Friday: Power Down

This will probably be posted not on Friday night but in the early hours of Saturday morning, because that damn thunderstorm in the afternoon knocked out our apparently very fragile power grid.  I’m writing this on offline Windows Live at about 10:12 Friday night, and the one unencrypted internet connection on my street is fading in and out too quickly for me to catch it.  So PECO, get back on task.  You’re estimate passed thirteen minutes ago, and we’re expecting power.  I really don’t want to have to fall asleep in an eighty-degree rainforest of a room… so speed it up a bit!

Power outages aren’t the rarest occurrence for us though, they happen two or three times a year.  Most of the time it’s during the night and it doesn’t last that long… usually the grid is back before I’m awake.  If they’re in the winter I usually don’t mind them… it gives you a little time to contemplate how much you depend on electricity while you warm up under a bunch of cozy blankets.  However in the summer there’s really no way to escape the heat short of dunking yourself in a crate of ice… which I’m not desperate enough to do.  Then when the internet goes out-

Wait… connection!  I have connection!  I finally found the network!  Alright, I’m going to cut this post short because I’m not sure how much longer I have.  Now quickly I’m going to find a song… and it’s gone again.  Goddammit!

Alright, let’s keep going with that train of thought.  I don’t mind the dependence on technology; I’ve argued for it time and time again.  If you don’t want that dependence which comes with new technologies, you can go back to the 1700s when there was no electricity.  Just… remember that the average lifespan back then was about thirty years.  And don’t forget to pack some light clothes, no air-conditioning.  See what mean?  Technology does make everything a little sweeter… and as with all new things a dependence develops.  Today the same amount of people as those who built the pyramids thousands of years ago by hand would be hard pressed to even build a fraction because they’re dependent of tools and cranes and scaffolds and everything else that goes into construction.  It’s part of human nature.  We adapt easily.  Adapting back… not so easy.

Now that’s it for me tonight (at precisely 10:30), so I’ll say goodnight to you and wait for a moment of connectivity to send this out.  I should get one at some point hopefully before my battery runs out…