Power Outage

September is usually uneventful here in Ohio...as is pretty much every month. However, September of 2008 will go down in infamy as being the windiest on record. On Sunday, September 14, the remains of Hurricane Ike blew through our area and knocked out power to about 330,000 people in the Dayton area. In other words, everybody.

I have never, ever heard the wind howl like this. Ever. And it wasn't just one strong gust every now and then. I'm talking a constant wind of nearly 50 miles per hour, even gusting as high as 75. This went on for hours. The wind started about 10am that day, we lost power at 1pm and it finally stopped howling at about 6pm.

Thankfully, my house was spared any wind damage, save for my big satellite dish which was blown out of alignment. Mother and father's house was similarly undamaged.

Fig. 1: Misaligned Satellite Dish.

It is not that big of a deal because it wouldn't align properly where it was anyhow so I moved it back to the bird feeder post nearer the ground.

Lots of trees suffered in the storm, which was the major cause of the power outages.

Fig. 2: Tree limbs in my neighbor's yard.

The trees belonging to my backyard neighbor were the hardest hit. The wind stripped the tree nearly bare and tore off a number of limbs.

Fig. 3: A limb in my parent's backyard.

We were without power for nearly seven (7!) days. Most of the line crews from around here had been dispatched to the ravaged areas of Texas after the hurricane proper took out electric down there. No one expected such a savage windstorm to come through our area.

Fig. 4: The view between my parent's
house (left) and mine (right).

We didn't expect the power to be out for so long. Thankfully, we had some rather cool days after the storm blew through, so I left the windows open. Sleeping with the windows open all night was actually pretty terrific!

At the second day I had to clean out my fridge and freezer.

Fig. 5: My empty fridge.

All I had left was some mustard, pickles, microwave popcorn, bottled water, film, batteries and my stash of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I threw out some mayonnaise, frozen chicken pot pies, mini pizzas and hot pockets. Hey, I'm a bachelor...you expect me to have actual food? I used this time to actually do a good clean on the fridge, too, which was convenient.

Mother and father were hit harder in this regard. They ended up throwing out two new gallons of milk, lots of new frozen stuff, lunchmeat and bacon and more. They had just gone to the store that Saturday! Needless to say, we ate out nearly every night. Well, at the restaurants that had power. Most of the nearby joints were without power for the duration, too.

The phone company had set up a number of generators and power trucks at their central offices and tandems to keep the phone lines powered. There were so many traffic signals without power that the city did not have enough portable stop signs to go around. Luckily, people were doing right and treating them as four-way stops like they should.

I think I dealt with the situation pretty well. I didn't have internet, which was driving me crazy, but I took it in stride. I would take my iPod, laptop and cell phone to work to charge them and when I got home I would play solitaire or pinball until my battery died, then I would listen to music or watch videos on my iPod until time for bed. I had to use my cell phone as an alarm clock so I could get up on time. Taking showers by flashlight really isn't much different. At least I had hot water...behold the power and glory of natural gas!

Fig. 6: My house, before and after the power outage.

Fig. 7: My house, during the power outage.

Mother, however, was a different story. I thought that she was going to have a breakdown. I'm serious, she was getting worse every day; getting closer to that edge that once you cross you can never come back. She was getting mad at me because I was dealing with the situation in a calm, cool manner as if it was no big deal. She was unusually salty at work and would severely admonish people who called in because they had no power.

I saw no reason to get all worked up. Sure it was annoying and I would rather it not happen, but it did, so there. She did not see it that way. By day three, she was ready to do violence to anyone from the power company. By day five, she was ready to kill for a generator. More than once she was near tears. I can't say as I blame her, she is sensitive and when out of her comfortable element she doesn't know how to react. Afterward she said that she was not good in a personal crisis. She's right.

Hurricane Ike

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

The bits and pieces of Hurricane Ike blew through the Dayton area on Sunday afternoon knocking out power and throwing full-grown trees around like matchsticks. There were wind gusts of up to 75 mph throughout the area and this went on for hours and hours. About 225,000 people are still without power.

I have been powerless since Sunday at 1pm EDT. Other than that, I have come through unscathed. My house in fine, no damage to any of my trees. Mother and father's house, next door, is undamaged as well. There are, though, vast quantities of leaves in both our yards.

