Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy...

I was awakened yesterday by the strangest atmospheric phenomenon. "What is that?" I wondered. "It sort of hurts my eyes. Is that a ball of fire in the sky? Is this armageddon? Oh wait...that's just sunshine." The sun was out! Whoo hoo! We hadn't seen the sun since December 5th, according to the weatherman. That's just way too damn long. Just a little sunshine has lightened my mood considerably.

We have power again at work. Whoo hoo! By the way, if my previous post made my boss sound like a evil bastard, that really wasn't my intention. He was here in the cold right along with the rest of us. And I work for a very small, family-owned business that just really couldn't afford to be closed any longer--loss of income hurts us all. (I work partly on commission.) So I was, well, if not HAPPY to work in the cold, at least WILLING to do so.

Schools are back in session for the most part, we're down to about 30,000 customers without electricity (yeah, "only" 30,000), and there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you, linemen of the counties of the country, for driving long distances and working long, cold hours to help us out! You rock.

I still don't have cable, and the cable company is refusing to even give estimates on when I will again. They won't give credits for the time without service until AFTER all service has been restored, so I had to pony up $79.36 to pay my bill today, even though I may not have service again for weeks. That galls a bit, I must say, though I suppose I understand it from a bookkeeping perspective.

Okay, how ending up with a nice bulleted list?

Things I Have Learned from the Great Power Outage of 2007:

• Living through "history" is no fun. (This was the largest power outage in the history of the state.)
• If (when) there comes a true cataclysmic disaster, I will be a whiny baby. A highly functional whiny baby, to be true, but inside...I'll be whining.
• It is possible to be at one time both incredibly grateful for heat and lights, and incredibly pissy that you can't watch TV.
• I now know how to dismantle and reassemble my electric garage door opener. (With a big nod of thanks to New Guy, who walked me through the dismantling over my dying cell phone, even though he's never actually had an electric garage door of his own. Before he had a music degree, he had a degree in industrial technology. Yay for handy guys!)
• Even though I lived for 40 years without a cellphone, I am now panicky beyond belief at the thought of driving anywhere without one. (My battery was almost out, my car charger wasn't working, and I drove to New Guy's with only the tiniest sliver of a bar left, hyperventilating that I might need to call for roadside assistance and be unable to complete the call.) How quickly we get attached to our conveniences.
• When my routine is disrupted, I don't deal well. For example, one might think that a week of being without cable and internet, having nothing to do but watch DVDs, might lead one to get really aggressive with the workout and yoga DVDs. But I'm used to working out BETWEEN work and whatever comes later, and when that BETWEEN time never comes...well, let's just say I haven't worked out this week at all. (And yet, somehow I lost a couple of pounds. I didn't eat much, really.)
• My dog is very well-behaved. Even better behaved with a hefty dose of Benadryl. Heh.
• Feral cats are very smart, and if they disappear for a few days while the trees are falling, they are undoubtedly holed away somewhere safe. Leave food out, and try not to worry about them. They are most likely NOT trapped under the downed tree next door.

Wow, I've learned a lot this week, huh?