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Uh, happy new year, I guess. So far I'm not too impressed with 2004. In fact, you can have it back.
Something woke me up a little before ten this morning. I think it was the last gasp of the electricity, as it was shutting itself down, and with it all my appliances. The refrigerator. The phone. TiVo. And all the freakin' clocks in the house, that I'll have to reset.
On this first day of the year I've had no TV, although I wasn't planning to watch any college football games anyway. But I have several movies saved on TiVo that I can't watch, and dozens of DVDs and hundreds of video tapes that are all useless lumps of plastic.
Besides that, I also have no running water, which is frustrating the heck out of the gas-generated water heater. No water means no toilet, no shower, no cooking (and the stove is electric anyway). I do have bottled water, and plenty of it. And there would be no reason to cook when I feel that I should just eat everything in the fridge before it spoils.
Worst of all, I have no heat. That's almost enough to make me seek refuge elsewhere, but I have sweatshirts and blankets and afghans, so I'm not cold. Yet.
I do have a portable radio for company, and one old-fashioned non-electronic phone tucked away in the bedroom for just such emergencies as this. Plus there was enough natural light during the day for me to finish one book and start another. I sort of miss the computer, but it's not a bad idea to get away from it for a day or two every so often.
The garage door opener doesn't work, of course. I used that fact as an excuse to stay home and wait for the power company to call me back and tell me what's going on. I do know how to operate the garage door by hand, but that would mean getting into the garage by the side door, the path to which is under water.
So here I sit in the cold and dark, all alone and feeling kind of icky from not having a shower. But I'm not bitter. | 