I have a few pictures which I will post as soon as power comes back on. They say it may be the weekend before that happens, though.

My relatively boring life has just increased its boredom factor by 10x. I've been turning in early every night. Sleeping with the windows open has been quite refreshing; thankfully the weather has been really nice and the evenings unusually cool.

No one in Ohio expects a hurricane.

Random Stuff...

Snow
The snow from my last post is almost completely gone. There are a few piles of filthy, black snow lying around in the shadows of buildings. However, with the warmer temps...it was 63° yesterday...they won't last long. It is supposed to be in the 50's today with rain, which will further beat down the remaining slush.

Time
What is the deal with this daylight savings crap? Now when I get up in the morning, it is dark! At 7 am! I don't know why we even bother changing the clocks. It seems to me that it would be better just to shift all our zones forward from standard time by 30 minutes and be done with it for good. You know, split the difference. But, who am I?

Car
On two of the coldest days last week I awoke to my car not able to start. You want to talk about being ticked off! I've never had a problem with my car ever, so I thought this quite unusual. I got new tires weekend before last and it figures that would be the first day this all started. They checked out the alternator and battery and said both were good, but that there could be a flaw in the battery that only showed up when cold. After the last time I had to jump it...by driving my mother's car around my house through my backyard to get to the front of my car...I went and bought a new battery. Haven't had any problems since...knock on wood.

Water Heater
OK, I spent some of my tax refund on a new water heater. The happiness was short lived as I discovered in my research that I have to have a special flue dedicated just to the tankless heater! I was intending to vent it up through the existing chimney with some of the special stainless-steel "type III" vent tubing, but you can't do that. The county would not approve a permit for a new heater installed in that manner. So much for lower gas bills.

I sent it back and should get the refund soon. Then I will go out and buy a regular gas water heater. They are quite a bit more efficient these days than my existing 25 year old heater, so the gas bills should still be lower. And I intend on getting a fitted insulating blanket to make it even more energy efficient. I tell you, it is always something!

Cancer Update
I am holding steady around 200 lbs., which is very nice. I actually had to move my seat in my car up a little bit because I was so far away from the wheel. I have long legs anyhow, so I can't be too close to begin with, but I feel so small in such a large car. That's OK by me!

I am now on passive monitoring, which means I will have a CAT scan and checkups every three months for about a year. Then I will be looked at every six months for about five years. And I will have a PET scan about once every year, too. So, things are looking up!

Films
I don't usually recommend films to people because I have such an eclectic taste, but my friend Chris turned me on to one lately that is one of the best I've ever seen. It is called Hot Fuzz. I initially thought it was a porno, but it isn't. It is about a British cop in London that is so good at his job his colleagues decide to have rid of him an promote him to sergeant and ship him out into the countryside. It gets better from there, with lots of twists and turns, conspiracies and a good bit of comedy. It is pretty gory on occasion, but I have to say it is one of the best cop movies of all time. You must see it!

British entertainment is so much better than our American crap.

Snowstorm 2008

It's snowing.

Fig. 1: My house.

It has been snowing since about 12 noon on Friday, 7 March. The weather people were calling for about 10 inches of snow to fall.

Fig. 2: From my porch, looking north (church across the street)

Fig. 3: Looking east up my street.

The snow has been coming down so quickly that the city has not been able to keep up with the plowing. My street is a major thoroughfare and usually gets priority attention, since there is a fire station to the east. The car in the picture was going about 10 mph, which is wise.

Fig. 4: Looking west, from my porch.

Fig. 5: The backyard.

For comparison sake, the bottom edge of the satellite dish you see in figure 5 is exactly 6' off the ground.

Fig. 6: Snowdrift directly in front of my porch.

There are steps in figure 6. Somewhere.

Fig. 7: Another view of the drift.

Fig. 8: Another drift actually on the porch!

Fig. 9: The drift in front of the porch being measured.

The drift in front of my porch is 16.5" deep.

Fig. 10: Me, standing nearly calf-deep in snow on my driveway.

And it is still snowing! To add insult to injury, the wind is blowing quite mightily, thus causing all the drifts. But, as you can see from mine and other cars, the snow is quite powdery and is not really sticking that well, so cleanup should be pretty easy.

