (Dino and I), and Michelle had some oatmeal! Josh got up, or out of his room, and he joined us. It was just a good time there, like the good ole’ days! The four of us, like it used to be when I lived there and Michelle would visit/live there with me! We laughed, joked, talked about getting our own gun(s), and looked at the moon and the sky with Dino’s telescope, since the city lights were off and the sky looked as if we were 200 miles north…nice and beautiful…and QUIET! We ended up being EXHAUSTED, and headed home!
Goodnight!
We got home and crashed, almost immediately! We didn’t set an alarm. We decided that we wouldn’t run the 8 miles earlier in the day. We pretty much knew that we wouldn’t be running the 8 miles this week. We’d prepare, physically, and mentally, for the 16 mile run on either Saturday or Sunday.
BBQ:
We have been planning a BBQ with the Dutkiewicz side of the family for a few weeks now. The power outage had us worried. We really wanted to “host” something over here at Casa de Filias. As of last night, we let Aunt Marlene know that we wouldn’t be having it, but earlier today, power came back on, and the BBQ is ON! Let’s get it ON! Also earlier in the day: We went to my parents’ house to visit and see how they were doing, especially my dad. We had to drive across 24 mile road as 23 mile road was all jacked up w/ construction. We saw a McDonald’s open, but balked. As we approached my parents’ house, we say that power was on from Hayes eastward. We were pretty certain that they’d have power…and they did! Just as we pulled up, their street got power back and their phones got fixed (phones had issues there for some reason). My dad made us a Greek village salad with a few pieces of French bread. After that, Michelle napped, while I looked at amazing pictures from their recent one month trip to Greece. They went for Peter’s wedding, and to visit. Dino and Danielle also went there for two weeks. The pictures were awesome! I want my mom to get them made into photo CD for me, as I’d like to have them (there are many family pictures in there that are priceless, especially my grandmother!) and put them online! I napped, as well. At about 3pm, we decided to head home. On our way home, we saw that power was on along the M59 corridor. We ran into Costco and bought a few things, about 300 bux worth of a few things! We got a nice folding table and six folding chairs for our Saturday BBQ! We also got a few other things, like the phone showerhead that Demo has and a cool laser level! I just have to figure out how to use the laser level well!
16 miles:
We have decided to run our 16 miles on Sunday, as Saturday is going to be a hot and humid scorcher, like it is here today! Sunday’s high temperature is only going to be 79 degrees. Let’s hope we don’t get too thrashed on Saturday, and even if we do, we’ll run on Sunday evening!
No work:
Oh yeah, almost forgot! We didn’t go to work today. We were told last night, via WWJ, that the authorities didn’t want people out and about if they could help it!