Spanky's Place

Saturday night / Sunday morning's storm left us, along with over 100,000 others, without power.

Back when I lived in Phoenix, going without electricity, even for days at a time, wasn't really that big of a deal (except during a heat wave in the summer, when going without A/C can kill you). Living where I do now, on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, MI, things are a whole lot different.

When your house uses a well instead of city water, and you loose power, you have no water (except what remains in the pipes). That means no showers, no washing of hands, no flushing of toilets. You also loose heat. Normal gas furnaces don't work without electricity. No heat + Grand Rapids winter = dangerously cold. The lack of water combined with the lack of heat pretty much make staying in the house intolerable. If you're a computer geek, or make a living using computers, then lack of internet connectivity is the icing on the cake.

Now I'm sure there are those of you out there who have backup generators along with your tractors and wabbits, but I, sadly, do not have any of those things. I do, however, have an American Express card.

So we have checked into a hotel. The internet is not what I would call "high-speed" (802.11b), but it is acceptable. I don't have all the amenities of home here, but we have heat, power, water, a fairly decent room, and an indoor pool. I'll be working here for the duration. This is kind of a PIA, but in the grand scheme of things isn't really that bad at all. Just another one of life's little adventures.