Father has already been out with his snowblower and cleaned off their drive and walkway. He said he would do mine after it stopped snowing. He and mother are on their way to clean off my great aunt's driveway right now.

As for me, I'm hibernating and watching TV!

Update
It finally stopped snowing today, Saturday, 8 March, at 4:30 pm.

Springtime?

It is, right at this very second, 64° in Dayton. It is a beautiful sunny day. I didn't think springtime would ever come. For the first time this year I did not have to warm up my car before leaving for work...I just got in and went.

Alas, this is a cruel joke by good ol' mother nature...it is about 15 minutes away from pouring down rain. Then it is supposed to turn cold and snow on Tuesday.

Typical Ohio weather...hang around a second, it'll change.

White Trees

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the pictures...

It was really, really cold this morning. On our internal webpage at work, I have an applet that I wrote to display the current weather. Here is what it had to say...

Fig. 1: 3 degrees of Dayton's weather

My house this morning was nice and warm. I can't wait to get my next gas bill. I am still working on the designs for a device so I can use my father as my gas supply. Getting rid of Vectren would be a dream come true!

Anyhow, as I was driving to work, I saw a most beautiful sight. All the trees were covered in frost and had turned white. With the sun shining on them, they were stunning. I had to stop and take a couple of pictures with my crappy camera phone to share with you...

Fig. 2: White trees at Wright-Patt AFB, Area B

Fig. 3: Kauffman Avenue at Ohio 444

Again, I apologize for the crappy pictures. Camera phones are shit. My friend Dot is loves to take pictures and always carries a good digital camera with her everywhere. Perhaps this is not a bad idea.

Spring, however, cannot come too soon for my taste.

Afternoon Update:
It is now 19 degrees in Dayton proper at 4:25 pm. I wore my heavy gloves this morning at my desk. My fingers felt as if they would break off they were so cold. This is, really, the only part of me that gets chilled. It is aggravating as all get out! What is even worse is the TIPS of my fingers, last joint to the end, will be extremely cold. The doctors view this as being due to my weight loss and now normal blood pressure.

It is really amusing to try to write with thick gloves on. I attempted and failed miserably to write up a purchase order today in this manner. It is, also, quite impossible to type! Thankfully, this afternoon my fingers are warm.

Snowy Weather

The weather people stated that we were doomed today. We were supposed to have gotten 5 or so inches of snow.

I woke up today at 3:30 am with some mild heartburn from the Diclofenac, an anti-inflamatory, I am taking for my jaw pain. I took some stomach pills, and upon doing this, I walked out to the living room and looked out the window and saw the weather.

There was a 1/4" of snow.

When the radio came on at 6:30 am, they were listing the 227 school closures for the day.

At 6:30 am, there was about 1/2" of snow.

I got ready for work and went out to the car and brushed it off, and left for work uneventfully. This was until I got to the end of my street. Just before the end of my street, there is another street that intersects it. On this street was an idiot in a 4x4 SUV intentionally gunning the engine and slip-sliding side-to-side down the small hill. This dingleberry hardly stopped at the end of the street, and then proceeded to do the same thing after I passed going to the traffic light. Thankfully, I turn right because this duckfart was turning left. I dared him to hit me because I would like to see how quickly his insurance company would come strong with a new BMW.

For the most part, the vast majority of people were driving with some care and common sense. I saw no accidents or wipe outs on the way to work, which is customary for any snowy days of 1/4" or more.

I can forgive people that don't know how to drive in bad weather. They will learn in short order at the first couple of snowfalls. I can also somewhat forgive people that feel invincible in their huge SUVs and drive like they normally would on a clean, clear day. But some idiot hooning his SUV with oversize tires all over a narrow city side street is inexcusable. This person should be executed for the good of mankind.

We've been getting freezing rain for the whole of today, and more snow tonight. I've been in the dungeon at work for most of the day and have yet to check out the road status. It has been said that it is getting more slick as time goes on...perhaps I will take surface streets home today...

This just in, right now, this second:
It must be getting really bad out because they are shutting down Lexis-Nexis* in Miamisburg and Springfield for the day. They rarely do this...oh, woe is us!

* Chris' wifey works at LexNex, so we get lots of juicy inside details. Though their grapevine is not nearly as good as the one here at RTA...