I'm Way Too Electric-centric

We lost power yesterday afternoon for 3.25 hours due to the ice storm. I felt completely disconnected.

I realized how much of my life depends on this invisible thing. Electrons moving across wires...after years of higher education, I still couldn't really tell you how it works. And I thought of all the coal-fired plants belching out greenhouse gases and nuclear (note: not newkular) plants creating waste that will for all intents and purposes never degrade — just to keep my precious little life so comfortable.

It was lonely. The televisions were off. In my life, they are on 24/7. This is a habit I developed when I was single and lived alone for many, many years. (A tip of the hat here to my awesome abyssinian cat Solomon who provided me with 16 years of entertainment and companionship.) TV was/is great background noise and kept/keeps me company. The computer didn't work for long either, but I did have a while on battery power (I'm on an iBook), and the cable modem was off.

Worst of all, even though we have a oil burning furnace, it has an electric ignition and fan. No heat. After 3 hours, it was nippy in here.

Now life is back to normal. I wish I could promise that I'll use less power but I don't make promises I know I can't keep. I'll make an effort to turn the television off at night. Maybe I'll sleep better, too.