where were you when the lights went out

[BobHunt]

this week I was in Jewel, a grocery store chain here, and I think it was the first time ever that I have been in a grocery store when they lost power. It was only momentary however, Im sure they have generators to back up their freezers. Had to wait to pay tho, their computers were offline.

[Mamie White]

In the dark. ;)
Mamie

[Barbara Moulton]

Your post made me think of that massive power black out we had a few years ago. Living in the country at the time, I was used to the power going out once in awhile. After an hour or so, I decided to go use my car radio to see if I could get any news.

I was stunned to hear that New York City was in the same predicament as little old me up in Central Ontario.

[Ryan Scott]

Your post made me think of that massive power black out we had a few years ago. Living in the country at the time, I was used to the power going out once in awhile. After an hour or so, I decided to go use my car radio to see if I could get any news.

I was stunned to hear that New York City was in the same predicament as little old me up in Central Ontario.

I remember basically missing the whole thing. I was sitting in the waiting room of a hospital outside Concord, New Hampshire watching the coverage on the News. For some reason that small area of the East Coast kept power, while so many were in the dark. I still haven't figured out why central NH was spared, but it was interesting to be in the middle of the power outage and still be able to watch the coverage on TV.

[Marg Shurtliff]

I was at home when the big blackout that Barbara mentioned happened . By Friday I was so tired of being alone at home I phoned my cousin in Florida just to hear another voice .
Have been several other places when the power left . Once was a Italian restaurant near my home . We had alrady been served out entrées and could still get tea and coffee but others who had yet to order could only get salads. They went up to their attic to get lamps to augment the candles already on the table .
Then earlier this year I was in Loblaw's , a grocery store here, when the power went out . They had limited backup generator that gave us 10 minutes to get checked out . I remember there being only lights at the end of the aisles and none in the aisles themselves .
Another occasion I remember was a Walmart in the States that I was with my aunt. I was making her one of those do it yourself cards (while she was waiting patiently for me to fnish shopping ) and was almost finished when the power went off . It wasn't too long before we got power again but my card was gone and I had to start all over .

[Jim Franklin]

I was in Costco one time getting a prescription when the power went off for about 45 minutes. The pharmacy aid that was ringing up my purchase that was disrupted remembered me for 3 or 4 years later as being the one she was checking out when the "lights went out."

Several years before the electricity was out all over Boise including the mall where I was working at a JCPENNEYS and I was in the middle of checking out a purchase and the customer was certainly glad I was old enough to know how to write it up on an emergency receipt or he would have had to wait until the next day because after a couple of hours the whole mall shut down. The cause was that it was a very hot day, about 108 and the overload caused an outage in Wyoming.

[John Kennedy]

Well, the time I remember most was several years ago when I was on a 'road trip' - the great 'Dust Bowl and Mormon Tour'. I was on my way from Oklahoma City to southern Colorado. I kind of coasted into Boise City, OK (about as far northwest in OK as you can get on pavement) with the gas gauge on empty.

I stopped at a station, opened the fill port (what on earth do youi call the doohickeys you put the nozsle in?) and had pumped about a gallon of gas when the power went off - all over town. To make things worse, I needed to use the restroom - desperately. When I started into the restroom, the attendant said, "The lights are off." I felt like responding, "Tell that to my bladder.", but I think I mumbled something about probably being able to manage regardless.

The power was off about 45 minutes. I needed a lot more than l gallon of gas and Boise City, which I understand the natives pronounce as 'BoyCity', is a LONG way from anywhere. The Oklahoma panhandle isn't exactly the end of the world, but if the dust isn't blowing too hard, you can see it from there.

So I went in the station, got a cup of coffee (AFTER using the restroom) - the power hadn't been off long enough for the coffee to get cold, got the book I always keep in the car (a lesson my wife taught me a LONG time ago) and spent the next 40 minutes or so sitting at a gas pump, drinking coffee and reading a book. I'll always remember the great blackout (fortunately during daylight) of '06 in Boise City ('Boy city), OK.

[Gina Stevenson]

Well, have been in a store when this happened, so for just a few things, we did the math, & got checked out. However, the most fun we had w/the power out was the Chuck E. Cheese's when my niece was turning 13. You see, the ball rooms have an age limit ... but, since there wasn't much else going on waiting for them to get our pizzas done (after power was back on), we got to experience what that feels like, rolling around on all those little balls ... interesting sort of feeling ... sort of a "nice all-over massage," or whatever. :basic05

[John Kennedy]

After I had posted about the great Boise City blackout of '06, I remembered another outage when we were enroute from Newark, NJ to Boston. The airline had somehow sent part of our luggage on the scenic route between Dallas and Newark and we waited for it at the Newark airport until about 1 AM. We spent what was left of the night at a Ramada Inn somewhere in CT on I-95.

The next morning my wife was showering when the power went off. Although it was daylight outside, opening the drapes was a limited option since we were in a ground floor room. According to my wife, ressing in the dark is one thing, putting on makeup is something else entirely.

Eventually we were ready to go so I went to the desk to check out. No power = no computer. The clerk was busily writing out statements manually, but the lack of light in the lobby made it difficult. He had, God only knows where, found some Star Wars-type 'ligtht wands' and had a bunch of them clustered around where he was working.

I don't know whether there's any causal relationship between me and power outages. I would like to find out. For all I know, I may well be the '5th Horseman' - sort of a low budget prince of darkness. But if I was, I could go on TBN or Pat Robertson and promise to use my powers for good, contingent, of course, on sufficient contributions. This could be the dawn of a bright new day (contrast intended). I'd always wanted to be a radio or TV preacher.

Or, maybe I've been influenced by too many of those Radio Shack commercials.