Windpocalypse Aftermath: PSE - Power Outage Update on the Internet!

We were listening to KUOW while driving on Saturday afternoon. Some senior official or spokesperson from PSE joined in. She was asked to speak in detail on the power outage, and what people needed to know. Guess what she said in response: "check our website."

Are you kidding me? What the heck are you there for on the radio? Do you understand why they called you on the radio? This is the only means of public communication that the majority of the folks may have access to when there's a widespread power outage. You are telling me to go use a facility that requires power to find out more about power outage? What's worse: the KUOW host did not catch this irony either. What makes these people so dense, is it the disaster or is it business as usual?

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Tuesday

Fifth day of power outage. We were slipping towards a breakdown. Another shower at the health club. Another day of eating out. Today, it was Tandoori Kitchen in Kirkland. I did go to work for a few hours but it is becoming pointless by now. Those whom you needed to talk to were the most likely out. You sat at your desk and very soon found it hard to keep your eyes open. But the congestion and the cough won't let you fall asleep either.

After lunch, we decided to drive by the house to check on power -- we have long gotten rid of our answering machine for the phone company voice mail, so can't check on power by phone. As we got closer to our house, we started seeing houses and businesses with their power restored. Our hopes rose. We pulled in. The garage door wouldn't go up. We opened the front door and stepped inside. Hopes were shattered. Still no power. Words won't describe the frustration.

The rest of the afternoon was a daze. Some Internet surfing, some coffee, more coffee. It was about 6pm. Time to hunt for dinner. "Let's swing by the house before heading out to eat." We, the eternal optimists or people on the verge of a breakdown? From some distance, we saw lights in the houses next door. But we didn't dare believe our fortune until we saw it with our own eyes.

Yes! The garage door went up this time!

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Monday

This was our fourth day of power outage. We are starting to show signs of fatigue.

Going to work was better than staying at home, of course. We had learned the night before that our health club got their power back and was open for business. We got up early and headed straight there to get cleaned up. Oh! That hot water felt so delicious. I could have stayed in the shower all day.

I headed for work. It was hard to get much done. A good number of people had come in, but several of them were still without power. Poeple from remote towns (on PSE's network) like Duvall and Woodinville were not expecting power until the end of the week. Some folks who had plans for X'mas travel were talking about taking off early.

We patronized BIG TIME pizza in Redmond for lunch. They have decent unassuming food - can go there any time for a casual meal.

The workday had to end early as we had to start preparing for another cold night. We were running seriously low on firewood by this time. Unless the power got restored by Tuesday, we were going to be in trouble unless shops replenished their stocks of wood. Before heading home, we stopped by the Wine and Spirit Store off Redmond way to pick up some brandy, which turned out to be such a lifesaver.

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Sunday

Third morning after the storm. Still had no power. How long was it going to take them to restore power?

We headed to Whole Foods for breakfast. Later, I checked out the workplace. They had power! I got online. Checked all the local news. Wasn't looking good.

We had lunch at Whole Foods. Dreaded going back to the cold house. The firewood was disappearing quickly. All the shops were completely cleaned out. Whole Foods was expecting a delivery of Java Logs later that day. (But they wouldn't arrive until Tuesday morning.)

We hung around here and there, drinking coffee and more coffee. Before heading home, we picked up dinner from Thai Ginger. Another cold night. Describing that ordeal is already getting old.

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Saturday

The day started with another round of wood-smoked tea, and a breakfast of bread and jam. (The fireplace has doubled as stove and room heater.)

We started calling around friends. Being new in the area, we don't know a lot of people yet. Those we do know were pretty much in the same boat. The news about the power outage and repairs was not too encouraging. PSE service area was hit pretty hard. The outages affecting more people were going get repaired first... which meant we were going to need more wood.

We set out to see what the scene was like and, of course, to find some lunch. The power was still out of work. So, no Internet. Internet withdrawl was adding to the power withdrawl ;-)

We decided to checkout Redmond Town Center. Matt's was open and packed with windstorm refugees. We finally found a seat at the bar. The bartender was extremely busy. Another guy was supposed to join him a while ago. He hadn't been able make it. You saw several staff members without uniform. Look's like the owner's family had come out. The owner was taking orders at the bar. Even on this busy day, when they were barely keeping the place running due to staff shortage, Matt's delivered, both on the food and the service.

