Many are so commonplace that people forget they exist.
One of those marvels is that I am typing on a laptop computer right now to create this latest column, complete with Internet and Wi-Fi, even.
In my apartment.
Which means I have electricity to power all those things.
After going eight days without electricity, I remember what got Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison all riled up in the first place.
If you live in Connecticut, as I do, then you know what I’m talking about. Halloween weekend, a massive snowstorm traveled through the Northeast. In the Nutmeg State, wet, heavy snow brought down leaf-laden trees and power lines along with them. Power was knocked out for more than 800,000 households, including mine.
No heat, hot water or stove, either.
What’s a nerd to do with no electricity?
Good thing I’m not Static, my favorite blerd superhero. (DC Comics has a monopoly on blerd superheroes, with Static, Firestorm, Cyborg and Steel. Though Steel was built like Shaquille O’Neal, and Cyborg was a jock.) And for a winter storm named Alfred, it wasn’t serving us soup in the Batcave.
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| This, my friends, is Static! |
The fiancee and I are electricity-heavy people. We were watching Timecrimes while drinking and eating junk food when one circuit in the apartment went out. With another circuit still working, we ended up watching Chappelle’s Show DVDs on the laptop before that circuit went down and we had zero power.
My routines disrupted completely, I instead tapped into the different parts of my nerd self.
The book nerd came back out. I spent that first powerless night reading Penn Jillette’s God, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist And Other Magical Tales by candlelight. I burned through a bunch of my DC Comics New 52 books, trying to make sense of them. Got through some magazines and picked away at Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker fantasy novel.
The tech nerd took a holiday. No power, no tech. I love being online, but often I can leave it alone. Facebook was replaced with face time, and I listened to talk radio for my news. Email, forget about it.
My most entertained nerd was the one who follows apocalypse and zombie stuff.
Snowtober brought us a real Halloween scare, as we were plunged into darkness, heaving naught but snow drifts, thunder, and the crashes of cracking tree limbs. A few hours ago, when we had power, my town put out an emergency call warning to stay home, away from the falling trees and downed power lines.
The day after (get it?) the storm, I stepped out into a wrecked, frozen world.
Ice and snow weighed down the mangled trees. Limbs large and small littered the ground everywhere. Trees split in half, trees uprooted. People milled about, shocked by the damage, as they tried to dig out their cars from the snow and dead trees, looking around to see how destroyed everything was.
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| The snow can bring out the worst in everyone |
The fire doors in my apartment building fell shut with no electricity to power the magnets that held them open, leaving hallways pitch-black in the middle of the day. Walking through stairwells with a flashlight in one hand, knowing there was nothing on the other side of that door, but hackles up all the same.
How many Walking Dead episodes had the same setup?
I was in luck when the storm hit. After fleeing to Philadelphia for a few days, I found out that a friend’s house had power. The zombie apocalypse nerd drank a brimming cup that week, since my friend is basically equipped for such an occasion.
The house sits on a cul-de-sac in the woods of a flat area, and he has about six of everything. Along with doing laundry and enjoying a hot shower, there was a kitchen full of knives, a gas stove, likely some axes and guns somewhere, a stocked pantry, and workout equipment. Even had room for gardening in the back. When the zombies come, this is where I’m hiding out.
At work, I saw the refugees. My fellow employees bringing their families in for showers and meals, the cafeterias always busy.
Even my automobile nerd got to come out and play.
My friend’s house added an extra half-hour to my work commute, and my apartment was between the two points. So I spent a lot of time in the car, driving between all three places. I drove 150 miles in one day, visiting friends in western Massachusetts and shoreline Connecticut.
Lots of open-road speed racing. If only I could have lasers mounted on my car to live out my RoadBlasters video-game dreams.
The power was restored last Sunday, and I’m slowly getting back to normal. Refrigerator’s cleaned out, my fiancee returned, and we celebrated with a home-cooked meal of meatloaf, sweet potatoes and spinach.
Now there’s just one more nerd to indulge. With all the extra driving, working and effort to do just basic things, my sleep nerd is hurtin’. Good night, y’all.
