Powerless.

Friday, October 22, 2004 01: 04 AM

It's 11:06 PM. I should be watching The Daily Show right now. Instead, I'm writing this.

Our power is out and has been out for an hour now thanks to a pretty good storm that ripped through Tucson, probably distracting some careless driver who then wrapped themselves around a power pole. Yet, through the wonders of technology I can type this message into my Powerbook on battery power. That's good, because my next option would have been to go caveman and start carving messages on walls and that just seemed so 20,000 B.C.

The whole scenario however has been quite "enlightening" (sorry -- couldn't resist.)

The first few minutes of complete darkness were pretty entertaining. The first priority was light. So our path to consistent light was as follows:

• 15" Powerbook screen (it was already on) to


• Sony Ericsson T616 cell phone screen (portable light) to


• Road bike handlebar light (our efforts to find a real flashlight failed despite convincing ourselves we had one) to


• REI candle lantern from some camping supplies (our best light source yet)

So with constant light in place I began assessing our situation: No Internet access. No television. No battery powered radios. Currently our only connection to the outside world is via cell phone - which we could make calls from and also connect to the Internet if necessary. We could also access our car radios. But at the moment, I'm more interested in light. It's hard to function in the dark. So what do we have on hand? Let's see...

• Powerbook (2 hours)
• Bike handlebar light (15-20 hours)
• REI Candle Lantern (27 hours; 3 candles, 9 hours each)
• Additional scented candles (est. 50+ hours; plus healthy supply of matches)
• Cell Phone Screens (3-6 hours)
• Digital Camera Screen (2 hours)
• Digital Video Camera Screen (1 hour)
• iPod Screen (1-2 hours)
• Lightwedge book light (4-5 hours)

So, all in all, 100+ hours of light. Not too bad. If we averaged 2-3 hours of usage a night (essentially sleeping a little after sunset and rising with the sun) we could survive a month or so; buying us plenty of time to gather wood and make arrowhead tipped spears for hunting deer in the desert during the day.

Aside from the whole issue of having light, the most interesting observation thus far is how much simpler life seems on the surface without electricity (and technology for that matter). Rebecca and I, after getting some light established -- almost immediately started talking...just having a normal conversation at candle light. No television. No technology. Everything was completely natural - 1800's style. I can't explain how fascinating it is seeing her walk around with a lantern. And our apartment could very well be an old ranch house when seen in candle light. I've been seemingly transported in time. And it's quiet. So very quiet. Just us and the sound of rain playing outside the open window.

After I finish this post I plan on doing some reading by candle light to complete the full powerless experience. This may be the beginning of a new tradition: One powerless night a month.

Well, my wife just said we need to start eating stuff from the freezer...but before that, I need to send this off from my Powerbook via bluetooth on my cell phone...even with the power completely out, it seems a man can't live without some sort of connectivity these days.

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