We felt a little better equipped for the rest of the day ahead, although still fearful of the inevitable, impending cold night.

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Later Friday

Getting inventive - or getting back to the basics:

From the time we lost the power the Thursday night, the night of the windstorm, we had opened the refrigerator very infrequently. The leftovers were still good...but cold. We arranged some natural firewood in the fireplace so that a small pot or a pan could be placed securely on top. After selecting a couple of vessels that we could stand to sacrifice (them turning permanantly black), we were all set to warm up the leftovers and have our lunch.

After lunch, I listened to the news again. More stories of fallen trees, Majority of the PSE customers in the King county out of power. Still more stories of fallen trees and power lines. Like the good citizens we are, we decided not to venture out.

Just a few hours later, close to sundown, we decided to have an afternoon snack and hot tea before it would turn dark. Back to the fireplace :)

The time passed very slowly once it got dark. The stories of previous power outages do come in handy, but they don't last forever. Few more hours, and we were hungry again. "This probably would be the last meal out of leftovers. Some restaurants better get their power back by tomorrow." The fireplace food-warming was making us nostalgic about the food cooked over the wood burning stoves in the country back home. We were cold, but tried to have a (not so) romantic, candle-light supper.

The time passed even slower. The temperature overnight was expected to dip below freezing. So, before going to bed, we put out a bunch of food from the refrigerator on the patio, including the milk :)

The sleep was far from sound. Every three hours or so, I found myself getting up to throw another log into the fireplace :(

Windpocalypse Aftermath: Friday Morning, PCC

Sometime in the middle of the night, the bone chilling cold woke me up. The fire had almost gone out, I threw in another log. Most of the heat from the previous night had dissipated by the morning, turning the house chilly and making it hard to get out of bed.

Without the right batteries, the radio inside the house was useless. So, I went to the car to catch the news. The scene seemed pretty grim. Practically the whole of the Eastside had lost power. One caller reported: around 4am, he looked over the Lake Washinton from his house near the UW campus -- whole of the eastside, as far as he could see, was pitch dark.

There was not much hope that any businesses would be open. But we decided to stop by one of the nearest grocery store anyway: the PCC store. They were open but barely, and were planning on shutting down very soon. Their generator was not expected to arrive anytime soon (from Tacoma, I think.) Interestingly, you could use a credit card -- their cash registers were still working on the batteries, which ran out soon after, of course. On that first morning after the disaster, PCC decided to offer free drip coffee to all who came, which they could make using their gas stoves. How nice of them!

At the coffee station, we encountered an interesting experience. The queue was not too long, about 10 folks. PCC staff was repeatedly announcing that more coffee was on the way. Still, many of those in line were already showing impatience, trying to cut into the line, almost elbowing others out at the coffee station.

Coming of the Windpocalypse

Around 3pm last Thursday afternoon, someone at work forwarded a severe weather advisory for a windstorm... with a remark that this looks like a big one. Most of us decided to leave early to avoid the traffic trouble and prepare for the disaster. I picked up some firelogs, water and some batteries. Sure enough, size D batteries were already gone. Before arriving home, I stopped by the gas station to fill up. The queue was longer than usual - 5 cars in front of me. Little did I know how smart this patient wait was going to turn out in coming days.

By 7pm , you could already see and hear the wind storm. We kept candles, the flashlight and the firewood handy. Turned up the heat to warm up the house in anticipation. Funny thing happened around 10pm. We were watching SCAN TV. A host introducing a documentary said, "now let's watch the documentary," and clicked the remote (kind of pointing towards the camera) to start playing the film.... At the very same instant we lost power. As if he clicked off the power of our entire neighborhood :)

Windpocalypse was here. We went to bed early in front of the fireplace...

Sisters Cafe

This little Mediterranean sandwich shop is one of our regular destinations for a light lunch on a Saturday afternoon at Pike Place. Our favorite is the "Nasruddin", marinated grilled eggplant and hummus sandwich, with an awesome olive paste, on crisp fresh slices of focaccia bread. They have great sides in the form of healthy salads with olive oil dressings. Everything is made fresh. The folks are friendly and the place is quintessentially a local store at Pike Place. The focaccia bread is so good that we often take home a slab with us. Tastes great with our homemade marinara.

Definitely a "go-to" for vegetarians and vegans, but the food is tasty enough to tempt all.